a township and small village in the parish of High Ercall, pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Roden, two miles S.W. from the parish church; the township contains 1,351a. 2r. of land, of which 26 acres are in woods and plantations, and 14 acres water, roads, and waste; the soil is variable, in some parts a cold clay prevails, and in other parts a mixture of sand and loam. Rateable value, £1,331. 12s. The Duke of Cleveland and Charles Orlando C. Pemberton, Esq., are the landowners, the latter is lord of the manor; John Tayleur, Esq., is the impropriator of the rectoral tithes, which have been commuted. A modus of £3. 3s. is paid to the vicar of High Ercall. The Shrewsbury and Ercall turnpike road passes through this township. At the census in 1841 Roden contained 33 houses and 161 inhabitants.
Directory.—Joseph Beddow, beerhouse keeper and maltster; John Birch, farmer, Rodenhurst; Thomas Bourne, brickmaker; John Evanson, maltster; Edward Jones, farmer; William Light, farmer; Elizabeth Marshall, shopkeeper; William Taylor, farmer; Samuel Woodfin, farmer, New Farm; Robert Yeomans, shopkeeper.
ROWTON,
a township, chapelry, and pleasant village situated on high ground, in a pleasant part of the country, two and a quarter miles N.E. from High Ercall. The township contains 800a. 0r. 33p. of land, and in 1841 there were 26 houses and 181 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,118. 19s. 4d. There are some good farm houses in this township with commodious outbuildings, and the farms are of considerable extent; cattle and sheep are extensively fed in this locality. The Chapel of Ease is a small unpresuming edifice built of red free stone, and ornamented with a wooden turret; the interior is neatly pewed, and there is a small gallery at the west end; the Rev. Mr. Robinson is the officiating minister. The tithes of Rowton and those of the township of Ellerdine are commuted for £376. 12s. The Duke of Cleveland is the principal landowner and lord of the manor; Mr. Adney, Mrs. Dickin, Mr. Thomas Nicklin, and John Whitfield, Esq., are also proprietors.
The celebrated nonconformist divine, Richard Baxter, was born at Rowton, November 12th, 1615. His father was an honest and religious man, in humble circumstances, but a small freeholder; his estate, however, was very inconsiderable. His son is said to have given strong indications of that piety and purity which appeared in his subsequent life and conversation. He passed his infancy at Rowton, under the roof of his grandfather, and in 1625, when about ten years of age, was removed from Rowton to his father’s house at Eaton Constantine. He received the chief portion of his learning at Ludlow, but had not the advantages of an academical education; when at school he had the use of an excellent library, which, by his great application, proved of infinite service to him. His first engagements in life it appears was teaching a free school at Newport, and he was afterwards appointed master of the free school at Dudley, with an usher under him. While he taught the school there he read several practical treatises, by which he was brought to a deep sense of religion, and having an earnest desire to engage in the ministry, he in 1638 addressed himself to Dr. Tharnborough, bishop of Worcester, for holy orders, which, after examination, he received, having at that time no scruples of conscience which hindered him from conforming to the Church of England. He shortly after frequently preached at Dudley, and the neighbouring villages, with great acceptance among his hearers, but when the et cætera oath came to be imposed, Mr. Baxter applied himself diligently to study the case of episcopacy as in other instances, the thing which was intended to fix him to the hierarchy, gave him a dislike to it. In the year 1640 he accepted the invitation of the bailiffs and feoffees of Kidderminster to preach there for an allowance of £60 a year. In the memorable struggles of this period, he sided with the parliament, and recommended the protestation they directed to be taken by the people. This exposed him to some inconveniences which obliged him for a time to retire to Gloucester, but be afterwards returned to Kidderminster and resumed the work of the ministry. He hindered, as far as it was in his power, the taking of the covenant, and preached and spoke publicly against it. When Cromwell assumed the supreme power he was not afraid to express his dissatisfaction at his tyranny, and in a conference which he had with him afterwards, stated his views in terms not to be misunderstood by the Protector. After the restoration he became one of the king’s chaplains in ordinary, had frequent access to his royal person, and was always treated by him with peculiar respect. At the Savoy conference Mr. Baxter assisted as one of the commissioners, and then drew up the reformed liturgy, which all allow to be an excellent performance. He was offered the bishopric of Hereford by the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, which he refused to accept. At this period he would gladly have returned to his beloved town of Kidderminster, and have preached there, but this was refused him. When he found himself thus disappointed, he preached occasionally about the city of London, and afterwards returned to Acton, in Middlesex, where he went to church every Lord’s-day, and spent the rest of the day with his family and a few poor neighbours, in explaining the Scriptures and prayer. His auditors continued to increase, and shortly after, upon a warrant signed by two justices, he was committed for six months to New Prison jail. After the indulgence of 1672 he returned to London, and was one of the Tuesday lecturers at Pinner’s Hall. He had a Friday lecture at Fetter-lane, but only preached occasionally on the Sunday. In 1682 he suffered severely on account of his nonconformity. One day he was suddenly surprised by an officer, who apprehended him upon a warrant to seize his person for coming within five miles of a corporate town; producing, at the same time, five more warrants to distrain for £195 for five sermons. At this time he lay on a sick bed, but he was dragged before five justices, and took his oath that he could not go to prison without danger of death. But the officers executed their warrants on the books and goods in the house, and even sold the bed on which he lay sick. In 1684 he was bound in a penalty of £400 to keep the peace, by the justices of Middlesex, and in the year following he was committed to the King’s Bench prison, by a warrant from the Lord Chief Justice Jefferies, for his paraphrase on the New Testament; the trial took place on the 30th of May, when he was found guilty, and received a severe sentence. In 1686 the king, by the mediation of Lord Powis, granted him a pardon. After this he settled in Charter house yard, contenting himself with the exercise of his ministry, as assistant to Mr. Silvester. He died on the 8th of December, 1691, and was buried in Christ Church. His remains were followed to the grave by a large concourse of people of all ranks and qualities, who prudently paid this last tribute of respect to a great and good man, whose labours deserved much from true Christians of all denominations. Mr. Baxter was in several respects one of the most eminent persons of his time; he preached more sermons, wrote more books, and engaged in more controversies than any other nonconformist of his age. He spoke, disputed, and wrote with ease, and discovered the same intrepidity when he reproved Cromwell, and expostulated with Charles II., as when he preached to a congregation of mechanics. His works are extremely voluminous, and they are still held in high estimation. An eminent divine observes of them, that his practical writings were never mended, his controversial, seldom refuted. The celebrated Doddridge, in a letter to a friend in 1723, says, “Baxter is my particular favourite. It is impossible to tell how much I am charmed with the devotion, good sense, and pathos, which is every where to be found in him. I cannot forbear looking upon him as one of the greatest orators, both with regard to copiousness, acuteness, and energy that our nation hath produced.”
Directory.—Mrs. Elizabeth Adney, The Hall; John Adney, farmer and grazier; William Edwards, shopkeeper; George Fowler, beerhouse keeper; Charles Jukes, maltster and farmer; Samuel Nicklin, boot and shoemaker; Thomas Nicklin, wheelwright; George Vickers, blacksmith and agricultural implement maker; John Whitfield, Esq., The Villa farm, and chairman to the Wellington Poor Law Board of Guardians.
TERN, OR TEARN,
a small township in the parish of High Ercall, with a few houses delightfully situated two miles S.E. from the parish church, contains 487a. 3r. 13p. of land, of which four acres are in roads and waste; the river Tern bounds the township on the S.E. At the census in 1841 there were seven houses and 41 inhabitants. Rateable value, £659. 18s. The Duke of Sutherland is lord of the manor and owner of the land. Tern House, a commodious brick residence, occupied by Thomas Juckes, Esq., is pleasantly situated on a gentle acclivity near the stream of the Tern; the views it commands of the surrounding country are extensive and pleasingly diversified. The farm buildings are of considerable extent, and are provided with all the modern appliances for farming extensively in the most economical manner.
The principal residents are George Jukes, solicitor, and Thomas Juckes, Esq.