All Round the Wrekin - Wrockwardine

To the Manor Born

Wrockwardine was one of many estates where Earl Roger was Tenant-in-Chief and it is highly unlikely he ever lived there. The Manor house itself was practically derelict by the early 14th Century and today no trace survives, although the remains of a fish pond to the west of The Avenue may mark the site of the original building. Although the Lord of the Manor was not resident, the institution continued to play its part in village life for many centuries and a manorial court, presided over by the Lord's Bailiff, sat in Wrockwardine until 1922. In the late 13th Century, the court maintained a gallows, but its business largely consisted of dealing with agricultural regulations and the assizes of bread and ale by the early 1800s, when it met twice a year. At that time, the Manor itself was divided into three parts, but was reunited in 1822 by William Cludde of Orleton, one time High Sheriff and Mayor of Shrewsbury. His son Edward, to whom the Cludde Almshouses, which stand opposite the junction of Wellington Road, were dedicated after his death in 1840, succeeded him.