LYDBURY (NORTH), a parish in the hundred of PURSLOW, county of SALOP, 2 miles (S. E.) from Bishop's Castle, comprising the townships of Acton, Brockton, Down, Eaton with Choulton, Eyton with Plowden, Lydbury, and Totterton, and containing 892 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Salop, and diocese of Hereford, rated in the king's books at £ 13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Rev. John Bright Bright, M.A. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. John Shipman, in 1661, bequeathed £200 towards the support of a free school. In Lower Down there are the remains, of a strong encampment, the. trenches of which are still very perfect. The rivers Onny and Kemp run through the parish. An ancient castle stood here, belonging to the bishops of Hereford, one of whom was presented by the jury, in the reign of Henry III., for suffering the escape of a prisoner thence. Plowden, who was a distinguished lawyer, and author of the Commentaries, resided at Plowden-hall, in this parish.