Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OSWESTRY

OSWESTRY, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Salop. The town stands on the Cambrian railway, adjacent to Wats' dyke, 2¼ miles E of Offa's dyke, 3 W S W of the Montgomery canal, 3¼ E of the boundary with Wales, and 18 N W of Shrewsbury. It dates from ancient British times; it was known to the ancient Brittons as Croes-Oswallt, to the early Saxons as Maserfield, by corruption of Maes-Oswallt, signifying " Oswald's field, "and to the later Saxons as Oswaldstre, signifying Oswald's town, and afterwardscorrupted into Oswestry, or popularly Osestry; and ittook all these varieties of names from St. Oswald, king of Northumbria. A great battle was fought at it, in 642, between that king and the pagan Penda, king of Mercia; and resulted in the defeat and death of Oswald. The town, with the territory around it, was then annexed to Mercia; it afterwards became a post of much importance in the border wars between the Saxons and the Welsh; and, at the construction of the great W bulwarks of the Mercian kingdom, it was placed on the neutral ground between Wat's Dyke, immediately on the E, and Offa's Dyke, 2¼ miles to the W. A castle is supposed to have been built at it, on an artificial mount, some time before the Norman conquest; and either that castle was re-stored, or an entirely new one was built, on the samesite, about 1150. Welsh historians ascribe the newcastle to Madoc ap Meredydd, Prince of Powys; while English writers assign it to the family of Fitzalan, and suppose that family to have got a gift of the town from William the Conqueror. The town was the head-quarters of Henry II., in 1164, in his expeditions against the Welsh; was burnt, in 1212, by King John; and was burnt again, in 1235, by Llewelyn. Walls were begun to be constructed around it in 1277; were pierced with four gates, called Black-gate, New-gate, Willow-gate, and Beatrice-gate; and were taken down in 1782. The plague made devastations in 1559 and 1585. The royalists garrisoned the town in 1644, and demolished thechurch tower, situated without the walls, to prevent its summit from being used for annoying them; and the parliamentarians dislodged the royalists, and dismantledthe castle. An ancient well, erected to the memory of St. Oswald, exists at a short distance from the church; and some small vestiges of the castle may still be seen; but other remains of antiquity are remarkably few. A fine ancient British fortification, defended by an uncommonly high triple rampart, is about a mile to the N; encloses an area of about 16 acres, and occupies a total area of about 45 acres; and bears properly the name of Caer-Ogran or Caer Ogyrfan; but is popularly called Old Oswestry, and traditionally regarded as the site of the original town. Another ancient British entrenchment, of circular form and surrounded by a dyke, is on the Wborder of Porkington Park, 1½ mile to the N W; bears the name of Castell-Brogyntyn; and is supposed to have been formed by a natural son of Owen Madoc, Prince of Powys.

The town is situated at the foot of prettily-woodedhills; presents a good appearance; and consists chiefly of narrow streets. Some of the houses are interesting timber structures, some are neat new edifices, and most are modern. The town hall is a handsomeedifice; and forms one side of a square, called Bailey-head. The corn-market is a good structure; and has a glazed roof, and a clock tower. The Victoria rooms area recent erection at the S end of the town; and contain a spacious apartment for assemblies and public meetings. The public reading room and lecture-hall, at the N end of the town, also are recent buildings. An ornamental drinking fountain, of the character of a market-cross, was erected in 1862; stands on the site of the old market-cross, at the junction of three streets; has a hexagonal form, with three large faces and three smaller ones; and is a conspicuous object as seen along the lines of each of thethree streets. The Cambrian railway workshops were erected in 1865, at a cost of more than £100,000; stand in the town at a focus of the Cambrian railway system, whence three lines diverge to the N E, the N, and the S; give employment to about 450 skilled artisans, at an expenditure of about £500 a-week; and are surmounted by a shaft, ca led the Savin column, 150 feet high. The parochial church occupies the site of an ancient monastery; presents a venerable appearance; and contains some curious monumental tablets and inscriptions. Trinity church was built in 1837; and serves for asection of the parish formed into a chapelry in 1842, and containing a pop. of 2, 683 in 1861. There are chapels for Independents, Welsh Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Calvinistic Methodists. The grammar-school was founded in the time of Henry IV., by David Holbeck; and has £272 a year from endowment. National and infantschools are held in an ornamental building, in the Tudor style. There are a dispensary, alms-houses, and other charities £171. Sewerage and waterworks were constructed in 1866, at a cost of £16, 500. The sewage isall conveyed by one main outlet to tanks, on a comparatively high level, and at a distance from the town; and can all be utilised by gravitation on a great extent of adjacent lower land. The waterworks have duplicate reservoirs, with capacity for 3,000,000 gallons, oppositethe Mount, about a mile from the town, and at an elevation of 300 feet above the level of the town-cross; and comprise an aggregate of 8 miles of water-pipes. The town, on the whole, has recently under-gone very greatimprovement; and, though always a pleasant place as compared with many others, it is now much better entitled than before to the eulogy written on it by Church-yard:

This towne doth front on Wales as right as lyne,
So sondrie townes in Shropshiere doe-for troth,
As Ozestri, a prettie towne full fine,
Which may be lov'd, be likte, and praysed both-
It stands so trim, and is maintayned so cleane,
and peopled is with folke that well doe meane,
That it deserves to be enrouled and shryned
In each good heart and every manly mynd.

The town has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, and four chief inns; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and publishes a weekly newspaper. A weekly market for corn, verylargely attended, is held on Wednesday; a weekly market for provisions, cheese, and poultry, is held on Saturday; a fair for cattle is held on the first Wednesday of every month; and a fair for wool is held in July. The manufacture of flannel was formerly considerable; and a malting trade is now very flourishing. The town was made a municipal borough by Richard II., who visited it in 1397; was curtailed in limits by the new municipal act; and is now divided into two wards, and governedby a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. Corporation revenue, about £480. Pop. in 1851, 4, 817; in 1861, 5, 414. Houses, 1, 125. Walter Fitzalan, son of Alan, grandson of Flaad, founder of Paisley abbey, and ancestor of the royal Stuarts, was a native.

The parish contains also the townships of Aston-Caenynion, Crickheath, Hisland, Llanforda, Maesbury, Middleton, Morton, Pentregaer, Sweeney, Treferclawdd, Treflach, Trefonen, Weston-Cotton, and Wootton. Acres, 15, 703. Real property, 21, 796; of which £130 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 8, 796; in 1861, 9, 357. Houses, 1, 964. The manor belongs to the Earl of Powys. Porkington, a beautiful mansion in a fine park, is the seat of W. O. Gore, Esq. Llanforda, an ancient mansion, belongs to W. W. Wynn, Bart.; and Sweeney Hall, to Sir B. Leighton, Bart. The Hayes, Oakhurst, Penylan, Aston Hall, and Woodhill, also are chief residences. The head living is a vicarage, and that of Trinity is a p.curacy, in the diocese of St. Asaph. Value of the former, £477; * of the latter, £150. Patron of the former, Earl Powys; of the latter, the Vicar. The rectory of Trefonen and the p. curacy of Aston are separate benefices. The workhouse of the district is in Weston-Cotton township; and, at the census of 1861, had 139 inmates. The sub-district is conterminate with the parish. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Llansilin, containing the parishes of Llanyblodwell, Selattyn, and Llansilin, part of the last electorally in Denbighshire; the sub-district of St. Martin, containing the parishes of St. Martin and Whittington, the extra-parochial tract of Halston, and the parish of Chirk, the last electorally in Denbighshire; and the sub-district of Knockin, containing the parishes of Knockin, Kinnerley, West Felton, and Ruyton-of-the-Eleven-Towns, the extra-parochial tract of Heath-Farm, and part of the parish of Llanymy-nech. Acres, 77,048. Poor-rates in 1863, £10, 180. Pop. in 1851, 22, 795; in 1861, 23, 817. Houses, 4, 884. Marriages in 1863, 177; births, 801, of which 76 wereillegitimate; deaths, 535, of which 163 were at ages under 5 years, and 24 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 607; births, 6, 650; deaths, 4, 416. The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 8,054 sittings; 22 of Independents, with 2, 872 s.; 5 of Baptists, with 731 s.; 6 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 619 s.; 22 of Primitive Methodists, with 2, 338 s.; 3 of the Wesleyan Association, with 265 s.; 2 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 98 s.; 7 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 1,059 s.; 2 of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, with 390 s.; and 1 undefined, with 60 s. The schools were 24 public day-schools, with 1, 932 scholars; 22 private day-schools, with 468 s.; and 60 Sunday schools, with 3, 764 s. The poor-law affairs are administered under a local act. The hundred is cut into two divisions, lower and upper. The l. div. contains the parish of West Felton and four other parishes. Acres, 19, 559. Pop. in 1851, 4,014. Houses, 803. The u. div. contains Halston parish, four other parishes, and parts of three others. Acres, 43, 287. Pop. in 1851, 10, 828. Houses, 2, 239. Pop. of the whole in 1861, 15, 192. Houses, 3, 175.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Oswestry AP/CP       Oswestry CP/PA       Oswestry Hundred       Oswestry SubD       Oswestry RegD/Inc/PLU       Shropshire AncC
Place names: CASTELL BROGYNTYN     |     OSWESTRY
Place: Oswestry

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