Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LUDLOW

LUDLOW, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district in Salop. The town stands on an eminence at the confluence of the rivers Corve and Teme, at the junction of the Shrewsbury and Hereford railway with the Ludlow and Cleehill railway, at the boundary with Herefordshire, 25 miles S of Shrewsbury. It is believed to.have. originated in a Roman settlement; it appears to have been anciently included within the borders of Wales; it was called by the ancient Britons, Dinan-Llys-Tywysog, signifying "the princes' palace; ''and it was known to the Saxons as Leadlowe. Robert de Montgomery became possessor of it after the Conquest, built strong walls around it, and erected a great castle at it. The castle was seized by Henry I.; took part with the Empress Mand; was besieged, in 1138, by Stephen; was given, by Henry II., to the Fitzwarines; went, in the time of John, to Philip D'Aubigny; passed to the Lacys, the Mortimers, and the Crown; was held, in 1451, by the Yorkists against Henry VI.; was taken, and the town plundered, in 1459, by Henry VI's. forces; became the residence, in 1483, of Edward V.; was the residence also of Henry VII., and the marriage-place and death-place of his son Arthur; was made, by Henry VIII., the seat ofthe Lords President of Wales; was the scene of the performance of Milton's "Comus, ''for the entertainment ofthe Earl of Bridgewater; was visited by Charles I., and afterwards garrisoned in his cause; was surrendered, in 1645, to the parliamentarians; was held, at the Restoration, by Earl Carbery, the patron of Jeremy Taylor and Samuel Butler; was plundered and dismantled in 1689; and then the office of Lords President of Wales was abol ished. Seven gates pierced the town-walls; and one of them, called Broadgate, is still standing. A few traces of the walls also may still be seen. Part of the site of the castle is now disposed in a delightful promenade, planted with trees, and commanding a fine view. The remains of the castle include a massive Norman keep, 110 feet high, with walls from 9 to 12 feet thick; a ruined hall, in the early and decorated English styles, with armorial bearings; a portion of a Norman chapel, comprising the arch between the nave and the choir; and portions of the outer walls and of towers; and they present so picturesque and imposing an appearance, as to be highly attractive to artists and tourists. An Augustinian friary was founded, without Goalfordgate, in 1282; a Carmelite friary was founded, without Corngate, in 1346, and is called by Leland "a fair and costly thing; ''and an hospital or college, for a prior, warden, and poor brethren, was founded near the bridge, and on the left bank of the Teme, in the time either of King John or of Henry III. Extensive foundations of an ancient ecclesiastical building, in the decorated English style, surround ing a quadrangle, and including numerous columns, mullions, traceries, and Norman inscribed paving-tiles, together with many coins, elegant keys, ornamental hinges, and other objects, were discovered, in 1861, during excavations for the new cattle-market; and are believed to be remains of the hospital or college. Chief Baron Walter and M. Clarke the oriental scholar, were natives of Ludlow; Samuel Butler resided in it when he wrote the first three cantos of his "Hudibras; ''and Lucien Buonaparte lived for some years in the neighbourhood at Dinham House.

The town is upwards of a mile in length, and about ½ a mile in breadth; consists of well built and well-paved streets, almost all spacious, and running divergently downward from the highest and most central part; has undergone much recent improvement; and makes a better display of neat, substantial, well arranged houses than most inland towns of its age. An abundant supply of water is furnished by pipes, from neighbouring springs, to public pumps; and, by machinery and pipes, from the river Corve, to the interior of the houses. Two drinkingfountains were erected, in 1861, in Corve-street and the Bullring, at the private cost of one of the aldermen and the mayor. A three-arched bridge, erected in 1738, crosses the Corve; and two bridges, communicating with Ludford and Whitecliff, cross the Teme. The town hall and market-house are at the end of the main-street. The guild hall stands in Mill-street, and is a handsome modern edifice. A prison stood on the site of Goalford's tower, but has been disused. Assembly rooms are in Castle-street; and there are news-rooms, a public library, a literary institution, a mechanics' institute, and a museum of natural history,-the last containing many antiquities and curiosities, and a choice collection of fossils from the Ludlow rocks. The parish church is of the time of Henry VII., of cruciform structure, 210 feet by 73; includes a very fine hexagonal porch, and 2 chantry chapels; has a tower 130 feet high, crowned with pinnacles; contains a beautiful E window, three new stained glass W windows, stalls, and several interesting monuments; and was restored, at great expense, in 1863. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists. The free grammar school was founded by Edward VI.; is open to children within 10 miles of the town; and has £186 a year from endowment, two exhibitions at Baliol College, Oxford, and an exhibition at either Oxford, Cambridge, or Durham. The blue coat school, over the market-cross, has an endowed income of £63. The national schools, for boys, girls, and infants, are a handsome new edifice. Hosyer's almshouses for 33 persons, were founded in 1486, and rebuilt in 1758; and have an endowed income of £224. Fox's alms house has about £20. There are a dispensary, a lying in institution, and charities, additional to those already named, about £348.

The town has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, and three chief inns; and is a seat of petty sessions, quarter-sessions, and county courts, and a polling-place. A weekly corn and provision market is held on Monday; a weekly provision market, on Saturday; a cheese fair, on the Monday before 13 Feb.; a hop fair, on 28 Sept.; general fairs, on the Tuesday before Easter, Whit-Wednesday, 21 Aug., 23 Sept., the first Monday of Nov., and 6 Dec.; and a hiring fair, on 1 May. A manufacture of gloves was formerly carried on, but is now extinct; considerable business is done in malt; and there are corn, paper, and other mills. The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; and it sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward IV. till 1867, but was then reduced to sending only one. The municipal limits include only Ludlow parish and Ludlow Castle; but the parliamentary limits include likewise parts of Ludford, Stanton-Lacy, and Bromfield parishes. Corporation income in 1855, £1,384. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £1,743. Electors in 1863,359; in 1868,426. Pop. of the m. borough, in 1851,4,691; in 1861,5,178. Houses, 1,076. Pop. of the p. borough, in 1851,5,376; in 1861, 6,033. Houses, 1,253.

The parish comprises 240 acres. Real property, in 1860, £16,008; of which £152 were in gas-works. Pop. in 1861,5,171. Houses, 1,075. The rocks are remarkable for giving name to two formations in the Upper Silurian series. These are the first and the third of nine formations which constitute that series; they are called the Upper and the Lower Ludlow rocks; and they strongly draw attention by their characteristic fossils. They constitute only a very small tract around Ludlow itself; but they extend into a large portion of North Wales, even to the coast of Flintshire; and extend also, in a narrow belt, through South Wales, nearly to the seaboard of Carmarthenshire. A mineral spring is near the town. The Ludlow hounds hunt in the neighbourhood, and are kenneled at Wentmoor. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £160.* Patron, Lady Mary Windsor Clive.

The sub-district contains the m. borough of Ludlow, the parishes of Ludford, Stanton-Lacy, Richards-Castle, and Ombury; and the township of Bromfield. Acres, 22,697. Pop., 8,8011. Houses, 1,809.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Cainham, containing the parishes of Cainham, Hope-Baggot, Bitterley, HoptonCangeford, Ashford-Bowdler, and Ashford-Carbonell; the sub-district of Munslow, containing the parishes of Munslow, Holdgate, Tugford, Abdon, Clee-St. Margaret, and Stoke-St. Milborough; the district-district of Diddlebury, containing the parishes of Diddlebury, Cold-Weston, Culmington, and Stokesay, the chapelry of Halford, and the extra-parochial place of Skirmage; and the subdistrict of Leintwardine, all electorally in Hereford, and containing the parishes of Wigmore, Leinthall-Starkes, Elton, Aston, Burrington, and Downton, and six townships of Leintwardine. Acres, 87,573. Poor rates in 1863, £8,423. Pop. in 1851,17,051; in 1861,17,721. Houses, 3,554. Marriages in 1863,131; births, 562,- of which 58 were illegitimate; deaths, 370, -of which 109 were at ages under 5 years, and 10 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1 851-60,1,292; births, 4,837; deaths, 3,359. The places of worship, in 1851, were 34 of the Church of England, with 7,712 sittings; 6 of Independents, with 610 s.; 12 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,832 s.; 12 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,210 s.; 1 of Southcottian's, with 65 s.; and 1 undefined, with 120 s. The schools were 20 public dayschools, with 1,450 scholars; 29 private day-schools, with 522 s.; 23 Sunday schools, with 1,255 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 8 s. The workhouse is in Stanton-Lacy, and has capacity for 250 inmates.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Ludlow CP/AP       Ludlow SubD       Ludlow RegD/PLU       Shropshire AncC
Place names: LEADLOWE     |     LUDLOW
Place: Ludlow

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.