FREES, a parish in the Whitchurch division of the
hundred of BRADFORD (North), county of SALOP, comprising
the chapelries of Calverhall and Whixhall, and
the townships of Frees with Steel, and Sandford, and
containing 3190 inhabitants, of which number, 1525
are in the township of Frees with Steel, 4 miles (N. E.)
from Wem. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual
curacy of Preston-Gubbals, in the peculiar jurisdiction
of the Prebendary of Frees, otherwise Pipa
Minor, in the Cathedral Church of Lichfield, rated in
the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The church, dedicated
to St. Chad, is an ancient cruciform structure,
with a tower of modern erection; it contains two old
figures of Moses and Aaron, and some pieces of tesselated
pavement, also several monuments to the ancestors
of General Lord Hill, who was born here in 1772.
There is a place of worship for Independents. Frees
had formerly a weekly market and an annual fair, the
former of which has been long disused; two fairs arc
now held on the <2nd Mondays in April and October.
Here are charity schools for about one hundred and
sixty children, towards the support of which there are
several small endowments. A considerable traffic in
coal, lime, and slate, is carried on by means of Quise
Brook canal, which runs through the parish.