Much Wenlock
From Ars Magica
Contents |
Situation
Much Wenlock - Saxton Map:
Much Wenlock sits in rolling ground, at the north-east end of the the ridgeline called Wenlock Edge. To the northwest, the land climbs gently for about 1km to the ridge which then drops steeply to lower ground, in other directions the land drains south and east towards the River Severn between other low hills which shelter the town.
History
Finds of Neolithic and Bronze Age implements indicate early settlement and long-distance contacts, and it appears that the area enjoyed some prosperity in the Roman period. A bronze brooch and a hoard of more than 3,000 coins, apparently deposited in the late 3rd century, have been found on the southeastern slope of Henmoor hill near Westwood Farm. The land attached to a villa at Yarchester (in Harley) presumably included the neighbouring part of Wigwig called Harchester. There may have been a pre-Christian religious site at Much Wenlock. Its Christian holy wells may represent a former pagan water cult, and a Romano-British sculpture of a Celtic deity was stored with medieval sculpture fragments on the site of Wenlock priory in 1911.
680 AD
Monastery built on the site of Wenlock Priory for monks and nuns. Milburga, daughter of Merwalh, and founder, was an abbess on the site and because of her miracles was made a saint after her death.
Domesday
3 St Remy's Church
3.c What St. Milburga's Holds
3.c.2 (much) WENLOCK; it held before 1066. 20 hides; 4 of them were exempt from tax in King Canute's time, the others paid tax. In Lordship 9 1/2 ploughs; 9 villagers, 3 riders and 46 smallholders; between them they have 17 ploughs; another 17 woud be possible there. 15 slaves. 2 mills which serve the monks. 1 fishery; woodland for fattening 300pigs; 2 hedged enclosures. Value before 1066 £15; now £12.
Post Domesday
1100 Holy Trinity became a parish church, having sustained many renovations before and after.
1224 Wenlock gained the right to hold a weekly market
Church
St Millburga's Abbey
In the earlier 13th century the present nave arcade was built. It cut into the nave south windows, the remains of which were accordingly blocked. The aisle roof was then made steeply pitched, to meet the nave wall above the arcade. The south doorway of the aisle may also belong to that phase. The door and its fittings are partly medieval but of uncertain date. (fn. 56) The south doorway of the chapel had 13th-century mouldings and shafts.
Holy Trinity Church
The spacious parish church of the HOLY TRINITY replaced a church so dedicated by 1101. That building had a high altar and an altar of St. George. The present church, built mainly of limestone rubble with sandstone dressings, has a chancel with north vestry and south Lady chapel, a nave with south aisle and south porch, and a west tower. It began in the early 12th century as an aisleless nave of five bays with a chancel of one bay. The nave had a central north doorway, a larger west doorway, and presumably a south doorway too. The gabled west front, with three tiers of blind arcading above a central window, was more impressive than any of that period now surviving in the county. A turret at the south-west angle of the nave gave access, by a doorway in the nave, a spiral stair, and steps in the thickness of the nave west wall, to a doorway high in the east face of that wall. The doorway opened into the space over a flat nave ceiling, and a corresponding doorway pierced the nave east wall above the chancel arch. The nave roof was steeply pitched.
A west tower of four stages incorporating a porch with north and south doorways was added in the later 12th century, hiding the west front and filling the space between it and the street; the doorways allowed access between the north and south parts of the churchyard. At the same period a low south aisle and a chapel east of it seem to have been added to the nave and chancel respectively, the nave's south windows being preserved as a clerestory. The aisle roof is presumed to have met the nave wall at a height still marked by a quarter-round corbel. Apparently of the same build as the aisle, the chapel was about the same height as the chancel. Its roof met the chancel south wall on an inserted string course incorporating a corbel.
Castle
None.
In game
Likely to be a significant centre of Dominion power in the area.
