is a parish and delightful little village, situate on the banks of the Severn, and near the foot of the Wrekin hill, nine miles S.E. from Shrewsbury. In 1801 the parish contained 338 inhabitants; 1831, 360; and in 1841, 80 houses and a population of 403 souls. Rateable value, £2,691. Robert Gardner, Esq., and Sir George Harnage, Bart., are the principal landowners. The soil is mostly of a superior quality, and produces good crops of all kinds of grain. The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a plain brick structure, situated a short distance from the village, and consists of nave and chancel, with a small tower, in which are three bells. In the chancel are several handsome tablets, chiefly in memory of the Leighton and Kinnersley families, who formerly resided here, and had large possessions in this locality. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £7. 12s. 6d., now returned at £224, in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Robert Maddocks. The salubrious situation of Leighton and the vicinity is proverbial, and several extraordinary cases of longevity among the inhabitants have occurred. A short time ago, Stephen Davies was living at the advanced age of 97 years. He recollected old Sarah Beech, who lived in this parish, and died about the year 1738 at the age of 106 years, and who had a sister that lived to the age of 103 years. Stephen Davies had then a brother living at Wroxeter of the age of 96 years.
Garmstone is a hamlet, in the parish of Leighton.
Charities—Ann Lacon, by her will, left £15 a-year for ever to the poor of Leighton, Sheinton, and Buildwas, to be given to four poor persons of each parish. This gift is secured on a messuage and lands at Much Wenlock, and the moiety belonging to this parish is divided equally among four of the poor inhabitants, Richard Leighton, Esq., left the sum of £100, the interest to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens for the time being among the poor of the parish on Candlemas-day. This bequest, and several other legacies amounting to £8, were placed out about sixty years ago upon the security of the tolls arising from the turnpike road which passes through Leighton, the interest of which, £5. 8s., is distributed in small sums among the poor on Candlemas-day.
Directory.—John Bagley, tailor; John Barnet, victualler, Barnet’s Grove; Job Basnett, farmer; Rev. Frederick Burd, curate; John Drury, farmer; John Evans, corn-miller; Daniel Everall, farmer; Thomas Everall, farmer; James Farmer, corn-miller; Robert Gardner, Esq., Leighton Hall; Thomas Gervis, farmer, Garmston; Sir George Harnage, Bart.; Harry C. Jeffries, farmer, Garmston; John Machin, farmer, Eye Farm; Thomas Richards, farmer; Isaac Shepherd, farmer, Longwood; Thomas Tart, tailor.
LILLESHALL
is a parish in the Newport division of the South Bradford hundred, which comprises the townships of Lilleshall, Donington, and Muxton, and embraces 6,111a. 3r. 9p. of land. In 1801 the parish had a population of 2,060 souls; 1831, 3,596; and in 1841 there were 708 houses and 3,851 inhabitants. Rateable value, £12,034. 1s. 8d. The Duke of Sutherland is lord of the manor, and owner of the whole parish, except about half a dozen acres, the property of Mr. John Bradborn, in the township of Muxton. The village of Lilleshall is pleasantly situated on the acclivity of a hill, three miles south-west from Newport. The township in 1841 contained 155 houses and 795 inhabitants; the houses are scattered, and the population find employment in the extensive collieries and iron works with which the vicinity abounds. The Church is a venerable structure mantled with ivy, and dedicated to St. Mary; in the tower is a peal of six bells. On the north side of the chancel is an altar tomb, with two full length figures, in memory of dame Catherine Leveson and Sir Richard Leveson: the former died March 31st, 1674, and the latter June 2nd, 1661. The old font, about twenty years ago, was used as a cistern to a pump at Lilleshall old hall; it was removed by the late vicar, and now stands at the west end of the church. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £6. 17s. 11d.; now returned at £338; in the patronage of the Duke of Sutherland; incumbent, Rev. Henry George Bunsen; curate, Rev. Thomas Bucknall Lloyd. On Lilleshall Hill, in this parish, a monument was erected in 1839, to the memory of the first Duke of Sutherland; on June 20th, 1839, it was struck with lightning, and sustained considerable damage; but it was shortly after put in a state of complete reparation. On the north side is the following inscription.—
To the memory of
George Granville Leveson Gower, K G
First Duke of Sutherland,
The most just and generous of landlords.
This monument is erected
by the occupiers of his Grace’s Shropshire farms,
as a public testimony that he
went down to the grave with the blessings
of his tenants on his head,
and left behind him upon his estates
the best inheritance which a gentleman of England
can bequeath to his son:
men ready to stand by his house
heart and hand.
On the south side of the monument is the inscription, “Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s, thy God’s, and truth’s.” It is related that at the trial of Queen Caroline, the Lord Chancellor Eldon, in his charge to the peers, told them to “Be just and fear not,” when the Duke of Sutherland immediately rose from his place in the house and declared that he echoed the sentiments of his noble and learned friend on the wool sack, and would copy the immortal bard still farther by saying, “Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s, thy God’s, and truth’s.” This was the occasion of the inscription being placed on the monument. The obelisk was designed by Sir Francis Chantrey.
His Grace, in March, 1803, succeeded to the trust estates and canal of his maternal uncle, the late Duke of Bridgewater, and in October in the same year, by the death of his father, he became Marquis of Stafford, and entered into possession of the paternal estates of the Leveson branch of the family, in Staffordshire and Shropshire, and to the ancient patrimony of the Gowers of Yorkshire. For some time he filled the office of postmaster general, and was ambassador to the court of France at the commencement of the revolution in that country. His titles were George Grenville, Duke of Sutherland, Marquis of the County of Stafford, Earl Gower, Viscount Trentham, Baron Gower of Sittenham, and a baronet. His Grace was also a Knight of the Garter, and a Privy Councillor. Among the near relations of the Duke of Sutherland may be enumerated the distinguished families of Bedford, Rutland, Lansdowne, Marlborough, Dorset, Kingston, Waldegrave, Jersey, Thanet, and Warwick. The Shropshire estates of the Duke of Sutherland are upwards of 20,000 acres.
The National School, a plain brick structure a little south from the church, has an attendance of about eighty boys and sixty girls. It is supported by the Duke of Sutherland and a small charge from each scholar. There are about three roods of garden ground attached to the school, which is divided into twenty allotments, and cultivated by twenty of the senior scholars for their own benefit.