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., 1335, Edmund de la Marc was presented to
the hermitage of Athelaxdestan," a name signifying the stone or rock of
Ethelwald.

The Cemetery lies embosomed in a sunny opening of the rocks below the
Hermitage, where nature and art combined--the former predominating so
much by means of a noble amphitheatre of rocks--have given to the spot a
quiet, pleasing interest. Outside the Cemetery, a winding path leads to
the High Rocks, the road to which the inhabitants have recently improved.
This elevated position above the Severn well deserves a visit, commanding
as it does the Vale, through which the river winds amidst alluvial lands,
bounded by the heights of Apley and Stanley, the hills of the Wrekin and
Caradoc, and those of the Brown and Titterstone Clees, with the Abberley
and Malvern hills in the distance. The castellated structure at the foot
of the High Rocks, now used for manufacturing purposes, occupies the site