Battlefield Church, Salop

The following pages were written, at the request of the Incumbent of Battlefield, with the object of giving to the numerous visitors to Battlefield Church some historical and descriptive notices of that venerable fabric, together with a brief account of the Battle of Shrewsbury, and of the foundation of the College.  They are reprinted, with a few corrections and additions, from Eddowes’s Shrewsbury Journal, in which they first appeared.

The writer has consulted Owen and Blakeway, Dugdale, Dukes, Brookes, and other well-known authorities; but ventures to think that some hitherto unknown facts, which have been brought to light through researches at the Public Record Office and Public Libraries, will be found here given for the first time.  He has in view a History, on a larger scale, of this most interesting College and Church, and will be grateful for any additional documents or items of information relating thereto.

February, 1889.

By the Rev. Wm. Geo. Dimock Fletcher, M.A.
F.S.A., Vicar of St. Michael’s, Shrewsbury.

Battlefield Church owes its foundation to the success achieved by King Henry IV. at the battle of Shrewsbury.  That prince, who as Duke of Hereford had been banished in 1398 for ten years by Richard II., returned to England in the following year, on the death of his father, John of Gaunt ostensibly to claim his estates which the King had seized.  He was joined by the Percies, Nevills, and other barons, and marched towards the west of England.  Bristol having been captured, and the King shortly afterwards made prisoner, Henry avowed his design of seizing the crown, the Duke of York supporting him.  Accordingly, the King was compelled to sign a deed of renunciation to the crown, and a parliament was summoned to meet at Westminster 30 Sept. 1399, at which Richard’s cession was read and approved, and the sentence of deposition solemnly passed, and the estates of the realm forthwith consented that Henry should reign over them.  Although Henry’s claim to the throne was ridiculous, as opposed to that of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who was not only great-grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, but his father Roger Mortimer had been as far back as 1385 declared by the King presumptive heir to the throne, still this revolution and elevation of Henry IV. to the throne was a national act, and the Lancastrian Kings must not therefore be considered as usurpers.  The inhabitants of Shrewsbury, and of the county of Salop generally, assented to Henry’s accession “most joyfully, with their most entire will and heart,” as their own words, preserved on the Rolls of Parliament, show.

The Percies, we have seen, strongly supported Henry IV. on his first landing in England, and cordially assisted him in the events which led to his becoming king.  Their friendship, however, was not of long duration.  A variety of causes led to the formidable rebellion, which culminated in the battle of Shrewsbury.  In July, 1402, the Scots invaded England, but were defeated by Henry Percy (called “Hotspur”), at Homildon Hill, on September 14th, and the Earl of Douglas and other nobles were taken.  King Henry issued a writ eight days later, forbidding the Earl of Northumberland to dispose of his prisoners; and this was one cause of offence.  They may too have been offended at Henry’s refusal to allow them to treat for the liberation of their kinsman, Sir Edmund Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl of March, from the hands of Owen Glyndwr; and they may have relented at the part they had acted against King Richard.  Probably meaner motives actuated them, for King Henry left them to conduct the Welsh and Scottish wars on their own resources, and Henry Percy complains in a letter dated 26th June, 1403, remaining among the Privy Council Records, that “£20,000 and more” was owing to himself and his father on that account; their claim was left unpaid.  The winter of 1402 was spent by the Percies in strengthening their party.  They entered into a treaty with Owen Glyndwr, the Welsh chieftain, who, with remarkable success, had taken up arms against the English, and had repelled three formidable armies led by the king in person, for the overthrow of Henry IV.  Historians have usually treated this insurrection as having been set on foot to dethrone King Henry, and to restore Richard II. if alive, or if dead to place Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, upon the throne of England.

The Earl of Northumberland was ill, and remained at Berwick; but his son, Henry Percy (Hotspur), with the Earl of Douglas and a great army, early in July, 1403, set out on his long march for Shrewsbury, where he had arranged to meet Glyndwr.  He passed through Cheshire, where his army was reinforced by a number of the gentlemen of that county, who had always been attached to the memory of Richard II., and came to Stafford, where his uncle, the Earl of Worcester, joined him.

Percy’s army probably marched from Stafford, and entered Shropshire on its eastern side, passing through Newport by High Ercall and Haughmond Hill, and so arrived at Shrewsbury some time on the evening of the 19th July.  They marched down the Castle Foregate, but finding that the king had only a few hours before entered the town, and seeing the royal standard floating over the Castle, Percy withdrew his forces to the Bull-field, an extensive common, which stretched from Upper Berwick to the east.

King Henry was at Burton-on-Trent, with an army which he had assembled against the Welsh, when he heard of the confederates’ hostile movements, and immediately marched towards Shrewsbury.  On the 17th he was at Lichfield, and taking the Watling St. Road, he probably entered the town on the 19th over the English Bridge.  By this course he secured the passage of the Severn, and prevented Owen Glyndwr, who had advanced with his forces to Oswestry, from crossing the river and effecting a junction with Percy.

Percy is said to have slept on the evening of the 19th at the mansion of the Bettons at Upper Berwick, on the site where Mr. Edgerley’s residence now stands.  Tradition says that he cut the outline of his hand on a panel with a pen-knife, and a wise woman prophesied that the Bettons should retain their estate so long as they kept the panel.  The Bettons are said to have lost the panel in the present century, and they have parted with their estate also.

As the king had nothing to gain by delay, it was clearly his interest to fight before Glyndwr could bring up his forces, and especially as his army was superior in numbers to Percy’s.  And so it seems probable that, early on the morning of the 20th July, he sent a body of troops, under the nominal command of Prince Henry, then 14 years old, to come up with Percy at Upper Berwick, if possible; whilst he himself with the main body marched along Castle Foregate and the Hadnall Road, ready to proceed, either towards Upper Berwick and so hem Percy in between his two divisions, or to intercept his retreat should he attempt to march to the east.  Percy broke up in some disorder, and marched by Harlescot and Albright Hussey to Hateley-field, probably with the intention of retreating through Hodnet and Market Drayton northwards, but finding a retreat impracticable in the face of a superior force, no course remained for him but to turn at bay and fight.

Percy accordingly marshalled his forces, posting a portion of them behind a field of peas, in order to afford some obstacle to the royal attack.  They were chiefly stationed on the north side of the present Church, in a field called the Hateleys.  Tradition says that Percy called for his favourite sword, but being told that it was left behind at Berwick, of which village he had not till then learned the name, he turned pale and exclaimed, “I perceive that my plough is drawing to its last furrow, for a wizard told me in Northumberland that I should perish at Berwick, which I vainly interpreted of that town in the north.”

The king’s forces were divided into two columns, of which he commanded one in person, and entrusted the other to his son.  The field on the east of the church is called the King’s Croft, and here perhaps were ranged the troops which the king himself commanded.

When the armies were drawn up, facing each other, waiting for the signal to begin, the Abbot of Shrewsbury left the royal army and came to Percy, in the hope of effecting peace between the two parties.  On behalf of the king he offered pardon to Percy and his adherents, if they would lay down their arms, and a redress of grievances.  The stern temper of the Earl of Worcester however rejected all attempts at conciliation; and both sides flew to arms.  The two armies were not equal in numbers.  Percy had 14,000 men, including a large force of Cheshire archers.  The royal array was probably nearly double that number; for 40,000 men are said to have been engaged in the battle.

The battle commenced by a fierce discharge of arrows on both sides, and raged with violence.  Percy, with the Earl of Douglas and some thirty others, in the heat of the battle, bent on the king’s destruction, valiantly forced their way into the centre of his forces.  At one period Henry’s van was broken, his standard overthrown; his son Prince Henry was wounded in the face by an arrow; Edmund, Earl of Stafford, Sir Walter Blount, and three other persons armed like the king, were slain; and the king himself was unhorsed, and likely to be slain, had he not been withdrawn from danger by Dunbar, the Scottish Earl of March.  At an important moment, Henry brought up his reserve, which seems to have turned the scale; and Percy himself was killed by an unknown hand, either by a spear, or by an arrow which pierced his brain, alone, and surrounded by his foes.  The king at once took advantage of this, and shouted aloud, “Henry Percy is dead;” and the insurgent forces gave way and fled in every direction.  The battle had lasted three hours.

On Henry’s side, 3,000 are said to have been wounded, and about 1,600 slain, including Edmund Earl of Stafford, Sir Hugh Stanley, Sir John Clifton, Sir John Cokaine, Sir Nicholas Gausel, Sir Walter Blount, Sir John Calverley, Sir John Massey, of Puddington, Sir Hugh Mortimer, Sir Richard Sandford, and Sir Robert Gausel.  On Percy’s side the loss of those slain in the battle or pursuit has been estimated at 5,000, including Sir John Massey, of Tatton, and 200 knights and gentlemen of Cheshire.  The Earl of Worcester, Sir Richard Venables, and Sir Richard Vernon, were taken prisoners, and beheaded on the 21st at the High Cross at Shrewsbury.  Worcester’s head was set up over London Bridge; his headless body is conjectured to have been buried in the Leyburnes’ tomb in the chapel of the Holy Trinity in St. Mary’s Salop.  Percy’s body was at first decently interred by his kinsman Lord Furnival; but was afterwards taken up, and placed for public exhibition between two millstones near the pillory in Shrewsbury, and then beheaded and quartered, and portions sent to several towns in England.

The dead were buried in a large trench or pit made on the field of battle, near the spot where the church was afterwards built.  Many years ago, when a drain was made to carry off the wet from the Corbet vault in the small close lying on the north side of the chancel, the workmen cut through large masses of human bones.  Many others, some in leaden coffins, were found lying underneath the flooring of the church, when it was being restored, about 1860.  No doubt numbers of the slain were interred in other fields and meadows in the neighbourhood.  Many persons of note, who perished in the battle, were interred at the Augustine Friars and Friar-preachers in Shrewsbury.

A few fragments of armour, spurs, and other relics, have been from time to time dug up on the site of the field of battle, but in comparatively small quantities.  At Sundorne Castle are preserved two helmets and several cuirasses, swords, pikes, &c.  Mr. Pountney Smith possesses a cast-iron cannon-ball, about three inches in diameter, and weighing nearly 4lbs; and another gentleman residing in Shrewsbury has a sword.  Grose in his Military Antiquities gives an engraving of a bill, or more probably a gisarme.  Two shields were ploughed up in the year 1823.

In the field on the south side of the church are a number of mounds and ditches.  Are these earthworks connected with the field of battle, or are they foundations of the college buildings, or mounds for the burial of those slain in the battle, or are they merely old gravel-pits?  The matter is worth investigation.

Owen Glyndwr is said to have been unable to ford the Severn and join Percy, owing to the waters being swollen.  Tradition makes him to have ascended the branches of a lofty oak at Shelton, whose venerable trunk still remains, and there to have waited the issue of the battle.  Another account states that he was at the time besieging Caermarthen, and was not near Shrewsbury.

The battle of Shrewsbury was one of the decisive battles in the history of England.  Had Percy been successful, and the King defeated, the Lancastrian dynasty would probably not have occupied the throne of England.  What turn the course of events would then have taken, it is impossible even to conjecture.  Henry’s victory established the Lancastrian dynasty on the throne for nearly 60 years.

The battle of Shrewsbury was fought on the vigil or eve of St. Mary Magdalene, Saturday, 21st July, 1403; and the place where it was fought has ever since been called Battlefield.  In gratitude for, and in commemoration of this victory, the present church of Battlefield was erected, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and a college of secular canons was formed to serve it.  Its erection has often been ascribed to Henry IV., but the real founder of the church was Roger Ive, priest, of Leaton, rector of Fitz in 1399, and of Albright Hussey from 1398 to 1447, and a staunch Lancastrian.

The site on which the church was built was given by Richard Hussey, Esq., of Albrighton Hussey, who on the 28th October, 1406, obtained license from King Henry to assign to Roger Yve and John Gilberd, chaplains, in frankalmoign, two acres of land in Albrighton Hussey, lying in a certain field called Hayteleyfeld, in which a battle was fought between the king and Henry Percy, lately his adversary deceased, to celebrate divine service daily in a certain chapel there, to be by them newly built, for the king’s salvation during his life, and after his death for his soul, and for the souls of his progenitors and of those who were slain in the battle and were there buried, and for the souls of all the faithful departed.

The church was accordingly at once begun, and it seems to have been completed, at least sufficiently for divine service to be performed, in March, 1408–9, when the king, by letters patent, founded and established the church into a perpetual chantry of eight chaplains, one of whom was to be master; the said master and chaplains to be capable of acquiring lands; and he further endowed the Chantry with the advowson of the church of Michaellskirke, in Lancashire.  In August, 1409, the receiver of Tutbury was commanded to deliver a quantity of lead to cover the new chapel.  Before February, 1409–10, Roger Ive surrendered the land and chapel into the hands of the king; from whom in March or May, 1410, he received a new and fuller grant of the same, in which the said piece of land is described as being enclosed by a ditch, and containing in length and breadth two acres, together with two inlets and outlets, one extending in length from Hadenallestone directly upon land of Richard Hussey and the said piece of land, and containing in breadth 20 feet, and the other in length from Harlascotelone directly upon land of the said Richard, and containing in breadth 20 feet.  The king established the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene into a perpetual Chantry of six chaplains, of which Roger Ive and his successors, rectors of the chapel of St. John Baptist at Albright Hussey, were to be masters, and Richard Hussey and his heirs patrons.  He endowed it with the advowsons of Michaellskirke in Lancashire, St. Andrew of Iddesale (or Shiffnall), and the free royal chapel of St. Michael within the Castle Salop, to which the chapel of St. Juliana of Salop was appurtenant or appendent.  And he granted to Ive freedom from tenths, fifteenths, subsidies, &c.; and that he and his successors should have a fair at the Chantry each year on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.  John Repynton had been warden of St. Michael’s with St. Julian’s, but resigned these into the hands of King Henry V., in May 1417.

The above Charter of 27th March (or May) 1410, was practically the Foundation Charter of the Chantry, and it was confirmed by Henry V. on the 17th June, 1414, by Henry VI. on the 17th November, 1425, and by Henry VII. on the 29th June, 1485.  Ive himself received a general pardon from Henry VI. in October 1424; and in December 1445 had license for himself and his co-chaplains quietly to celebrate divine service without fear of arrests, fines, amerciaments, &c.

Roger Ive’s will, which is dated 13th October, 1444, contains the regulations and ordinances for the chantry or college.  By it, he directs his body to be buried in a stone tomb near the high altar.  He bequeaths to the five chaplains three chalices, a paxbrede, two cruets, three brass bells hanging in the belfry, three crosses, and a number of books and vestments.  The chaplains were to dwell in the mansion already built there, and were to dine and sup together, and not in their own rooms.  They were not to leave the college by night or by day without the master’s leave, under a penalty of 3s. 4d.  They were each to swear and perform obedience to their master, and were to receive a stipend of eight marcs a year apiece, and two more for praying at every mass for the testator, and keeping his obit annually.  They were to pray for the souls of Henry IV. and V., founders of the college, of Richard Hussey, senior, the first patron, and Isolda, his wife, of John Hussey, Richard Hussey the father of Richard Hussey then living, and Thomas Hussey, of Roger Ive, the first master and his parents, of William Howyke of Pountfret and Sir Thomas Kyrkeby, chaplains, and for the souls of all the faithful departed slain in the field of Battlefield, and there buried.  Minute directions are given as to the services to be performed.  The alms from indulgences granted to the college were to be expended about the building and work of the belfry, and when this was finished, then for the sustentation of the poor in the college, and repair of their alms house.  Besides the advowsons before mentioned, he leaves them the profits of the Chapel of Dadele (Dawley), the town and grange of Aston, and the Chapel of Forde.

We have not much information extant about the college during the 150 years of its existence.

In 1445, Roger Ive seems to have prosecuted before the barons of the exchequer a claim to exemption from taxation in respect of all the benefices belonging to the college.  The Bishop of Hereford certified that Ford was an appurtenance of St. Juliana, Salop.  The parishioners of Ford seem to have complained that the college neglected to provide for divine service there; and the Lord Chancellor wrote a letter between 1440 and 1443 to the Bishop of Lichfield about this neglect, and desiring him to remedy it, which is preserved in the Bishop’s Registers at Lichfield.

A few years later the college claimed all the tithes of Derfald, which they alleged belonged to them as possessors of St. Michael’s.  Long before, however, in Henry II.’s reign, Haghmond Abbey had purchased a portion of Derfald.  Accordingly an agreement was come to in 1462 between Haghmond Abbey and the college, by which the Abbey was to receive the tithes of the grange and of all lands etc. of Derfald, between the great close of Cowlande, and the great slade jointly to the wood of Pimbeley, called Darrerisden.

The College or Chantry of Battlefield continued for nearly 150 years, and divine service was no doubt duly celebrated by the chaplains, as directed by the foundation charter, and the will of the first master.

In 1534 an Act was passed, which gave the first-fruits and tenths to the king; and the Master of the College duly made a return of the annual value of the property belonging to the college, which consisted of lands in Aston near Shiffnal, and the tithes of St. Michael de Wyre, Idsall, Dawley, St. Julian Salop, Ford, and Albright Hussey, besides certain offerings, the total annual value then being £56 1s. 4d.  Payments to the ministers of St. Julian and Idsall, and procurations, &c. came to £1 19s. 6d.  The balance, amounting to £54 1s. 10d., being divisible amongst the master and chaplains, the master receiving £34 1s. 10d. and the five chaplains £4 apiece.  The King’s tenth came to £5 8s. 2¼d.

In 1545 all chapels and chantries were given to the King.  The possessions of the college were declared to be of the yearly value of £8 15s., and the house unlet was valued at 10s. a year.  There were 12 oz. of plate, and some other goods.  The Church was stated not to be a parish church, but to be within the parish of Albrighton Hussey.  On Edward VI.’s accession to the Throne, the Lands belonging to the chantries were given to the Crown.  The certificate then made by Sir Geo. Blount, Knt., states the net revenues to be of the value of £44 8s. 8d., of which the master received £19 6s., and 4 chaplains £5 6s. 8d. apiece, and the goods to be worth 13s. 4d.

The college was then dissolved, and the property sold to various purchasers.  The site of the college, and cottages or booths near erected for the market there, the chapel and tithes of Albright Hussey, the tithes of Harlescot, and the Rectory of St. Julian’s were sold to John Cupper and Richard Trevor in 1550; land at St. Michael on Wyre to John Pykarell and John Barnard, and to Richard Palladye; and Aston near Shiffnal to Tho. Sydney and Nicholas Halswell.

The College is thus described in the Particulars for Grants made temp. Edward VI.:—

“The mansion or site of the said late College, with all houses edifices one dovecote one garden and two orchards within the said site and precinct, late in the tenure of the master and combrethren of the same late College; besides 2s. 4d. from the rent of a chamber called the Curates Lodging assigned and reserved to the procurator there, now in the tenure of Edward Shorde curate, valued and assessed by the Commissioner of our Lord the King there at 17s. 8d. per annum.”

“Certain Cottages or lez Bothes built upon land of Richard Hussey near the site of the said late College, placed there only in market time, with the outgoings tolls and other profits arising annually in the time of a market held there on the Feast of the Blessed Mary Magdalene, worth per annum 21s. 4d.”

“The same was given for certain yearly obits to be kept with the said late College.  There be no woods upon any the premises.”

The Commissioners left Edward Shorde, one of the chaplains, to serve the church, with a chamber or lodging; and the following goods to carry on the services, a return of which was made in August, 1553,—3 bells, 2 great and a sanctus bell, 2 vestments, 2 altar cloths, a chalice with a paten parcel gilt weighing 10 ounces, a pair of small laten candlesticks, and a pair of cruets.

Albright Hussey Church having probably long before this fallen down, Battlefield Church became now, though without any definite settlement, practically the parish church for the old parish of Albright Hussey, and it has so continued ever since.

Dukes, in his Antiquities of Shropshire, gives an engraving of the College Seal.  It represents the Blessed Virgin crowned, the Child in her right hand, in her left a palm branch.  On the dexter side a Shield of Arms, Quarterly France and England.  On the sinister side, a chevron engrailed between three birds.  Over each shield a sword erect.  The legend being,—“S. Commune-Domini.  Rogeri. Ive. primi. magistri. et. successorum. suorum. Collegii. Beatæ. Mariæ. Magdalenæ. juxta. Salop.”  This was probably the first seal of the College.

Roger Ive, in 1444, complains that it had been fabricated, and orders a new Seal for the College,—In the centre, the image of the Holy Trinity, with the image of S. Mary Magdalene on the dexter side, and of S. John Baptist on the sinister side, at their feet the image of Roger Ive kneeling.  The legend to be the same as before.  I do not know that any impression of this second Seal has been preserved.

The following is an imperfect list of the Masters or Wardens of the College:—

Roger Ive, of Leaton; rector of Fitz 1399, and of Albright Hussey 1398 to 1447; first master.

Roger Phillipps, living in 1463, and 1480.

Adam Grafton, LL.B., 1490 and 1509; chaplain to Edward V. and Prince Arthur; vicar of St. Alkmund’s, Salop, 1473 to 1489; rector of Upton with Withington 1494; canon of St. Chad’s 1494; prebendary of Lichfield 1497; archdeacon of Salop 1504 to 1514; archdeacon of Stafford; dean of St. Mary’s Salop; died 24 July, 1530; buried at Withington, where a brass represents him as vested in a cope, and in an act of prayer.  He erected or completed the tower of Battlefield Church in 1503.

John Hussey, 1521.

Humphrey Thomas, 1525 and 1530.

John Hussey, admitted 18 Oct., 1535; aged 40 in 1549; last master.

Battlefield Church was, as we have seen, doubtless erected in the years 1407 and 1408, excepting the tower, which was completed a century later.  It is entirely of the perpendicular style of architecture, with the exception of one window on the north side of the church and two on the south side which have reticulated tracery in their heads.  The church is not, strictly speaking, divided into nave and chancel, as is usual in parish churches, but consists of one covered space only, and is uniform in its character throughout.

The length of the nave and chancel inside is 94 feet, and of the tower 18 feet; the breadth of the nave is 28 feet, and of the tower 14 feet; the total length outside being 119 feet, and the breadth 33 feet.

On the South side of the church was the cemetery or burial ground, formerly enclosed by a stone wall which came up to the church, at its south east and south west corners, and had an exit at the west end.  The dimensions of the cemetery are given in one of the Morris MSS. in the Salop Free Library as follows,—length 126 feet, breadth 80 feet, including the church; from the east end of the church to the ditch, 57 feet; from north to south between the ditch, 222 feet; width of the ditch, 22 feet.  This stone wall, which was probably coeval with the church, was taken down at the restoration in 1862.  The church and college originally stood in an oblong space enclosed by a moat, which may still in places be traced.

The tower is about 100 years later than the rest of the church, and was completed by Adam Grafton, master of the college, in 1503.  His initials and the date, A.G. 1503, occur on a shield on the east side of the tower.  Roger Ive by his will in 1444, left directions as to certain alms being accumulated for the building of the belfry; and the funds may have been thus raised.  The tower has eight pinnacles, which were mostly replaced in 1862.  It is surmounted by an embattled parapet of equal intervals, with plain cappings.  Just below the battlements, is a handsome carved frieze or border, enriched with diamond shaped ornaments and quatrefoils.  On the west it has two windows, and one on the east, north, and south sides.  Over the higher of the west windows, in the middle of the frieze, is an escutcheon bearing an animal, apparently a lion rampant passant; and over the east window is an escutcheon having on it the inscription A.G. 1503.  The second floor of the tower is furnished with a fireplace, having a chimney formed within the thickness of the wall, and opening outside the western window of the bell chamber.  Exterior buttresses are built at the corners of the tower, and a square projection on its south-east corner has a spiral staircase to the top.  The tower is not placed at right angles to the body of the church.  The break in the stonework at its eastern wall, the comparative rudeness of the mouldings, the absence of a second plinth mould to the base, and the coarse treatment of the angle buttresses at their lower weatherings, all bear out the statement that the tower is a hundred years later than the body of the church.

The church was probably all of one pace originally, and no division made between nave and chancel externally.  The exterior, between the windows, is supported by handsome stone buttresses.  And it seems clear that there never was any clerestory.

With the exception of the three already referred to, the windows are all of the perpendicular style, though in some of them there are evidences of a lingering fondness for the flowing lines of decorated tracery.  Some of the windows have the dripstones terminating at the bottom with plain returns, others with representations of human heads.  The three windows with reticulated tracery in their heads, one on the north and two on the south side, are in style a century earlier than the rest of the windows.  How can they be accounted for?  One theory is that the church was designed by an architect from France, where the decorated style remained longer than in England.  Another, and more probable, theory is that they were brought from the neighbouring church of Albright Hussey, which, judging from the window mouldings in the fragment that remains, was of 14th century architecture, and was probably suffered to fall into decay when Battlefield Church was built.

The east window is of five lights, and has handsome perpendicular tracery.  The present stained glass in it is modern, and represents our Lord led out to crucifixion, followed by the women, the home at Bethany, Mary wiping Christ’s feet, the women at the Sepulchre, and the Risen Lord appearing to Mary,—all scenes in the history of St. Mary Magdalene.  Above are the Evangelists and four greater Prophets.  The old stained glass represented the decollation of St. John Baptist, and was probably brought from Albright Hussey church, which was dedicated to that saint.  When the church was undergoing its first restoration in 1749, this glass was taken down, and entrusted to the care of a neighbouring farmer, who suffered his children and servants to destroy it, so that when it was to be replaced only a few fragments could be found.  These were inserted in the window, much injured and dilapidated, and contained, amongst other designs, two crowned heads, a human head in a dish, a chalice and wafer, the crucifixion, some escutcheons of arms, and an inscription commencing “Orate pro animabus Rogeri . . . hujusce capellani . . . .”   These fragments at the second restoration in 1862 were carried away to Prees Church, and some portions to the ante-chapel at Sundorne Castle.

The stained glass in the vestry, not of any high artistic merit, was not originally in the church, but was brought from France by the Rev. A. J. Pigott, and placed in the vestry.

Outside the church, immediately over the East window, is a niche, surmounted by a canopy, in which stands the statue of Henry IV., about half life-size, crowned, with a dagger hanging on his left side, and his right hand grasping a sword.

On each side of the exterior of the chancel, near the East end, are dripstones, as if intended for the arch of a window, carried up nearly to a point.  No window ever was thrown out in either place; and probably the architect’s intention may have been to add small side chapels at some future time.

At the dissolution of the college, two great bells and a sanctus bell were left.  These bells are traditionally said to have been carried off to Berrington or Wroxeter in the last century.  In 1861 the only bell went to St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury.  The present bell is modern, and was cast by Naylor, Vickers and Co. in 1861.

The three sedilia with plain gothic arches, and the piscina adjoining, on the south side of the altar, are original.

In the chancel is a seated figure of “Our Lady of Pity,” the blessed Virgin with the dead Christ in her lap.  This is said to have been brought here from Albright Hussey.  It is 3ft. 9in. high, and carved out of a block of oak hollowed behind.  The execution of the image is good, and it is probably of 14th century work.  It was formerly seated in the westernmost of the three sedilia.  There was formerly another figure, that of a man, in one of the other sedilia, but it was destroyed at the first restoration of 1749.

Some fragments of the original roof still remain, worked up into the present chancel roof.  The corbels at the spring of the roof trusses, some of foliage, but mostly of heads, are original and are well carved.  Outside are a few of the original gurgoyles, though most were placed there in 1861.

The nave is entered by a doorway under the tower, which was reopened out in 1861.  There are also doors on the north and south sides of the nave, the latter formerly leading into the cemetery; and on the north and south sides of the chancel, the former leading into the vestry, the latter, which formerly communicated with a priest’s chamber, being now bricked up and the organ placed over it.

Above the south chancel doorway, over the organ, nearly up to the roof, is a small square aperture now bricked up, which communicated with an outer priest’s chamber, and enabled its occupants to see inside the church.  On the south side of the church, near the second bay from the eastern end, between the second and third buttresses may be seen some masonry, the foundations of a building which was three storeys in height, the upper storeys being approached by a circular staircase, of which the foundations still remain.  The lowest storey opened directly into the church by the doorway now bricked up.  From the upmost storey the little square window opened into the church.  On the buttresses may be seen some projecting pieces of masonry, which supported the topmost storey; over the doorway may be seen against the wall a projecting support for the middle storey.  These little rooms were probably only about 9ft. square, and were for the accommodation of the priests whilst on duty at the church.

A modern screen divides the choir from the nave.  Round the church are fixed a number of shields bearing the arms of those knights and others who fell in the battle.

The font is modern, though a portion of the ancient font was lying in the tower in the year 1856, and a second font was erected in 1749 probably and taken away in 1861.

The vestry, or strictly speaking the Corbet mortuary chapel, was erected in 1861 over the place of interment of the family of Corbet of Sundorne Castle and Pimley.  The Corbets are the patrons and proprietors of Battlefield.

On the north side of the chancel is a large and handsome monument erected in December 1821, to the memory of John Corbet, Esq., and several members of his family.  John Corbet died 19 May 1817, aged 65 years; Emma Elizabeth, his first wife, and daughter of Sir Charlton Leighton, Bart., died 19 September, 1797; Annabella, wife of Sir Theodore Henry Lavington Brinckman, Baronet, and daughter of John Corbet, Esq., died 24th January, 1864, aged 61.  Several other of this family are also named on this monument, and lie buried in the vault, which was made in August 1797.

A brass, mounted on jasper, affixed to the south wall of the tower, commemorates the restoration of 1861.  It bears this inscription:—“This church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, was built and endowed by Henry IV. in memory of the battle of Shrewsbury 1403.  Having fallen into decay, its restoration, originated by public subscription, was finally completed in the year of Our Lord 1861, at the private cost of Annabella, wife of Sir Theodore Brinckman, Bart., according to plans prepared by Pountney Smith, Architect.  Soli Deo Gloria.”

Battlefield Church has twice been restored, first about the year 1749, at whose expense we do not know, and again in 1861 at the cost of Lady Brinckman.

I fix upon 1749 as the approximate date of the first restoration for several reasons.  The Parish Register that year speaks of “the church then down,” Mr. Leonard Hotchkiss being the minister.  In 1746 “briefs” were being collected for the church.  The earliest known engraving, after a sketch by James Bowen, of the north side of the church, which cannot have been engraved later than 1769, as Mr. Percy (afterwards Bishop of Dromore), had a copy that year, represents the church as then being in a perfect state externally, and states “this church was rebuilt a few years since.”  The Archæologia for 1803 states that “the church was repaired and altered about 50 or 60 years ago.”  All this points to 1749 as the date.

Probably little had been done to the church from the time of the dissolution of the college down to 1749, and it had been allowed to fall into a bad state.  The Puritans, too, during the commonwealth are said to have damaged it.  At all events, about 1749 some considerable reparations were effected.  The church was probably newly roofed, though still kept all of one pace, and somewhat lowered.  The buttresses were surmounted by heads or gurgoyles.  The roof, too, was plastered and whitewashed.  The stained glass was removed from the east window, and, being carelessly kept, was much broken, and only some fragments re-inserted.  The old font was taken away, and a new one placed in the church.  The tower was bound together with iron bars, nuts, and screws.  The parapets, if there were any round the church, and most of the pinnacles and gurgoyles were taken down.  A new bell was placed in the tower, which seems to have borne the inscription, “Ab. Rudhall of Gloucester cast me, 1755.”  We must feel thankful that the “restoration” was not carried to greater lengths and that the walls and tower were spared.

The work done about 1749 was not of a permanent nature.  In a few years’ time the roof of the nave portion of the building must have fallen in, and no attempt was made to replace it.  Fearing that the roof of the chancel portion might also give way, four ugly circular Doric pillars on pedestals were introduced to support it; and a brick wall was built at the west end of the chancel, separating it from the nave.  From this time, and until 1861, the chancel only was used for divine service.  The nave was suffered to fall into complete decay.  The buttresses of the chancel were a little shortened, and the gurgoyles removed.

When the roof of the nave fell in we do not know, but certainly before 1792.  In 1810, the nave and steeple were ruinous, though “the whole was entire within the memory of persons now living.”

In November, 1855, the late Mr. S. Pountney Smith, of Shrewsbury, made a set of plans for the restoration of the church, though the work was not finally accomplished until the year 1861.  The expense of the work, amounting to £4,000, was borne by Lady Brinckman.  It took twelve months to carry out.  The tower was completely renovated, the nave repaired, the new columns in the chancel taken away, and the whole new-roofed, and put into a thorough state of repair.  A new parapet was placed round the nave and chancel, that on the nave being plain, whilst the chancel parapet was pierced with quatrefoils, and enriched with pinnacles.  A new vestry, or Corbet mortuary chapel was built on the north side of the chancel.  The church was re-opened on Friday, November 1st, All Saints’ Day, 1861, the preacher being the Bishop of Oxford.

The new work was on the whole, when we consider the dilapidated state of the church, thoroughly well carried out.  Perhaps the chief defect is the marked distinction made between nave and chancel, which is unusual in Collegiate Churches, and in this church never existed.  It would have been better if both had been kept of the same pace, and had been decorated and finished alike.  It seems to have been a mistake, too, to pull down the cemetery wall on the south side of the church, which had existed ever since its first erection.

The Vicarage House was built about 1862, at some little distance west from the church.  The site of the old college has never yet been ascertained; it may have stood on the east side of the church; and it is not known when it was taken down.  Nor is it known where the almshouse or hospital for poor men stood, nor how long it lasted, nor when it was destroyed.  Both probably did not remain long after the dissolution of the chantry.

The church is distant three miles from Shrewsbury.  Proceeding down the Hadnall Road, it comes into sight directly after passing the Old Heath Farm (Mr. John Randles) on the left-hand side, and looks most picturesque with its handsome tower flanked by the woods on its north side.

The following is an imperfect list of the Incumbents of Battlefield, chiefly taken from the Parish Registers, which commence in 1663.  From 1749 until 1875, Battlefield and Uffington were held together by the same Incumbent.

1553.  Edwarde Shorde, formerly chaplain, left in charge by the King’s Commissioners.

16..  Thomas Orpe, ejected from Stanton-Hine, preferred by Mr. Pelham Corbet to Battlefield, which was then worth 5 marks per annum.

1694.  Roger Eddowes, curate; mar. 21 Jan. 1717, Elizabeth Young; died 1 May, 1728.  His widow was buried 12 April, 1731.

1749.  Leonard Hotchkiss, M.A., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge; for 19 years Headmaster of Shrewsbury School; died 12 November, 1771, aged 80; buried in S. Mary’s, Salop.  Sarah, his wife, died in 1759, aged 81.  His portrait is in the entrance hall at Shrewsbury School.

1772.  Beaumont Dixie, of Emmanuel Coll., Cambridge; son of Rev. Beaumont Dixie and Elizabeth, dau. of Andrew Corbet, of Shrewsbury; vicar of St. Peter’s, Derby, 1773; died at Dalbury, co. Derby, 10 May, 1786; he mar. Margaret, dau. of Richard Shewin, and his eldest son, Sir Beaumout Dixie, succeeded in 1806 as sixth baronet.

1786.  Edward Williams, M.A. and Fellow of All Souls’ College Oxford; the well-known Shropshire topographical collector; several of his MSS. are now in the British Museum; others were sold at Lord Berwick’s sale in 1843.  He died 3 Jan. 1833, aged 70, and was buried on the south side of the church on the 10th.

1833.  John Oliver Hopkins, M.A., of Magdalen College, Cambridge, vicar until 1851; afterwards vicar of St. Mary’s, Salop, 1852; died 1 August, 1853, buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard on the N.E. corner.  His widow, Beatrice Julia, daughter of Egerton Leigh, esq., re-married in 1859 the Rev. Robert Linden Burton.

1852.  Arthur James Pigott, B.A. and postmaster of Merton Coll., Oxford; 3rd son of the Rev. John Dryden Pigott, of Edgmond; born at Edgmond; rebuilt Uffington, and restored Battle field Church; resigned his incumbency, 1872; died at Uffington, 19 July, 1881, aged 64.

1872.  Thomas Bainbridge, B.A., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge; vicar of Uffington 1872 to 1875, when the vicarages were divided.

The Plates are as follows:—

1.  Battlefield Church as it appeared after the first restoration of 1749.  From an engraving by Fras. Parry, after a drawing by Jas. Bowen, Salop.  The earliest known sketch of the Church.  N. View.  (Faces p. 8.) [26]

2.  The Church as it appeared in 1792, after the nave had fallen in.  From an engraving in the Gentleman’s Magazine, communicated by D. Parkes.  The old stone wall is figured in the sketch.  S. View.  (Faces p. 22.)

3.  The Church as it appeared shortly before the second restoration of 1861.  S. View.  (Faces p. 23.)

4.  The Church as it now is, shewing the external alterations made by Mr. S. Pountney Smith, at the second restoration of 1861.  S. View.  (Faces Title-page.)

5.  The wooden image of “Our Lady of Pity,” placed in the Sedilia.  From an engraving in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792.  (See p. 19.)

SHREWSBURY:
“Eddowes’s Shrewsbury Journal” Offices,
7, The Square.

[26]  This illustration was meant to face page 22, but the printer has it facing page 8.—DP.