G. C. Baugh - Böcker

The themes of Volume III are the government and parliamentary representation of Shropshire from their beginnings up to 1974. The long perspective allows the vicissi-tudes of successive institutions of county government to be examined thoroughly. For example, the rise of the justices of the peace is fully chronicled from their in-conspicuous origins under Edward I to the amplitude of their powers and duties in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Shropshire's medieval government had a number of peculiarities, caused by the county's fron-tier position opposite the hostile Welsh. Accordingly its 'palatine' earldom, its serjeants of the peace, its loss of territory to marcher lordships, and its subjection to the Council in the Marches of Wales receive special attention. From Elizabeth I's reign, as the magistrates' concerns increased, the story comes to include much of the social history of the times. From 1889, when the county council was formed, that history has been one of unprecedented penetration by local government into formerly untouched areas of local and personal affairs. The institutions of Shropshire's govern-ment provided opportunities for influence and advancement; the volume thus em-bodies a history of the fortunes of Shrop-shire's leading men and families. Most prominent in the Middle Ages were the earls of Shrewsbury, Arundel, and March. Since then the families of Corbet, Newport, Herbert, Clive, and Bridgeman have been among the weightiest. Linked with their fortunes were those of smaller landowners and local officials. In the 18th century, with the appointments of itsfirst permanent county treasurer and of its first county surveyor, Thomas Telford, Shropshire took a large step towards the formation of a modern county bureaucracy. Nowhere has the play of ambition and manouvre been more openlyexercised than in elections to Parliament. The volume explores the intricacies of Shrop-shire electioneering from Edward I's reign to the general election of October 1974, and illustrates the manner in which conflicting electoralinterests bit deep into the sub-stance of Shropshire society.

Volume XI, relating to an area between the left bank of the Severn and the Weald Moors, covers most of the east Shropshire coalfield. Two parishes from the borough of Wenlock and eight from Bradford hun-dred contributed territoryto Telford New Town and the volume opens with an account of the town's planning and growth since designation (as Dawley) in 1963. Prehistoric settlement centred on the Wrekin in the late Iron Age. Uxacona stood on Watling Street,which crosses the area. Post-Roman settlement was earliest north of Watling Street; to the south settle-ments were smaller in woodland cleared at a later date. Lilleshall abbey, Wombridge priory, and other monasteries nearby hadlarge interests in the area's growth. Wen-lock priory established a market at Madeley in 1269 but Wellington proved a more successful town, becoming one of Shrop-shire's three largest in the 18th century. The area cradled the industrial Revolution. Seventeenth-century coal and iron works grew rapidly after the 13th-century innova-tions, of the Darbys of Coalbrookdale, and the Iron Bridge (opened 1780) symbolizes the area's entrepreneurial talent. From c.1850, however, and despite the growth of Oakengates, the area declined; it has been for Telford new town to reverse that decline. In the north Telford's rural sur-roundings comprise land sloping down to the Weald Moors; in the westthe Wrekin dominates Aston, Little Wenlock, and other secluded villages. To the south the scenery and historic remains of Coalbrook-dale and the Severn Gorge are now sedulously conserved. The volume includes an account of Bradford hundred.

This volume is devoted to the story of agriculture in Shropshire from the earliest times to the present day. It is the work of a team of expert authors. The introductory chapter discusses the environmental background provided by the natural landscape, soils, and climate. There follows a comprehensive survey in six chronological chapters, divided at the time of the Domesday survey, the end of the 13th century, the dissolution of the monasteries, the mid 18th century, and 1875. Each chapter deals systematically with the ownership and division of the land, the various methods of exploiting it, agricultural technology and practice, live-stock breeds, the changing prosperity of landowners and farmers and labourers, and the marketing of produce. Where appropriate, the authors consider such topics as inclosure and other changes in the man-made landscape, rural housing, and agricultural education. Besides offer-ingan informed and thoroughly docu-mented view of a fundamental aspect of Shropshire's history, the book provides many new insights into the agricultural and economic evolution of English rural society.