Wynn William, clock maker

HODNET

is a pleasantly situated and considerable village on the turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Market Drayton, thirteen miles N.N. by E. from the former, and six miles S.S. by W. from the latter. At the Domesday survey Earl Roger held Odenet, which gave name to the hundred, which has since undergone the denomination of Bradford North. In the 20th of Edward I., a quo warranto was brought against William de Hodenet, to show what right he claimed to hold a market, take assize of bread and beer, and have free warren in the manor of Hodnet; for plea he produced the charter of King Henry, father of the then king, which proved his right, and so was dismissed with honour. The jury at the same assizes found that the serjeantry of William de Hodenet was to be steward of the castle of Montgomery, and to defend the outworks of the castle with his family and servants, and that this serjeantry had been given to his ancestors by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Salop. The market at Hodnet has long been obsolete, but fairs are held on the Monday before the second Wednesday in March, May 4th, and the Monday before October 24th. These fairs are usually well attended by the farmers residing in the surrounding district. The parish of Hodnet contains the townships of Hodnet, Bolas Parva, Hawkstone, Hopton and Espley, Kenstone, Losford, Marchamley, Peplow, Woollerton and Weston under Red Castle. There are 11,596a. 1r. 6p. of land, the rateable value of which is £13,396. 6s. Population in 1801, 1386; 1831, 2097, and in 1841 there were 408 houses and 2185 inhabitants. The township of Hodnet at the census of 1841 contained 120 houses and 596 inhabitants, Odo Hodenet came into England with William the Conqueror, and fixed his seat here; from this family the estates passed by a female heiress to the Vernons, and Elisabeth Vernon carried the estates by marriage into the Heber family, from which family it again passed in like manner by an heiress to the present proprietor, Algernon Charles Heber Percy, Esq., who resides at Hodnet Hall, a plain stuccoed mansion, in a low situation, a little south from the church; it was formerly of considerable extent, and composed of timber and plaster, and the cloisters were adorned with ancient armorial bearings, but only a part of the original house is now standing, and that has been greatly modernized. Near the hall is a large mound called Castle Hill, supposed to have been the ancient residence of the Hodenets. The mound is planted with trees, and was probably the keep of the castle, but not a vestige of the stone work remains; the whole was surrounded by a moat, which may still be traced. The high grounds above the hall, which are studded with thriving plantations, were in former tithes a densely wooded park of considerable extent, and well stocked with deer. No deer have been kept there since the death of Sir Richard Vernon, who caused most of the timber to be cut down. Viscount Hill is also a considerable land owner. A. C. H. Percy is lord of the manor and patron of the living.

The Church is a spacious and elegant structure, consisting of nave and south aisle, equal in size to the nave, and an octagonal Norman tower at the west end, in which are six bells. The side aisle is divided from the nave by seven pointed arches, rising from octagonal and circular pillars alternately, and the roof is of timber stained in imitation of oak. The structure has recently undergone a complete reparation, the entire cost of which, with various embellishments, was £3,200, of which the munificent sum of £1,000 was given by Thomas Cholmondely, Esq., late of Hodnet Hall; Charles Cholmondely, Esq., gave £500; Lord Hill, £100; the parishioners raised by voluntary subscriptions £170; and the rest, £1,430, was given by the present rector. The organ cost £150, and was the gift of Richard Cholmondely, Esq.; the communion plate cost £100. The interior has a very chaste and imposing appearance, and at the east end of the chancel there is a beautiful stained glass window, commemorative of Mary Heber, who died in 1846, sister to the late Bishop Heber. At the east end of the aisle are twelve stalls, six on each side, which are for the use of the rector and the lord of the manor. The organ stands at the west end of the nave in a beautiful recessed arch. At the east end of the south aisle is a stained glass window, with representations of the four evangelists, beautifully executed by Evans, of Shrewsbury. The font is very ancient, and of an octagonal shape rudely carved. Several handsome monuments ornament the church, particularly one of fine statuary marble, exquisitely executed by Chantrey, in memory of Bishop Heber, formerly rector of this parish. Opposite it are two beautifully executed monuments of Grinshill free stone, near to which is another in the same gothic style to the memory of Charles Cooper Cholmondely, formerly rector of Hodnet, who died in 1831. Near the west end of the nave, a handsome marble tablet remembers Lord Hill and his Lady, the former died in 1814 and the latter in 1842; not far from which Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., is remembered on an elegant tablet; he died in 1783, and was buried in this church. On the same side is an elaborately ornamented tablet to the Vernon family. A lofty slate coloured marble tablet commemorates the death of several members of the Hill family; there is also an antique tablet near the pulpit to the memory of Hugh Pigot, who died in 1697, besides which there are various other monuments which our limits will not allow us to notice. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £26 0s. 10d., now returned at £2,336. The Rev. Samuel H. Macauley, B.D., is the incumbent, and resides at the rectory, an elegant mansion of free stone, built by the late Bishop Heber, in 1812; the house stands on an eminence a little S.W. from the church, and commands most delightful views of the surrounding country. The old rectory stood on the grounds adjoining the hall, a little south from the church; not far from the rectory stood the tithe barn of capacious dimensions, which, with the old parsonage, was taken down soon after the erection of the present rectory. The tithes of this parish have been commuted for £1,735. There is a national school where fifty girls and sixty boys are educated. Hodnet Common, situated on the south and south-east side of the township, contains 375 acres, the whole of which is the property of A. C. H. Percy, Esq., except about thirty acres. A considerable tract of the common was enclosed in 1850. There is a small lock-up with two cells situated on the Shrewsbury road.

The late Reginald Heber, the eminent Bishop of Calcutta, was rector of Hodnet when he was raised to the episcopal dignity of Bishop of Calcutta. He was born April 21st, 1783, at the Higher Rectory, in Malpas, of which place his father was rector. He received his education, principally under a private tutor, Mr. Bristow, at Neasdon, and in 1800 he removed to Oxford, where he was a commoner at Brazennose College, and afterwards a Fellow of All Souls. It was at Oxford that he laid the foundation of his high fame. Besides being known for his general acquisitions in scholarship, he gained every distinction which the university then had to bestow, the regular under graduates and bachelors’ prizes. He was also the successful competitor for an extraordinary prize that had been offered for an English poem on the subject of Palestine. This poem is now of standard reputation; and certainly, for splendour of imagery and for poetical diction, it has deservedly placed its author—scarce twenty years old when it was written—in an elevated rank amid our English poets. After taking his degree, Heber left the university to engage in active life. The living at Hodnet was at his option, and this circumstance, coupled with his strong religious bias, determined him to devote himself to the church as his profession. But as he was still young for holy orders, he wished to employ two or three years in foreign travel; and the customary route upon the continent then being shut up by war, he bent his steps towards Russia and the east of Europe. At length the time arrived when Heber was to devote himself seriously to the duties of his sacred profession, in the humble office of a village pastor. There is on his monument in Hodnet church, a delightful testimony how for fifteen years he performed his pastoral duties “cheerfully and diligently, with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength.” And in this calm retreat, which the subsequent changes in his fortune seemed only the more to endear him to, he would cheerfully have closed his days. But his reputation would not allow him to be buried in retirement. In 1823 he was elected preacher at Lincoln’s Inn. This was an appointment peculiarly suited to him. With what credit he acquitted himself is well known, and it was generally believed that the highest honours awaited him at home, when he was called to another sphere of action, by his acceptance of the proffered bishopric of Calcutta. Never, it is believed, did any man accept an office from a higher sense of duty; once he declined the proposal; but his exalted piety considered it as a call from heaven, from which he might not shrink; and he resolutely determined to obey the summons. His career in India was short, but brilliant. It is not easy to conceive a situation of greater difficulty than awaited him there. He had to preside over a diocese much larger in extent than the whole of Europe, with his clergy scattered about at stations thousands of miles apart, and over a body of Christians living in the midst of a multitude of misbelievers; and those Christians, if such more than in mere name, accustomed to be a law to themselves in religious matters; yet to all these difficulties Bishop Heber resolutely addressed himself. He went forth strong and invincible; first, in his trust in God, and next in that kindliness of disposition, which almost disarmed opposition. His memorable exploit was his extra-ordinary visitation of his diocese. Starting from Calcutta, he pursued the course of the Ganges almost to its source; visited Himalaya mountains; crossed the northern provinces of India; and, after visiting Bombay and the island of Ceylon, returned again to Calcutta. We may easily imagine what must have been the delight, to a mind ardent and poetical like Heber’s, to have had the opportunity of visiting scenes so interesting and so novel; and we have the advantage of knowing the impression they made on his mind, by the posthumous publication of his interesting journal. It was not long after the bishop’s return from the visitation of which we have been speaking, that he undertook another episcopal visitation, when the hand of death arrested him in his career of usefulness. On the 3rd of April, 1826, at Tritchinopoli, he was found drowned in a bath, owing, it was supposed, to the sudden transition of cold water, after great exertion in confirming some native Christians. A deep and painful sensation was produced by his unexpected decease, both in India and at home; and in him the Christian civilization in the east seemed to have lost its most zealous, most active, and most enlightened friend.

Charities.—There was an old school in the church yard at Hodnet, which was pulled down in 1814, and a new school and schoolhouse were built in the following year, in a more convenient situation, chiefly at the expense of Richard Heber, Esq., and with a sum of £25 given by Sir Andrew Corbet to the poor, as hereafter mentioned. The master of the school receives £8, as the interest of £200 left by Mrs. Sarah Price, for the endowment of a free school, and he occupies the school house, paying the church-wardens £1. 1s. annually, as interest of the £25 derived from Sir A. Corbet’s benefaction. In consideration of the above the master teaches seven scholars free. The site of the school and schoolhouse, and the garden and play ground, including altogether about a quarter of an acre, was given by Mr. Heber.—Stephen Denstone, of Ashley, left the poor of the township of Hodnet £100, the interest to be distributed on Stephen’s day yearly.—John Stirrop, in 1646, left £20 to the use of the poor. This gift is stated in the parliamentary report to be lost.—Abraham Deshin, in 1707, bequeathed £5, the interest to be given in bread on Christmas-day.—Mary Mollineux left £10, the interest to be distributed by the ministers and churchwardens.—Thomas Burrowes left £100, and directed the interest to be given away on the 2nd of December yearly.—William Burrowes bequeathed £100 to the poor of Hodnet, the interest to be given to the poor on the 23rd of September, yearly, by the minister and churchwardens.—Samuel Dickin left £20, the yearly proceeds thereof to be distributed by his heirs for ever.—Rowland Hill bequeathed £50 to the use of the poor.—Thomas Hill, Esq., son of the said Rowland Hill, left £350 for the benefit of the poor.—Mrs. Ann Catchpool left £50 to the use of the said poor.—John Hill, Esq., left £100, the interest to be expended in bread and given to the poor every Sunday.—The Right Hon. Richard Hill, in 1726, left £100 for the benefit of such poor as the minister and churchwardens should think fit.—Richard Clay, in 1750, left £100 to the poor.—Mrs. Brooke, in 1756, left £100, the interest to be given at the discretion of Sir Rowland Hill and his heirs.—Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., by a codicil to his will, 1779, left £100 to the poor of this parish, to be distributed at the discretion of his executor.—Mrs. Jane Hill left £100.—Sir Richard Hill, by his will, dated January 1st, 1808, left to his brother, John Hill, £300, on trust, to pay the interest of £100 thereof, at the rate of five per cent., among the poor of the parish of Hodnet, one half to be reserved for the poor of the chapelry of Weston.—Mr. Grocott left £5 to be given in bread yearly.—Stephen Stubbs, in 1815, left £10, the interest to be distributed yearly on St. Stephen’s day. A legacy of £50 was left by Sir Rowland Hill for the schooling of poor children. Some lands called Steel Lands were sold by the parish about the year 1750 for £92. The gifts amount in the whole to £1355, of which sum £150 were laid out in the purchase of a messuage and lands at Hodnet in 1701; £56 in the purchase of two cottages at Hodnet in 1728; £175 were paid into the hands of Sir John Hill; £431 in the purchase of an estate at Wem: £450 were held by Sir Rowland Hill, derived from the charities of Sir Rowland Hill, and other members of that family, and a further sum of £138 from other sources. The property at Hodnet consists of certain lands and a cottage and poor house with a garden and croft adjoining, and a cottage and croft on Hodnet Heath, with a right of common thereon, the whole of which produces a yearly income of £35. 12s., which is distributed with other charities hereafter mentioned. The property at Wem consists of five closes of land, lying in two detached parcels near the town, containing altogether about twelve acres and a half, let at a yearly rent of £40. The sum of £160 placed in the hands of Sir Richard Hill was subsequently laid out in the buildings at Hodnet. The rents derived from the estates above mentioned, and the interest of the sum of £77, with the produce of Price’s and Sir A. Corbet’s charities hereafter mentioned, amounted at the time the charity commissioners published their report to £93. 1s. 6d. The rent of the Wem estate is received by the churchwardens of Marchamley division, and the remainder of the rents is received by the churchwardens appointed for the division of Hodnet. Four shillings worth of bread is placed in the church every Sunday, and given to 32 poor persons, and bread to the amount of 15s. is also given on St. Stephen’s-day, and 5s. on Christmas-day. Each of the churchwardens pays equally towards the weekly distribution of bread, and each of them gives 30s. away on St. Stephen’s day, as the interest of Denstone’s legacy. The churchwardens of Marchamley also pay about 30s. annually towards schooling poor children at Marchamley. The remainder of the money is distributed by the churchwardens among the poor of their respective districts, in sums varying from 3s. to 8s. Of the money in the hands of Sir Rowland Hill, exclusive of the sum of £200 mentioned in the school account, and £77 for which a promissory note was given in 1818, the charity commissioners conceived that it could not be less than £558 when they published their report, for which the sum of £21 is paid as interest, and distributed by the rector of Hodnet, and a further sum of £4. 8s. is received by the curate of Weston chapelry, which is distributed in small sums among the poor.—The Rev. Richard Price, in 1730, devised certain premises to the poor of Drayton and Hodnet, and directed that £5 per annum should be distributed in bread every Lord’s day, and the residue employed for the schooling of poor children in each place. The property now held by the churchwardens of Hodnet in trust for this charity consists of three pieces of land in Drayton, containing between three and four acres, which produces a yearly rental of £12. 11s. 6d. The rents are carried to one account with the other charity money, from which a very small portion only is disposed of in schooling. It seems advisable that the rents should be employed according to the particular directions of the donor.—Sir Andrew Corbet, in 1815, gave £25 to the use of the poor of Hodnet. This donation was laid out in the building of a new school, and the yearly sum of £1. 1s. is paid in respect thereof by the master of the school to the churchwardens, by whom it is distributed with the other charities.

Post Office.—At Mr. Edward Jones’, schoolmaster. Letters arrive at 8 A.M. from Market Drayton, and are despatched at 6 P.M.

Acton Rev. William, B.A., curate

Ashley Ann, schoolmistress

Ashley George, wheelwright