Alberbury, Shropshire
Historical Description
Alberbury, a township and a village in Salop, and an extensive parish partly in that county and partly in Montgomeryshire. The township lies near the Severn, 3 miles N of Wcstbury station on the Shrewsbury and Welshpool line (G.W. & L. & N.W.R.), and 9 W by N of Shrewsbury, and has a post office under Shrewsbury; telegraph office, West-bury railway station. Loton Park, the seat of the Leighton family, is adjacent. It is a handsome Jacobean mansion with an extensive and well-wooded deer park; in the grounds are scanty ruins of Alberbury and Wattleborough castles. A priory for Benedictine monks was founded at Alberbury by Fulke Fitzwarine about 1225, and was given by Henry VI. to All Souls' College, Oxford. The site is now occupied by a farm called White Abbey. The parish of Alberbury comprises the townships of Alberbury, Eyton, Little Shrawardine, Benthall, Rowton, Amaston, and a portion of the township of Ford, in Shropshire, and Bauseley in Montgomeryshire. Acreage, 7908; population, 832. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford; net value, £280. Patron, All Souls' College, Oxford. The church, erected on the site of a Saxon collegiate church, is an ancient stone edifice, and contains monuments, brasses, and memorial windows to the Leighton and Lyster families, and others. Glyn, a hamlet, was the birthplace of old Parr. Rowton Castle, with a fine park, formerly a seat of the Lyster family, is now the property of Lord Rowton. On Bauseley Hill are the remains of a Roman camp. The township of Winnington, formerly a part of this parish, is now part of the parish of Great Wollaston.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Salop | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Alberbury St. Michael | |
Hundred | Ford | |
Poor Law union | Atcham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Shropshire Archives have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Alberbury
The register dates from lhe year 1564; entries of burials up till 1747 are found in the Cardeston register.
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael (parish church)
The church of St. Michael, erected on the site of an earlier church, dating from 1020, is an ancient building of stone in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, south aisle and a massive saddle-back tower at the north-east angle containing a clock and 5 bells: the aisle, built in 1340, belongs to the Loton estate, and retains two remarkable windows, with fragments of 14th century glass, as well as mural tablets and brasses to the Leighton family, including Dame Dorothy Leighton, d. 1668: the Rev. Forester Leighton d. May 12, 1807; and Honoria (Barclay), his wife; Dame Louisa Margaretta Leighton, d. Jan. 8, 1842, and Sir Robert Leighton bart. d. 1819: in the nave are some handsome mural monuments to the Lyster family, including one to Richard Lyster, 1691, removed from St. Chad's church, Shrewsbury, on its demolition, and others to Richard Lyster, 1766, Dame Dorothy Lyster, 1688, and there is also here a window to Henry Lyster, erected by his tenantry: the chancel has seven stained memorial windows, placed there in 1853, and subsequently, by John Lloyd esq. H. Berens esq. and W. L. De Gruchy esq.: during 1903 the roof of the nave was restored and the organ rebuilt, at a cost of nearly £1,000: there are sittings for 500 persons: in the churchyard are the remains of an ancient cross.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Alberbury from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Alberbury, or Abberbury (St. Michael))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Alberbury are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Shropshire newspapers online:
- Shrewsbury Chronicle
- Wellington Journal
- Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales
- Ludlow Advertiser
- Salopian Journal
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Shropshire, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.