Wild Samuel, farmer, Upton

Wilkes Samuel, Brewar’s Oak farm

STOCKTON

is a parish and village on the turnpike road from Bridgnorth to Shiffnal, five miles N.N.E. from the former town and five miles S.E. from the latter. At the census in 1801 there were 409 inhabitants; 1831, 459; 1841, 422, and in 1851 88 houses and 479 inhabitants, of whom 237 were males and 242 females. The parish embraces the hamlets of Apley, Higford, Norton, and part of Cheswardine-lane, and contains 3,162a. 0r. 21p. of land, of which 1,065a. 1r. 37p. are in Apley; the park and pleasure grounds contain 484 acres, and there are 79a. 3r. 19p. in the red deer park. Rateable value, £4,262. 17s. The soil is various, in some parts a light loam upon a red sand prevails, in other parts the soil is strong, and in some places there is a mixture of gravel. The strong soil yields fine crops of barley and wheat, the meadow lands on the banks of the Severn produce a fine herbage, and is highly fertile. Considerable flocks of sheep are kept in this parish. Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P., is lord of the manor, and owner of the whole parish. The vicinity of Stockton is pleasingly diversified with hill and dale, and beautified with romantic scenery; the high grounds command some fine views of the distant country, and the woody scenery in the immediate neighbourhood. Within the last few years several handsome residences have been erected, and some of the older houses have been modernized and beautified. The farms in this parish are of considerable extent, and by a judicious outlay of capital and superior management have been brought to a state of high productiveness. A court leet and court baron is held every five years at the Hundred House Inn, Norton.

The Church, dedicated to St. Chad, is a venerable structure of free stone, (some portions of which have been rough cast,) consisting of nave and chancel, with a square tower, in which are five bells and a clock; the ceiling is of panelled oak, with projecting rests, on which are carved figures of the twelve apostles; the ceiling of the chancel is also of beautiful dark oak, and the pulpit and reading desk are elaborately carved. The living is a rectory, with the curacy of Boningale annexed, valued in the king’s book at £13. 11s. 3d., in the patronage of Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Charles Blaney Cavendish Whitmore, M.A.; the Rev. Stutville Isaacson, M.A., is the officiating minister. The tithes are commuted for £635. 15s., and there are 184a. 2r. 26p. of glebe land. The rectory is a commodious brick structure pleasantly situated a short distance from the church. There is a commodious school and residence for the teachers at Norton, which is supported by the munificence of T. C. Whitmore, Esq. At the present time there are about one hundred children instructed in this school.

Apley Park is the magnificent seat of Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P. for the borough of Bridgnorth. The mansion is an elegant structure of the Grinshill free stone, in the castellated style of architecture, with polygonal turrets at the angles, and a porch of three arches at the entrance of the eastern front. A lofty square tower ornaments the centre of the southern front, and on the north is a domestic chapel. It stands on a gentle eminence, and exhibits a noble specimen of architectural skill and superb workmanship, and may justly be considered one of the most costly and splendid mansions in the county of Shropshire. The terrace is one of the most extensive and delightful in the kingdom, and commands fine views over a park richly adorned with sylvan beauty and stocked with red deer; the windings of the Severn, whose silvery waters are seen through the rich foliage, forming an interesting object in the views. The gardens, pleasure grounds, greenhouses, and vineries are extensive, and stocked with a profusion of the choicest flowers and rare plants, which exhibit a luxuriance and beauty that show them to be under the management of a skilled gardener. This manor before the reign of Henry III. belonged to the family of Huggeford, from whom it passed in marriage to Sir Thomas Lucy. Its proprietor, Sir Thomas Lucy, disposed of the manors of Stockton, Apley, and Huggeford, and the estates within the parish, with the advowson of the church of Stockton, in 1551, to William Whitmore, Esq., of Oxton, near London,—a gentleman whose ancestors had long been resident at Whitmore, in the parish of Claverley. The above William Whitmore was a merchant who had acquired an immense fortune by trading with Spain in fine cloth, being a freeman of the Haberdashers’ Company, London. The abundant wealth of this great merchant laid the foundation of the future prospects of this respectable family, who soon after increased their possessions around their ancient patrimony, as well as in many other counties in the kingdom. Sir George Whitmore, Knight, the second son of the above William, was Lord Mayor of London in 1632. Sir William Whitmore, Knight, of Apley, was sheriff in this county in 1620, in which year he was elected member of parliament for Bridgnorth, of which borough his successors, the Whitmores, of Apley, have almost uniformly been representatives. The Whitmores were distinguished for their loyalty and sufferings in the troublous times of the great rebellion; and among the gentlemen of this county who compounded for the estates during the commonwealth, we find Sir Thomas Apley, of Whitmore, paid £5,000. Apley House was besieged by the parliamentary forces under Sir John Price, when Sir W. Whitmore and his son, Sir Francis Oateley, Mr. Owen, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Griffiths, and about sixty soldiers were taken prisoners.

The South Lodge at Norton is the residence of William H. Austin, Esq., a neat and pleasantly situated mansion, beautified with tasteful pleasure grounds.

Charities.—Mr. Thomas Talbot, in 1678, bequeathed £34 for the use of the poor of the parish of Stockton, the interest to be expended in bread. John Gough gave £30, and directed the yearly produce to be expended in bread, and given among six poor people. This legacy, as well as Talbots, was placed on private security in the hands of Mr. Thomason, who gave his note of hand for the same. Mrs. Eleanor Church, in 1798, gave to the churchwardens of Stockton £20, the interest to be given to the poor of the parish in bread on the first Sunday after the 26th of May. This money was also lent to Mr. Thomason. The interest of these three legacies now forms one fund for the distribution of bread, amounting to £4. 4s. a year. The annual cost of the loaves distributed when the charity commissioners published their report was £3. 9s. 4d. It did not appear why the whole of the interest had not been yearly expended, but the party holding the money agreed to pay up the principal, which it was intended to deposit in the Bridgnorth Savings’ Bank.

An omnibus leaves the Hundred House Inn twice a day, for the conveyance of passengers to and from the station at Shiffnal, and to Bridgnorth.

Post Office.—Receiving house at Mrs. Margaret Summer’s.