LUDLOW, a borough and market-town and parish, having separate
jurisdiction, though locally in the hundred of Munslow, county of
SALOP, 29 miles (S. by E.) from Shrewsbury, and 142 (N.W. by W.)
from London, containing 4820 inhabitants. This place, called by
the Britons Dinan, or the palace of princes, and by the Saxons
Leadlowe and Ludlowe, which last name, with a slight variation, it
still retains, appears to have been distinguished for its importance
prior to the Norman Conquest, at which time, Robert
de Montgomery, kinsman of William the Conqueror, fortified
the town with walls, and erected the greater part of
its stately castle, which he made his baronial residence
till his death, in 1094. On the attainder of his son,
Robert de Montgomery, the castle came into the possession
of Henry I., who made it a royal residence,
and greatly enlarged and embellished it; and having
strengthened the fortifications, placed in it a powerful
garrison, under the command of Gervase Paganell, who,
in the following reign, having embraced the cause of
Matilda, held it for a considerable time against the
forces of Stephen, by whom it was besieged in person
assisted by Henry, son of the king of Scotland, who,
being drawn up from his horse by an iron hook, was
rescued from incarceration by the courage and address
of the English monarch.
From its proximity to Wales, Ludlow was always a
station of importance, and a strong garrison was constantly
kept up in the castle, for the defence of the
frontier from the incursions of the Welch. In the reign
of Henry III., an order was issued from the castle foraE
the lords marchers to repair to this place, attended by
their followers, to assist Roger Mortimer, at that time
governor, in restraining the hostilities of the Welch; and,
in the 47th of the same reign, Simon de Montfort, Earl
of Leicester, who had joined the confederated barons,
assisted by Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, attacked the castle
with their united forces, and having set fire to it, nearly
demolished it. In the reign of Edward II., Roger Mortimer,
a descendant of the former governor, having joined
the discontented barons, was sent prisoner to the Tower
of London, from which he contrived to effect his escape,
and, in commemoration of his success, erected, in the
outer ward of Ludlow castle, a chapel, which he dedicated
to St. Peter, and endowed it for a priest to celebrate
mass; but being arraigned for high treason in the
reign of Edward III., he was publicly executed at Tyburn.
In the reign of Henry VI., Richard, Duke of
York, who then had possession of the castle, detained
John Sutton, Lord Dudley, Reginald, Abbot of Glastonbury,
and others, in confinement here; and issued from
this place his declaration of allegiance to the king,
which he also repeated some years after, on the defeat
of Lord Audley, at Blore Heath; but, on his subsequent
insurrection and attainder, the king laid siege to the
castle, and having taken it, he stripped it of all its ornaments,
and the town was plundered of every thing
valuable by his soldiers; the Duchess of York, with her
two younger sons, was taken prisoner, and confined for
some time in one of the outer towers of the castle.
After the death of the Duke of York, at the battle of
Wakefield, the castle descended to his son Edward, Earl
of March, afterwards Edward IV. The young king,
Edward V., and his brother, the Duke of York, lived in
the castle, under the superintendence and protection of
Earl Rivers, till their removal by order of the Duke
of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., to the Tower of
London, where they were barbarously murdered. Prince
Arthur, son of Henry VII., resided here after his nuptials
with Catherine of Arragon, in 1501, and kept a
splendid court till his decease in the following year. In
the reign of Henry VIII., a kind of local government,
called the " Council in the Marches of Wales," was established
at Ludlow, consisting of a lord president, as
many counsellors as the prince chose to appoint, a secretary,
an attorney, and four justices of the principality,
the lord president residing in the castle. During
the parliamentary war, the castle held out for the king,
under the command of the Earl of Bridgewater, but
finally surrendered to the parliament; frequent skirmishes
took place in the town between the contending
forces, in one of which Sir Gilbert Gerrard, brother to
the Earl of Macclesfield, was killed.
The remains of the castle still exhibit traces of its
original grandeur, and, from their elevated situation in the
centre of a country abounding with beautiful and pic-
turesque scenery, form an interesting and venerable ruin;
they are situated on the summit of an eminence of greystone
rock, overhanging the river Corve j the north front
consists of massive square towers connected by a lofty
embattled wall: the ancient fosse and part of the rock
have been formed into walks, and planted, in 1772, with
beech, elm, and lime trees, affording an extensive and
delightful promenade: on the west is a precipitous ridge
of rock parallel with the castle, and richly crowned with
wood, intersected by a chagm, through which the river
Teme pursues its course j and on the north and west
sides is a deep fosse, cut in the solid rock, over which
was a draw-bridge, now replaced by one of stone, of two
arches, leading to the principal entrance 5 the portal is
of modern erection, and neither remarkable for beauty
nor for strength. The interior has a strikingly majestic
appearance; on the right hand are the ruins of the extensive
barracks which were occupied by the troops of
the lords presidents of the marches j near the gate are
the apartments of the warden and other officers, and on
the left is the keep, a large square embattled tower of
four stages, one hundred and ten feet high, with square
turrets at the angles; the walls of this tower, which is
of Norman architecture, are from nine to twelve feet in
thickness. Opposite to the entrance gateway are the
hall and state apartments, in the early and decorated
styles of English architecture, now much dilapidated;
in this hall was performed, by the children of the Earl
of Bridgewater and others, the celebrated Masque of
Comus, composed by Milton, and founded upon an incident
which occurred to the family of that nobleman,
soon after his appointment to the presidency. To the
left are the ruins of the chapel, of which the nave and
the beautiful Norman arch leading to the choir are the
principal remains; within the enclosure are several
massive towers, among which are Mortimer's tower,
and that in which Butler, after the Restoration, composed
several cantos of his Hudibras. Though irregular
in their arrangement, and greatly dilapidated, these
ruins, from the breadth of their masses, the bold projection
of some portions, and the depth of the numerous
recesses, possess striking features of solemnity. and
magnificence, and the luxuriant ivy by which they are
partly concealed, adds materially to the picturesque
beauty of these remains, which hold a prominent rank
among the numerous and interesting monuments of
feudal grandeur, for which the district formerly constituting
the Marches is distinguished.
The town is pleasantly situated on an eminence near
the confluence of the rivers Teme and Corve, by which
latter it is bounded on the north-west, and over which
a handsome stone bridge of three arches was erected by
the corporation, in 1738; over the Teme, which, after
being joined by the Corve, describes a semicircle on the
west and south sides of the town, is an ancient bridge,
the entrance to which is under the arched passage of
Broadgate, the only one remaining entire of the ancient
town gates: of the wall which surrounded the town,
begun in the 13th, and completed in the 32nd, of Edward
I., part of the foundation only can be traced. From
its elevated situation the town has a pleasing and cheerful
appearance j the streets are spacious, and the houses
in general handsome and well built: it is paved, and
lighted with oil, but arrangements have been made for
lighting it with gas, and, from the salubrity of the air,
and the beauty and interest of the surrounding country,
it is regarded as a desirable place of residence by numerous
opulent and highly respectable families. There
are a public subscription library, and two circulating
libraries; assemblies are held in a suite of rooms in the
market-house; and a small theatre is opened by the
Worester company, during the races, which take place
annually in July, and are succeeded by a ball and public
breakfast, which is held in the inner court of the castle.
The principal branch of manufacture is that of gloves,
and the chief trade is in malt: there are some corn-mills,
a paper-mill, and a small manufactory for woollen cloth,
flannel, yarn, and blankets, on the banks of the Teme 3
and the river Corve turns a mill for grinding bark used
in a tannery, and gives motion also to some machinery
for making cordage and sacking. The principal market
day is Monday, for grain j and there are smaller markets
for provisions on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday;
the market cross is a neat modern building, with
a handsome cupola, in which is a bell, formerly belonging
to the chapel of St. Leonard. The fairs are the
Monday before February 13th, Tuesday before Easter,
May 1st, Wednesday in Whitsun-week, August 21st,
Sept. 28th, and Dec. 6th: the first and last are large
marts for butter and cheese, and all the others are for
hops, horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs.
The town appears to have had a charter of incorporation
at a very early period, which was confirmed
and renewed by Edward IV., from whose reign till that
of Charles II. it underwent several modifications 5 but
in the reign of William and Mary it was, on the petition
of the inhabitants, restored to its original form;
by this charter the government is vested in a recorder,
two bailiffs, two justices, twelve aldermen, and twentyfive
common council-men, assisted by a town clerk,
coroner, and subordinate officers. The high bailiff is
chosen from among the aldermen, and the low bailiff
from the common council-men, annually on the 13th of
October, and the recorder, who holds his office for
life, is appointed by the corporation, with the sanction
of his Majesty's approbation; the recorder, the
bailiffs, and the two justices, who are invariably the
bailiffs for the preceding year, are justices of the peace
within the borough and liberties. The freedom of the
borough is inherited by all the sons of burgesses, or
acquired by marriage with a freeman's daughter; all
persons eligible as burgesses must demand that right
by petition to the corporation, according to a form prescribed
for that purpose by a by-law made in 1663. The
corporation hold quarterly courts of session for the
borough, for the trial of all offenders, and formerly have
passed sentence of death 5 but the recorders of late not
being barristers, the trial of prisoners for capital offences
is removed by Habeas Corpus to the assizes for the
county. A court of record is held every Tuesday,
under the charter of Edward IV., for the recovery of
debts to any amount; also a court of requests for the
recovery of debts under 40s., the jurisdiction of which
is confined to the borough. The market-house, which
may rather be regarded as the town hall, is a large
plain brick building, containing commodious rooms for
transacting the public business of the corporation, and
for holding subscription assemblies, and the balls given
by the bailiffs on their election to office: beneath it is a
spacious area for the use of the corn market; and at
tached to the buildings are two public reservoirs, into
one of which water is raised from the river by machinery,
and into the other spring water is conveyed
from a place under Whitecliffe coppice, called the Fountain.
The guildhall, in which the quarter sessions and
other courts are held for the borough, is a neat and
commodious edifice of modern erection. The borough
gaol was erected by the corporation, in 1764, in lieu
of Goalford tower, an ancient prison and gate of the
town, which had then become ruinous: it is a commodious
edifice, containing four wards for the classification
of prisoners, but only one airing-yard. The
borough first exercised the elective franchise in
the 12th of Edward IV., since which time it has continued
to return two members to parliament: the
right of election is vested in the corporation and in
all the resident common burgesses 3 and the number
of the electors is about seven hundred; the bailiffs
are the returning officers. The patronage of the borough
is divided between the families of Clive and
Charlton, but the interest of the former generally predominates.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Salop,
and diocese of Hereford, rated in the king's books at
£19. 12. 6., and in the patronage of the Crown. The
church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, and formerly collegiate,
is a spacious and handsome cruciform structure, in
the early and decorated styles of English architecture,
with a noble square embattled tower, crowned with
pinnacles, rising from the centre to the height of one
hundred and thirty feet: the entrance is through a
beautiful hexagonal porch, leading into the nave, which
is separated from the aisles by a series of six gracefullypointed
arches, resting on slender clustered columns,
which support the roof, and lighted by a range of clerestory
windows, and a large west window, of which the mullions
and tracery have been destroyed by recent repairs;
the four piers and arches which support the tower are
massive and lofty, but finely proportioned and of great
beauty; the choir is spacious, and lighted by five elegant
windows on each side, and by a noble east window of
large dimensions, in which is painted the legendary history
of St. Lawrence; the oak stalls are still remaining,
and the roof of richly-carved oak is preserved in the
several parts of this sumptuous edifice. In the north
transept is St. John's chapel, in which is some ancient
stained glass, representing the history of the Apostles,
and the legend of the ring presented to Edward the
Confessor, as a prognostic of his death, by some pilgrims
from Jerusalem. Many external and internal ornaments
of this church were destroyed by the parliamentary
commissioners during the usurpation of Cromwell. The
visitations and ecclesiastical courts are held in it, in
May and October, for proving wills and granting letters
of administration. Among the monuments are several
of great antiquity and interest, and two highly-finished
effigies of Judge Bridgeman and his lady. There are
places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists.
The free grammar school was founded by Edward
VI., who vested in the corporation the estate of
the guild or fraternity of Palmers in Ludlow, on condition
that they should support this and other charities
connected with that guild: the school-house
was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, at the expense of
the corporation, with convenient dwelling-houses for
a first and second master, who are appointed by the
corporation, and receive respectively £80 and £60 per
annum, having also the privilege of taking boarders: the
school is open to all boys of the town without limitation
of number, who receive gratuitous instruction in Latin
and Greek, and pay a quarterage to the master for
writing and arithmetic: there are two exhibitions, of
£30 per annvim each, to Balliol College, Oxford, for
boys of this school, founded, in 1704, by the Rev.
Richard Greaves, in the appointment of the Master and
Fellows of that college; and four of the poorest children
receive an annual benefaction, of £5. 6. 8. each,
from a bequest by Dr. Charles Langford, in 1607. A
National school was established in 1813, with which a
Blue-coat school, previously instituted, has been incorporated;
from the funds of the latter, a house has been
purchased and fitted up, at an expense of £600, for the
instruction of girls; the boys are taught in a room over
the market cross; the number of children is two hundred,
of whom a few are clothed annually, and on
leaving school receive an apprentice fee of £3. Almshouses
adjoining the churchyard were founded, in 1486,
by Mr. John Hosyer, who endowed them for thirtythree
aged people, to each of whom he assigned a
weekly payment of fourpence, now increased to two
shillings and sixpence; the present building, containing
thirty-three distinct apartments, was erected
by the corporation, in 1758, at an expense of
£1211. 18. 2., and is kept in good repair. The
almspeople are appointed by the corporation, and receive,
in addition to their payments from the endowment,
a portion of other funds bequeathed by various
benefactors. Four almshouses for aged persons were
founded by Mr. Charles Foxe, of Bromfield, which, in
1590, he endowed with houses and rent-charges producing
at present about £ 14 per annum, which is divided
in weekly payments among the almspeople, of whom two
are chosen from this parish, and two from the parish
of Bromfield.
A workhouse and house of correction was endowed,
in 1674, by Thomas Lane, of Ludlow, who in early life
had been a servant in the family of Sir Job Charlton,
with land and tenements producing nearly £100 per
annum, for maintaining a master to superintend the
employment of the poor, and for the purchase of raw
materials for the spinning and knitting of stockings,
and for making shoes; it is at present in contemplation
to erect a house of correction upon a more extended
scale in the gaol yard, at the joint expense of the corporation
and the trustees of the charity. A public dispensary,
established in 1780, is liberally supported by
subscription; and a society for the relief of lying-in
women is under the superintendence of twelve ladies.
There are also numerous charitable bequests for distribution
among the poor. Adjoining the castle is Dinham
House, a noble mansion of brick, belonging to the
family of Clive, in which Lucien Bonaparte, towards
the close of the late war with France, resided while  in
England. Among the religious establishments which
flourished here in ancient times, was the college of St.
John the Evangelist, founded in the reign of Edward
the Confessor, and given, after the dissolution, by
Elizabeth to the corporation for charitable uses', the
remains of which are divided into separate tenements,
and let on lease as dwelling-houses; and a priory of
White friars, founded, about the year 1349, hy Sir
Lawrence of Ludlow, Knt., of which some vestiges may
be traced in the environs without the Corn-gate. There
are several mineral springs In the neighbourhood, of
which one, called the boiling well, is supposed to be
efficacious in disorders of the eyes. At Saltmoor is a
saline spring, the water of which contains small portions
of carbonate of iron, and sulphate of magnesia, and a
considerable portion of muriate of soda: it has been
found beneficial in scorbutic diseases, and is much frequented
by patients affected with such complaints, for
whose accommodation warm and cold baths have been
provided. Thomas Johnes, Esq., the translator of the
Histories of Froissart, Monstrelet, and other learned
works; Richard Payne Knight, Esq., author of an
" Analytical Enquiry into the Principles of Taste," "The
Progress of Society," and other works; T. A. Knight,
Esq., author of various works on Horticulture; and
Dr. Badham, the translator of Juvenal, were natives of
this town.