Bridgnorth
A
short history of Bridgnorth between 1700 and 1750
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The Bakers of Highfields Story
The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields,
Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire
and Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the
Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history
of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem |
The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields |
The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the
Bakers of Highfields |
The Bakers of
Fenton House and Hasfield Court
The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent |
The Family Tree of the Bellyse Family |
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The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to
the Baker family through marriage to Arthur Baker |
Headlines of are
in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to
other pages are in dark
blue.
References and
citations are in turquoise.
Context and local
history are in purple.
1700s
Following the Great Fire of 1646, which destroyed most of the town
during the English Civil War, the first half of the eighteenth century was
defined by a significant rebuilding boom. Timber-framed structures were
steadily replaced with grand, stately Georgian brick buildings, particularly
along prominent thoroughfares like Mill Street. The town’s iconic
layout of three core pebble-paved streets, with Mill Street in Low Town
developing stately, affluent structures, brgan to emerge.
1709
In 1709, the Stoneway Chapel was constructed on the iconic
Stoneway Steps, signalling the growth of non-conformist religious communities
alongside the town's established parishes. The deed described the plot: All
that messuage, cottage, or tenements, with all the gardens thereunto adjoining
and belonging, on the north side of Stoneway, the which John Wilson bath lately
purchased from Mr. Thomas Wollastone, and Anne, his wife. together with the new
building thereupon since erected (Deed dated 2
August 1709).
1711
The town's intellectual profile grew when a significant
theological library was founded by Dean Thomas Stackhouse, serving as a core
educational and cultural hub for local clergy and scholars.
1714
On 23 April 1714, the town bailiffs compiled a comprehensive list
of all living burgesses or freemen of the corporation. This record serves as an
invaluable census-style directory of trade, gentry, and working-class alignment
in early eighteenth century Bridgnorth. (see The Bridgnorth Burgess
Book).
1729
In 1729, the prominent literary figure Thomas Percy, the future
Bishop of Dromore and author of the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,
was born in Bishop Percy's House on the Cartway.
1730s
Long before the railways arrived, the River Severn provided the
primary industrial highway through this part of England. Bridgnorth operated as
one of the busiest inland river ports in the country, managing a constant flow
of trows, cargo barges. During the 1730s, Bridgnorth peaked as one of
the busiest river ports in Britain. The large trow vessels transported
agricultural produce, coal, timber, and manufactured goods between Shrewsbury,
the emerging Ironbridge Gorge area, and Bristol.
Local industries migrated from basic agrarian trade into
commercial-scale tanning, malting, and worsted and carpet weaving alongside the
riverbanks.
1746
The prominent timber-framed Bridgnorth Town Hall, built shortly
after the Civil War in the middle of the High Street, marked its centenary as
the central administrative hub for the town. Local government was led by two
bailiffs, elected annually from 24 aldermen, 48 common councilmen, a recorder,
and a town clerk.
1750
By 1750, contemporary travel writers began frequently comparing
Bridgnorth’s dramatic tiered cliffs and high walls to Old Jerusalem. The unique,
dramatic geography of Bridgnorth, with its steep sandstone cliffs separating
High Town and Low Town, led to its spectacular skyline being compared to Old
Jerusalem. A regional gazetteer recorded the town as a place of great trade
both by land and water, noted for its four annual livestock and merchandise
fairs.
By 1750, Bridgnorth had cemented its status as a major centre of
regional trade, capitalising heavily on its strategic position along the River
Severn.
According to historical gazetteers from 1750, the town featured
three main, well-paved streets and hosted a bustling Saturday market. It also
held four popular annual fairs that attracted merchants from across the country
to trade cattle, sheep, butter, cheese, bacon, linen cloth, and hops. (England's
Gazetteer, Stephen Whatley, 1750).
Bibliography
Bellett, Rev George (1856), The
Antiquities of Bridgnorth: With Some Historical Notices of the Town and Castle.
Cox, DC and others (1989), Domesday Book: 1540-1750, in A
History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 4, Agriculture, editors G C
Baugh, C R Elrington, London, British
History Online.
Gwilt, Clive (2009), A History of Bridgnorth. *
Hardwicke, William (annotated by W. Watkins-Pitchford), Collections
for a History of Bridgnorth. A foundational compilation of local
antiquarian papers detailing municipal governance, property transitions, and
town progression through the Georgian era. Published serially within the
Transactions of the Shropshire
Archaeological & Historical Society.
Partridge, B (Publisher) (1821), The History of the Ancient
Borough of Bridgnorth in the County of Salop with Notes and an Appendix. *
Wanklyn, Malcolm, Bridgnorth and the River Trade, 1600–1800,
Midland History.*
About Bridgnorth, Bridgnorth: A
Brief History.