Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CLUN

CLUN, a river, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred in Salop. The river rises near the boundary with Wales; and runs 11 miles eastward, and 7 southward, to the Teme, near Leintwardine. The town stands on the river, 3 miles W of Offa's dyke, 5½ SSW of Bishops-Castle, and 6½ N by E of Knighton r. station; is a polling-place, and a nominal borough, governed by a bailiff and 30 burgesses, under Earl Powis: gives the title of Baron to the Duke of Norfolk; and has a head post office, ‡ a hotel, a town-hall, a five-arched bridge, a ruined ancient castle, a parish church, two dissenting chapels, and an hospital for poor men, under a master or warden. The castle was built, in the time of Henry III., by the Fitzalans; and destroyed by Owen Glendower. The town hall is a modern structure on arches. The church is partly Norman; and has a font and monuments. The hospital was founded, in 1614, by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton; is a plain quadrangular edifice, with a chapel; and has an endowed income of £1, 530. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; and fairs on Whit-Monday and Nov. 22. -The parish comprises also the division of Ediclift or Bicton, containing the townships of Ediclift, Bicton, Whitcott Keyset, and Shadwell; the division of Newcastle, containing the townships of Newcastle, Spoad, Whitcott-Evan, and part of Kevencalonog; and the division of Hopebendrid or Treverward, containing the townships of Hopebendrid, Treverward, Menutton, Perlogne, and Obarris. Acres, 19, 782. Rated property, £14, 070. Pop., 2, 338. Houses, 482. The property is much sub-divided. The manor belonged early to the Fitzalans; went, in the time of Elizabeth, to the Dukes of Norfolk; and passed to the Walcots and the Earls of Powis. There are several ancient British and Roman remains, particularly at Offa's dyke, the Bury ditches, and Caer-Caradoc. The living is a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of Chapel-Lawn, in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £680.* Patron, the Earl of Powis. The vicarage of Newcastle is a separate benefice. -The sub-district contains the parishes of Clun, Clungunford, Clunbury, and Hopton-Castle. Acres, 31, 358. Pop., 4, 152. Houses, 836. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Norbury, containing the parishes of Norbury, More, Ratlinghope, Wentnor, and Mindtown; the sub-district of North Lydbury, containing the parishes of North Lydbury, Edgton, and Hopesay, and the extra-parochial tracts-Horderly Hall, Hiend, Old-Church-moor, and Dinmore; and the sub-district of Bishops-Castle, containing the town and liberties of Bishops-Castle, the parishes of Shelve, Hyssington, and Snead-the last wholly, the next last partly, in Montgomery-and the greater part of the parishes of Mainstone and Lydham. Acres, 82, 886. Poor-rates in 1862, £6, 466. Pop. in 1841, 10, 022; in 1861, 10, 615. Houses, 2, 120. Marriages in 1860, 82; births, 338, -of which 32 were illegitimate; deaths, 194, -of which 63 were at ages under 5 years, and 11 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 667; births, 3, 235; deaths, 1, 911. The places of worship in 1851 were 19 of the Church of England, with 4, 080 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 288 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 90 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 150 s.; 21 of Primitive Methodists, with 1, 056 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 40 s. The schools were 12 public day schools, with 576 scholars; 8 private day schools, with 153 s.; and 7 Sunday schools, with 428 s. The work-house is in Bishops-Castle. -The hundred consists of two divisions, Clun and Mainstone; the former conterminate with Clun parish, the latter containing three parishes and part of another. Acres of the Mainstone division, 21, 315. Pop., 3, 869. Houses, 773.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a river, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "rivers")
Administrative units: Clun AP/CP       Clun SubD       Clun RegD/PLU       Shropshire AncC
Place: Clun

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