ALVELEY, a parish comprising the liberty of
Romsley, within the liberty of BRIDGENORTH,
and the township of King's Nordley, in the
hundred of STOTTESDEN, county of SALOP, 6 miles
(S. S. E.) from Bridgenorth, containing 975 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, within the jurisdiction
of the court of the royal peculiar of Bridgenorth, endowed
with £200 private benefaction, £600 royal
bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage
of T. Whitmore, Esq. The church is dedicated
to St. Mary. Alveley was one of the five prebends in
the royal free chapel of the castle of Bridgenorth,
having been valued, in the reign of Henry III., at sixty
marks, and is still reputed and rated as such in the
Office of the First Fruits. A free school was endowed,
in 1616, by John Grove, who also founded almshouses
for decayed labourers: the school is free to all poor
children of the parish, and the master has a salary of
£20 per annum, and the use of the school-house.