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Clun, a river, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred in Salop. The river rises near the boundary with Wales; and runs 11 miles eastward, and 7 southward, to the Teme, near Leintwardine. The town stands on the river, 3 miles W of Offa’s dyke, 5 ½ SSW of Bishops-Castle, and 6 ½ N by E of Knighton r. station; is a polling-place, and a nominal borough, governed by a bailiff and 30 burgesses, under Earl Powis, gives the title of Baron to the Dahl of Norfolk; and has a head post-office, a hotel, a town-hall, a five-arched bridge, a ruined ancient castle, a parish church, two dissenting chapels, and a hospital for poor men, under a master or warden. The castle was built, in the time of Henry III, by the Fitzalans; and destroyed by Owen Glendower. The town-hall is a modern structure on arches. The church is partly Norman; and has a font and monuments. The hospital was founded, in 1614, by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton; is a plain quadrangular edifice, with a chapel; and has an endowed income of £1,530. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; and fairs on Whit-Monday and Nov. 22. – The parish comprises also the division of Ediclift or Bicton, containing the townships of Ediclift, Bicton, Whitcott-Keyset, and Shadwell; the division of Newcastle, containing the townships of Newcastle, Spoad, Whitcot-Evan, and part of Kevencalonog; and the division of Hopebendrid or Treverward, containing the townships of Hopebendrid, Treverward, Menutton, Perlogne, and Obarris. Acres, 19,782. Rated property, £14,070. Pop., 2,338. Houses, 482. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged early to the Fitzalans; went, in the time of Elizabeth, to the Dukes of Norfolk; and passed to the Walcots and the Earls of Powis. There are several ancient British and Roman remains, particularly at Offa’s dyke, the Bury ditches, and Caer-Caradoc. The living is a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of Chapel-Lawn, in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £680. Patron, the Earl of Powis. The p. curacy of Newcastle is a separate benefice. – The sub-district contains the parishes of Clun, Clungunford, Clunbury, and Hopton-Castle. Acres, 31,358. Pop., 4,152. Houses, 836. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Norbury, containing the parishes of Norbury, More, Ratlinghope, Wentnor, and Mindtown; the sub-districts North Lydbury, containing the parishes of North Lydbury, Edgton, and Hopesay, and the extra-parochial tracts of Horderly Hall, Hill-end, Old-Church-moor, and Dinmore; and the sub-district of Bishops-Castle, containing the town and liberties of Bishops-Castle, the parishes of Shelve, Hyssington, and Snead – the last wholly, the next partly, in Montgomery – and the greater of the parishes of Mainstone and Lydham. Acres, 82,886. Poor-rates in 1862, £6,466. Pop. in 1841, 10,022; in 1861, 10,615. Houses, 2,120. Marriages in 1860, 82; births, 338, - of which 32 were illegitimate; deaths, 194, - of which 63 were at ages under 5 years, and 11 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,667; births, 3,235; deaths, 1,911. The places of worship in 1851 were 19 of the Church of England, with 4,080 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 288 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 90 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 150 s.; 21 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,056 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 40 s. The schools were 12 public day schools, with 576 scholars; 8 private day schools, with 153 s.; and 7 Sunday schools, with 428 s. The workhouse is in Bishops-Castle. – The hundred consists of two divisions, Clun and Mainstone; the former conterminate with Clun parish, the latter containing three parishes and part of another. Acres of the Mainstone division, 21,315. Pop., 3,869. Houses, 773.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].