Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

848 S H R-
(chiefly 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 England 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 cent, 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 Y. 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, Lichfield, 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 S'll.
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-under-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 Rutunium 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 Caesariensis. 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 important old ecclesiastical
ruins, including Wenlock priory, once very wealthy, said to have
been founded by St Milburg, grand-daughter of Penda, king of the
Mercians, 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
ol 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 Fulk Fitzwarin between 1220 and 1230 ; and Chirbury
priory, founded towards the close of the 12th century. The castles
of Bridgnorth (see Bridgenorth), Ludlow, and Shrewsbury are
referred to in the notices of these towns, and in addition to these
may be mentioned Clun Castle, which after a long siege was taken
-SHU
and burnt by the Welsh prince Rees about 1196, and Boscobel
House, near which Charles II. is said to have been sheltered in an oak.
See Hartshome, Salopia Antiqua, 1841; Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire
12 vols 1854-60 ; Anderson, History of Shropshire, 1869 ; Blakeway, Sheriffs of
bfiropshire; Duke, Antiquities of Shropshire, (T. 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. Shumna), 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-MahU. 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-
Mahle has preserved the old church of the Resurrection.
In the Dolni-Mahl6 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, 9| 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 Shumla
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 P. Kanitz, La Bulgarie Danubienne (1882) ; H. C. Barkley, Bulgaria before
the War (1877), and Between the Danube and Black Sea (1876); S. G. B. and C.
A. St Clair, Residence in Bulgaria (1869); J. L. Farley, New Bulgaria (1880);
and J. G. Minchin, Bulgaria since the War (1880).
SHUSH A, a town, formerly a fortress, of Russia, in
the Caucasian government of Elisabethpol, lies in 39° 46'
H. 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