Droitwich.
George Hotel.
Saturday. Octr 31st/68.
My dear Father.
I have not received any letter from you so far. I am going to ask at the post office however again today to see if the second post have brought any. - This being a remarkably poor town I shall go on to Worcester tomorrow. -
I left Markeaton <1> on Thursday and went to Lichfield. - It was rather rainy whilst I was there. The town is a small one but clean The cathedral <2> small and very interesting but not I think one of the most beautiful. - I thought the service good - It stands well on rising ground. Some restoration was has been done by Scott <3> and a new metal choir screen, and a reredos has been put in -. The west end was restored once in Stone by a bishop in the days of of Charles the IInd (I think) or about that time. - It was well done considering the material. It is now undergoing restoration again in stone, at least, the principal window - This town of Droitwich is very poor looking, mean & smoky, and does not deserve to be a borough. - There are some picturesque half timbered houses remaining. - There is an opposition got up to Sir John Pakington <4> the Liberal candidate being Mr Corbett, <5> a salt manufacturer of Bromsgrove.
The inn is a very fair one, (commercial) and in the middle of the salt works. I peeped into some of these to see the salt boiling. - The Many of the manufactories look rather curious. - One of the churches St Audrun, <6> has some very fine Early English work in the lower part of the tower. - It wants restoring and repairing but I hope none but a good architect will touch the tower arches. -
I walked over to Salwarpe yesterday afternoon but as [illegible deletion] it was rather dark there I went again today. - I made acquaintance with the rector who is I think a [illegible] of the family who own the property now and live at High Park. - He told me that he had to give evidence in the Shrewsbury peerage case. <7>
Salwarpe church is interesting with a plain Norman arcade and cylindrical columns. The western one being however square which makes me think that it may have supported the western tower in Norman times and the church have been shorter. - The present tower is very plain and good perpendicular. - There are some old tiles, and what suprised me the quartered shield of Hungerford Hungerford and Heytesbury <8> ) as usual) also the 3 sickles of Hungerford intertwined. These I should have expected in Wiltshire but not here. - There is also a tile with a dog and the inscription Sir John Talbot, <9> There is a similar one in the museum at Bath.
There are other tiles of which I made notes. - In the north aisle are four arched recesses which appear to have been sepulchral. - The chancel has been well restored. In it is On the wall is a monument also well restored, to a certain Thomas Talbot. -. I did not copy the date as it was difficult to read and the rector told me shewed me that it was copied in Nash Hist <10> of Wr Worcester. - In the no South aisle is a monument to a certain Olave Talbot buried in 1681. I think She was aged 18. -. There is a sepulchral recess on the north of the chancel and a good effigy of a priest, not identified. -Near the church is a long low half timbered house black and white. It is now a farm, and I thought at first sight that it might have been the manor house. - The rector said he had no t doubt that it had been the old manor house.
The country is undulating and pretty. - The canal passes between the farm house and the church in a cutting and the canal bridge is prettily overgrown with ivy. - High Park stands well, and I could see the top of Westwood, <11> turrets and chimneys) Sir John Pakington's house.).
This morning I had a hot brine bath, <12> which seems rather a good institution but few people would wish to stop in Droitwich. - One might stop at Worcester, run down by rail, take ones brine bath and go back again.
If I were going to stay many days I would try another. - It has the peculiarity of not making one feel cold afterwards, as hot baths generally do. - I should think a hot bath of sea water would have much the same effect, and they can be got at some sea places. - I did not know be till yester a short time ago that they had salt baths here. -
Mr Corbett is going to hold a great liberal meeting in this hotel tonight. This afternoon I walked to Hampton Lovett, <13> which is a church that Sir John Pakington has restored, and where are the family monuments.
At the restoration of the church they found and restored, the monument of Sir John Pakington who got a grant of Westwood from Henry VIII in 1560. In the north aisle are some Pakington coats of arms, with borders exceedingly like some of those in the glass at Lacock and the date 1561.
I do not think the church internally by any means equal to Salwarpe. Externally, it looks very well and has trees round it.
I go to Worcester tomorrow, and I suppose to Clifton on Monday so that I shall not get to Lacock till Tuesday. -
The hotel at Clifton is I think the "Clifton Down." - I was sorry to see in the paper the death of Lord Curriehill. <14>-
Your affect son
Charles.
[envelope:]
H Fox Talbot Esq
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family.
2. Lichfield Cathedral is one of England's smaller cathedrals, built from 1195 and completed in the 1330s, and is the only English Cathedral with three spires.
3. Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), gothic revival architect.
4. Sir John Somerset Russell (1799-1893), assumed the name Pakington in 1830, Secretary of State for War, 1867-December 1868; a Conservative, and 'upheld with a firm hand the Protestant Church.' Sat for Droitwich from 1837-1874, when defeated by John Corbett.
5. John Corbett (1817-1901), JP, philanthropist; in 1874, he finally defeated Sir John Pakington and remained Liberal MP for Droitwich until his retirement in 1892. John Corbett bought the salt works at Stoke Prior in 1852, vastly increasing the salt production and output, until selling his works in 1889.
6. See Doc. No: 03306, Doc. No: 00435, and Doc. No: 07587.
7. The disputed claim to the Earldom of Shrewsbury (1858), eventually settled in the House of Lords in favour of Lord Talbot. [See Doc. No: 07644, and Doc. No: 07312].
8. Possibly relating to the family of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury (1378-1449), in Heytesbury, Wiltshire.
9. See Doc. No: 00435, Doc. No: 03306, and Doc. No: 07587.
10. Probably refers to Alderman John Nash (1590-1662), mayor of Worcester in 1633.
11. Westwood Park, Droitwich, Worcestershire.
12. The natural brine springs of the Droitwich area have been recognised for their intensly salty properties since Roman times. As salt was a vital manufacturing component in the Industrial Revolution, there were many processing sites developed here.
13. Situated at the northern point of Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire.
14. John Marshall (1794-1868), judge of the court of session as Lord Curriehill, 1852-1868.