Bitterley, Shropshire
Historical Description
Bitterley, a township and a parish in Salop. The township lies under the Clee Hills, 4 miles NE of Ludlow, which is the post town, and the money order and telegraph office. The parish includes also the townships of Cleeton, Ledwich, Middleton, and Snitton, with part of Henley. Acreage, 6879; population of the civil parish, 1011; of the ecclesiastical, with Middleton, 673. The Clee Hills here exhibit grand scenery, command noble views, and contain abundance of coal and ironstone. Bitterley Court and Henley Hall are the chief residences. The living is a rectoi'y, united with the perpetual curacy of Middleton, in the diocese of Hereford; net value, £516. The church contains a carved oak pulpit, a carved oak screen, a Norman font, and several monuments, and was restored in 1880. A stone cross, with graduated pedestal and hexagonal shaft, crowned by tabernacled niches, is in the churchyard. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel. Cleeton is a separate benefice.
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 | Bitterley St. Mary | |
Hundred | Munslow | |
Poor Law union | Ludlow |
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 Bitterley
The parish register dates from the year 1658.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a substantial building of stone, principally in the Transitional Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower containing 3 ancient bells: in 1908 a new oak framework for the bells was set up at a cost of £110, and a tower screen made from the old oak removed: the chancel was restored in 1876 by the Rev. John Walcot B.A. late rector, 1876-99, at a cost of about £900, and the church in 1880, at a cost of £1,600: there are several monuments to the Walcot, Powys, Lucy, and Pardoe families: the Powys monuments were re-erected by Lord Lilford in 1908: the stained east window is a memorial to the late Edmund T. Wedgewood Wood esq. of Henley Hall, d. 1886: there is also a remarkably fine Norman font and an old iron-bound oak chest. In the churchyard stands an old cross, said to have been erected in the reign of Edward the Second, 1307-27; this cross, which had become dilapidated, was restored in 1899, as a memorial to the late rector.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel.
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bitterley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bitterley (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Bitterley 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.