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MARKET TOWNS OF SHROPSHIRE (from SDUK Penny Cyclopedia)

Ludlow in 1839

LUDLOW, a corporate town and parliamentary borough of Shropshire, 138 miles north-west by west from London. It is locally within the hundred of Munslow, and is agreeably situated on the eastern bank of the Teme, a branch of the Severn, over which river there is a handsome stone bridge of three arches. The charters date from the first year of the reign of Edward IV to the first of James II. The property of the corporation consists chiefly of houses and lands in Ludlow and its immediate vicinity. The income derived from this source amounted, in the year ending September 29, 1833, to £3,010 ; the expenditure during the same period was £2,476. The town council is composed of four aldermen and twelve councillors.

The streets of Ludlow are broad, well paved, and lighted with gas, and the houses are in general well built. The inhabitants are amply supplied with water, which is partly drawn from three springs situated about a mile and a half from the town, and thence conveyed in leaden-pipes, and partly raised by machinery from the river Corve. The ordinary police, consisting merely of the chief constable and eight others appointed by the leet, is said to be effective. The borough gaol, erected in 1764 at the expense of the corporation, is commodious, and contains separate wards for the classification of the prisoners. The manufacture of gloves was formerly on a large scale, but of late years it has much declined, in consequence, it is said, of the competition of the manufacturing towns of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. The parish church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is in the diocese of Hereford, and the living, a rectory in the patronage of the crown, is valued at £160 per annum.

The free grammar-school, founded by Edward VI, is conducted by a master and usher, whose salaries are respectively £100 and £60. All boys duly qualified by residence within the borough, and able to read tolerably, are admitted upon application. The number of free scholars in 1835 was under thirty. Besides the grammar-school, there is the national school, connected with the church, which is liberally supported by voluntary donations, and affords instruction to 100 girls and 150 boys. There are also two schools established by the Independents and Wesleyan Methodists, which are numerously attended. In 1831 the population of the borough was 5,253. Ludlow has returned two members to parliament continuously from the reign of Edward IV.