The late Rev. Walter Davies, rector of Manafon, in his Historical notice of Llansilin, published in the first volume of the Cambro-Briton, says, “In 1699 there was a well in the parish of Oswestry, called Ffynnon Maen Tysilio, where the inhabitants resorted to celebrate their annual Wake.”
Oswestry Show, long since discontinued, was generally held on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday. As a pageant it bore no comparison with Shrewsbury Show. The incorporated companies of the town walked in procession, preceded with flags, bands of music, &c.
“There was formerly,” says the Oswestry Herald, “a castle at Maesbury, in that township, as we find from Domesday Book. Rainald the Sheriff (all whose estates devolved on the Fitz-Alans,) held Maesburie under Roger et ibi fecit Rainaldus Castellum Lvvre.” No mention of this castle is made by Pennant, Bingley, or any subsequent historian or tourist.
Poor Rate Return.
OSWESTRY TOWN AND PARISH (1855.)
Town and Parish. | Acreage | Gross Rental | Rateable value | ||||||
A. | R. | P. | £ | S. | D. | £ | S. | D. | |
Oswestry Town & Liberties. | 1753 | 2 | 24 | 16604 | 18 | 6 | 14933 | 13 | 0 |
Ditto Parish | 13911 | 1 | 31 | 22280 | 0 | 0 | 20052 | 10 | 3 |
Sketches
OF
The Environs of Oswestry.
Sufficient has been said in these pages to justify much more extended notices than we can give to the ancient castles, fine old mansions, and modern residences of wealthy proprietors in this neighbourhood, imparting as they do so much additional beauty and interest to the bold and picturesque natural scenery in the midst of which they are so tastefully situated. Oswestry, as we have already described, is not only a pretty town, but historically curious; and the charms of nature and art surrounding it render it still more worthy of admiration. We append brief descriptions of neighbouring places, all fixed near the Border Lands of England and Wales, whose history teems with glowing narratives of embattled hosts, of fierce chieftains in bright array, and of minstrels famed
“In Cambria’s noon of story,
Ere bright she set in glory!”
Almost every nook and corner has its historic tale, its love or war-song, or its tradition. These remains of ancient times and deeds of bravery, with natural beauties superadded,—mountains, valleys, and rivers, of surpassing loveliness, have invested the Environs of Oswestry with an enduring interest with which few, if any other towns in the kingdom, can vie. Our District Sketches, being arranged alphabetically, will commence with