PART I

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THE ANTIQUITIES &c.

The first thing which naturally engages our attention, in considering the Antiquities of Bridgnorth, is the origin of its name. This, as well as other names just as simple and intelligible, has afforded matter for the ingenious speculations of etymologists, who, by a sort of alchemy, of which they only are the masters, have transmuted it into a form totally different from its own. For instance, some have made it out that the name signifies the tower or castle on Morfe, and that it was originally _Burgmorfe_, the first syllable of which, “Burg,” being derived from the Greek word πυργος, ‘a tower’, the other being the Saxon name of the neighbouring forest, which extended over the large district still so called. But it is not easy to conceive, how “Burg” should have been transmuted into “Bridge,” and still less so, how “Morfe” should have been corrupted into “North.” The name is a very plain one, and just as plain is its etymology; _Bridgnorth i. e._ the north Bridge, or the bridge lying to the north of some other bridge. In every ancient record it is called “_Brugge_” or “_Brug_,” the Saxon form of the word “Bridge,” and there is no instance, I am informed, of the syllable “North” being added to it, at least in any public document, earlier than the reign of Edward I. Bridges in early times were not so common as they are now, and therefore a place, which had a bridge or bridges of any size, often took its name from this circumstance. Thus Bruges, a town in Flanders, was so named, from the numerous bridges over the canals, which intersect it; and Bridgetown, near which the famous battle of the Boyne was fought, was so called on account of the bridge, which there crosses the river. So our town received its first name of “_Brug_” from the bridge, which here spanned the Severn; and was afterwards called “_Bridgnorth_,” to distinguish it from a bridge lower down the Severn, at Quatford.[1]

[1] There can be no doubt that there was in ancient times a bridge at Quatford, for it is called in old writers, “Cwatbridge.” It was very likely a wooden bridge, one pier of which stood on an islet in the stream. In the very ancient map of Bridgnorth, and of its immediate neighbourhood, which is in possession of the Corporation, (a copy of which will be found in the present volume) this islet is marked out, and called “Brugg Bylett,” or Island Bridge. The present Ferryman, Richard Turley, very well recollects this bylet, and his having played on it when a boy: it was nearly a quarter of an acre in size, and covered with alders and willows. An old villager told the late Mr. Smallman that he remembered beams of wood being raised from that part of the river.

After the origin of the name, the next thing to consider is the first foundation of Bridgnorth. There is no doubt that this is very ancient, probably as ancient as the age of Alfred the Great. The Saxon chroniclers inform us that Ethelfleda, the daughter of Alfred, who inherited the magnanimity which has made her father’s name so illustrious in the page of history, aided her brother Edward in resisting the incursions of the Danes; and for this purpose erected several forts and castles in different parts of the country, and among these one at Bridgnorth.

It appears that the Danes, in A.D. 896, having been driven from their settlements on the banks of the Thames, and their fleet having been destroyed, retreated northward, and at last made their way to the Forest of Morfe, adjacent to Quatford, where, as some writers record, they entrenched themselves in a strong fortification.[2] We have proof of their having been in this neighbourhood, from the fact that a place between Bridgnorth and Quatford still bears the name of _Danesford_, marking the spot, where no doubt these wild marauders found a passage across the Severn, which passage they no doubt used in carrying on their depredations on the east side of the stream. There is supposed to be other local evidence of the Danes having settled for a time in this neighbourhood, which is not without its interest. I refer to the discovery, made by Mr. Stackhouse, formerly Incumbent of St. Mary’s, of an ancient burial ground upon Morfe, which from its character he supposed to be Danish.[3] The following account of it, together with the subjoined sketch, is given in the 460th Number of the Philosophical Transactions.

[2] “Aliâ excursione celeriter factâ in occiduas Angliæ partes in oppido ad Sabrinam, nomine Quatbrigia (forte Quatfordia prope Bridgnortham) quantâ poterant celeritate maximâ vallum sibi conficiunt.”—_Spelman’s Life of Alfred the Great, B._ 1, 94.

“In great haste they departed their fortress, leaving their wives and children to the mercy of the English, neither stayed they till they came into the borders of Wales, where at Quatbridge upon Severn, they built another castle.”—_Speed, B. VII., c._ 34.

[3] Mr. Hartshorne, in his _Salopia Antiqua_, (_pp. 91 and 101_) expresses the opinion, that these tumuli were the work of the ancient Britons, and not of the Danes. However, the same writer considers Burf Castle, an earthwork situated on the summit of a hill, about a mile and half east of Quatford, to be certainly Danish. (_pp. 210-12._)

[Illustration]

“In July, 1740, I observed upon Morfe the tumuli as above represented, where the soil is a strong gravel. Mountfaucon tells us that the old Cimbri, [the Danes,] were wont to throw up gravel on their graves, and the more remarkable the persons were, the larger the tumuli over them. I therefore imagined that this might possibly be the burying place of the Danes. For satisfaction, I caused the middle and largest of these tumuli to be dug from north to south, (a.a.) supposing that by that method I might cross the site of the body that may have been laid there. We dug about seven feet deep, even to the solid rock, without meeting anything remarkable but an iron shell, in the shape of an egg, with a round hole at one end; but so cankered and decayed, that it easily broke into small pieces. This we judged to be the boss of a sword. However, on viewing the trench that we had dug, we perceived on the west side of it a hollow in the gravel, which upon trial extended horizontally four or five feet; and under this hollow (b.b.) we found one of the large vertebræ of the loins, with its processes pretty perfect, but thoroughly petrified; and upon further search, several portions of bones, all alike petrified, but so disguised that we could not discover to what part of the body they belonged. We afterwards opened one of the lesser tumuli, (c.c.) and found what is thought to be the os sacrum, and many other small pieces of bone, in a petrified state. It was great odds that we found nothing at all, but nature favoured us by preserving some few tokens of antiquity.” Mr. Stackhouse seems to have been disturbed in his archeological researches; for he mentions that the people of Bridgnorth flocked in great numbers to the spot, expecting to see great wonders, and to prevent further concourse, he was glad to fill up the trenches, and to leave the other tumuli unexamined.

From local and historical evidence then, it would appear that the Danes took refuge amidst the forests[4] which then covered that extensive district, and continued to hold possession of them for some time. But this was the last scene of their struggle against the Saxons, during the reign of Alfred. They were compelled after a while to leave these fastnesses upon Morfe; and Shropshire, and soon after the whole of England, was delivered from their rule. Then it was that Ethelfleda, in concert with her brother Edward, in order to guard against any attempts the Danes might make to regain their footing in the country, built castles in those places which were most liable to be attacked. One of these, as has been already mentioned, was erected at Bridgnorth, or, as it was then called, “Brugge.” This establishes the fact, that our town, whatever may have been its exact size and situation, existed long before the Norman conquest, and that its foundation reaches back more than nine hundred years. But it is a higher honor to the town of Bridgnorth than even the great antiquity of its foundation, that it is thus associated in its early history with the name of this great princess—a name which poets and historians have justly made illustrious—and that amid the dangers which threatened the nation, she took such special means to provide for its defence.

[4] Vide Appendix A.

But what was the site of the castle which she erected at Bridgnorth? This is a question of very great interest. Most of those who have enquired into the subject have supposed it to be the eminence now known by the name of _The Castle Hill_; but Mr. Eyton, (_Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. 1,