Transcribed from the 1859 Slater’s edition by DavidPrice,
Slater’s [1856] Shropshire Directory.
Printed and Published
by
Isaac Slater
Manchester
1859 [1]
Shropshire
This is an inland shire, bounded onthe north by Cheshire and a detached portion of the Welch countyof Flint; on the east by Staffordshire; on the south by thecounties of Radnor, Hereford, and Worcester; and on the west bythose of Denbigh and Montgomery. In length, from north tosouth, it is about forty-five miles, and its extreme breadthabout thirty-five: its circumference is computed at one hundredand sixty miles, comprising an area of 1,341 square miles, orabout 826,055 statute acres. In size it ranks as thesixteenth English county, and in population as thetwenty-sixth.
Name and EarlyHistory.—The derivation of the name Salop, orShropshire, has not been with any degree of certaintyestablished; indeed, so vague and various are the opinion ofwriters upon this subject, that to attempt to dispel theobscurity of its etymology would be to assume a task morecritical than useful. This part of the Island wasoriginally inhabited by the Celtic tribe Cornavii, andtheir chief city (which was situated, not far from the site ofthe present town of Shrewsbury), after its conquest by theRomans, became a station of the latter people, calledVriconium, and was fortified by them to secure the passageof the Severn. Under the Roman dominion Shropshire wasincluded in the division called FlaviaCæsariensis. Shrewsbury is the principal, as itis the county town of Salop; yet, although no doubt can beentertained of its high antiquity, there is no authentic recordof its origin: conjecture has, however, assigned that event tothe fifth century. About this time Shrewsbury was esteemedthe most important position on the Marches of Wales, and a strongfortress at this point continued for several centuries to be oneof the principal places of rendezvous for the English armies, andhence was often visited by successive monarchs of the Saxon andNorman dynasties. In the military and political eventsconnected with the county, Shrewsbury appears to have been alarge participator. In the reigns of John and Henry III. itwas taken by storm, being defended, on the latter occasion, bythe adherents of the Empress Maude; and in the same Henry’sreign it was partly burnt by the Welch. In the reign ofEdward I. a parliament was holden here, and David, the last ofthe Welch princes, beheaded. In this neighbourhood wasfought a bloody battle between the army of Henry IV., commandedby his renowned son, and the forces of the fiery Henry Percy(surnamed ‘Hotspur’), in which the latter was slain,and after his interment his body was taken from the grave, andbeheaded, as was his uncle, the Earl of Worcester. Richard,Duke of York, and George Plantagenet, sons of Edward IV., wereborn in Shrewsbury. Oswestry (corrupted fromOswaldstree) was conspicuous as a border town, andfrequently became the scene of contest, first, between the Saxonsand Britons, and afterwards between the latter and the Normans: