Williams Mrs. Sarah H. H., Eaton Mascot

CONDOVER

is a considerable parish, embracing 7,422a. 3r. 21p. of land, of which 6,632 are titheable, and the remainder tithe free. In 1801 there was a population of 1,451 souls; 1831, 1,455; and at the census in 1851 there were 1,550 inhabitants. The parish embraces the townships and hamlets of Condover, Dorrington, Bayston, Chatford, Boreton, Lyth, Ryton, Westley, and Wheatall. The rectoral tithes have been commuted for £1,303. 5s. E. W. S. Owen, Esq., is the impropriator. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £211. 5s. The village of Condover is pleasantly situated in a fertile vale, five miles south from Shrewsbury, on the road leading towards Church Stretton and Ludlow. It is a place of considerable antiquity, and retains the same name as entered in the Doomsday book. William the Conqueror gave Condover to Roger de Montgomery, who gave the church thereof to the abbey of Shrewsbury. Upon the attainder of the last Earl of Shrewsbury of that family, it was seized by King Henry I., and continued in the hands of the crown until the 11th of Henry III., when that king granted it to his sister, the Princess of Wales. It was subsequently granted to the Hastings, in whose family it continued till the time of Edward I., when Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells, became possessed of it by purchase. From the Burnells it passed to the Lovells, and Lord Viscount Lovell forfeited it to the crown. King Henry VIII. granted it to Richard Cornwell for the term of his life, and afterwards to Henry Knyvett and his heirs male. George and John Isam, who had the fee of this manor, sold it to Thomas Owen, Esq., whose representative, Edward William Smythe Owen, Esq., a considerable landowner in this neighbourhood, is now the proprietor, and resides at The Hall, an elegant mansion in the Elizabethan style of architecture, built in the year 1598. It is surrounded by a park of considerable extent, beautifully diversified with picturesque scenery. The Owen family suffered much for their adherence to the royal cause during the civil wars.

The Church, which was appropriated to the abbey of Shrewsbury, is dedicated to St. Andrew. The living is a discharged vicarage, to which belong all vicarial tithes and a rent charge of £69, payable out of the Moot Hall estate. It is valued in the king’s book at £4. 14s. Edward W. S. Owen, Esq., is the patron; incumbent, Rev. J. W. Harden.

Bayston Hill is a pleasantly situated village on the road from Shrewsbury to Ludlow, partly in the parish of Condover and partly in St. Julien’s parish. A small District Church was built here about eight years ago, the necessary funds for which were raised by voluntary subscriptions. The structure consists of nave and chancel, and a square tower. The living is a perpetual curacy, enjoyed by the Rev. John Breese. Bayston township, at the census of 1841, is returned as having 148 houses and 1,193 inhabitants; Chatford township, five houses and 29 inhabitants; and Dorrington, 66 houses and 328 inhabitants. The above townships comprise the whole parish.

Charities.—Thomas Owen, justice of the Common Pleas, in 1598 charged certain lands, at Great Ryton, with the payment of 53s. yearly, and directed a distribution of bread to be made every Sunday after divine service. Henry Brickdale, in 1700, bequeathed £44, to be laid out in land, and the proceeds expended in bread, and distributed to six poor housekeepers every Sunday. This bequest, and certain gifts in the hands of the parish officers of Condover and Pulverbatch, amounting in the whole to £65. 17s. 6d. was laid out in 1709, in the purchase of a rent charge of £2. 11s. 8d., of which £1. 5s. 10d. is applied in a distribution of bread in Condover; 6s. 8d. is carried to the church rate, and the remaining part of the rent charge, 20s., is given in bread among the poor in Pulverbatch. William Haynes gave £1. 6s. per annum, which is charged on lands in Berrington. It is stated, in the Parliamentary returns of 1786, that Mr. Owen left land for bread to the poor, then vested in the Rev. Mr. White, and producing £2. 12s. per annum. Mr. White was the vicar of this parish, and he and his successors have always paid this sum, which, with the above, is added to the bread charity. Henry Haynes, in 1659, left a rent charge of 26s. per annum, issuing out of land at Netley, for the benefit of the poor. The owner of this property, Mr. Hope, in the year 1800, sold it to Mr. Edwards; but the charge was accidentally omitted to be mentioned in the conveyance, and Mr. Hope continues to pay the rent charge. Richard Plumer in 1811, bequeathed £50, in trust, the interest to be distributed on Christmas day yearly. This money is placed in the Salop bank, and the proceeds expended in bread for the poor. Benjamin Price, in 1797, gave the poor of the parish of Condover £50, to be given in bread; one-half exclusively to such poor as should reside in Dorrington, without regard to what parish they should belong. He also gave to the churchwardens and overseers of Condover, £500 stock three per cent. consols, in trust, to receive the interest, and purchase bread therewith for the most distressed poor, one-third of which interest, or £5 per annum, he directed should be yearly laid out exclusively for poor persons residing in Dorrington; and the remaining two-thirds in like manner for the poor residing in the remaining part of the parish. The sum of £50 above mentioned, was given away soon after the testator’s death. The dividends of the £500 stock ore applied in the purchase of bread, and given away on two different days in the year. Joseph Pryce, in 1824, directed his executors to invest £200, free of legacy duty, in public stock, and to apply the dividends thereof, as the same should from time to time be received, in providing a competent person to superintend the education of poor children residing at Dorrington. This sum of £200 was laid out together with the like sum belonging to the chapelry, in purchasing £453. 16s. 3d. stock, in the three per cent. consols, immediately after the testator’s death. The share of the dividends applicable to this charity, amounting to £6. 16s. 1d. annually, is paid to a person who keeps a school at Dorrington, who in respect thereof, teaches six or eight children without any charge. It is stated on the table of benefactions that Edward Owen left 12d. weekly to the poor. The churchwardens used to receive this charity at Condover Hall, but it does not appear that anything has been paid in respect of this charity since the year 1804. Benjamin Hodges gave £10 for the benefit of the poor, this sum was in the hands of the churchwardens, who paid 8s. yearly previous to the year 1805, since which nothing has been paid in respect of this charity. John Reynolds left £50, the interest to be given by the churchwardens among the poor. In 1786 this sum was vested in the overseers, who paid £2 per annum as the interest. The same interest was paid by the overseers to the churchwardens up to the year 1829. In that year the church was broken open and the communion plate stolen; and it was agreed, at a vestry, that the sum of £50 owing by the overseers to the churchwardens should be called in and laid out in the purchase of plate, which was accordingly done. The parishioners contend that this was money lent by the churchwardens to the overseers, out of the rents of the church lands, but as there is no entry in the churchwardens accounts to justify such a notion, it appears to us more likely to have been the produce of Reynolds’ charity, which was in the hands of the overseers in 1786, and which is not otherwise accounted for.

There are two parcels of land in the parish of Condover, which forms what is called the Church Estate, one parcel containing 6a. 3r. 23p. is situate in the township of Dorrington, and the other containing 8a. 2r. 29p. is situate at Mount Sion, in the same parish. These lands were originally given for the reparations of the church, and other things thereto appertaining. The land at Dorrington is let for £22 per annum, and the land at Mount Sion at the yearly rent of £9. The amount is applied by the churchwardens to the general purpose of a church rate.

Condover, Bayston, Boreton, Chatford, Lyth, Ryton, Westley, and Wheathall Directories.

Bowen John, shoemaker, Wheathall

Boyer Thomas, maltster, Condover