In the garden is a tomb placed over the body of Edward Burton, Esq., a zealous protestant in Queen Mary’s days, and is by Fox, in his Acts and Monuments, named among those who by various means escaped persecution. He one day sitting in his parlour alone, meditating on the troubles of the times, and the deliverances he and others had found; and whilst thus reflecting heard a general ring of bells in Shrewsbury, which he concluded must be for the accession of the Lady Elizabeth to the throne. Anxious to know the truth, and not daring to send any of his servants to inquire, he sent his eldest son—a youth about sixteen years of age, ordering him if the bells rang for the Lady Elizabeth’s accession to throw his hat up into the air on his arrival at a certain place where he could he seen from the hall. The young man finding it as was expected, threw up his hat, which his father seeing, was suddenly affected with a transport of joy, that he with difficulty reached a chair, and immediately expired. By his will he ordered that his body should be buried in the parish church of St. Chad, in Shrewsbury, and that no mass monger should be present at his interment. His friends designing to execute his will in this respect, brought his corpse to the church, and were there met by the curate, who said that “Mr. Burton was an heretic and should not be buried in his church.” His friends were therefore obliged to carry his body back again, and bury it in his own garden. A monument was set over him, which, being injured and defaced with the weather, Edward Burton, Esq., his grandson, in the year 1614, re-edified the tomb. The following is the epitaph placed on the tomb, written by Sir Andrew Corbet, Bart.:—
“Was’t for denying Christ, or some notorious fact,
That this man’s body Christian burial lack’d?
Oh no! his faithful true profession,
Was the chief cause, which was then held transgression;
When popery here did reign, the See of Rome,
Would not admit to any such a tomb,
Within their idol temple walls; but he
Truly professing Christianity,
Was like Christ Jesus in a garden laid,
Where he shall rest in peace till it be said—
Come faithful servant, come, receive with me,
A just reward for thy integrity.”—1614.
There is a free school at Longner, situated in the park, which is supported by R. Burton, Esq.; 42 children are now taught in the school.
The principal residents at Longner are Robert Burton, Esq., Longner hall, and Robert Weatherby, schoolmaster.
FITZ
is a parish and village delightfully situated on a gentle eminence 5¾ miles N.W. from Shrewsbury; the country around is fertile, and pleasingly diversified with graceful undulations; the scenery is very beautiful, and includes the picturesque windings of the river Severn. The parish contains 1512a. 1r. 32p. of land; in 1801 there were 236 inhabitants; in 1831, 211, and in 1841 fifty houses and a population of 246 souls. Rateable value, £2,774. 6s. The river Perry intersects the township, and has its confluence with the Severn a little below Mytton. The soil is rich, producing good wheat and barley, and there is some rich pasture land. The Shrewsbury and Chester railway passes this township over Leaton Heath, where there is a station, about a mile and a half from Fitz.
The Church, dedicated to St. Paul, is situated on an eminence, and consists of nave and chancel, with a lofty square tower, in which is one bell. It is a birch fabric with stone finishings, and contains a fine toned organ; the pews are of oak, and there are some interesting monuments within its sacred walls to the families of Wood, Powell, Lloyd, Jones, Denstons, Hopkins, Pytons and others; it is also beautified with two finely executed stained glass windows. Twenty-two free sittings were added in 1842, at the expense of the Rev. William Hopkins, then rector of this parish. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s books at £5. 5s. 8d., now returned at £272 in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, and incumbency of the Rev. Daniel Nihill, M.A., who resides at the rectory, a pleasantly situated mansion near the church. There are 34a. 2r. 1p. of glebe land, and the tithes were commuted in 1839 for £266. There is a neat school in the village, built in 1850, at the cost of near £100, which was raised by subscriptions, and a collection in the church; 45 children are instructed. A residence has been provided for the master near the school.
The Hall, a handsome stuccoed mansion, pleasantly situated and beautified with pleasure grounds, is the residence and property of Richard Middleton, Esq. Among the land owners in the parish are John A. Lloyd, Esq.; Robert A. Slaney, Esq., M.P.; Richard Middleton, Esq.; Mr. Joseph Hignett, Mrs. Morris, Mr. Richard Vaughan, Rev. Edward H. Dymock, Mr. Richard Lloyd, James Payne, Esq., Mr. James Davies, Devisees of late Sir John Betton, and others. The Duke of Cleveland is the lord of the manor.
MYTTON
is a scattered village in the parish of Fitz, salubriously situated, containing some good residences, and surrounded with picturesque scenery. Mytton is celebrated as the birth place of Edward Waring, M.D., whose mathematical publications prove the extent and profundity of his knowledge. He was born in the year 1734, and after being educated at Shrewsbury free school, was sent on one of Millington’s exhibitions to Magdalen College, Cambridge, where he applied himself with such assiduity to the study of Mathematics, that when he left the university he carried with him the credit of being one of the most able mathematicians that ever filled the professor’s chair. In 1776 he entered into a matrimonial connection with Miss Oswell, and not many years after retired from the university, first to a house in Shrewsbury, and at length to his own estate at Plealey, near Pontesbury, where he died on the 15th of August, 1798, in the 64th year of his age.—Grafton is another small village in the parish of Fitz. Here are several good farms, and Grafton Lodge, a good house pleasantly situated, the residence of John Henry Denston, Esq.