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Parish Church
Up until the 12th century, the locals of Much Wenlock would have
worshipped in the nave of the Priory, but work began in the 13th
century to build a parish church, and today the result is a church
with a complex mixture of styles ranging from the 12th to the
19th centuries.
At the beginning of the 19th century. Much Wenlock's Parish Church,
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was described as 'an ecclesiastical
building of considerable interest historically but with hens
scratching and pigs rooting about in the churchyard.' (It is
worth remembering that the introduction of altar rails in churches
was originally to keep livestock off the altar!)
The Victorian era brought about a period of renovation and re-styling
in a manner that has been criticised, sometimes unfairly, by
those of this century. But whether you like the often over ornate
style of the Victorians or not, they did repair and restore often
crumbling edifices which, had they not, would not be there today
for us to admire or criticise.
 Abbot
Butler
Abbot Butler became Vicar of Much Wenlock after the closure of
Shrewsbury Abbey and remained so until 1562. He is remembered
principally because he kept a detailed diary of local events.
The change from Abbot to country vicar must have been strange
for Butler, for it wasn't a demotion as the previous job no longer
existed. His writings imply that he was of the old persuasion
but, presumably, this did not show in his teachings and administration
at Much Wenlock.
He kept in touch with the monks and officials of the priory and
recorded in detail what kind of person they were when they died.
'Augst 1st here was buried before the Chancell door of our
lady's Chancell wthout in the Ch yard, John Morgan sometime Organ
player of the monasterie of St. Milburge, in his time an experte
and full conynge man in Musicke and did set many a swete and
sol'ne song to the lawde of Almighty God whoo take his sowle
to his m'cy Amen.'
Another extract tells of how a funeral party was stopped from
taking a short cut because it was feared that it would set a
precedent for a right of way.
'Mr Thomas Lawley stoped a Corpse coming from Wyke at the
way at the Brook at the grene Myll coming the way thro Barnesfold
in a cart where the Body remained 'til next day he was buryed.'
He talks of felons hanged on the highest point of Wenlock Edge,
including a girl of just eleven years of age.
It is generally considered that Thomas Parr, who lived near Alberbury,
west of Shrewsbury, was the oldest man to have lived in the county,
or perhaps in the country. He is recorded as being 152 years
and 9 months at the time of his death, but Abbot Butler tells
of an older man.
'1543. 1st Feb. bur'd out of the Almshouse John Trussingh'm
on Saterday before he died he said unto me S'r Tho's Butlar Vicar
of this church that he was 4 score at the Battle of Blowre heath
and that send he was 3 score years and rad'r more and that he
had been serv't to S'r Gilbert Talbot kn't of Blakemer.'
If he had been four score years at the Battle of Blore Heath
in 1459, he would have been 164 at the time of his death, beating
Old Parr by five years.
After the Dissolution, the relics of Saint Milburga had been
moved by Butler from the Priory to the parish church for safekeeping,
but on November 7th, 1547, he was forced to record in terse Latin,
so that the 'vulgar' could not read it, that her precious bones,
together with images of St. John the Baptist and St. Blaise taken
from the church at Hope Bowdler and Stanton Long, had been burned
on a common bonfire.
Local Characters & Ghosts
A well-known Shropshire witch called Nanny Morgan lived at Westwood
Common near Much Wenlock in the 19th century. She was a prominent
character in the Wenlock areas and was alleged to possess the
"evil eye". She kept live toads in her cottage and
was in great demand for her fortune-telling skills which had
been taught to her by the gypsies. She was at the peak of her
powers during the 1850s and there were people living near Wenlock
in the 1880s who could relate long accounts of Nanny's fortune-telling
propensities, her terrifying evil eye and her influence for bad,
upon the many who went to her for aid.
To narrate all the adventures of her wandering life would
require a small volume. To form some idea of Nanny's nefarious
practice and pursuits one would need to consult Scott's "Demonology
and Witchcraft", and if you chanced to find therein one
mystic horror more dismaying than another that would probably
be the least terrible of Nanny Morgan's achievements.
Had you happened to have lived in her time, you would scarcely
have dared to cross her in word, deed or even thought. Nanny
was said to have had a wrinkled face and strange, peering eyes,
made all the more gruesome by a hooked nose. Although this witch
was hated and feared, she was consulted by farm girls and other
young women from miles around, and also by ladies of education.
After her death, quantities of jewellery given by these ladies,
as well as letters written by them, were found in her house.
They braved her smelly cottage to take advantage of her skills
in divination.
Poor Nanny came to a sad end for she was murdered in the 1850s
by a young man with whom she was infatuated. This man, who was
a labourer, lived with Nanny, and although he was under her influence,
he wanted to get away from her. After a period of time in her
cottage, he resolved that he could bear it no longer. He did
not want the jewels and treasurers that lay concealed in her
cottage, and after a violent quarrel, Nanny was found stabbed
to death. There stretched out on the floor lay the corpse of
the witch, with great gashes in her neck and breast from which
the blood trickled on to the floor. It was on September 12th,
1857, that a neighbour heard the witch calling her lover a "damned
villain" and shortly after entering the cottage, found Nanny
dead. It was understood that the immediate cause of the quarrel
was over the ownership of a watch over which there had been a
desperate struggle. The young man was subsequently tried for
murder. The neighbour said in cross-examination that she had
heard that Nanny was a fortune-teller, but despite the fact that
they lived near to each other, there had been no "neighbouring".
Another witness called Jane Evans said, "I was not on terms
of intimacy with her. The people of the neighbourhood were afraid
of her." She was said to have the "evil eye",
the witness added, saying that she had known the alleged murderer,
who was called Davies, for some years. He had worked for her
father for some time and had always been reputed to be an inoffensive
man. He had lived with Nanny for twelve months and she had heard
that they were going to be married - had even been "asked"
in church.
Davies seemed to be afraid of her and had said that she had the
power of drawing him to her. "He was always a weak and silly
fellow," Jane Evans added. "It was as though she bewitched
him." Davies had told her that Nanny had some books on witchcraft
and magic but would not allow him to look at them. She had warned
him that if he looked at them when she was out, the devil would
be raised. "He appeared to believe her," said the witness.
Nanny had apparently told the young man, who obviously wanted
to get out of marrying her, that she could draw him back if he
went away. "I heard her speak in a strange language when
the Comet was expected," Davies said, and it was obvious
that he was in great fear of her.
That Nanny participated in witchcraft there was no doubt. and
Mr. Powell, the defending counsel, ingeniously depicted the state
of terror that Davies was in. Apparently this final quarrel was
the last of many, there being a sudden outburst in the struggle
for the watch. Apparently in the scuffle, Davies' passion got
the better of him and he stabbed the witch with his knife. This,
however, was a momentary rage and was not premeditated.
Davies was found guilty and was condemned to be transported for
life. On the voyage, the ship went down, and so did the murderer,
so in the end, the poor man did not escape the penalty of his
crime.
Although so many people consulted Nanny, she was hated and feared,
and after her death no-one would carry out the last offices and
she was buried as she lay, still clothed and even wearing her
shoes.
In 1925, Lady Catherine Milnes Gaskell showed Mr. H.E. Forrest,
the Shrewsbury antiquary, a quaint little three-legged table
which had belonged to Nanny Morgan. On this table the witch used
to make her "hell broth" and on the shelf beneath kept
her toads. She also had fifteen cats.
Lady Gaskell told Mr. Forest that after Nanny's death, the witch's
charms and spells were publicly burnt in the Market Place at
Wenlock by order of the Mayor. This grisly fact illustrates that
belief in the powers of witchcraft survived in Shropshire until
as late as 1857. Moreover, this belief was not confined to the
uneducated, but was recognised by the Mayor and Corporation of
a borough.
Lady Milnes Gaskell told Mr. Forrest that she had heard about
the Witch Morgan from an old woman at Homer called Mrs. Thomas
who was a bee merchant. This woman said that all shivered before
Nanny. In fact, nobody dared call their soul their own when in
the presence of the witch. Mrs. Thomas and an old friend of hers
called Bessie Roberts, had described how the with caused great
terror in the district, just like the Shropshire witches in Stuart
times. As late as 1925, and old man of 85 told Lady Gaskell that
he firmly believed in the witch's powers and spells. In fact,
he believed that if the bees had been "whispered" there
would have been no 1914-18 War.
Apparently, an old man called Yates told Lady Milnes Gaskell
the story of the burning of the witch's spells and charms in
the Market Place. Belief in witchcraft in the Much Wenlock area
was strong at that time. Nanny's house at Westwood Common was
situated in the parish of Bourton, Much Wenlock. (continued on
next page)
  
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