Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/878

Rh S4S S H R S H U (.liiffly Herefords) 162,932, of which 60,976 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf and 69,865 animals under two years old ; sheep (mainly Shropshire) 438,664 ; pigs 61,067 ; and poultry 369,890. In the northern districts Cheshire cheese is largely made. Accord- ing to the latest Landowners' Return for Entjluml Shropshire was divided among 12,119 owners, possessing 791,941 acres at an annual value of 1,484,833, or an average value of about 1, 16s. 8d. per acre. There were 7281 proprietors or about 60 per font, who pos- sessed less than 1 acre, and 19,675 acres were common land. The following possessed over 8000 acres each Earl of Powis, 26,986 ; Duke of Cleveland, 25,604; Earl Brownlow, 20,233; Duke of Sutherland, 17,495; Lord Hill, 16,290; Lord Forester, 14,891; Lord Windsor, 10,846 ; Earl of Bradford, 10,515 ; Sir V. R. Corbet, 9489 ; W. O. Foster, 8547 ; W. L. Childe, 8430 ; Lord Boyne, 8424 ; I. D. Corbet, 8118. Administration and Population. Shropshire comprises 14 hun- dreds and the municipal boroughs of Bridgnorth (population, 5885 in 1881), Ludlow (5035), Oswestry (7847), Shrewsbury (26,478), and Wenlock (18,442). For parliamentary purposes the county, which was formerly shared between North and South Shropshire, was in 1885 divided into four separate divisions, Mid (Wellington), North (Newport), South (Ludlow), and West (Oswestry), each returning one member. At the same time the boroughs of Bridg- north, Wenlock, and Ludlow were merged in the county divisions to which they severally belong ; but Shrewsbury continues to return one member. Shropshire contains also the following urban sanitary districts : Broseley (population, 4458 in 1881), Dawley (9200), Ellesmere (1875), Madeley (9212), Much Wenlock (2321), Newport (3044), Wellington (6217), and Whitchurch and Dodington (3756). The county has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into nineteen special sessional divisions. All the boroughs have separate courts of quarter sessions and commissions of the peace. The county contains 252 civil parishes with parts of six others. Ecclesiastically it is in the dioceses of Hereford, Lichlield, and St Asaph. The population (240,959 in 1861) in 1881 was 248,014 (124,157 males and 123,857 females). The number of persons to an acre was 0'29 and of acres to a person 3'41. History and Antiquities. The British tribes inhabiting Shrop- shire at the time of the Romans were named by them the Ordovices and the Cornavii. It was within its boundaries that Caractacus (Caradoc) struggled against Vespasian in 51 A.D. A connected chain of military works was erected by him over the southern and western districts of the county, the most important fortresses be- ing Caer Caradoc (where he is said to have made his last stand), occupying a commanding position in the forest of Clun, and the earthwork of Hen Dinas at Old Oswestry, consisting of four or five concentric circles, still well marked. The Roman Watling Street entered Shropshire near Weston-undcr- Lizard in Stafford and passed in an oblique line to Leintwardine in Hereford. Various other Roman roads diverged from it in different directions. Wroxeter, a little to the west of the Wrekin, occupies the site of the ancient Roman city Uriconium, of which a portion of the wall, originally 3 miles in circumference, still remains. Explorations made on the site of the city have revealed many interesting features of its con- struction, and have led to the discovery of an immense variety of remains. By some authorities the Roman Mediolanum is placed near Drayton and Rutuninm near Wem ; but the evidence in both cases is doubtful. Throughout Shropshire there are many remains of Roman camps. Under the Romans it was included in the province of Flavia Cresariensis. After their departure it was annexed to the kingdom of the Saxons by Offa, who about 765 caused Watt's dyke to be erected to guard against the incursions of the Welsh, and later erected parallel with it, 2 miles to the west, the entrenchment known as Offa's dyke, which, extending from the Wye near Hereford to the parish of Mold in Flintshire, forms in some places a well-defined boundary between Shropshire and Montgomery. The greater part of the history of Shropshire is included under that of SHREWSBURY (q.v.). There are several importaiit old ecclesiastical ruins, including Wenlock priory, once very wealthy, said to have been founded by St Milburg, grand-daughter of Penda, king of the ians, as a college for secular priests, and changed into a priory for Cluniac monks by Roger de Montgomery about 1080 ; Lilleshall abbey, for Augustinian canons, founded in the reign of Stephen ; Shrewsbury abbey, founded in 1083 in honour of -St Peter and St Paul ; Buildwas abbey, one of the finest ruins in the county, founded in 1135 for Cistercians by Roger de Clinton, bishop of Chester ; and Haughmond abbey, for Augustinian canons, founded by William Fitzalan about 1138. Other remains of less consequence are those of the convent of White Ladies or St Leonard's, a Norman struc- ture, said to have been founded in the reign of Richard I. or John ; slight traces of Wombridge priory, for Augustinian canons, founded before the reign of Henry I. ; Alberbury priory, for Benedictines, founded by Fnlk Fitzwarin between 1220 and 1230 ; and Chirbury priory, founded towards the close of the 12th century. The castles of Bridgnorth (see BRIDGFA-ORTH), Ludlow, and Shrewsbury are referred to in the notices of these towns, and in addition to these may be mentioned Chin Castle, which after a long siege was taken and burnt by the Welsh prince Recs about 1196, and Boscobel Bouse, near which Charles II. is said to have been sheltered in an oak. See ILirtshome, Salopia Antiqua, 1841; Eyton, Antiqjiitir of Shrojuhire, 12 vols., 1854-00; Anderson, Htitory of Shropshire, 1809 ; Bhiktway. Mrrifs of Shropshire; Duke, Antitftities of Shropshire. (T. F. H.) SHROVE TUESDAY, the day preceding Ash Wednes- day, or the first day of Lent, was so called as the day on which "shrift "or confession was made. Compare CARNIVAL. SHUMLA (Bulg. Shumen, Turk. S/ntmna), a fortified town of Bulgaria, 58 miles south-south-west of Silistria and in that pashalic and 50 west of Varna. The town is built within a cluster of hills which curve round it on the west and north in the shape of a horse-shoe. A rugged ravine intersects the ground longitudinally within the horse- shoe ridge. From Shumla roads radiate northwards to the Danubian fortresses of Rustchuk and Silistria and those in the Dobrudja, southwards to the passes of the Balkans, and eastwards to Varna and Baltchik. Shumla is therefore one of the most important military positions to the north of Turkey, while it ranks as the third largest town in Bulgaria. Spread over a large extent of ground, each house mostly isolated in the midst of its own stables and cow-houses, Shumla has the appearance of a vast village. A broad street and rivulet divide the military or upper quarter, Gorni-Mahle, from the lower quarter, Dolni-Mahle. The latter, dirty and unhealthy, intersected by a labyrinth of lanes, is inhabited mostly by Christians and Jews. The Armenians possess a small church, and each of the two Bulgarian quarters has its temple. The houses of the Gorni-Mahle, occupied chiefly by Turks, stand pleasantly embowered each in its flower and fruit garden. Gorni- Mahl6 has preserved the old church of the Resurrection. In the Dolni-Mahle" is the new church of St Cyril, a fine basilica adorned with a peristyle. The Bulgarian com- munity possesses two boys' and two girls' schools, giving instruction superior to that obtainable at the primary Turkish school. In the upper part of the town is the magnificent mausoleum of Jezairli Hassan Pasha, who in the 18th century enlarged the fortifications of Shumla. The principal mosque, with a cupola of very interesting archi- tecture, forms the centre of the Moslem quarter. At the farther end of the town, isolated on a hill, is a large military hospital. The population of Shumla in 1881 was 23,093, exclusive of the garrison. The town is renowned for its manufacture of red and yellow slippers, ready-made clothes, richly embroidered dresses for females, and its copper and tin wares. It also rears silk-worms, spins silk, and carries on an important trade in grain and wine. The branch railway from Shumla to Kaspidjan, 9J miles, to connect the town with the Rustchuk- Varna Railway, though commenced in 1870, was not finished in 1886. In 811 Shumla was burned by the emperor Nicephorus, and in 1087 was besieged by Alexius. In 1388 the sultan Murad I. forced the castle to surrender ; and thence till the 17th century Sliuml.i disappears from history. In the 18th century it was enlarged and fortified. Three times 1774, 1810, and 1828 it was unsuccessfully attacked by Russian armies. The Turks consequently gave it the name of Gazi (" Victorious"). But on 22d June 1878 Shumla capitu- lated to the Russians. The treaty of Berlin stipulated the demoli- tion of the fortifications ; but this article has not been executed, and Bulgarian troops garrison the fort. See F. Kanitz, La Bulgaria Dannbienne (1882) ; H. C. Barkley, Bulgaria before the War (1877), and between the Danube and Black Sea (1876) ; 8. Q. B. and C. A. St Clair, Residence in Bulgaria (1SC9) ; J. L. Farley, New Bulgaria (1880) ; and J. G. Minchin, Bulgaria since the War (1880). SHUSHA, a town, formerly a fortress, of Russia, in the Caucasian government of Elisabethpol, lies in 39 46' N. lat. and 46 25' E. long., 230 miles south-east of Tiflis, on an isolated rocky eminence, 3860 feet high. The town, which is accessible only on one side, occupies but a small part of the plateau, whence there is a splendid view over the surrounding mountain gorges and defiles. In 1873 the population was 24,552 (males 13,666, females 10,886), of whom 13,504 were Armenians and 10,804