The House of Industry
which crowns the steep eminence above the river, from whence a prospect of the town and environs, more pleasing and comprehensive than can be obtained from any other station, bursts upon the view.
This handsome brick building was erected in 1765, at an expense of £12,000, and used for a few years as a Foundling Hospital, until the funds becoming inadequate to the support of the charity, it was shut up in 1774. It was afterwards employed during the American War, as a prison for Dutch prisoners, until 1784, when it was purchased by the several parishes of the town, and appropriated to the use of their infirm and helpless poor, who in their declining years here find a comfortable shelter from the pitiless compassion of the world, and are supplied with the decent and wholesome necessaries of life.
Descending the eminence, we cross the river by the ferry, proceed up the Quarry, down St. John’s Hill, and passing the Talbot Buildings, re-enter the Market Square, from whence we commenced our perambulation.
And now, traveller,
our tale is told,
and in sending you onward on your way,
we would heartily bid you “good speed,”
with a sincere hope that when in after years,
amid the storms and sunshine
which checquer the great journey of life,
thy restless memory in the stillness of reflection
shall recur to the few incidents which,
like oases in the desert,
have ministered to thy happiness,
recollection may long and fondly dwell
on those pleasing hours
you spent amid
the antient walls of
Shrewsbury.