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WESTBURY: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1824.

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"WESTBURY, a parish in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford, a rectory remaining in charge, divided into two portions, (Westbury in dextra parte, and Westbury in sinistra parte) in the diocese of Hereford, the deanery of Ponies-bury, and archdeaconry of Salop. 377 houses, 2,153 inhabitants. 9 miles south-west of Shrewsbury.

SIR THOMAS HIGGINS was born at Westbury, in 1624. He was educated at Oxford, and married the widow of Robert Earl of Essex. At the funeral of this lady, September 16, 1656, he delivered a latin oration. His second wife was the daughter of Sir Bevil Greenville. Sir Thomas received the order of knighthood at the restoration and was sent as envoy, first to the Duke of Saxony, and afterwards to Vienna. He died in 1691. His works are 1. A Panegyrick on the King. 2. The History of Isuf Basso. 8. The Venetian Triumph."

" CAUSE, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 10 miles south-west of Shrewsbury."

" CAUSE CASTLE, a castle in the parish of Westbury, supposedly built by Roger Corbett, who held, of Earl Roger de Montgomery, a tract of land in this quarter, consisting of thirty nine manors, or hamlets. It is conjectured that he gave the above name to this his capital seat, in allusion to a Castle in the Pays de Caux in Normandy. As he and his son probably took sides with Robert de Belesme in his rebellion; the Castle is supposed to have heen forfeited to Henry the first, who gave it to Paris Fitz John, from whom it was taken by the Welsh. It was afterwards restored to the original lords, and in the first year of King John, a weekly market was obtained for it, at the instance of Robert Corbett. Its proximity to the Welsh border rendered its tenure uncertain, and we find that it was again seized by the Welsh, and restored by Henry the third. In the reign of Edward the third, the male line of the family becoming extinct, the Castle was transferred by a marriage of a daughter of the house, to the Staffords, Earls of Stafford, on the execution of the last of whom, Edward duke of Buckingham, it was forfeited to the crown, but was restored to his son Edward. It was alienated in the reign of Elizabeth to Robert Harcourt, from whom it descended to Lord Viscount Weymouth. The site of the Castle is perhaps one of the most lofty and commanding in the whole range of the Salopian frontier. It is an insulated ridge, rising abruptly from a deep ravine on one side, and sloping towards a vast valley, bounded by the Stiperstones, on the other. The Keep mount is singularly steep and towering; it must have been ascended by steps or by a winding path, though no traces of either now remain; part of a Well is still distinguishable; but the castle itself is a mere ruin. It has, apparently, been stripped of all its dressed stone, as the fragments of the edifice that are here and there left standing, consist of the rude materials used for filling up the interior of the thick walls. Parts of one of the entrance gateways, evidently of a more recent date than the original Castle, are still to be discerned."

" FOREST OF HAYES, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 11 miles south- west of Shrewsbury."

" LEAKE, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" LINCHES, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 5½ miles southwest of Shrewsbury."

" MARSH, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 10 miles south-west by west of Shrewsbury."

" MINSTERLEY, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. A curacy not in charge, in the diocese of Hereford, the deanery of Ponteabury, and archdeaconry of Salop. 145 houses, 758 inhabitants. 9½ miles south-west of Shrewsbury."

" PLOX GREEN, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" STRETTON, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 7 miles southwest of Shrewsbury."

" VENNINGTON, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 10 miles southwest of Shrewsbury."

" WALLOP, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 10½ miles southwest of Shrewsbury. Wallop Hall is the residence of Samuel Amy Severne, Esq."

" WESTLEY, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 9 miles south-west of Shrewsbury."

" WHITTON, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 9½ miles southwest by west of Shrewsbury. The seat of the Rev. R. Topp."

" WIGMORE, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 10 miles southwest by west of Shrewsbury.

In the church-yard at Wigmore, is the following singular Epitaph:-

Mike was is tempur and is sole sinsere Ann Husband tender and a father deer He was a fathur kind And modist was his mind A greeter blessin to a woman Never mor was givn Nor a greeter loss eksept the loss of heavn"

" WINSLEY, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford."

" YOCKLETON, a township in the parish of Westbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 6 miles southwest of Shrewsbury."

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

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