Thomas Atkyns’ Letter, 1589

On the 28th August 1589, Thomas Atkyns wrote a long and informative letter to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl Marshall of England[1] . Atkyns was an official of the Council of the March in Wales and he wrote from their office in Ludlow Castle. Three pages long, it is signed and endorsed. The letter described the civil disturbances at the Earl of Shrewsbury's weir and iron forge on the River Wye at Whitchurch in Herefordshire and provided an account of Atkyns' attempts to prevent them. The importance here is how this letter illuminates Blanche's position at the Royal Court[2] . The letter concluded:

... And to the end [that] your Lordship must be assured of the minds of other men in this behalf, I have written and sent to my Lords the Earls of Worcester and Pembroke, to Sir Charles Herbert and some others, owners of weirs on that river, to understand their dispositions. From my Lord of Worcester and some of the rest I learn, and so hath his Lordship written to the Commissioners, that if they [the Commissioners] attempt any thing against his weirs in such course as they have begun, he will seek his redress by law, and therefore hath wished them to be well advised. This now I find the Commissioners to be thoroughly perplexed [about]; if they do cease [their actions], then stand they more fearful of your Lordships [law]suit. If they do go forwards then have they such and so great persons to answer as their whole habilities [resources] cannot defend. This sole hope they have, and this they do give out, that Mrs Blanche ap Parry will obtain her Majesty's pardon and discharge for them. Pardon my good Lord the length of these my letters wherein I could not omit to signify the whole of that which hath been done, that thereby such course may be taken by your Lordship for reformation and redress as to your Honour shall be thought most fit. If [a lawsuit were held] here before this Council then is there no doubt of Sir Richard Shuttleworth (who is now Chief Justice with us) his just and due consideration of the greatness of the cause, and that with good speed. If [a lawsuit were held] in the Star Chamber, than will it be most heavy for the offenders. And thus with my prayers for your Lordship’s long happy health I most humbly take my leave
From Ludlow this 28th of August 1589
Your good Lordship’s in all service
To be commanded

Briefly, weirs were a long-standing cause of friction on the River Wye as they could impede the passage of fish and, of course, boats. They are forcibly described as a source of contention by Rowland Vaughan, Blanche's great-nephew, in 'His Booke…' published 1610, see page 57. Atkyns[3] actually said that the number of salmon in the river was declining presumably because they could not readily swim upriver to spawn. The Commissioners of Sewers assembled in Hereford had responsibility for ensuring navigation and fisheries on all rivers but this often led to conflict with powerful weir owners. In this case there were opposing influential factions, including some with motives unconnected with either fish or river transport. Here the weir had been broken down by iron-workers from the

© Ruth E. Richardson, Rosalind Lowe, Sue Hubbard 2008

Forest of Dean, men who were being put out of business by the fine wrought-iron produced in the Earl of Shrewsbury’s iron forge adjacent to this weir. It seems that the Commissioners had not actively discouraged this destruction. According to Atkyns he had attempted to persuade the Commissioners to act, describing the breaking of the weir as illegal, but matters escalated out of their control.

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[1] Lambeth Palace Library: Shrewsbury MS 3198 f493. This was discovered by Rosalind Lowe in researching weirs on the River Wye (forthcoming paper in the Transactions of The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club). I am most grateful to her.

[2] I am very grateful to Sue Hubbard for this transcription.

[3] As was common at the time Thomas Atkyns accrued extra money from the functions of his appointment which served as supplementary pay to augment his paltry salary. This suggests to us that he was corrupt but in fact this was a recognised procedure then and was similar to farming (see page 18). His patron appears to have been George Talbot the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.