ers in relief, "Except the Lord BVILD
THE OWSE The Labourers Thereof Evail Nothing. Erected by R. For * 1580."
Another of these quaint old structures, called Cann Hall, contains some
curious unlighted double dormitories in the roof; one is called King
Charles' Room, and another is pointed out as that in which his nephew,
Prince Rupert, is said to have slept. The house is supposed to be
haunted, and the present tenant is not loth to admit that he sometimes
hears strange noises, a fact, if such it be, at which one can scarcely
wonder, seeing that the wind and the bats have undisputed sway. The
Townhall, in the Market Square, built in the place of the one destroyed
during the civil wars, is thus noticed in the "Common Hall Order Book" of
the Corporation: "The New Hall set up in the Market Place of the High
Street of Bridgnorth was begun, and the stone arches thereof made, when
Mr. Francis Preen and Mr. Symon Beauchamp were Bayliffs, in Summer, 1650;
and the timber work and building upon the same stone arches was set up
when Mr. Thomas Burne and Mr. Roger Taylor were Bayliffs of the said town
of Bridgnorth, in July and August, 1652." The new Market Hall, with the
Assembly Room, the rooms of the Mechanics' Institution, &c., is a
handsome building, situated at the lower end of the same large open
square.

The grand promenade round the Castle Hill, which King Charles pronounced
the finest in his dominion, commands a prospect that cannot fail to
interest. Below, the river winds like a thing of life; around, are wave-
like sweeps of country, red and green, broken by precipitous rocks into a
succession of natural terraces, many of which, being higher than the town
itself, afford the most enchanting views.

The Hermitage is one of these, the prospect from which, on a clear, sunny
day, is such as to commend the choice of the anchorite, who is said to
have exchanged the excitements of a court for retirement in such a spot.
The tradition is, that Ethelwald, brother of King Athelstan, who
succeeded his father, Edward (924), retired here to escape the perils of
the period; a tradition which receives support from the following royal
presentations found on the rolls of Edward: "On the 2nd of February,
Edward III., 1328, John Oxindon was presented by the king to the
hermitage of Athelardestan, near Bridgnorth. On 7 Edward III., Andrew
Corbriggs was similarly presented to the hermitage of Adlaston, near
Bridgnorth. On 9 Edward III.