Bridgnorth: A Town of Unique Distinction – Part 2
David Fitzpatrick marks Local and Community History Month by looking at notable histories and guides relating to his home town in Shropshire.
View of Bridgnorth, from The Antiquities of Bridgnorth, 1856. Image used with the permission of Shropshire Archives.
The Antiquities of Bridgnorth by Rev George Bellett, published in 1856, goes somewhat beyond the scope of its title and traces the town’s history from its assumed Anglo-Saxon beginnings to the end of the Stuart period. It covers royal visits and battles, highlights several historic buildings and landmarks, and discusses esteemed former residents such as Richard Baxter and Bishop Percy. It informs all later writings on the town.
View of Bridgnorth, from ‘High Rocks’, which ‘rest immediately upon Permian beds.’ Featured in The Tourist’s Guide to Bridgnorth, 1875. Image used with the permission of Bridgnorth Library.
The Tourist’s Guide to Bridgnorth, published in 1875, is chiefly a visitor’s guide, as its title suggests. It aims to ‘seize only the salient features of the place’, rather than provide a ‘detailed and exhaustive history’. It focuses mainly on significant buildings and landmarks, and nearby places of interest, weaving a potted history into its descriptions.
An extract from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, included in A Popular Illustrated Guide and Handbook to Bridgnorth and its Environs, 1891. Image used with the permission of Bridgnorth Library.
Published in 1891, A Popular Illustrated Guide and Handbook to Bridgnorth and its Environs addresses a perceived need for greater promotion of the town, noting ‘a general opinion that, if its attractions were better known, it would become a popular resort of the holiday seeker, the [a]rtist and the [g]eologist’. Similar in structure to the 1875 guide, it describes the town’s features and the history behind them, while also mentioning surrounding villages and hamlets. In addition, it lists principal hotels and licensed houses, some of which still exist today. Unlike its predecessor, it contains advertisements, mainly for wine, spirits and tobacco merchants but also for various sports clubs.
Views of Bridgnorth’s Town Hall and St Leonard’s Church, from Bridgnorth (Salop), “Queen of the Severn”, The Official Guide, 1937. Image used with the permission of Bridgnorth Library.
First published in 1937, Bridgnorth (Salop), “Queen of the Severn” begins with a brief history and itinerary of the town before covering other aspects including accommodation, housing, places of worship, sports and pastimes, and local industries. Its layout closely resembles that of later 20th-century guides, in which advertisements take precedence over detailed historical background. It features black and white photographs of notable buildings and landmarks, and multiple advertisements for local shops and businesses, all of which are long gone. In contrast, the golf, cricket, hockey, and tennis clubs remain in their given locations. So does the cinema, which opened in 1937.
Advertisement for a local newsagent in Bridgnorth, from Bridgnorth (Salop), “Queen of the Severn”, The Official Guide, 1937. Image used with the permission of Bridgnorth Library.
These items are just a selection of the many Bridgnorth guides and histories published from the second half of the 19th century onwards. For those familiar with Bridgnorth, these publications (alongside other fascinating archival material) illustrate how much and yet also how little the town has changed. Some buildings have disappeared, but many are extant; shops have come and gone, yet the cinema remains, as do the sports clubs and many pubs (perennial features over the decades and, in some cases, centuries, though they are sadly decreasing in number). In a broader sense, the visitor’s guides are particularly valuable sources for studying local and community history, providing snapshots of a certain time and place, while also informing wider studies of how Britain’s towns (and accompanying guides) developed during the 19th and 20th centuries.
David Fitzpatrick
Content Specialist, Archivist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership
Further reading:
George Bellett, The Antiquities of Bridgnorth; With Some Historical Notices of the Town and Castle (Bridgnorth: W. J. Rowley; London: Longmans & Co, 1856):
The Tourist’s Guide to Bridgnorth, Being a Complete Handbook to Places of Interest in and Around Bridgnorth (Bridgnorth: Evans, Edkins, and McMichael; Madeley: J. Randall, 1875)
Elizabeth P. Morrall, A Popular Illustrated Guide and Handbook to Bridgnorth and its Environs etc. (Bridgnorth: Deighton & Smith, 1891)
Bridgnorth (Salop), “Queen of the Severn”, The Official Guide (Cheltenham and London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd., 1937)