Pontesbury, Shropshire

Description
Pontesbury, a village and a parish in Salop. The village stands near an affluent of the river Severn, 7 1/2 miles SW of Shrewsbury. It is a seat of petty sessions, and has a station on the Shrewsbury and Minsterley branch of the L. & N.W. and G.W. Joint railway and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Shrewsbury. The parish contains also the townships of Arscott, Asterley, Boycott, Crock Meole, Cruckton, Edge, Parley, Halston, Little Hanwood, Hinton, Lea, Longdon, Newnham, Oakes, Plealey, Pontesford, Sascott, and Sibberscote, and the hamlets of Ford Heath and Malehurst. Acreage, 11,011; population, 2682. For parish council purposes the parish has been divided into three wards, the council consisting of fifteen members. There are stone quarries, collieries, and brickworks. Cruckton Hall, Hinton Hall, Longdon Manor, and Onslow Hall are the chief residences. The living is a rectory, divided into three ecclesiastical portions, in the diocese of Hereford. It is a tripartite parish, having three rectors or portions, each rector having a separate ecclesiastical district for visitation. Population of the first portion, 1153; net value, £593 with residence. Population of the second (which includes half of the village of Longdon), 894; net value, £534 with residence. Patron, Queen's College, Oxford. Population of the third (with the other half of Longdon), 620; net value, £375. The church of the three rectories was formerly collegiate, having a dean and three prebendaries. It was rebuilt in 1828, but the chancel is part of the old church, and there is a Norman font. There are churches at Longdon, Cruckton, Lea Cross, and Asterley, and Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels.