Clun, Shropshire

Description
Clun, a river, a small town, and a parish in Salop. The river rises near the boundary with Wales, in the tract known as Glun Forest, now denuded of trees, but noted for its breed of sheep, and runs 11 miles eastward, and 7 southward to the Teme, near Leintwardine. The town stands on the river, 2 miles E of Offa's dyke, 6 SSW of Bishops Castle, and 6 W of Broome station on the L. & N.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), a town hall, a temperance-hall, which is used as a reading-room and for public meetings, and a cottage hospital. The latter was founded and endowed in 1893 for the benefit of the poor of Clun and several of the neighbouring parishes. The river Clun is spanned by an ancient narrow bridge with five low arches separated by projecting angular piers. The castle, now in ruins, is supposed to have been built by Picot de Say, the Domesday lord of the manor, and became the stronghold of the Fitzalans, with whom it remained till the last of the line, Lady Mary Fitzalan, married the Duke of Norfolk, who was attainted and executed for high treason 1571. It was several times stormed and burnt, notably by Owen Glendower, whose trenches are still shown, and was finally blown up by the Parliamentary forces. The ruins include a square Norman keep with mural chambers, and a portion of two postern towers. The Duke of Norfolk still retains the title Baron Clun, and subsequent to his visit to the town in 1891 purchased the Castle Farm estate. The church, a noble edifice in the early style of Norman architecture, was restored in 1877 by the late Mr Street. In the vestry is a tablet to the memory of Sir Robert Howard, and the town has on its outskirts a memorial of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, in the form of an hospital which supports 16 poor men and a warden. It is a plain quadrangular building, pleasantly situated in its own grounds, and has a neat chapel attached to it. The Buffalo Hotel claims to have had as a guest Sir Walter Scott when obtaining the local colouring for " The Betrothed," and Clun Castle is generally held to be the original of Garde Doloreuse. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and fairs are held on 11 May (pleasure) and the last Friday in Jan., March, June, Aug., Sept., and Nov. The parish comprises the townships of Edicliff, Bicton and Weston, Whitcott Keyset, Shadwell, Newcastle, Spoad, Whitcott Evan, Hopebendrid, Treverward, Menutton, Purlogne, Hobarris, Guildendown, and Pentrehodre. Acreage, 20,535 ; population of the civil parish, 2115; of the ecclesiastical, 1666. The Earl of Powis is lord of the manor. There are several ancient British and Roman remains in the neighbourhood, particularly at Offa's dyke, the Bury ditches, Caer-Caradoc, and Coxwall Knoll, both the latter being amongst the sites claimed by different antiquaries as the scene of the last battle of Caractacus. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford ; joint net yearly value, £303. Patron, the Earl of Powis. The townships of Newcastle, Whitcott, Keyset, and Spoad form the ecclesiastical parish of Newcastle, constituted in 1849. There is a chapel of ease at Chapel Lawn in the township of Hopebendrid. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels.