Shropshire Routes to Roots

4. Pictorial sources (Buildings and places)

Introduction

The landscape around us is constantly changing. Walk through any town and you will see new buildings and developments. During the Industrial Revolution, the changes which took place in Shropshire were even more dramatic. Shropshire had been an agricultural county, with scattered villages and Shrewsbury as the only substantial town. With the Industrial Revolution, new industries and the houses built to accommodate their workers, changed the shape of the landscape.

During the 1850s, the Wrockwardine Wood area underwent a lot of new building, as people moved to the area to work for the New Yard engineering works of the Lilleshall Company.

One way of examining the impact of industry on the area is to examine evidence from pictures. These will show how a place has altered over time.

Paintings

In the 1850s, photographs were still a relatively rare medium. Paintings were more common. However, then, as now, they tended to be done only of worthy or picturesque objects or buildings: a church, a country landscape, the house of a wealthy family.

The image on the right shows Holy Trinity Church in Wrockwardine Wood. At first glance the cows suggest a rural scene, but in the background is a different view of the area. Rising behind are the bottle shaped kilns of the glass works, which stood 200 yards south east of the parish church. This puts the date for the illustration late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth century.

Holy Trinity Church in Wrockwardine Wood Larger image, in a new window [138kb] [Shropshire Archive reference:MI 1254/1]

Between 1792 and 1841 there was an important glass works at Wrockwardine Wood. Here crown glass, buttons and dark green bottles for the French wine trade were made. The Glass Duties Act of 1838, which stated that duty should be levied on all glass bottles, resulted in the closure of the Glassworks.

This later image of the church was taken in the 1960s. The glass works have gone. In fact the glass works were established almost 40 years before the church was built.

Wrockwardine Wood church Larger image, in a new window [79kb] [Shropshire Archive reference:PH/W/37]

Engravings

It is possible to find drawings or engravings of industrial sites. These were sometimes commissioned by the owners of the business. Engraving is a process where a line is scratched and then etched onto a copper plate. The picture can then be printed onto paper.

This image shows how the New Yard Works in St. George's parish, near Wrockwardine Wood, would have looked when they were in use.

New Yard Works at St. George's Larger image, in a new window [126kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: PH/W/37]

Photographs

Although it is not wholly true to say that photographs never lie, they provide an excellent record of an area because they are an instant 'snapshot'. In contrast, in the drawing of Wrockwardine Wood church, for example, the artist might have drawn the cows in himself even if they were not at the scene when he originally looked at it.

Today, different photographs taken from the same viewpoint can be examined and comparisons made between them.

This shot is taken looking down the Trench inclined plane (near Wrockwardine Wood) which was constructed in 1795. This was built because the Shrewsbury Canal was on a much lower level than the Wombridge Canal. The inclined plane connected the two, and enabled tub-boats (seen at the base of the incline) to be carried up and down the hillside at Trench without installing a complex system of locks. The incline is still in operation in this photograph. It closed finally in 1921. In the background are the chimneys of Trench's iron works, the Shropshire Iron company, which produced large quantities of wire.

The Trench Inclined Plane Larger image, in a new window [95kb] [Shropshire Archive reference:PH/T/14]

Today the inclined plane is a grassy footpath. The Queensway dual carriageway now runs through the area at its base. Trench pool is just visible on the right behind the pub, once known as "The Shropshire Arms" but today called "The Blue Pig". This marks the base of the incline. Almost all the chimneys of the Shropshire Iron Company have gone.

The Queensway Larger image, in a new window [129kb] [Shropshire Archive reference:PH/T/14]

Architect's drawings

Architect's drawings and plans can be extremely useful. They show how a building would have looked when it was built, before modifications could be made. In addition, because plans need to be technically accurate, and are usually dated, they are a reliable source of evidence.

The image on the right is a series of perspectives on semi-detached cottages in Wrockwardine Wood. The plans were drawn in 1868. The cottages were probably built to house miners or other workers. Open the plan and look for the following features: How many rooms are there in one of the semi-detached houses? How many bedrooms are there in each house? Given that a family of five or six (like the Pitchford family who were examined on The census page) might have lived here, what do you think conditions would have been like?

Plan of cottages, drawn by Mr. Newill Larger image, in a new window [25kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: 552/9/981]

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