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Much Wenlock

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A market town in the municipal borough of Wenlock (q.v.), and the Ludlow parliamentary division of Shropshire, England, 163 m. N.W. from London on the Great Western railway. It lies at the north end of Wenlock Edge, a range running south-west from the Severn valley. A priory was founded here as a nunnery by St Milburg, granddaughter of Penda, about 680, and after being destroyed by the Danes was refounded by Leofric in 1(D1 7. Afterwards it was remodelled by Roger de Montgomery for Cluniac monks. There are beautiful remains of the priory church, chiefly Early English; but there is a chapter-house of ornate Norman work. The prior's house, still inhabited, is a remarkable specimen of 15th-century work, adjoining and incorporating remains in earlier styles. The parish church of Holy Trinity, close to the ruins, is of mixed styles from Norman onwards. There is a picturesque half-timbered guildhall (1589). Trade is mainly agricultural, but there are limestone quarries in the neighbourhood. Wenlock received the grant of a market from Henry III. in 1224. It was incorporated by Edward IV. in 1448, when it also received the privilege of returning members to parliament, but in 1885 it ceased to have separate representation.