Albrighton (Shifnall), Shropshire
Historical Description
Albrighton, a village and a parish in Salop, 5 miles SE of Shiffnal, with a station on the G.W.R., 149 miles from London, and with a post office under Wolverhampton. The Institute Reading-rooms were opened in 1884. The parish comprises 3472 acres; population, 1147. The manor anciently belonged to Dore Abbey, and belongs now to the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £471. Patrons, alternately the Haberdashers' Company and Christ's Hospital. The church is Early English, some portions dating from the end of the 12th century; it consists of chancel, nave, aisles, west porch, and a Norman western tower containing 6 bells; it has a Decorated eastern window with a transom; in the chancel is a fine altar tomb. The church was restored in 1853. Albrighton Hall is the seat of the Barker family. The Wolverhampton waterworks are at Cosford in this parish.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Salop | |
County Court district | Shrewsbury | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Albrighton St. Mary | |
Hundred | Brimstree | |
Petty-Sessional Division | Shifnall | |
Poor Law union | Shiffnall |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register of baptisms dates from the year 1555; burials and marriages, 1555; it records the burial here of Charles Talbot, Lord Talbot, Marquis of Alton and first and only Duke of Shrewsbury K.G. who died on the 1st and was interred 23rd Feb. 1717-8.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary Magdalene (parish church)
The church of St. Mary Magdalene is an edifice of stone in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, west porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells and a clock presented by James E. Briscoe esq. in 1873: in the chancel is a monument with recumbent figure and coloured armorial shields to John Talbot of Grafton, c. 1555: and there are memorials to John Stanier esq. deputy-lieutenant of the county, 1831: the organ, given by James Loxdale esq. in 1855, was replaced in 1898 by a much larger instrument, as a memorial to the Rev. G. W. Woodhouse, vicar here 1836-94: the church was restored, the north aisle added and the nave and south aisle rebuilt in 1853 at the cost of the late Mrs. Catherine G. Johnson: there are sittings for 600 persons; outside of the church is a monument to Leonard Smallpage esq. of Pepperhill, 1610, and an altar tomb of very special interest, found in the church during the restoration.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Albrighton (Shifnall) from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Albrighton (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Albrighton (Shifnall) 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.