Willey Park, Shropshire;

THE SEAT OF

LORD FORESTER.

WILLEY PARK, four miles distant from Bridgnorth, and two from Broseley, was an ancient residence of the Weld family; but the present large and elegant mansion was erected by Lord Forester, upon the designs, and under the superintendence, of Louis Wyatt, Esq. It occupies a commanding situation in a beautiful part of the park, and is entirely constructed with fine white stone. The principal building, in which are the state-rooms, extends about one hundred and twenty feet; but to the extremity of the offices, on the left, it is very nearly three hundred feet..

On the front is a most noble portico, projecting thirty feet, and consisting of four columns thirty feet high, of the richest Corinthian order, under which carriages drive and set down at the principal entrance, which opens upon a vestibule leading to the saloon, which is very much admired for the purity and classical taste displayed in the style of its architecture; it is of an oblong form, forty feet by thirty, adorned with Corinthian columns, of Scagliola marble, which support a light and ornamental gallery of communication with the chambers on the upper story. This apartment, in the centre of the mansion, is perhaps one of the most striking, both for architectural effect, and its refined classical decoration, in the kingdom, and reflects the highest credit upon the abilities of Mr. Louis Wyatt, whose superior skill has here most admirably contrived to combine Grecian simplicity with modern elegance. Amongst the pictures in the saloon are large equestrian portraits of the two greatest generals of modern times, Wellington and Bonaparte. Between the saloon and conservatory is the grand staircase, comprising a double flight on the right and left, leading to the gallery before-mentioned. The dining-room is the first of the suite upon the left of the portico, and the drawing-room upon the right, both of equal dimensions, thirty-five feet by twenty-five. The library, which communicates with the drawing-room and the saloon, is of an oval form, forty-eight feet long by twenty-five wide, and is surmounted by a dome, seen on the right. of the building. On the other side of the library is Lady Forester's room, twenty-eight feet by twenty-five. No expense appears to have been spared; and, in the interior, the utmost correctness of proportion prevails in the several apartments devoted to state or retirement, which are spacious and numerous, containing a few family pictures, chiefly modern. The statues of Apollo and Actæon, upon pedestals in the saloon, are copies from the antique. The park is large, and adorned with fine woods in the valleys, and on the sides of some of the hills, although near the mansion the scenery is more open. At the foot of the eminence upon which the house stands, is an extensive lake.

Willey, or Willeley, was formerly a seat of the family of Warner, from whose posterity, by Harley and Peshall, it came to the famous family of Lacon, who were much enriched by marriage with the heir of Passelew, and afterwards improved by the possessions of Sir J. Blount, of Kinlet.-Camd. Brit. Sir John Weld, Knt., resided at Willey park, in the time of king Charles II. George Weld, Esq., his son, and Sir William Forester, Knt., represented Wenlock in parliament in the reign of William and Mary. The present peer is descended from John Forester, Esq., of Watling-street, who had a most curious grant from Henry VIII. to wear his hat in the presence of his majesty, which identical and singular document is now in the possession of Lord Forester. This family have continued to represent Wenlock in parliament for two centuries; Brooke Forester, Esq., of Willey park, being M. P. in 1754: he was the son of William Forester, Esq. of Dothill, in this county, also M. P. for Wenlock. The present noble owner married, in 1800, the Lady Catherine Mary, daughter of the late, and sister of the present Duke of Rutland, by whom he has issue the Honourable John George Weld Forester, eldest son.

At Ross Hall, near Shrewsbury, another seat of Lord Forester, he had the honour of receiving a visit from George IVth, when Prince of Wales, in company with his present Majesty, then Duke of Ciarence, in the year 1806.

THE SEAT OF

ANDREW VINCENT CORBET, ESQ.

THIS Mansion, which is situated in the Liberties of Shrewsbury, at the d.stance of seven miles from that town, was built in the year 1601, in the characteristic style of the period; each front exhibits a series of pointed gables, with enriched ornaments between, and contains large mullioned windows; the chimneys, too, are curious, representing short Doric columns, with capitals and bases. The Mansion was enlarged in 1800, by Sir Andrew Corbet, Bart., the father of the present possessor of the estates; it stands on an eminence, commanding an extensive and agreeable view of the surrounding country. At the distance of two miles lies Moreton Corbet Castle, the ancient family residence. This family, one of the oldest in the kingdom, has been seated in Shropshire from the time of the Conquest; and it appears that Roger Corbet held immense possessions in this county under Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury, soon after that period, comprising the manors of Huelbeck, Hundeslet, Actun, Ternely, and Prestun; Robert, his brother, held of the same Earl, the manors of Ulistan, Rotclinghope, Branton, Udecote, Langedunin, Weymore, Rorenton, Middleton, and Meredon. From the above Roger, the descent of Sir Andrew Corbet, Bart., now residing at Adderley Hall, is twenty-two generations.

The above Roger Corbet had issue William Corbet, of Wattlesborough, and Caus Castle, and Everard. Their cousin William, (often called Corbel,) was a monk of the above-mentioned Abbey at Shrewsbury, afterwards Prior of Chich, in Essex, founded A. D. 1120, by Richard de Beaums, Bishop of London, whence, A. D. 1123, he was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury. He died 1136, and was buried in his own cathedral. During his primacy, part of his cathedral was burnt, which the Archbishop repaired at his own expense; then invited the king, queen, David king of the Scots, and the nobility of both kingdoms, to the dedication, which he celebrated in their presence, May 4, 1130, being Rogation Sunday, with the greatest solemnities; and the church's name was then changed from the Church of the Holy Trinity to Christ Church. And whereas Wictred, king of Kent, had, A. D. 696, founded a college of secular priests at St. Martin's, Dover, "who," (as Archdeacon Harpsfield tells us,) "were careless in the performance of the sacred offices, and wasted the goods, and mispent the profits or income of the church;" this archbishop, seriously considering by what means a stop might be put to this evil, built a new church, with all lodgings and accommodations necessary for men professing a monastical life, which he dedicated to the honour of St. Martin, the tutelary saint of the aforesaid college, and styled it the Priory of St. Martin, and put there monks of his own order, out of whom Richard was, A. D. 1171, elected Archbishop of Canterbury, in the room of Thomas á Becket. From the aforesaid William, eldest son of Roger Corbet, the possessions and honours have descended through a long line of honourable ancestry down to Sir Andrew Corbet, the present baronet, who married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Taylor, Esq., of Lymme Hall, in Cheshire, and has had several sons besides the present possessor of Acton Reynald, who is the eldest; he married Miss Rachel S. Hill, in 1820, and has Vincent Rowland Corbet, Esq., born in 1821, and other children.

Apley Park, Shropshire;

THE SEAT OF

THOMAS WHITMORE, ESQ. M.P.

APLEY was anciently the inheritance of the Charltons; one of whom, Alan de Charlton, in the eleventh year of the reign of Edward II., obtained a charter of free-warren in his demesne; and, farther, procured a license from the same monarch, to castellate his house.

The lordship of Apley, together with the whole parish of Stockton, in which it is situated, and the advowson of the Church, came into the possession of the family of Whitmore in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by purchase from Sir Thomas Lucy, Knt., of Charlecote, in Warwickshire, the celebrated prosecutor of Shakspeare, when a Mansion was erected here by William Whitmore, Esq., an Alderman of London, who also resided at Balm's House, Hoxton, and in Lombard-street, where he acquired an immense fortune. He was descended from an ancient family, originally seated at Whittemore, in the parish of Bobbington, in this county; his father, Richard Whitmore, was a landed proprietor in the parish of Claverley, in the county of Salop, where the family have still considerable possessions. The above-mentioned William Whitmore, Esq., married Anne, the daughter of William Bond, Esq., Alderman of London, by whom he left three sons and several daughters; the sons were, Sir William Whitmore, his successor at Apley; Sir George Whitmore, of Balm's House, Hoxton, Lord Mayor of London in 1631, who was a great sufferer for his loyalty to King Charles I.; and Thomas Whitmore, Esq., of Lombard-street, London. Sir William was knighted in 1620, by King James I., being at that time Sheriff of this county. He was educated for the bar, but chiefly resided at his seat at Apley, where he died in 1648. Shortly after the heat of the civil wars had subsided, his eldest son, Thomas Whitmore, Esq., of Apley, was created a Baronet by King Charles I., the 28th of June, 1641. In February, 1645, Apley House was taken by the Parliamentarians, under Sir John Price; when Sir William and Sir Thomas Whitmore, Sir Francis Oatley, Mr. Owen, and about sixty men, were made prisoners. The above party were, at that time, sitting on the Commission of Array for the County of Salop. Sequestrations and decimations were ordered by the Parliament against all their real estates and moveable property, and their persons put in confinement for a considerable length of time.