Street to be shut as stagecoaches return

A Shrewsbury street will be closed to traffic when the glorious and colourful age of the stagecoach era returns to the town next month.

Wyle Cop will be shut off to modern vehicles on Friday afternoon, October 12, when two replica stagecoaches are due to arrive at The Lion Hotel around 3.30pm.

A total of 24 guests plus six support staff will be travelling on The Monarch, pictured below, and The Nimrod, which both used to come to Shrewsbury regularly in the late 18^th and early 19^th century.

The party, who are due to set out from The Manor House Hotel in Meriden, Warwickshire, on Monday, October 8, have been following the original stagecoach route across the Midlands calling in at many historic inns in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire along the way.

Crowds are expected to line Wyle Cop to watch the stagecoaches arrive in Shrewsbury where they will be greet by the Town Mayor, Cllr Keith Roberts, aided by Town Crier  Martin Wood and Cllr Mike Owen, Shropshire Council portfolio holder for economic growth and prosperity.

“It will be a spectacular event and a great boost for the town’s tourism,” said Maggie Love, who has helped organise the Shrewsbury welcome.

The party will be joined by another 30 guests, for an end of tour dinner in the historic 18^th century Lion Ballroom, where I will give a talk about the hotel and its stagecoach connection.

After the dinner Maggie Love and Paul Saunders, alias Wynndebagge, will entertain the guests with music and songs from that era.

Afterwards they will teach guests the Horse’s Branle, a popular dance from earlier times.

“This is the first time we have done this historic Midlands stagecoach journey,” said Barbara Stockton, who is proprietor of the Monarch and joint organiser of the charity trip, “and we and all the guests are really looking forward to it.”

Barbara helps organise one or two coaching tours for the public every year with money going to Help for Heroes and the Household Cavalry Operational Casualties Fund.

The Monarch used to run between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, while the Nimrod was also a regular visitor to The Lion.   

By the early 19^th century 23 coaches a day left Shrewsbury, including 15 from The Lion, for destinations all over the UK.

But the advent of the railways led to the end of the golden age of stagecoaches which culminated in a sale of coaches and horses at The Lion on July 27, 1861.

The most famous driver was Sam Hayward who was the only one who would drive up Wyle Cop and complete a semi circle at the top to steer the stagecoach into the back of the hotel parking area without stopping.

Fortunately for the guests arriving next Friday the drivers won’t be attempting a similar feat as the Monarch replica is slightly bigger than the original one and won’t fit under the archway.

Full itinerary

Monday, October 8

11.00am.Coaches depart from the Manor Hotel, Meriden

12.30pm. Mid morning stop at the Swan at Whitacre

1.30pm. Lunch at The Cock Inn Wishaw, Sutton Coldfield

4.00pm. Guests delivered to Moxhull Hall, Holly Lane, Wishaw, Sutton Coldfield

Tuesday, October, 9

8.30am. Passengers taken to Moxhull Hall to the Hungry Horse Mitchell’s Art & Craft Centre, Weeford Road, Sutton Coldfield

9.00am. Coach will depart from Hungry Horse.

10.30am. Mid morning stop at the Bell at Whittington

11.45pm.  Lunch at Darnford Moors Golf Club

Depart 1.00pm for Lichfield

1.30pm. Arrive Lichfield

2.15pm. Depart Lichfield

3.30pm. Guests arrive at the National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, before returning to: The George, Lichfield  

4.00pm. Horses to Catton Hall, Catton, Walton upon Trent, South, overnight stay for guests at Michael & Judi Neachell’s Wellfield House, Orgreave, Alrewas, near Burton upon Trent

Wednesday, October 10

9.00am Horses go to Catton Hall, guests taken to Catton Hall

9.30am Coaches depart Catton Hall 

10.30am. Mid morning stop at Barton Marina

12.30pm. Second morning stop at the Bull & Spectacles, Blithbury

1.15 pm. Lunch at The Chase Pub, Hagley Road, Rugeley

2.30pm. Depart The Chase

3.30pm. Mid afternoon stop at the Springslade Tea Shop, on the Chase

4.30pm. Guest delivered to: The Moat House, Acton Trussell 

Thursday October 11

Guests taken to Horsebrook Manor

10.00am. Coaches depart Horsebrook Manor

11.00am. Mid Morning Stop Boscobel House

12.15pm. Depart Boscobel

1.00pm. Lunch stop at Weston Park, Weston under Lizard, Shifnal

Depart lunch 3.00pm.

3.45pm. Guest delivered to the Park House Hotel, Shifnal  

Friday October 12

8.30pm. Guests taken to the Wyke Equestrian Centre

9.00am. Coaches depart

10.30am. Mid morning stop, Ironbridge

12pm. Lunch stop at The Wroxeter Hotel, Wroxeter

Depart 1.30pm

2.45pm. Mid afternoon stop The Mytton & Mermaid Pub, Atcham

3.30pm. guest delivered to The Lion, Shrewsbury

4.30pm.Horses driven to overnight stop:

8.00pm. Celebration end of tour dinner at The Lion, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury.

To find out more about the fascinating stagecoach link to The Lion Hotel signed copies of my book are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £7.50 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com 

King's burial site found under car park

The story about where King Richard III was laid to rest got even better this week after archaeologists discovered his church – under a car park in Leicester.

The dig to try to recover the body of the king, pictured below, who was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, has unearthed the long-lost Franciscan Friary where his coffin is believed to have been placed.

The exact whereabouts of the friary, also known as Grey Friars, has been lost over time, but now a team from the University of Leicester believe they have found it.

Richard Buckley, the project’s lead archaeologist, said: “The discoveries leave us in no doubt we are on the site of Leicester’s Franciscan Friary.”

After digging three trenches in the council car park the experts have found evidence of a passageway with a tiled floor, indicating a cloister walk.

He added: “Finding the choir and high altar is now especially important as that is where Richard III is recorded as having been buried.”

It brought back memories of the story in Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel when Henry Tudor decided to cross from Wales into England at Shrewsbury in August 1485 on his way to do battle with Richard III, pictured below, at Bosworth Field.

But Shrewsbury’s then first resident, Thomas Mytton, refused to let him over the Welsh Bridge, saying: “We know no King but Richard, Henry Tudor shall not enter this town but over my belly,” i.e. over his dead body.

However, after seeing Henry’s large army and following advice from colleagues he decided it was more prudent to let Henry into Shrewsbury.

So as not to lose face, Mytton lay in the road on the bridge ‘belly upward’ for Henry to step over him.

The royal visitor is believed to have stayed at Tudor House, which is still there on Wyle Cop below The Lion, before marching to Bosworth where Richard III was killed.

After the battle Henry became Henry VII, ending the War of the Roses and the beginning of the Tudor dynasty.

To find out more about this Shrewsbury link to Richard III signed copies of the book are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £7.50 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com  

Dickens separation letter found in Bible

I was interested to read in this week’s Daily Telegraph that an unknown letter from Charles Dickens had been found between the pages of a second-hand paperback Bible.

It was discovered by Cotswold resident, Dr Jackie Sheehan, who had been given the book by an elderly neighbour in Blockley, Gloucestershire.

Dickens, pictured below, sent the note to his solicitor, Frederic Ouvry, in May 1858 wanting to leave his wife, Catherine, after falling for an 18-yearold actress, Ellen Ternan.

The author, who stayed on a number of occasions at The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury, offered his wife a settlement of £600 a year, equivalent to around £25,000 today.

He spoke contemptuously of his wife, who had given birth to their ten children, saying the sum would allow her to maintain her ‘Brougham’, a horse-drawn carriage, in style.

His wife found out about the affair when a bracelet Dickens had bought for Ternan was delivered to the family home.

Within days of writing the letter Dickens legally separated from his wife and remained with Ternan until he died.

Dr Sheehan, who is offering the letter for sale, said: “This little paperback Bible was in a batch of books which my sister’s mother-in-law was given by an elderly neighbour who moved into residential care seven or eight years ago.

“Earlier this year she was having a clear-out and the letter fell out.”

How the letter ended up in the Cotswolds is a mystery as Dickens had no links to the area.

It will be sold by Fraser’s Autographs of London on Thursday, September 27, when it is expected to fetch between £1,000 and £1,500.

To find out more about the Dickens link to Shrewsbury signed copies of my book, Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £7.50 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com 

Record sale of books at festival

With more and more Christian festivals every year one of the friendliest has to be Gorsley Festival, near Ross-on-Wye, on the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire border.

Gorsley Chapel Baptist Church, which is only half a mile from junction one of the M50, again provided a top line-up for five days over the August Bank Holiday.

Jan and I ranthe European Christian Mission stand (pictured below) for the third year running and we were given a brilliant welcome.

Senior Minister John Lewis and his team at the Baptist Church, which has an average weekly congregation of more than 450, put on a well-run festival.

It ranged from a stunning flower display in the church to an in-flight simulator provided by Mission Aviation Fellowship as well as a first class worship and teaching session for all ages.

Groups attending were as diverse as Gloucester Christian Motorcyclist Association,  Newent Choir plus the Good News Centre, also from nearby Newent.

The leadership was a family effort as the Rev Dr Clive Calver, now senior pastor at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut, USA, and his son Gavin gave the teaching on the Good News and the Kingdom while Clive’s wife, Ruth, led some of the seminars.

On Saturday night the main marquee was packed to overflowing for an evening concert with Graham Kendrick.

The whole site was buzzing as coach parties arrived on a day trip from South Wales to see the flowers while the campsite was packed with those staying for the whole festival.

I confess we weren’t braved enough to camp, preferring to stay at the nearby 19^th century Malswick Mill, a first class bed and breakfast location complete with its own carp lake.

There were many visitors to the mission tent and for a break there was always the food area nearby where tables were heaving with home-made cakes, cream teas and local produce.

It was a great success for us in that we almost ran out of literature on the ECM stand handing out more than 120 magazines.

One day it was good to meet up with some old friends from Shrewsbury when a coachload came to the festival and I managed to sell them some copies of Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel.

But we were there mainly to promote ECM and to sell copies of God’s Secret Listener, published by the Monarch Division of Lion Hudson in Oxford, of which I am delighted to say I sold a festival record of 126 books.

Shrewsbury link to Richard III mystery

I was interested to read the story over the weekend that historians believe they have finally discovered where King Richard III is buried – under a car park in Leicester.

It brought back memories of the story in Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel when Henry Tudor decided to cross from Wales into England at Shrewsbury in August 1485 on his way to do battle with Richard III, pictured below, at Bosworth Field.

But Shrewsbury’s then first resident Thomas Mytton refused to let him over the Welsh Bridge, saying: “We know no King but Richard, Henry Tudor shall not enter this town but over my belly,” i.e. over his dead body.

However, after seeing Henry’s large army and following advice from colleagues he decided it was more prudent to let Henry into Shrewsbury.

So as not to lose face, Mytton lay in the road on the bridge ‘belly upward’ for Henry to step over him.

The royal visitor is believed to have stayed at Tudor House, which is still there on Wyle Cop below The Lion, before marching to Bosworth where Richard III was killed and the last medieval king of England was buried in a Franciscan friary in the area.

However, the friary was knocked down during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries and it is believed the most likely site for the church is the car park of a county council social services office in the centre of Leicester.

Archaeologists from Leicester University, along with members of the Richard III Historical Society, hope the two-week excavation will change the way the monarch is viewed historically, who is traditionally seen as a tyrant who murdered his way to the throne, disfigured by a hunchback and withered arm.

If any remains of the king are found, his DNA will be matched against that of Joy Ibsen, a 16^th century generation descendant of Anne of York, the sister of Richard III.

Mrs Ibsen died four years ago aged 82 and her son, 55-year-old Michael, watched the dig begin.

After the battle of Bosworth Field Henry became Henry VII, ending the War of the Roses and the beginning of the Tudor dynasty.

To find out more about this Shrewsbury link to Richard III signed copies of The Lion Hotel book are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £7.50 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com 

Memories of a cheating Tory MP

A friend of mine came round specially to see me this week after he had read Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury.

Keen fisherman Len Handy enjoyed the stories in the books about Shrewsbury’s most eccentric MP, John ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton, who was born at Halston Hall, near Oswestry, as he fished the lake there regularly, pictured below.

‘Mad Jack’ was born on September 30, 1796, and as he father died when he was two he inherited the family seat which was worth about £60,000 then and £5m today, he had few financial worries.

In 1819, he decided to continue the family tradition by becoming MP for Shrewsbury and was easily elected – helped no doubt by offering constituents £10 each if they would vote for him and spending £10,000 on bribes, equivalent to £750,000 today.

He celebrated at being elected MP in typical Mad Jack fashion. While he was being carried shoulder high by the enthusiastic burgesses back to The Lion Hotel for a celebratory dinner, he leapt from on high into the hotel bar through the window in a shower of glass.

Charles G Harper says in his book The Holyhead Road (Chapman and Hall 1902): “No one was surprised for his was a freakish nature; but they would have been astonished if he had walked in, in the normal way, by the door.”

‘Mad Jack’ found the debates boring and attended Parliament only once – and that was for just 30 minutes. He preferred to spend his time horse racing, gambling and hunting and his horse Euphrates won The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1825.

He also enjoyed playing practical jokes and challenging his friends to a wager in a carriage race round the Halston Hall estate, which ‘Mad Jack’ always won.

The Conservative MP easily beat his friends because he took a short cut along a path he had built at the bottom of the lake.

My friend Len from Stone said the path in the lake can still be seen there today.

If you would like to read more about ‘Mad Jack’ and other stories about this fascinating hotel signed copies of the book are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £7.50 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com 

Anniversary of amazing Lion hotel concert

Tonight 179 years ago an amazing concert took place in the Ballroom of The Lion.

The famous Signor Niccolo Paganini, pictured below, gave a concert in the balcony at the Shrewsbury hotel on August 15, 1833, on his way from Italy to St Petersburg in Russia.

Visitors can still see today this Assembly Room, or Ballroom, which has changed little since it was built in 1777.

They can look at the same delicate colouring on the walls and the emblematic figures of Music and Dancing painted on the door panels, the two music galleries, the chandeliers and the moulded plaster decorations in the Robert Adam style.

They can imagine what it must have been like when the famous Signor Niccolo Paganini gave a concert as advertised in the August 9, 1833, edition of the Shrewsbury Chronicle.

It said: Under distinguished patronage, Signor Paganini respectfully announces to the Nobility and Gentry of Shrewsbury that he will give a Grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert at the Lion Ballroom on Thursday evening, August the 15^th being positively the only time he can possibly have the honour of appearing before them previous to his departure for the Court of St Petersburg on which occasion he has engaged those highly  celebrated Vocalists, Miss Wells and Miss Watson, likewise Mr Watson, composer to the Theatres Royal, English Opera House and Covent Gardens, and member of the Royal Academy of Music who will preside at the Piano Forte.

Tickets 2/6d each (12.5p today) may be had at Mr Eddoes, Corn Market, Shrewsbury. The concert will commence precisely at 8 o’ clock.

As can be seen from the advertisement they preferred long sentences in the first part of the 19^th century.

To get Niccolo Paganini, a 19^th century equivalent to a rock star today, must have been an incredible achievement for Shrewsbury.

The musician, born in Genoa, Italy, on October 27, 1782, had dramatically changed the writing of violin music, astounding audiences with techniques that included harmonies and near impossible fingerings and bowings.

His Caprice No. 24 in A Minor, Op. 1, is among his best compositions, a work that has inspired many top composers.

As a former Editor of the Shrewsbury Chronicle I eagerly turned to the August 16, 1833, edition of the paper to see how the equivalent to the then arts critic treated this amazing concert coup for the town.

The first time I looked through the paper I missed it. But on the second time of searching I found what I thought was the beginning of the review at the bottom of page three.

Without a headline it said: “Paganini Concert at the Lion Rooms, last night, was crowded, not only by the first families in the county, but by many from Montgomeryshire and other parts of the Principality.”

I immediately scanned up to the top of the page for the continuation of the story. But there was nothing.

I was speechless, but I wouldn’t have been if I had been the paper’s editor in 1833 when the reporter arrived in the office the next morning after obviously burning the midnight oil to produce that paragraph.

Incidentally, the Shrewsbury Summer Season re-enacted the Paganini concert on Friday, August 15, 2008, at The Lion to celebrate the 175^th anniversary of the event.

Organised by Maggie Love, then the Arts Development Officer at Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, the concert attracted a sell-out audience at the hotel as violin virtuoso Madeleine Easton, helped by musicians Claire Surman and Gary Cooper, played the exact violin pieces performed by Paganini in 1833.

Visitors to the hotel today can see the original programme, pictured below by Richard Bishop, on display in the reception.

If you would like to learn more about this fascinating hotel signed copies of the book are available for £6.50 including postage in the UK and £8 anywhere in the world by emailing John@jbutterworth.plus.com