Cleobury Mortimer

"CLEOBURY MORTIMER, a parish, and market town in the Cleobury division of the hundred of Stottesdon, in the county of Salop, 8 miles W. of Bewdley, its post town, and 11 E. of Ludlow. It is situated on the river Rea, near the Tenbury and Bewdley line of railway, on which it has a station. It is a market, union, and petty sessions town, and a polling place for the southern division of the county. A County Court for the recovery of small debts is held here. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford, value £553, in the patronage of W. L. Childe, Esq. There is a district church, dedicated to St. John, the living of which is a perpetual curacy,* value £50, in the patronage of B. Botfield, Esq. The parish church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, an ancient structure in the early English style, and possesses monuments and stained-glass windows. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics have chapels, and there are endowed schools for both sexes, as well as infant schools. Near the church anciently stood a castle, erected by the Mortimers, which was reduced by Henry II., and there are Roman encampments in the neighbourhood. In the vicinity are the Clee hills, which abound in limestone, coal, and iron ore, but the trade carried on is comparatively small in consequence of the difficulties in the way of transit. The horticultural and agricultural societies hold their shows in the town. Pierce Plowman, author of "Visions," was a native of this town. Wednesday is market day, and there are cattle fairs held on the 21st April, Trinity Monday, and 27th October, and a fair for pleasure and hiring of farm servants on the 2nd May.[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2015]