However despicable the royal army appeared when it marched from Nottingham, its improvement was rapid on its arrival in Shrewsbury, so that in about twenty days it mustered 12000 men, chiefly persons of considerable property, from the neighbouring parts. But they were exceedingly ill equipped, for says Clarendon; “In the whole body not a pikeman had a corselet, and very few musketeers had swords.”—Add to this, that there was not a single tent, and very few waggons attached to the whole train. With this ill accoutred but high spirited body, Charles took his leave of Shrewsbury, on the 12th of October, 1642.
On the departure of the king, a garrison was left in town, of which Lord Capel was appointed governor, and a fort was erected on an eminence above Frankwell, to secure that quarter from attack. Capel was severally succeeded by Sir Fulke Hunkes (a relative of the celebrated Baxter, the non-conformist,) Sir Richard Otteley, and Sir Michael Earnley. This gentleman was in a very declining state of health, in consequence of which many disorders crept in among the garrison, and gave the commanders of the parliamentary forces in the neighbourhood, opportunity to attempt the conquest of so important a post. After two unsuccessful attempts by Colonels Mitton, and Langhorne, two enterprising officers, they at length attained the object of their wishes. Having arrived before the town with fifteen hundred picked men of the garrisons of Wem and Oswestry, they contrived to convey eight carpenters up the river, who were landed within a breast work on the east side of the castle hill, and notwithstanding they were fired on by the centinels, they continued to cut down a sufficient quantity of palisadoes to enable the troops to enter. After storming a rampart beneath the Council House, a large body of troops entered by St. Mary’s Water-Lane, where the guard, having been intoxicated or bribed, made no resistance. Having opened the north gate, the horse immediately marched in, commanded by Cols. Mitton and Bowyer.—The consternation of the inhabitants may be easily imagined. The preceding night they had retired to rest, confident in their supposed security, but by daylight in the morning they were in the hands of their enemies; and, notwithstanding the humane exertions of Col. Mitton, the soldiery were not to be restrained from plundering the peaceably disposed of their private property. The first intimation which the governor received of the surprise of the town, was the entrance of some of his enemies into his chamber, where he fell covered with wounds, repeatedly refusing quarter, being determined not to outlive the disgrace of the day. The English part of the garrison were suffered to march to Ludlow, but the Irish were left to the discretion of Col. Mitton. The fort at Frankwell bravely held out till night, but finding resistance useless, at length surrendered at discretion. A number of prisoners of rank were taken, besides 15 pieces of cannon, a large stand of arms, and the whole of prince Maurice’s magazine. Nor did the plate and valuable effects of many of the surrounding gentry, placed in the castle for security, during the turbulence of the times, meet a better fate: the whole of it to a vast amount, falling into the hands of the victors. For this important achievement, Colonel Mitton received the thanks of Parliament. The fall of Shrewsbury was a death blow to Charles’s expectations in this quarter; for besides its being the key to North Wales, it caused the dissolution of a formidable confederacy between the counties of Salop, Worcester, Chester and Flint, then on the eve of assembling to defend the falling fortunes of their king.
After the battle of Worcester, so fatal to the royal cause, a commission was sent to Chester by the Parliament, to try the Earl of Derby, and other gentlemen on charges of treason and rebellion; or in other words, for having borne arms in defence of Charles. One of these was Colonel John Benbow, who, in the beginning of the contest, had united with the parliamentary army, and distinguished himself at the surprise of Shrewsbury. Afterwards, disgusted with the violent proceedings against the king, and perceiving that the object of the leaders of his party was private aggrandizement, and not the welfare of their country, he left them and repaired to the royal standard. This was a crime which could not be pardoned; he was therefore condemned to death. That his punishment might be rendered most bitter, the sentence was pronounced by Colonel Mackworth, once his friend and fellow soldier; and it was ordered to be executed at his native town of Shrewsbury, that a terrible impression might be made on the inhabitants of that loyal place. He was shot on the green before the castle, October 15, 1651, and suffered with great intrepidity. This respectable officer was uncle to the celebrated admiral Benbow.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to surprise the castle, in order to favour the restoration of Charles the second, in 1654, but it ended merely in plunging the king’s friends still deeper in misery and ruin: among the most active in this enterprise was Sir Thomas Harris, who suffered most severely for his well intended zeal. After Cromwell’s death, and the restoration of the long parliament, upon Sir George Booth’s rising in Cheshire for the king, the venerable Sir Thomas Middleton, then 80 years of age, proclaimed him at Wrexham, which so much encouraged the royalists of Shropshire and Denbighshire, that they immediately sent a party to seize Shrewsbury, but though the friends of monarchy were very numerous in it, Captain Edmund Waringe of Oldbury, the governor, prevented their design, and secured the place for the parliament. In 1683, when the nation was thrown into a ferment, by the discovery of the Rye House Plot, this town was one of those which the conspirators, presuming on its general disaffection to the government of Charles the second, proposed to have seized. Such at least was the deposition of the infamous Colonel Romsey, a wretch on whose head lies the blood of the virtuous and patriotic Russel—who adds, in his narrative, that there were in the castle 38 barrels of powder, 138 pounds in the barrel, with arms for 300 men and great guns. “The castle,” he, observes, “is strong by situation, and lies so conveniently, that either from the north or west, or Midland, or Wales, the rebellious party might easily resort thither.”
The last royal visit paid to this town was by the bigotted James the second, who passed the 25th of August, 1687, here, and kept his court at the Council House. The sentiments of loyal attachment, for which Shrewsbury has ever been conspicuous, burst forth on this occasion, with chivalrous enthusiasm.—They blazed in bonfires and illuminations, and literally ran through the streets in torrents of wine, the public conduits being charged with this royal liquid.
Having brought down the general history of Shrewsbury to a late date, we shall now proceed to view its local character. There is no doubt that its Trade was formerly very considerable, and though its importance in this respect may have been eclipsed by the more eligible situation of numerous other places for the manufacture of various articles, it has never ceased to enjoy a considerable share of internal commerce. Heylyn speaks of it as “a fair and goodly town, well traded and frequented by all sorts of people, both Welsh and English, by reason of the trade of cloth, and other Merchandise; it being the common mart or emptory between Wales and England,” and Mr. Pennant, who wrote his account of Shrewsbury above 40 years ago, gives the following account of its trade in Welsh woollens: “From very early days this place possessed almost exclusively the trade with Wales in a coarse kind of woollen cloth called Welsh webs, which were brought from Merioneth and Montgomeryshires to a market held here weekly on Thursday. They were afterwards dressed, that is, the wool raised on one side, by a set of people called Shearmen. At the time of Queen Elizabeth, the trade was so great, that not fewer than 600 persons maintained themselves by this occupation. The cloth was sent chiefly to America to clothe the negroes, or to Flanders; where it is used by the peasants. At present the greatest part of this traffic is diverted into other channels, and not more than 4 or 5000 yards are brought to the ancient mart.” This market is now entirely done away, through an unfortunate disagreement between the manufacturers of these articles and the drapers of Shrewsbury, and the market is now held at Welsh Pool every other Thursday. The mode of raising the wool on one side, described by Mr. Pennant, being found to be injurious to the texture of the cloth, the number of shearman has considerable declined, insomuch that there are only a few in the town at this time. Beside, its trade in Welsh flannels and webs, a brewery appears to have been established here in 1618; and in the reign of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth it was famous for its glove and shoe manufactory.
Nor is the trade carried on in Shrewsbury at this period inconsiderable—being the capital of a large and populous county, its vicinity to the principality of Wales, and the facility with which articles of every description are forwarded either by land or water carriage, render it an extensive mart for the disposal of goods. Here are two very large linen factories, besides manufactories for starch, soap, flannels, cotton goods, an extensive iron and brass foundry, two ale and porter breweries, a spirit distillery, &c. which will be noticed under their proper heads, as well as various mechanical trades which are common to all other large towns, and which contribute in no small degree to the accumulation of wealth, to the enjoyment of the conveniences of life, and to the power of benevolent actions by the inhabitants.
Shrewsbury is also famed for its excellent brawn and a kind of sweet flat cake, whose good qualities are celebrated by the elegant pen of Shenstone,
“For here each season do those cakes abide,
Whose honoured names the inventive city own,
Rend’ring thro’ Britain’s isle, Salopia’s praises known.”
With the increase of trade and riches we must also connect that of its population and its consequent extension of buildings. In the reign of Edward the Confessor there were only 252 houses here, and the earliest calculation of the number of inhabitants on record is in 1695; the town then contained 7383 persons—in 1750, there were 8141 inhabitants and 1884 houses. In the years 1801, 1811, and 1821, enumerations were made, agreeable to orders of the House of Commons, and which are here subjoined: