Walking the Boundaries.—A general custom formerly, but observed now in very few places. The Mayor, Churchwardens, Overseers, &c., of Oswestry walked the boundaries in 1813, and that was the last occasion of this ancient observance.
Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Royal Oak Day, Corpus Christi Day, Oswestry Wake, All Saints’ Eve, St. Swithin’s Day, &c., have become, so far as rude observances are concerned, mere relics of past days. Our ancestors marked all these days with scrupulous attention; but few if any men of the present time have boldness enough to set them apart for rejoicing and merriment—for feast and carnival—as in days of yore. Gunpowder Plot (Nov. 5) is occasionally noticed by boys, discharging pop-guns, and alarming the lieges with bonfires, effigies, squibs and crackers; but that absurd and bigoted observance is in its downward course, no one being interested in its continuance at present but the pyrotechnists, who tempt boys to spend their money in rockets, blue-lights, and other combustibles.
Christmas.—Some twenty years ago Christmas morn was ushered in with the singing of carols by “wakeful Waits,” thus joyfully celebrating the opening of this truly-festive anniversary, and this custom is still partially observed. The singers of the Parish Church also greeted the inhabitants at their several dwellings with sounds of grateful melody. No longer is this latter custom maintained, but Christmas Day is marked as a sacred and solemn festival; “the rich and the poor meet together;” on that day the conventionalities of rank and dignity are thrown aside; hospitality prevails in every house in the land, from the palace to the cottage; families are collected together to partake of that day’s joyful festivity; and the nation at large presents the delightful picture of one happy family. The rich administer kindly to the poor, and all hearts are touched with benevolence or gratitude. Long may our merry Christmas-tides thus be observed; for such customs are based on true religion, which teaches men “to love one another.”
Railway Communication.
We need not enter into detail, now-a-days, to show how railway communication was rendered necessary a quarter of a century ago by the great increase of travelling throughout the land, and the insufficiency as well as inefficiency of stagecoach conveyance to satisfy the public wants. When railway travelling was first suggested stage-coaches had been “whipped-up” by “coming events” into improvement; the people were no longer compelled to “drag their slow length along,” for full five wearisome days, from Chester to London. The “Gee-hos,” and “Highflyers,” at four miles an hour; “The Birmingham and Shrewsbury Long Coach, with six able horses, in four days;” even the “Flying Machine,” from Shrewsbury to London in two days, had all passed the stage of their creeping existence; and the liege subjects of the realm were now beginning to be whirled along, at ten and twelve miles an hour, in “Quicksilvers,” “Tantivys,” “Erin-go-braghs,” “Tallyhos,” “Wonders,” and other well-horsed and well-appointed vehicles bearing equally excitable names. The Coach called “The Wonder” made the journey from Shrewsbury to London in a day. An intelligent contributor writes,—“The late old Justice Smith, in a conversation I had with him some 25 years ago, said, ‘I remember going to London 70 years ago by a coach called The Fly; we were 7 nights and 8 days on the road, and now they go in a day—what a man lives to see!’” But even this increased “pace” did not meet the requirements of the community. James Watts’ steam-engine had begun to revolutionize all classes and occupations. In manufactures, hand-looms, spinning-jennies, shuttles, treddles, and the rest of early inventions were superseded by steam-power, moving machinery for spinning and weaving; in packet and marine conveyance generally Watts’ steam-power wrought as great a change; and in the manufacture of metal and porcelain goods, the sawing of timber and stone, and even the making of pins and needles, steam was the great giant power. With this national revolution in trade, manufactures, and commerce, came a more active and enterprising spirit among the people; soft and hard goods, as the manufactures of the north and midland counties are technically called, were multiplied until supply exceeded demand; the locomotive wants and desires of the public increased; and all eyes and heads were turned towards Watts’ steam-engine as the only mighty agent of accelerated travelling. The history of the country has supplied the results of this great experiment. The ever-honoured George Stephenson succeeded in carrying heavily-laden trains, of passengers and goods, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, at the rate of thirty miles an hour; and in the present day such is the appetite for rapid railway locomotion, that express trains, as they are called, flying over the earth at a more than race-horse speed of forty miles an hour, will scarcely satisfy the urgent requirements of manufactures and commerce.
Railway projects arose in various parts of the kingdom, and the first step taken towards what has since proved a direct communication with this borough and the metropolis was the incorporation of the Great Western Railway Company, by an Act passed in 5 and 6 of William IV. Some years elapsed before any measures were adopted to establish railway communication in this district. At length, in 1845, when railway “bubbles and squeaks” “affrighted the isle from its propriety,” a direct line was projected from Chester, through Whitchurch and Wem, to Shrewsbury. The scheme was promoted by the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company, the London and Birmingham, and other important interests. Mr. Robert Stephenson was appointed engineer, and Mr. Mallaby, of Liverpool, solicitor. A Company, called the “North Wales Mineral Railway Company,” had previously obtained an Act for making a line of Railway, from Chester to Rhuabon, and on the scheme for the line from the former place, via Whitchurch and Wem, being announced, a Company, in friendly connection with the North Wales Mineral Railway Company, and called the Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Chester Junction Railway Company, was formed for the purpose of extending the Railway from Rhuabon to Shrewsbury, in opposition to the other scheme mentioned above. The late Mr. Henry Kelsall, of Chester, was appointed solicitor, and Mr. Robertson engineer. A sharp struggle between the rival Companies ensued, but at length the line from Chester to Shrewsbury, via Whitchurch and Wem, was abandoned; by the prudent interposition of Mr. Edward Williams, solicitor, of Oswestry, (of the firm of “Longueville and Williams,”) the dissentient landowners were appeased; and the “Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Chester Junction Railway Company” obtained their Act, which passed through parliament as an unopposed Bill, the royal assent being given to it the 30th of June, 1845. W. Ormsby Gore, Esq., as Chairman of the successful line, rendered powerful assistance to its claims, having clearly seen the advantages which it must render to the important interests of North Shropshire. The next step was to unite the two lines between Chester and Shrewsbury, viz., the North Wales Mineral Railway, and the Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Chester Junction, and an arrangement was accordingly entered into by the two Companies, by which, in 1846, they were united into one, under the title of “The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Company.” The subsequent history of this line is patent to the public; the battles of the Great Western Railway interest, with those of the North Western, each Company seeking to possess the line, almost rivalling in intensity the fierce struggles of the ancient Roses—York and Lancaster. In the Parliamentary Session of 1854 a Bill was brought into the House of Commons by Viscount Barrington, Lord Norreys, and Sir Phillip Egerton, to authorize the consolidation, into one Company, of the Great Western, the Shrewsbury and Birmingham, and the Shrewsbury and Chester Railways. The Bill was sanctioned by Parliament, and the Act is now cited for all purposes under the title of “The Great Western, Birmingham, and Chester Railway Section.” By this consolidation of these several Companies a direct communication with London, under one system of Railway management, has been secured to the town of Oswestry; the journey by the Express Trains occupying no more than about five and a half hours. The country through which the Great Western line runs is remarkable for its beauty and interest. Windsor Castle, Oxford, Blenheim, Leamington, Warwick, and other attractive places, are in close proximity; and to add to these advantages, the care, attention, and able management of the entire line, are further agreeable features in the route, which all travellers on the railway gratefully acknowledge.
To the inhabitants of Oswestry and its vicinity it is unnecessary to say anything in praise of the attractive scenery that gives such lively interest to the railway between Shrewsbury and Chester. To the stranger, however, and the summer tourist in search of the sublime and picturesque, we may remark, that few lines in the kingdom present so many charms to the admiring gaze as this most delightful railway. Llangollen Vale has a world-wide celebrity; whilst the Chirk Viaduct, spanning the Ceiriog Vale; the pretty village of Chirk; Lord Dungannon’s pleasant seat at Brynkinalt; “Chirk Castle walls;” Wynnstay Park; the fine tower of Wrexham Church; Gresford Vale, with its luxuriant and refreshing scenery; and the graceful approach to Chester, across “Sweet Deva’s wizard stream,” and in sight of the animating race-course (the Roodeye), the fine old Roman walls of the city, the ancient Castle, a work of Roman art, the Armoury, county Gaol, St. Werburgh’s Cathedral, the venerable Church and Priory of St. John the Baptist,—these, with many other relics of days now
“Numbered with those beyond the flood,”
must give an intense interest to those who value objects stamped with natural beauty and hoary antiquity.
All hostility between the Great Western and North Western Railway Companies having, at least for the present, ceased, both of these gigantic undertakings can, without ungenerous feelings one against the other, devote their energies and capital to the improvement of all departments of their respective undertakings, rendering to the public the attention, comfort, and assurance of safety in travelling which railway management ought to secure.