Directory.—John Dalloway, corn miller, Halford Mill; John Davies, farmer, Halford; Richard Jukes, farmer, Dinchope; Sarah Lambe, blacksmith, Newington; Richard Marston, farmer, Halford; Henry Ratcliffe, clerk; Joseph Swift, farmer, Dinchope.
HOLDGATE
is a parish in the lower division of the Munslow Hundred, which embraces the townships of Holdgate, Bouldon, and Brookhampton, and contains 1,623 acres of land. Population in 1801, 197; in 1831, 188; 1841, 224. At the latter period there were forty houses. The village of Holdgate seems once to have been a place of some note, and stands on rising ground, eleven miles north from Ludlow. The township comprises 649 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £854. At the census of 1841 there were 12 houses and 79 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Mrs. Thursby, Rev. Joseph Corbett, and George Phillips, Esq. The former is lady of the manor. There was anciently a castle here. Thomas Maudit being in arms with the rebellious barons, his castle was seized by the king and given to Hugh de Mortimer, but returning to his allegiance he had restitution of his castle at Holgot. In the 7th of Henry III., he obtained the charter for a market there every week upon a Thursday. After him William Maudit had a confirmation of the grant of the market. In the 19th of Edward I. Robert Burnel, bishop of Bath and Wells, procured a charter for changing the market day to Tuesday, and to keep a fair on the eve, the day, and on the day after the feast of the Holy Trinity. In the 15th of Richard II., Hugh Burnel, Knt., held the castle and manor of Holdgate at the yearly rent of £2. 13s. 3¼d., which was assessed upon several tenants at Clee St. Margaret. The service for the manor was to find two horsemen at Montgomery for forty days. The heiress of Burnel married Lord Lovell in the time of Edward II., in which family the inheritance rested till Jasper, of Hatfield, Earl of Pembroke, obtained a grant hereof in special trial, who, after the battle of Bosworth, was created duke of Bedford; but dying without issue, in the 24th of Henry VIII. the king gave the manor to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, and his heirs, to be held by the fourth part of a knight’s fee. The Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is evidently of Norman architecture, having the massive and lofty embattled tower peculiar to that style, adorned with rude figures, which may go far to prove the antiquity of the edifice. The principal entrance is through a fine stone doorway, with a cluster of slender pillars on each side, supporting a beautifully carved arch, the effect of which is considerably lessened by several coats of whitewash. The font is of primitive simplicity and curiously sculptured, seems coeval with the building itself, but is seen under similar disadvantage. The back of a large pew is ornamented with the coat of arms, handsomely carved in wood, of the family of Minton, who formerly resided at the Coates, in this parish. Near to the church-yard is an artificial mound called “The Mount.” It was probably thrown up to its present height for the purpose of erecting a watch-tower, or post, during the civil wars, or in the unsettled times when the warlike barons of the feudal system were perpetually invading each other’s territories. The situation is admirably adapted for this purpose, commanding, as it does, an extensive and important tract of country. The living of the church is a rectory with that of Tugford annexed, valued in the king’s book at £13. 9s. 9½d., now returned at £500, in the patronage of the Bishop of Hereford; incumbent, Rev. Joseph Corbett. In the 12th of King John it appears that the abbot of Salop had the third part of the advowson of the church at Castle Holdgate. Thomas Maudit released to him the right of patronage in two parts of the church; yet he reserved the third part to himself, for which he presented to the bishop his clerk. There is a daily school in the village. The poor of this parish enjoy a rent charge of 10s. per annum, under the will of Robert Ellis, in 1652.
Bouldon is a small township, with a few scattered houses, in the parish of Holdgate, which comprises 325 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £274. 10s. At the census of 1841 there were 13 houses and 61 inhabitants. There is a quarry in this township where stone is got in considerable quantities for building and other purposes.
Brookhampton is another township in Holdgate parish, with 549 acres of land, and in 1841 had fifteen houses and eighty-five souls; rateable value, £390. 15s. Mrs. Thursby and the Corporation of Ludlow are the landowners; the former is lady of the manor.
Directory.—Jeremiah Cox, farmer and maltster, Holdgate; William Wall, farmer, Holdgate; Edward Esq., farmer, Stanton Holdgate; William Cox, vict., Tally-Ho Inn, Bouldon; William Page, farmer, Bouldon; William Penn, corn miller, Bouldon; Richard Turner, farmer, Bouldon; Thomas Clark, farmer, Brookhampton; Thomas Edwards, farmer, Brookhampton; Ann Harper, shopkeeper, Brookhampton
HOPE BOWDLER
is a parish in the upper division of the Munslow hundred, which comprises the townships of Hope Bowdler, Chelmick, and Ragdon, and contains 1,385 acres of land. In 1801 the parish had a population of 130 souls; 1831, 202; 1841, 184; at the latter period there were thirty-four houses. The village of Hope Bowdler is pleasantly situated two and a half miles south-west from Church Stretton, and at the census of 1841 had 19 houses and 112 inhabitants: the township contains 741 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £672. 3s. 6d. Moses George Benson, Esq., is the principal landowner and lord of the manor. In the 1st of King Edward I., George de Cantilupe held Hope Bowdler by knight’s service under the barony of Montgomery. Philip Burnel, at the assizes in the 20th of King Edward I., upon a quo warranto against him, was adjudged to have free warren in this manor, with the liberty of a fair and market both granted by the king. The manor was afterwards carried in marriage by an heiress of the Burnels to John, Lord Lovel, in whose family it continued till the attainder of Francis Lord Viscount Lovel, who was slain on the 16th of June, 3rd of Henry VII., at the battle of Stoke, near Newark-upon-Trent. The Church consists of nave and chancel, with a tower in which are three bells. In the 40th of Henry III. the parson of Hope Bullers impleaded the prior of Wenlock for estovers in the prior’s wood of Sutley and Eastwood, and for the common of pasture in the said woods lying in Eaton, as appendant to the church of Hope Bullers. The Prior pleaded that Stephen de Hope, patron of the church about twenty-five years past, dissiezed the prior of the said woods, and a verdict was accordingly granted to the prior. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £6. 13s. 4d., now £228, in the patronage of certain trustees: incumbent, Rev. George W. Marsh.
Charities.—The charity commissioners state, “We are informed by the Rev. George Walkin Marsh, the rector of Hope Bowdler, that for about four years after he came to the benefice he received from his predecessor 12s. yearly, to be distributed in bread, 6s. to be given in money on St. Thomas’s day; that, upon the death of his predecessor about twenty-four years ago, he applied to his representatives for the principal, and ultimately received from them £18. This sum Mr. Marsh states he now has in his hands, that he has added thereto £4, so as to make up £22, and has signed a memorandum to that effect in one of the parish books. He pays 22s. yearly as the interest thereof, and with the churchwardens distributes to the poor of the parish 12s. yearly in bread and 10s. in money on St. Thomas’s day.”
Chelmick is a township and village in the parish of Hope Bowdler, in a romantic district near the Ragdon and Hope Bowdler hills, about a mile south from the parish church. The township contains 305 acres of land, and in 1841 had thirteen houses and fifty nine souls. Rateable value, £281. 13s. 7d. The Corporation of Ludlow are the landowners.