Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MONTGOMERY

MONTGOMERY, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Montgomeryshire. The town stands on an acclivity commanded by a higher eminence, in the eastern vicinity of the Oswestry and Newtown railway, 1 mile W of Offa's dyke, and the boundary with Salop, 1½ SE of a bend of the river Severn, and 20 SW of Shrewsbury. The neighbouring eminence on the W, separated from the town's site by a deep hollow, is crowned by a stupendous ancient British post or fortified camp; and commands a rich and extensive view, finely bounded by the hills of Salop. The approach to the camp is guarded by four deep ditches, with two or three entrances toward the main work, where some fosses run across the hill; and a smaller fortification, having in one part an artifieial mound, is at the bottom. A conjecture has been made, on the evidence of these military works, that probably a seat of population was here in times prior to the Roman invasion. A castle was built, either on that hill or on the town's site, before the Norman conquest, by Baldwin, a lieutenant of the marches; and the town took thence the name of Trefaldwyn, signifying "Baldwynstown." Roger de Montgomery, who derived his designation from a place in France, and was ancestor the Earls of Eglinton, got possession of the town immediately after the Norman conquest, built a new castle at it, and gave to it his own name. The castle stood strongly and proudly on a high projecting tongue of rock, with deeply-scarped sides; comprised an inner court and an outer court, defended by four deep fosses cut in the rock; was garrisoned by William Rufus; was taken and destroyed by the Welsh; was restored by the Earls of Shrewsbury; was twice taken and demolished by Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, and twice restored by Henry II.; passed to Roger Mortimer and to the Herberts, and became the latter's principal residence; was garrisoned by Lord Herbert, for the king, in the civil war of Charles I.; was taken by Sir Thomas Myddleton, retaken by Lord Byron, and taken again, with great disaster to the royalists, by Sir Thomas Myddleton; was then dismantled; and is now represented by only mouldering fragments, chiefly small part of a SW tower, and a few low and broken walls.

The town itself was once defended by a wall flanked with towers, and pierced with four gates, called Kedewen-gate, Chirbury-gate, Arthur's-gate, and Kerry-gate; and, in the time of Leland, who wrote in the 16th century, it still retained ruins of the wall, fragments of the towers, and remains of the gates. It is now a small and quiet place, one of the most unpretending and sequestered of county towns, neat and clean, healthy and inviting. The streets are steep; and the houses, in general, are built of brick. The site of Black Hall, the birthplace of the learned George Herbert, is in the NE. Lymore Park, a seat of the Earl of Powis, an interesting mansion of the 16th century, is about a mile to the SE, and stands in a park bounded, on the E side, by Offa's dyke. The guild hall, used for sessions, stands in the upper part of the town. The county jail, a modern structure with capacity for 55 male and 13 female prisoners, stands near the site of the castle ruins. The parish church is cruciform, and partly early English; has a tower, added by Lord Clive in 1816, at a cost of £1,700; and contains a carved screen and ancient rood-loft brought from the priory of Chirbury, two effigies of the Mortimers about the time of Richard II., and a monument to the father of Lord Herbert of Chirbury. The town has a post office‡ under Shrewsbury, a railway station, two hotels, a dissenting chapel, an endowed school with £14 a year, and charities, £39; is a seat of sessions, a place of election, and a polling-place; gives the title of Baron to the Earl of Eglinton; and numbers, among distinguished natives, Dr. Lees, the editor of the well known Cyclopaedia. A weekly market is held on Thursday; and fairs are held on 26 March, the first Thursday of May, 7 June, 4 Sept., and 14 Nov. The town received a charter from Henry III.; is governed, under that charter, by two bailiffs and twelve burgesses; and unites with Llanfyllin, Llanidloes, Machynlleth, Newtown, and Welshpool, in sending a member to parliament. lts borough limits are conterminate with those of the parish. Acres, 3,288. Real property, £7,441; of which £25 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,1,248; in 1861,1,276. Houses, 259. Electors of the six associated boroughs, in 1833,723; in 1863, 933. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £4,431. Pop. in 1851,17,887; in 1861,18,036. Houses, 4,077.

The parochial living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £347. Patron, the Earl of Powis. -The sub-district contains the parishes of Montgomery, Berriew, Llandyssil, and Llanmerewig, and the townships of Castlewright, Aston, Churchstoke, and Brompton and Rhiston,-the last electorally in Salop. Acres, 33,351. Pop., 6,121. Houses, 1,226.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Pool, containing the parishes of Welshpool, Castle-Caereinion, and Buttington, and the townships of Leighton, Middletown, and Uppington; and the sub-district of Chirbury, containing the parish of Forden and the townships of Rhosgoch and Trelystan, electorally in Montgomeryshire, and the parish of Chirbury and the township of Worthin, electorally in Salop. Acres of the district, 74,067. Poor rates in 1863, £9,615. Pop. in 1851,17,984; in 1861,19,097. Houses, 3,804. Marriages in 1863,148; births, 580,- of which 39 were illegitimate; deaths, 404,-of which 136 were at ages under 5 years, and 15 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,1,431; births, 6,025; deaths, 3,934. The places of worship, in 1851, were 20 of the Church of England, with 8,309 sittings; 10 of Independents, with 1,458 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 392 s.; 17 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 1.,590 s.; 14 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,410 s.; and 21 of Primitive Methodists, with 697 s. The schools were 24 public day schools, with 1,523 scholars; 29 private day schools, with 639 s.; 52 Sunday schools, with 3,413 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 18 s. The district comprises two poorlaw unions; the one Montgomery and Pool, under a local act; the other Rhosgoch and other places, under the act of 43d Elizabeth. I he Montgomery and Pool workhouse is in Forden; and, at the census of 1861, had 99 inmates. -The hundred contains four parishes and parts of four others. Acres, 43,463. Pop. in 1851,5,286; in 1861, 5,523. Houses, 1,071.


(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: Montgomery CP/AP       Montgomery Hundred       Montgomery SubD       Forden RegD/Inc/PLU       Montgomeryshire AncC
Place: Montgomery

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