Badger, Shropshire
Encyclopedia
Badger is a village and civil parish in Shropshire
, England
, about six miles north-east of Bridgnorth
. The parish had a population of 134 according to the 2001 census.
Badger Parish is at grid map reference SJ 76834 99840. The boundaries of the parish contain the village of Badger, one side of Badger Dingle
, and Badger Heath
Farm. It is approximately 2.7 km at its widest point.
The village and its surroundings, particularly the Dingle, are considered a visitor attraction. In their present form they owe much to deliberate planning and landscaping in the 18th century.
of the Anglo-Saxons
. It has no connection with the mammal, spelled similarly: as late as the 1870s, the alternative spelling Bagsore was current. The late Margaret Gelling
, a specialist in Midland toponyms, formerly based at the University of Birmingham
separates it into two separate elements.
The first element in the name , Bæcg, is an Anglo-Saxon personal name - perhaps one of the Angles
who came to settle in the evolving kingdom of Mercia
, and shared with Beckbury
.
The second element, ofer signifies a hill spur. In a detailed discussion of this latter term, Gelling admits that it is a conjectural reconstruction of a word that never occurs separately, but is a common part of place-names, with the main concentration being in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. It has often been construed simply as a hill or ridge, but Gelling's detailed examination of sites suggests a more precise significance: that the place is on or close to a long, narrow ridge, perhaps jutting from a larger ridge. At Badger, "the settlement lies to the E. of an appropriate hill-spur.". There is indeed a spur, rising up behind Badger Farm, with a slope to the south-east enfolding the village and running down to the Dingle, while the western slope descends to the River Worfe.
catchment: the Worfe flows south and then west to join the Severn from its left, just above Bridgnorth
.
The village is at about 65m above sea level, but the spur to the west, which probably gives the village its name, rises to about 95m. It is about half way along the southern edge of the parish, which is about 2.5 km east to west, and 2 km north to south, an area of 374 hectares or 924 acres.
, a Triassic
deposit found in many parts of the West Midlands. This has been used extensively for building in the village, including St. Giles church. It is very evident in the Dingle, along the Snowdon Brook, where there are outcrops, cliffs and caves, artfully exposed and enhanced in the 18th century landscaping of the valley. The eastern side of the parish lies on boulder clay
, sand
and gravel
, or till
, glacial deposits from the ice ages.
and turned sharply at Badger to run east to Pattingham
. This has now been reshaped so that the priority lies with traffic turning south to Stableford
, where the minor road joins a B-road connecting Telford
with the Black Country
. The First Series of the Ordnance Survey shows that until Victorian times a road also used to run across the Dingle directly to Ackleton
, but this has dwindled into a footpath
.
of Shropshire Council
. This was formed by the merger of several existing district councils with Shropshire County Council.
Before the merger, Badger was part of Bridgnorth District from 1974 to 2009, in a two-tier system with the County Council
as the top tier. Previously it had been part of Shifnal Rural District
since 1894.
There is also a parish council. This has a long history and originated in the old parish vestry
, although civil
and ecclesiastical functions were separated in the Victorian period. Today it has five elected members.
period. The first real evidence comes from the Domesday survey of 1086, which compared the situation at that point with that before the Norman Conquest. The entry translates:
So the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon owner was Bruning, who got 10s. a year from it. It had since fallen in value, like most northern and Midland villages, and belonged to Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
. Osbern fitz Richard, baron of Richard's Castle
, was one of Roger's vassals and held it as a fief. However, he let it to someone called Robert.
To the four smallholders or bordars, their families must be added, but the population was obviously very small. A hide
had been a unit of area, but by this stage it was simply a way of expressing liability to tax. Half a hide is a very small assessment. Badger was a long way down the territorial scale, its manor run by a man two levels below the regional magnate, Earl Roger.
A little later, in the early 12th century, under Henry I
, we find that Earl Roger's son, Robert
, has lost his earldom and the barons of Richard's castle are at the top of the pyramid (beneath the king, of course). The history of the lordship is rather convoluted, but by the end of the 12th century, the immediate overlord was the Prior
of Wenlock
.
The history of the actual occupiers or "terre tenants" of the manor is a little less complicated. William de Badger was the tenant in the mid 12th century, and he sold up to one Philip, who is soon also known as de Badger. After that it passed from father to son for nearly two centuries, until 1349, and stayed within the same family until 1402, when Alice, widow of John de Badger, died without issue. Thereafter there was a complex situation of shares in the manor held by members of the Elmbridge family, until Dorothy Kynnersley née Elmbridge conveyed it to her son, Thomas Kynnersley, in 1560.
The medieval village was probably surrounded by open fields
, although there is no direct evidence of them until the 17th century, on the eve of their enclosure
. At that point the fields were called Batch and Middle fields and Uppsfield. It was surrounded by woods to the west and north and heathland to the east. The layout was probably very similar to the modern pattern. The church, rectory and hall form a group, and the rest of the village is strung along the road to the south of them.
The village probably acquired a church and a priest in the mid-12th century. By 1246, the living was known as a rectory. The lord of the manor, that is the terre tenant, had the right to nominate his choice of priest to the Prior of Wenlock, although he had to pay the prior 3s. 4d. a year for the right. However, Wenlock was a Cluniac house and so classed as an alien priory
, the daughter house of an abbey in France. Hence it was constantly seized by the Crown during the Hundred Years War, so nominations were actually sent to the Crown for most of the 14th century. Because of the Wenlock connection, Badger and the neighbouring parish of Beckbury formed an exclave of the Diocese of Hereford
- an anomaly that persisted until 1905, when it was transferred to the Diocese of Lichfield
. Several of the early incumbents seem to have been sons of the lord of the manor or of the lords of Beckbury
. The rector lived on tithe
s and Easter
offerings, and also had an area of glebe
land and, for some centuries, the rent of a house inhabited by the Blakemans.
, advowson
or the right to present an incumbent had technically belonged to the Crown, but the old arrangement, by which the lord of the manor made the initial nomination, still held. Indeed, the Elmbridges andthe Kynnersleys alike had continued to pay their annual dues to preserve it. In 1614, James I
presented Richard Froysall to the rectory, without consulting the lord of the manor, Francis Kynnersley. Francis fought back. First he tried to stop Froysall entering the church and ordered the parishioners not to attend. Then he cut off economic support, seizing Froysall's tithes and planting trees on the glebe. He swore he would cut off the Froysall's head and throw it in Badger pool. He managed to get the rector imprisoned at Shrewsbury. However, Froysall apparently had some supporters, and they made off with some of Francis's oxen.
Francis seems to have done enough to vindicate his claims. The Kynnersley lords slowly crept up the social scale, serving their locality in various capacities. Thomas Kynnersley was High Sheriff of Staffordshire
and later High Sheriff of Shropshire
under the Commonwealth
, and his grandson John was High Sheriff of Shropshire under George I. Around 1719, John Kynnersley demolished the old timber-framed manor house and built a new hall, a substantial but unpretentious building with six ground floor rooms, just to the north of the old site.
Starting in 1662, the whole agricultural organisation of Badger was transformed. Firstly a large part of the east of the parish was hived off as a separate estate: Badger Heath. and for more than a century was farmed by the Taylor family, before being sold to the Greens in 1796. Then a large area of common land
was divided up among the cultivators. Some time after this the open field system was abandoned and the land enclosed
. Heathland was cleared and ploughed up: by 1748, even the Heath estate was half arable and had only 3% heathland. This set the pattern which has persisted to this day. Despite concentration of holdings, Badger's landscape remains mainly one of farms, predominantly arable but with considerable pasturage.
The population of Badger evidently remained small. In the mid-17th century the adult population seems to have been less than 50. With such a small population, most of the rectors decided they need devote only a small part of their time to the parish. In most cases, they chose to live elsewhere and combined Badger with other posts of greater profit. Thomas Hartshorn was rector from 1759 to 1780. For most of that time he also held two prebends under the peculiar jurisdiction
of St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton
: Hatherton, near Cannock and Monmore, near Wolverhampton.
John Kynnersley died without issue and passed the manor to his unmarried brother, Clement, who died in 1758. It then passed to his nephew, also called Clement, of Loxley. Both Clements had their own property near Uttoxeter
and neither lived in Badger. They rented the manor house to an ironmaster, William Ferriday. So, for many years, both the lords of the manor and the rectors were absentees, rarely seen in the village. The second Clement decided to sell Badger in 1774.
, a Derbyshire
industrialist and a Tory politician. Returning from the Grand Tour
, Browne set about living the life of a country gentleman on his Shropshire estates at Badger and at Malinslee, near Dawley. He worked on his father's
writings, helping to get his poetry recognised.
Browne spent heavily on the Hall. Between 1779 and 1783, he had it greatly extended, to a design by James Wyatt
, with a museum, library, and conservatory, elaborate plasterwork by Joseph Rose, and paintings by Robert Smirke
. Browne then turned his attention to the landscape. However, it was in his work on the landscape that Browne made his biggest and most permanent mark on the appearance of the village and its surroundings. He had the dell along the Batch Brook, on the south edge of the village, improved to a plan by William Emes
and probably his pupil, John Webb
. This reshaped Badger Dingle was a notable example of the picturesque
style in landscaping. It had two miles of walks, with a walk linking it to Badger Hall from its east end, cascades created by damming the brook, a "temple" and other architectural features. It seems that the pools in the village itself, which drain into the Dingle, were enlarged and reshaped at this time.
Browne ingratiated himself with the local gentry, serving as High Sheriff from 1783 and as Member of Parliament for pocket borough of Bridgnorth, a fiefdom of the Whitmore family of Dudmaston Hall
from 1784 until 1812. He spoke rarely and briefly in the House of Commons, with only 11 recorded interventions in debates. He was a great admirer of William Pitt the Younger
and rose to pay a handsome tribute to him when the House was debating funeral honours for the recently deceased Prime Minister. This was his longest recorded speech and it was interrupted by loud coughing.
In general, Browne was either opposed to reform or, at best, equivocal. In 1807 he tried to delay the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807, although he professed himself opposed to the trade. A few weeks later, he observed, in a debate on a bill to allow Roman Catholics to serve in the armed forces, that "it had been the wisdom of our ancestors to restrain the executive power from conferring the highest offices upon Roman Catholics,and we ought to revere their memories, and also to do justice to posterity, by maintaining the fences which our ancestors had erected." In 1809 he denounced John Curwen's Reform Bill, which would prohibit the selling of seats in the House of Commons, "because it would have the effect of excluding a great portion of the wisdom and talents it possessed from that house."
However, Browne was a generous landlord and employer, instituting coal allowances for the villagers and help for the poor. It was probably he who initiated and financed the main village school: this was paid for by the lords of the manor and provided primary education for the village children and others, until 1933.
Browne was also keen to ensure that the parish was better served spiritually. None of the rectors had actually lived in the parish for at least a century and communion was celebrated only four or five times a year. This was an issue that clearly troubled Browne for many years: one of his rare parliamentary speeches was in favour of compelling absent clergy to pay for replacement curates. Dr. James Chelsum, a minor scholar, was the rector from 1780. He contrived to combine his benefice at Badger with the rectory of Droxford
in Hampshire from 1782, and a chaplaincy at Lathbury
in Buckinghamshire. Although Browne must initially have trusted Chelsum, he clearly became disenchanted and arranged for his departure in 1795. Chelsum retained his other benefices until he died insane in 1801. In Chelsum's place Browne nominated William Smith, who proved a conscientious minister for 42 years. Smith was never absent from the parish for more than two weeks in the whole of his incumbency. Browne must have valued Smith greatly, as he bequeathed him the right to nominate his own successor. In the event, Smith sold the right back to Browne's in 1820 wife for £1200.
Brown's first wife was Henrietta Hay, daughter of Edward Hay, a career diplomat, and granddaughter of Thomas Hay, 7th Earl of Kinnoull
. In 1802 she died and, the following year, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Boddington
, a notorious apologist for the slave trade. When he died in 1818, he left a lifetime's interest in the hall to his wife, who lived for another 21 years. She continued Brown's benefactions, making sure the school continued. She also contributed the greater part of the cost of rebuilding the parish church, dedicated to St. Giles. In 1833, work began on the rebuilding, to a design by Francis Halley of Shifnal. The chancel and nave were reconstructed without division, under a single pitched roof, while a tower stood at the western end, above the entrance. The old materials were used where possible, although more sandstone was quarried on the estate to complete the work. Five years later, a new rectory completed the rebuilding. However, when William Smith died in 1837, Elizabeth nominated a relative, Thomas F. Boddington, as his successor. He lived for at least part of his incumbency at Shifnal
.
When Edward died in 1884, Badger became the property of their nephew, Alfred Capel Cure
of Blake Hall, Ongar
, perhaps the most colourful of Badger's lords. Capel Cure was a hero of the Crimean War
, wounded at the assault on the Redan
in 1855. He had been introduced to photography by his uncle and pursued it enthusiastically, also specialising in architectural subjects. He had a private family chapel added to the north side of the church. After holding Badger for 12 years, he was killed while trying to dynamite tree stumps on one of his other estates. The estate remained in the Capel Cure family until after World War II.
The population of Badger grew throughout the first half of the 19th century. From 88 in 1801, it reached 123 in 1811, 132 in 1821, and 142 in 1831. The census of 1831 provided the first and only summary how the men of the parish were employed. Of the 37 adult males, 25 or more than two thirds, were agricultural labourers and four were farmers. The remainder consisted of four in retail of handicrafts, one professional (perhaps the rector), a couple of servants and one other. So agriculture accounted directly for the great majority of the working men, and almost everyone depended on it at least indirectly.
The population rose steadily to a peak of 178 in 1861. After that, like most agricultural villages in the region, it suffered a prolonged decline. By 1901 it was down to 140, and in 1951 it stood at precisely its 1801 level of 88. The cause is not hard to explain. Agriculture, the only significant employer in the parish, required less and less labour. The Long Depression
hit the countryside around 1874, forcing farmers to reduce their output or sell at a loss. Thereafter, even relatively good times did nothing to raise employment, as farm amalgamations, improved crops and techniques, and mechanisation reduced the need for labour.
With the decline in population, a number of important village institutions found the going difficult. At the school Emma Grainger was mistress from 1891. She and Francis Capel Cure, the school's patron, died 1933. The school closed and thereafter, village children went to school in Beckbury
or Worfield.
In 1952, the long-serving Rev. Archibald Dix retired and the parish was effectively amalgamated with Beckbury. Later amalgamations made it part of a benefice of six parishes. Archibald Dix died about a year after his retirement. His daughter, Margaret Dix MD FRCS, bought the rectory and lived in it until her death in 1992. She was distinguished surgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
, and is one of the eponyms of the Dix–Hallpike test for a benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
. She bequeathed the house for Christian purposes within the diocese. After considerable debate, it was taken on by the Cornelius Trust, an evangelical
military charity, and run as a holiday home, until being sold for a private residence in 2005.
At about the same time as the ecclesiastical parish was amalgamated, the much decayed Hall and estate were sold to John Swire and Sons
, a huge property, finance shipping and airline conglomerate
, in whose hands it remains. Sir Adrian Swire is lord of the manor. Much of the Hall was demolished in 1953. A utility building and gatehouse was re-Christened Badger Hall and survives to this day: even this is sufficiently grand to give the impression to visitors that the original Hall still exists.
However, the 1950s marked a turning point. With the increasing availability of motor cars, villages like Badger have become much more attractive places to live. The number of houses in the parish had been falling slowly, with the decline in population. Now new houses were built and the post-War village has approximately doubled in size. Obviously, this has meant a considerable change in character from a working village to a mainly residential community. Despite the growth and changes in its role, the village retains a good deal of its old and picturesque
appearance, which makes it a visitor attraction still.
and devised by William Emes
, but they had been a central feature of the village for centuries before, as evinced by Francis Kynnersley's threat to throw the rector into the pond in 1614. 52.5935°N 2.3441°W
. Rebuilt from 1833, using the original site and materials as far as possible, it contains a notable selection of funerary art, including work by Francis Leggatt Chantrey, John Flaxman
and John Gibson
. Location: 52.5938°N 2.3437°W.
landscape architecture
, this narrow valley to the south of the village was opened to the public in 1851. Although it has undergone periods of decay, it is now fairly accessible, with paths easily passable in dry weather and a new bridge above the Upper Pool making circular walks feasible. The best entrances are opposite the village cemetery. Location: 52.5921°N 2.3457°W.
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, about six miles north-east of Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
. The parish had a population of 134 according to the 2001 census.
Badger Parish is at grid map reference SJ 76834 99840. The boundaries of the parish contain the village of Badger, one side of Badger Dingle
Dingle (disambiguation)
A dingle is a small enclosed valley, a diminutive form of "Dell ". It may refer to:-People:*Herbert Dingle, , was an English astrophysicist.*Johnny Dingle, American football player...
, and Badger Heath
Heath
-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...
Farm. It is approximately 2.7 km at its widest point.
The village and its surroundings, particularly the Dingle, are considered a visitor attraction. In their present form they owe much to deliberate planning and landscaping in the 18th century.
Etymology
Badger has its origin in the Old English languageOld English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
of the Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
. It has no connection with the mammal, spelled similarly: as late as the 1870s, the alternative spelling Bagsore was current. The late Margaret Gelling
Margaret Gelling
Margaret Joy Gelling, OBE was an English toponymist, Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the British Academy....
, a specialist in Midland toponyms, formerly based at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
separates it into two separate elements.
The first element in the name , Bæcg, is an Anglo-Saxon personal name - perhaps one of the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
who came to settle in the evolving kingdom of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, and shared with Beckbury
Beckbury
Beckbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 327. The village is about eight miles south-east of Telford and is close to the Staffordshire border...
.
The second element, ofer signifies a hill spur. In a detailed discussion of this latter term, Gelling admits that it is a conjectural reconstruction of a word that never occurs separately, but is a common part of place-names, with the main concentration being in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. It has often been construed simply as a hill or ridge, but Gelling's detailed examination of sites suggests a more precise significance: that the place is on or close to a long, narrow ridge, perhaps jutting from a larger ridge. At Badger, "the settlement lies to the E. of an appropriate hill-spur.". There is indeed a spur, rising up behind Badger Farm, with a slope to the south-east enfolding the village and running down to the Dingle, while the western slope descends to the River Worfe.
Geography
Location and boundaries
The village of Badger is located in the angle created by the confluence of the River Worfe, also known as the Cosford Brook, and one of its tributaries, known as the Batch, the Heath or the Snowdon Brook. The Snowdon Brook approximately defines the eastern and southern borders of the parish, and the western boundary runs close to the River Worfe: presumably the streams were the exact boundaries before deliberate diversion, as well as natural shift, moved their courses slightly. The Worfe and the Snowdon drain part of the much larger River SevernRiver Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
catchment: the Worfe flows south and then west to join the Severn from its left, just above Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
.
The village is at about 65m above sea level, but the spur to the west, which probably gives the village its name, rises to about 95m. It is about half way along the southern edge of the parish, which is about 2.5 km east to west, and 2 km north to south, an area of 374 hectares or 924 acres.
Geology
The village and the area to its north stand on Upper Mottled SandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, a Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
deposit found in many parts of the West Midlands. This has been used extensively for building in the village, including St. Giles church. It is very evident in the Dingle, along the Snowdon Brook, where there are outcrops, cliffs and caves, artfully exposed and enhanced in the 18th century landscaping of the valley. The eastern side of the parish lies on boulder clay
Boulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
, sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
and gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, or till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
, glacial deposits from the ice ages.
Communications
The village has always relied on road communications. Historically, the most important road ran south from BeckburyBeckbury
Beckbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 327. The village is about eight miles south-east of Telford and is close to the Staffordshire border...
and turned sharply at Badger to run east to Pattingham
Pattingham
Pattingham is a village in South Staffordshire, close to the border with Shropshire. The village is seven miles to the west of Wolverhampton and seven and a half miles east of Bridgnorth....
. This has now been reshaped so that the priority lies with traffic turning south to Stableford
Stableford
Stableford is a scoring system used in the sport of golf. Rather than counting the total number of strokes taken, as in stroke play, it involves scoring points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole...
, where the minor road joins a B-road connecting Telford
Telford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
with the Black Country
Black Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
. The First Series of the Ordnance Survey shows that until Victorian times a road also used to run across the Dingle directly to Ackleton
Ackleton
Ackleton is a village in the English county of Shropshire.Situated some seven miles from the market town of Bridgnorth, this village is the home of the two pub and restaurants The Red Cow and The Folley. Convenient for both Wolverhampton and Telford, this rural retreat is surrounded by open fields...
, but this has dwindled into a footpath
Footpath
A Footpath is a thoroughfare intended for by pedestrians but not by motorized vehicles. The term is often for paths within an urban area that offer shorter quieter routes for pedestrians, they may also provide access to the surrounding countryside or parks...
.
Government
The parish of Badger is part of the unitary authorityUnitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Shropshire Council
Shropshire Council
Shropshire Council is a unitary authority in Shropshire, United Kingdom.It replaced the former two-tier local government structure in the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire on 1 April 2009, which involved its immediate predecessor, Shropshire County Council, and five non-metropolitan districts -...
. This was formed by the merger of several existing district councils with Shropshire County Council.
Before the merger, Badger was part of Bridgnorth District from 1974 to 2009, in a two-tier system with the County Council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
as the top tier. Previously it had been part of Shifnal Rural District
Shifnal Rural District
Shifnal was a rural district in Shropshire, England from 1894 to 1974.It was created from the Shifnal rural sanitary district by the Local Government Act 1894...
since 1894.
There is also a parish council. This has a long history and originated in the old parish vestry
Vestry
A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....
, although civil
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
and ecclesiastical functions were separated in the Victorian period. Today it has five elected members.
Medieval origins
As its name suggests, the origins of the village of Badger seem to lie in the Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
period. The first real evidence comes from the Domesday survey of 1086, which compared the situation at that point with that before the Norman Conquest. The entry translates:
- "Osbern, son of Richard, holds BADGER from Earl Roger, and Robert from him.
- Bruning held it; he was a free man.
- 1/2 hide which pays tax. Land for 2 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough; 4 smallholders with 1 plough. Woodland for fattening 30 pigs.
- The value was 7s; now 10s."
So the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon owner was Bruning, who got 10s. a year from it. It had since fallen in value, like most northern and Midland villages, and belonged to Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
Roger de Montgomerie , also known as Roger the Great de Montgomery, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury. His father was also Roger de Montgomerie, and was a relative, probably a grandnephew, of the Duchess Gunnor, wife of Duke Richard I of Normandy...
. Osbern fitz Richard, baron of Richard's Castle
Richard's Castle
Richard's Castle is a village, castle and two civil parishes on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in England.The village lies on the B4361, 5½ miles south of the historic market town of Ludlow...
, was one of Roger's vassals and held it as a fief. However, he let it to someone called Robert.
To the four smallholders or bordars, their families must be added, but the population was obviously very small. A hide
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
had been a unit of area, but by this stage it was simply a way of expressing liability to tax. Half a hide is a very small assessment. Badger was a long way down the territorial scale, its manor run by a man two levels below the regional magnate, Earl Roger.
A little later, in the early 12th century, under Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, we find that Earl Roger's son, Robert
Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury
Robert de Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury , also spelled Belleme or Belesme, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, and one of the most prominent figures in the competition for the succession to England and Normandy between the sons of William the Conqueror...
, has lost his earldom and the barons of Richard's castle are at the top of the pyramid (beneath the king, of course). The history of the lordship is rather convoluted, but by the end of the 12th century, the immediate overlord was the Prior
Prior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of Wenlock
Much Wenlock Priory
Much Wenlock Priory is a ruined 12th century monastery, located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at . The foundation was a part of the Cluniac order, which was refounded in 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th century monastery, by Roger de Montgomery...
.
The history of the actual occupiers or "terre tenants" of the manor is a little less complicated. William de Badger was the tenant in the mid 12th century, and he sold up to one Philip, who is soon also known as de Badger. After that it passed from father to son for nearly two centuries, until 1349, and stayed within the same family until 1402, when Alice, widow of John de Badger, died without issue. Thereafter there was a complex situation of shares in the manor held by members of the Elmbridge family, until Dorothy Kynnersley née Elmbridge conveyed it to her son, Thomas Kynnersley, in 1560.
The medieval village was probably surrounded by open fields
Open field system
The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...
, although there is no direct evidence of them until the 17th century, on the eve of their enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
. At that point the fields were called Batch and Middle fields and Uppsfield. It was surrounded by woods to the west and north and heathland to the east. The layout was probably very similar to the modern pattern. The church, rectory and hall form a group, and the rest of the village is strung along the road to the south of them.
The village probably acquired a church and a priest in the mid-12th century. By 1246, the living was known as a rectory. The lord of the manor, that is the terre tenant, had the right to nominate his choice of priest to the Prior of Wenlock, although he had to pay the prior 3s. 4d. a year for the right. However, Wenlock was a Cluniac house and so classed as an alien priory
Alien priory
Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as a monastery or convent, which were under the control of another religious house outside of England...
, the daughter house of an abbey in France. Hence it was constantly seized by the Crown during the Hundred Years War, so nominations were actually sent to the Crown for most of the 14th century. Because of the Wenlock connection, Badger and the neighbouring parish of Beckbury formed an exclave of the Diocese of Hereford
Diocese of Hereford
The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England; and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales....
- an anomaly that persisted until 1905, when it was transferred to the Diocese of Lichfield
Diocese of Lichfield
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers 4,516 km² The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England...
. Several of the early incumbents seem to have been sons of the lord of the manor or of the lords of Beckbury
Beckbury
Beckbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 327. The village is about eight miles south-east of Telford and is close to the Staffordshire border...
. The rector lived on tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s and Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
offerings, and also had an area of glebe
Glebe
Glebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
land and, for some centuries, the rent of a house inhabited by the Blakemans.
Early modern Badger
Under the Kynnersleys, the manor again stayed in the same family for more than two centuries. An early challenge to their control came in the form of a royal appointment to the rectory. Since the Dissolution of the MonasteriesDissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, advowson
Advowson
Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...
or the right to present an incumbent had technically belonged to the Crown, but the old arrangement, by which the lord of the manor made the initial nomination, still held. Indeed, the Elmbridges andthe Kynnersleys alike had continued to pay their annual dues to preserve it. In 1614, James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
presented Richard Froysall to the rectory, without consulting the lord of the manor, Francis Kynnersley. Francis fought back. First he tried to stop Froysall entering the church and ordered the parishioners not to attend. Then he cut off economic support, seizing Froysall's tithes and planting trees on the glebe. He swore he would cut off the Froysall's head and throw it in Badger pool. He managed to get the rector imprisoned at Shrewsbury. However, Froysall apparently had some supporters, and they made off with some of Francis's oxen.
Francis seems to have done enough to vindicate his claims. The Kynnersley lords slowly crept up the social scale, serving their locality in various capacities. Thomas Kynnersley was High Sheriff of Staffordshire
High Sheriff of Staffordshire
This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Staffordshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...
and later High Sheriff of Shropshire
High Sheriff of Shropshire
The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions...
under the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
, and his grandson John was High Sheriff of Shropshire under George I. Around 1719, John Kynnersley demolished the old timber-framed manor house and built a new hall, a substantial but unpretentious building with six ground floor rooms, just to the north of the old site.
Starting in 1662, the whole agricultural organisation of Badger was transformed. Firstly a large part of the east of the parish was hived off as a separate estate: Badger Heath. and for more than a century was farmed by the Taylor family, before being sold to the Greens in 1796. Then a large area of common land
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
was divided up among the cultivators. Some time after this the open field system was abandoned and the land enclosed
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
. Heathland was cleared and ploughed up: by 1748, even the Heath estate was half arable and had only 3% heathland. This set the pattern which has persisted to this day. Despite concentration of holdings, Badger's landscape remains mainly one of farms, predominantly arable but with considerable pasturage.
The population of Badger evidently remained small. In the mid-17th century the adult population seems to have been less than 50. With such a small population, most of the rectors decided they need devote only a small part of their time to the parish. In most cases, they chose to live elsewhere and combined Badger with other posts of greater profit. Thomas Hartshorn was rector from 1759 to 1780. For most of that time he also held two prebends under the peculiar jurisdiction
Royal Peculiar
A Royal Peculiar is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than under a bishop. The concept dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishop of the area...
of St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton
St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton
St. Peter's Collegiate Church is located on the highest and the oldest developed site in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal, and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate church was...
: Hatherton, near Cannock and Monmore, near Wolverhampton.
John Kynnersley died without issue and passed the manor to his unmarried brother, Clement, who died in 1758. It then passed to his nephew, also called Clement, of Loxley. Both Clements had their own property near Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...
and neither lived in Badger. They rented the manor house to an ironmaster, William Ferriday. So, for many years, both the lords of the manor and the rectors were absentees, rarely seen in the village. The second Clement decided to sell Badger in 1774.
Making of the modern village
The buyer was Isaac Hawkins BrowneIsaac Hawkins Browne (coalowner)
Isaac Hawkins Browne was a British Tory politician, industrialist, essayist, and a lord of the manor of Badger, Shropshire.-Family and education:...
, a Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
industrialist and a Tory politician. Returning from the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, Browne set about living the life of a country gentleman on his Shropshire estates at Badger and at Malinslee, near Dawley. He worked on his father's
Isaac Hawkins Browne (poet)
Isaac Hawkins Browne is remembered as the author of some clever imitations of contemporary poets on the theme of A Pipe of Tobacco, somewhat analogous to the Rejected Addresses of a later day...
writings, helping to get his poetry recognised.
Browne spent heavily on the Hall. Between 1779 and 1783, he had it greatly extended, to a design by James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
, with a museum, library, and conservatory, elaborate plasterwork by Joseph Rose, and paintings by Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (painter)
Robert Smirke , was an English painter and illustrator.-Life and work:Smirke was born at Wigton near Carlisle, the son of a clever but eccentric travelling artist. In his thirteenth year he was apprenticed in London with an heraldic painter, and, at the age of twenty, began to study at the schools...
. Browne then turned his attention to the landscape. However, it was in his work on the landscape that Browne made his biggest and most permanent mark on the appearance of the village and its surroundings. He had the dell along the Batch Brook, on the south edge of the village, improved to a plan by William Emes
William Emes
-Biography:Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post in 1760 when Robert Adam was given responsibility for the entire management of the grounds. During his time at Kedleston he had...
and probably his pupil, John Webb
John Webb
John Webb was an English architect and scholar.-Life:He was born in Little Britain, Smithfield London and died in Butleigh in Somerset and became son-in-law and personal assistant to fellow architect and theatre designer Inigo Jones from 1628, having married Jones' niece Anne...
. This reshaped Badger Dingle was a notable example of the picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
style in landscaping. It had two miles of walks, with a walk linking it to Badger Hall from its east end, cascades created by damming the brook, a "temple" and other architectural features. It seems that the pools in the village itself, which drain into the Dingle, were enlarged and reshaped at this time.
Browne ingratiated himself with the local gentry, serving as High Sheriff from 1783 and as Member of Parliament for pocket borough of Bridgnorth, a fiefdom of the Whitmore family of Dudmaston Hall
Dudmaston Hall
Dudmaston Hall is a 17th century country house in the care of the National Trust in the Severn Valley, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom....
from 1784 until 1812. He spoke rarely and briefly in the House of Commons, with only 11 recorded interventions in debates. He was a great admirer of William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
and rose to pay a handsome tribute to him when the House was debating funeral honours for the recently deceased Prime Minister. This was his longest recorded speech and it was interrupted by loud coughing.
In general, Browne was either opposed to reform or, at best, equivocal. In 1807 he tried to delay the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807, although he professed himself opposed to the trade. A few weeks later, he observed, in a debate on a bill to allow Roman Catholics to serve in the armed forces, that "it had been the wisdom of our ancestors to restrain the executive power from conferring the highest offices upon Roman Catholics,and we ought to revere their memories, and also to do justice to posterity, by maintaining the fences which our ancestors had erected." In 1809 he denounced John Curwen's Reform Bill, which would prohibit the selling of seats in the House of Commons, "because it would have the effect of excluding a great portion of the wisdom and talents it possessed from that house."
However, Browne was a generous landlord and employer, instituting coal allowances for the villagers and help for the poor. It was probably he who initiated and financed the main village school: this was paid for by the lords of the manor and provided primary education for the village children and others, until 1933.
Browne was also keen to ensure that the parish was better served spiritually. None of the rectors had actually lived in the parish for at least a century and communion was celebrated only four or five times a year. This was an issue that clearly troubled Browne for many years: one of his rare parliamentary speeches was in favour of compelling absent clergy to pay for replacement curates. Dr. James Chelsum, a minor scholar, was the rector from 1780. He contrived to combine his benefice at Badger with the rectory of Droxford
Droxford
Droxford is a village in Hampshire, England, lying in the Meon valley, and lies around 3¾ miles east of Bishop's Waltham within the new South Downs National Park. The A32 passes through the village between Gosport and Alton...
in Hampshire from 1782, and a chaplaincy at Lathbury
Lathbury
Lathbury is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Milton Keynes and ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is just to the north of Newport Pagnell....
in Buckinghamshire. Although Browne must initially have trusted Chelsum, he clearly became disenchanted and arranged for his departure in 1795. Chelsum retained his other benefices until he died insane in 1801. In Chelsum's place Browne nominated William Smith, who proved a conscientious minister for 42 years. Smith was never absent from the parish for more than two weeks in the whole of his incumbency. Browne must have valued Smith greatly, as he bequeathed him the right to nominate his own successor. In the event, Smith sold the right back to Browne's in 1820 wife for £1200.
Brown's first wife was Henrietta Hay, daughter of Edward Hay, a career diplomat, and granddaughter of Thomas Hay, 7th Earl of Kinnoull
Earl of Kinnoull
Earl of Kinnoull is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for George Hay, 1st Viscount of Dupplin. Other associated titles are: Viscount Dupplin , Lord Hay of Kinfauns and Baron Hay of Pedwardine . The former two are in the Peerage of Scotland, while the last is in the Peerage...
. In 1802 she died and, the following year, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Boddington
Thomas Boddington
Thomas Boddington was a political activist in London in the late 18th century. He lived in Clapton . Boddington was involved in the slave trade and active as part of the West India lobby, but also participated in other committees: The Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, and the Committees...
, a notorious apologist for the slave trade. When he died in 1818, he left a lifetime's interest in the hall to his wife, who lived for another 21 years. She continued Brown's benefactions, making sure the school continued. She also contributed the greater part of the cost of rebuilding the parish church, dedicated to St. Giles. In 1833, work began on the rebuilding, to a design by Francis Halley of Shifnal. The chancel and nave were reconstructed without division, under a single pitched roof, while a tower stood at the western end, above the entrance. The old materials were used where possible, although more sandstone was quarried on the estate to complete the work. Five years later, a new rectory completed the rebuilding. However, when William Smith died in 1837, Elizabeth nominated a relative, Thomas F. Boddington, as his successor. He lived for at least part of his incumbency at Shifnal
Shifnal
Shifnal is a small market town in Shropshire, England. It forms part of The Wrekin constituency, and is about east of Telford. It has a railway station on the Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton Line and is near to the M54 motorway.-Early medieval time:...
.
Decline and recovery
After the death of Browne's wife in 1839, the estate passed to Robert Henry Cheney, his nephew. Cheney was a watercolourist, specialising in architectural and landscape subjects, and he became a noted pioneer photographer. He opened the Dingle to visitors for the first time and groups of working people began to travel out from the industrial towns to walk in it. He died childless in 1866 and left the estate to his brother Edward.When Edward died in 1884, Badger became the property of their nephew, Alfred Capel Cure
Alfred Capel-Cure
Colonel Alfred Capel-Cure was an officer in the British Army and a pioneer of photography.He was the nephew of the watercolour painter and photographer Robert Henry Cheney who introduced him to photography. His subjects were mostly architecture in England, France and Gibraltar...
of Blake Hall, Ongar
Ongar
Ongar can refer toin England*High Ongar, Essex*Chipping Ongar, Essex **Ongar , an ancient administrative unit**Ongar railway stationin Ireland*Ongar, Dublinin Pakistan...
, perhaps the most colourful of Badger's lords. Capel Cure was a hero of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, wounded at the assault on the Redan
Redan
Redan is a term related to fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped salient angle toward an expected attack...
in 1855. He had been introduced to photography by his uncle and pursued it enthusiastically, also specialising in architectural subjects. He had a private family chapel added to the north side of the church. After holding Badger for 12 years, he was killed while trying to dynamite tree stumps on one of his other estates. The estate remained in the Capel Cure family until after World War II.
The population of Badger grew throughout the first half of the 19th century. From 88 in 1801, it reached 123 in 1811, 132 in 1821, and 142 in 1831. The census of 1831 provided the first and only summary how the men of the parish were employed. Of the 37 adult males, 25 or more than two thirds, were agricultural labourers and four were farmers. The remainder consisted of four in retail of handicrafts, one professional (perhaps the rector), a couple of servants and one other. So agriculture accounted directly for the great majority of the working men, and almost everyone depended on it at least indirectly.
The population rose steadily to a peak of 178 in 1861. After that, like most agricultural villages in the region, it suffered a prolonged decline. By 1901 it was down to 140, and in 1951 it stood at precisely its 1801 level of 88. The cause is not hard to explain. Agriculture, the only significant employer in the parish, required less and less labour. The Long Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
hit the countryside around 1874, forcing farmers to reduce their output or sell at a loss. Thereafter, even relatively good times did nothing to raise employment, as farm amalgamations, improved crops and techniques, and mechanisation reduced the need for labour.
With the decline in population, a number of important village institutions found the going difficult. At the school Emma Grainger was mistress from 1891. She and Francis Capel Cure, the school's patron, died 1933. The school closed and thereafter, village children went to school in Beckbury
Beckbury
Beckbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 327. The village is about eight miles south-east of Telford and is close to the Staffordshire border...
or Worfield.
In 1952, the long-serving Rev. Archibald Dix retired and the parish was effectively amalgamated with Beckbury. Later amalgamations made it part of a benefice of six parishes. Archibald Dix died about a year after his retirement. His daughter, Margaret Dix MD FRCS, bought the rectory and lived in it until her death in 1992. She was distinguished surgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
, and is one of the eponyms of the Dix–Hallpike test for a benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a disorder caused by problems in the inner ear. Its symptoms are repeated episodes of positional vertigo, that is, of a spinning sensation caused by changes in the position of the head.-Classification:...
. She bequeathed the house for Christian purposes within the diocese. After considerable debate, it was taken on by the Cornelius Trust, an evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
military charity, and run as a holiday home, until being sold for a private residence in 2005.
At about the same time as the ecclesiastical parish was amalgamated, the much decayed Hall and estate were sold to John Swire and Sons
Swire Group
The Swire Group is a transnational corporation headquartered in the Swire House in the City of Westminster, London, England. It controls a range of wholly owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities. The current chairman is James...
, a huge property, finance shipping and airline conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
, in whose hands it remains. Sir Adrian Swire is lord of the manor. Much of the Hall was demolished in 1953. A utility building and gatehouse was re-Christened Badger Hall and survives to this day: even this is sufficiently grand to give the impression to visitors that the original Hall still exists.
However, the 1950s marked a turning point. With the increasing availability of motor cars, villages like Badger have become much more attractive places to live. The number of houses in the parish had been falling slowly, with the decline in population. Now new houses were built and the post-War village has approximately doubled in size. Obviously, this has meant a considerable change in character from a working village to a mainly residential community. Despite the growth and changes in its role, the village retains a good deal of its old and picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
appearance, which makes it a visitor attraction still.
The village pools
There are actually four pools in the village, but two are particularly prominent to the visitor: the Church Pool and the Town Pool. The pools are the result of damming a small stream running down to the Snowdon Brook in the Dingle. They reached approximately their present state in the late 18th century, as a result of the landscaping commissioned by Isaac Hawkins BrowneIsaac Hawkins Browne (coalowner)
Isaac Hawkins Browne was a British Tory politician, industrialist, essayist, and a lord of the manor of Badger, Shropshire.-Family and education:...
and devised by William Emes
William Emes
-Biography:Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post in 1760 when Robert Adam was given responsibility for the entire management of the grounds. During his time at Kedleston he had...
, but they had been a central feature of the village for centuries before, as evinced by Francis Kynnersley's threat to throw the rector into the pond in 1614. 52.5935°N 2.3441°W
St. Giles' parish church
The parish church is a small but good example of Gothic Revival architectureGothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
. Rebuilt from 1833, using the original site and materials as far as possible, it contains a notable selection of funerary art, including work by Francis Leggatt Chantrey, John Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
and John Gibson
John Gibson (sculptor)
John Gibson, was a Welsh sculptor.-Early life:He was born near Conwy, Wales, his father being a market gardener. To his mother, whom he described as ruling his father and all the family, he owed the energy and determination which carried him over every obstacle.When he was nine years old the...
. Location: 52.5938°N 2.3437°W.
Badger Dingle
A notable example of picturesquePicturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
landscape architecture
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
, this narrow valley to the south of the village was opened to the public in 1851. Although it has undergone periods of decay, it is now fairly accessible, with paths easily passable in dry weather and a new bridge above the Upper Pool making circular walks feasible. The best entrances are opposite the village cemetery. Location: 52.5921°N 2.3457°W.