COUND
is a parish and small village delightfully situated six miles S.S.E. from Shrewsbury, and six miles N.W. from Much Wenlock. The township contains 1,406 acres of land, and in 1841 had 107 houses and 511 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,006. Mrs. Thursby is the principal landowner and lady of the manor. The church is an ancient structure, consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower, in which is a peal of bells. It contains several monuments, one of which remembers Edward Cressett, D.D., bishop of Llandaff, who died February 13th, 1755. The pulpit exhibits an elaborate specimen of oak carving. The living is a rectory with the chapelry of Cressage annexed, valued in the king’s book at £33, now returned at £906. The patronage is vested in Mrs. Thursby; incumbent, Rev. Henry Thursby, M.A.
Harnage is a scattered village containing some respectable residences, one and a half miles S.E. from Cound: the township contains 1,642 acres of land, the principal owner of which is John Thomas Smytheman Edwards, Esq.; the population returns are included in Cound. Rateable value, £1,854. 6s.
Golding is an estate of 385 acres, the property of the Earl of Liverpool. It is rated as a separate township in the parish books at £441. There was however no distinct return of it as a separate township at the census of 1841.
Charities.—Thomas Langley, in 1694, left a rent charge of £2. 10s. per annum for a distribution of bread every Sunday in the year except two, “for which two Sundays better provision was made.” Thomas Bishop, in 1768, bequeathed to the minister and churchwardens of Cound £20, the interest to be given in penny loaves to the churchwardens on Sunday mornings. A further sum of £60, supposed to have been left by a person of the name of Sicke, for the benefit of the poor of the parish, with the above £20, was laid out in the purchase of £102. 4s. 9d. stock, three per cent consols. Mr. Dodd, in 1774, left £20, the interest to be distributed in bread to the poor. There is a sum of £100, three per cent consols, standing in the name of John Dodson Esq., which was purchased with £50, a legacy left by Richard Dutton, to poor housekeepers, and £10. 2s. 6d. added by John Dodson Esq.; of the dividends 30s. are distributed in Cressage and an equal amount among the poor of Cound. Richard Cheese, in 1808, bequeathed £50 in trust, and directed the interest to be distributed in bread to the poor on Christmas day. This bequest was subsequently invested in the purchase of £65. 18s., three per cent consols.
Marked 1 reside at Cound, 2 Harnage.
1 Thursby Mrs. Frances, The Hall
1 Thursby Rev. Henry, M.A., rector
1 Bowen Edward, schoolmst
2 Brazener Miss Ann