ALBERBURY: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1824.

" ALBERBURY, a parish partly in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford, partly in Montgomeryshire. A vicarage discharged, in the diocese of Hereford, he deanery of Pontesbury, and archdeaconry of Salop. The Shropshire part contains 189 houses, 1113 inhabitants. 8 miles west of Shrewsbury. See appendix."

" AMASTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 49 houses, 227 inhabitants."

" BENTHALL, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 6 houses, 48 inhabitants. 6 miles west of Shrewsbury."

" BRAGGINGTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 11 miles west of Shrewsbury."

" BULTHY (or BWLTHAU), a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 12 miles west of Shrewsbury.

" CREGGEON (or CRIGION), a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 12 miles west of Shrewsbury.

" EYTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 15 houses, 65 inhabitants. 7 miles west of Shrewsbury."

" FORD, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" GREAT WOLLASTON (or WOOLASTON), a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford, a chapel to Alberbury, in the diocese of Hereford, the deanery of Pontesbury, and archdeaconry of Salop. 11 miles west of Shrewsbury.

" HALL MILL, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" ROWTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 7 miles west of Shrewsbury. Rowton and Amaston contain 47 houses, 227 inhabitants."

" ROWTON CASTLE, a castle in the parish of Alberbury, the seat of Richard Lyster, esq. It has lately been rebuilt in the castellated form. The Castle stands on a gentle eminence, and the beauty of its situation, in a fertile and picturesque country, is much heightened by the bold and majestick appearance of the Moelygolfa and Breidden hills, on the summit of which, is a Pillar erected by the gentlemen of Montgomeryshire, in commemoration of the gallant Rodney's victory, in 1782.

Near this spot is supposed to have stood the Roman Rutunium, but not a trace of it is to be seen."

" SHRAWARDINE, a township in the parish of Alberbury and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 6½ miles north-west of Shrewsbury. Benthall and Shrawardine townships contain 6 houses, 48 inhabitants."

" TREFNANT, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" WATTLESBOROUGH (part of) A township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" WINNINGTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 12 miles south-west by west of Shrewsbury.

Winnington deserves to be enumerated among the places of note in Shropshire; not because it contains any rich remains of ancient architecture, or exhibits any vestiges of feudal grandeur, or has been signalized in history as the scene of war and bloodshed, but because it is the birth place of that proverb for longevity, Thomas Parr. He was born in the reign of Edward the Fourth, in 1483, and died in that of Charles the First, in 1635, having lived one hundred and fifty two years, nine months, and some days. There is scarcely to be found a period more eventful in English history, or one which an historian intent on marking the changes of society through a lapse of time would sooner choose to live in. The close of the civil wars of York and Lancaster, the usurpation of Richard the Third, the battle of Bosworth, the quiet reign of Henry the seventh, the rejection of the papal supremacy, the rise, progress and establishment of the protestant religion, the unhappy persecutions which were exercised on both sides, the long and glorious reign of Elizabeth, the prosperous state of the kingdom under James the first, and during the first years of the succeeding monarch, the gradual advancement of learning, and the succession of eminent men who flourished during the period, form a varied, series of the most interesting subjects that can engage the attention of a philosopher. Such was the life-time of Old Parr;- a perfect contrast to what may be called his life, which glided away in the "noiseless tenour" of remote and humble obscurity.

The few facts that are recorded of him, during the natural term of human existence, exhibit nothing remarkable; it was only when be exceeded that term that he became an object of curiosity. His father, it is said, was a husbandman, and sent him, at the age of seventeen, to a neighbouring farmer, with whom he lived till the year 1518. He held his father's farm sixty-three years, and, at the end of the third lease, took a fourth for life. By his wife Jane he had a son and a daughter who died young. At the age of one hundred and twenty. two he married a Welsh widow, and three years afterwards he did penance in the parish church of Alberbury, for an amour with a fair damsel of the name of Catherine Milton, who filiated a child on him.

The fame of his uncommonly vigorous old age was very widely diffused, and at length reached the ears of the Earl of Arundel during one of his visits to his manors in Shropshire,

This nobleman, anxious to gratify King Charles with the sight of the oldest man in his dominions, ordered Old Parr to be conveyed by easy stages to London. The account of his journey, given by Taylor the water poet, illustrates, in some degree, the character of the times, while it shews strongly the thoughtlessness, not to say cruelty, of the undertaking. " His lordship commanded that a litter and two horses (for the more easy carriage of a man so enfeebled and worn with age) should be provided for him; also that a daughter-in-law of his, named Lucy, (an old woman !) should likewise attend him and have a horse for her own riding with him; and to cheer up the old man, and make him merry, there was an antickfaced fellow, called Jack, or John the Fool, with a high and mighty no-beard, that had also a horse for his carriage." This cavalcade, in its progress through the country to the metropolis, attracted great crowds, so that it was sometimes scarcely possible for the earl's servants who conducted it, to prevent the old man from being stifled. The journey was at length finished, and the blind and decrepid patriarch was introduced to the presence of the king, who is reported to have said to him, " You have lived longer than other men; what have you done more than other men ?" Old Parr mentioned his affair with Catherine Milton. " Fie, old man," said the king, " can you remember nothing but your vices?" The change of living entirely ruined his health, and in six weeks after his arrival in London he died. By the testimony of medical men who examined his body, it appears that if he had been suffered to remain in his former situation and to continue his former habits, he might have lived much longer. His fate was like that of a venerable oak, transplanted from the soil and clime in which it had flourished for ages.

Allowing for the rude quaintness of diction peculiar to his writings, the water poet has drawn a striking picture of this Salopian Methuselah.-

His limbs their strength have left, His teeth all gone but one, his sight bereft, His sinews shrunk, his blood most chill and cold, Small solace, imperfections manifold: Yet did his spirits possess his mortal trunk, Nor were his senses in his ruins shrunk: But that, with hearing quick, and stomach good, He'd feed well, sleep well, well digest his food. He would speak heartily, laugh and be merry, Drink ale, and now and then a cup of sherry; Lov'd company and understanding talk, And, on both sides held up, would sometimes walk, And though old age his face with wrinkles fill, He hath been handsome, and was comely still; Well fac'd, and though his beard not oft corrected Yet neat it grew, not like a beard neglected; From head to heel his body had all over A quickset, thickset, natural hairy cover.

His long uninterrupted state of health was owing to the native vigour of his constitution, improved by hardy and laborious exercise, by simplicity of diet, by moderation in social enjoyments, and in no small degree to the pure and salubrious air of the Welsh border of Salop."

" WOLLASTON (Great, or WOOLASTON), a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 11 miles west of Shrewsbury."

" WOOLASTON, a township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford, a chapel to Alberbury, in the diocese of Hereford, the deanery of Pontesbury, and archdeaconry of Salop. 68 houses, 441 inhabitants. A separate Assessment from Alberbury, and a disjoined incumbency by the operation of Queen Anne's bounty. 11 miles south-west by west of Shrewsbury."

[Transcribed information from A Gazetteer of Shropshire - T Gregory - 1824] (unless otherwise stated)

[Description(s) transcribed by Mel Lockie ©2015]