1586 – The Common pasture of Kingsland was ordered to be enclosed.
1591 – The Guilds first go to Kingsland for the Shrewsbury Show. Latterly, this was held on the Monday after 23 May (second Monday after Trinity Sunday) each year.
1634 – The Earl of Bridgewater Lord President of the Marches of Wales came with his Council to Shrewsbury. They were so sumptiously entertained that Kingsland had to be leased for 21 years to pay the cost which was nearly £200.
1650 – The Corporation ordered that the “Pest House at Kingsland be repaired”. It was the practice for persons suspected of having plague to be immediately removed from the Town on the order of a magistrate. 1661 – The Taylors’ Guild pay £2 11s.10d for making “ye harbour on Kingsland”.
1718 – Horse races began at Kingsland – these may have been informal and casual in character.
1724 – Kingsland enclosed and sowed with corn by Richard Morgan, the Butcher. Two years later his corn obstructed access to the Clothworkers Arbour and they obliged him to cut a way through the corn for them.
1729 – The Corporation ordered “That Kingsland be an airing place for the Gentry and they to have keys of the same, paying such yearly sums as the Mayor and Chamberlains think reasonable. No person to be permitted to ride there, but such as pay and the ground to be set to the best bidder”.
1738 – Ferries shown in an etching near to Kingsland Bank (Cann Office) and opposite the Boathouse Inn.
1752 – Lieutenant Thomas Anderson, aged 31, was shot just below the Shoemakers’ Arbour on Kingsland for desertion and buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard.
1758 – The Foundling Hospital granted a 99 year lease by the Corporation for additional land adjacent to their property.
1760 – The Foundling Hospital was built to designs of T. F. Pritchard. It closed in 1772.
1774 – The Foundling Hospital was re-opened temporarily to house families displaced from Abbey Foregate by the great fire which destroyed 50 houses.
1782 – The Foundling Hospital was requisitioned to house 600 Dutch sailors taken captive in the brief war against Holland.
1784 – The House of Industry (or Workhouse) was opened in the former Foundling Hospital.
1789 – First reference to Quarry boathouse – later known as Schools ferry. This closed around 1939.
1795 – Mr Johnson of the Can (sic) Office (Kingsland) died after rescue from drowning in the great floods on the Severn. Thomas Telford designed Kingsland House for Joseph Loxdale probably on the site of a previous house and The Poplars and The Beehive were probably built.
1816 – Linen Weaving Factory erected at Kingsland by Charles Bage.
1821 – Licence granted to operate a Lunatic Asylum within the Workhouse complex.
1829 – The former Linen Weaving Factory sold by Bage’s widow (possibly for £400) to Mr Burr, the plumber, for use as lead factory. This factory was later described as a nuisance at an inquiry in 1854.
1831 – Quarry ferry clearly recorded.
1832 – Cholera-epidemic burials on Kingsland.
1834 – Cann Office ferry reopened – defunct after 1882
1835 – In consequence of the passing of the Municipal Reform Bill, the ancient chartered Trading Companies (Guilds) of the town, sixteen in number were dissolved.
1853 – The Asylum is closed.
1863 – The Corporation discussed plans to develop Kingsland.
1873 – Shrewsbury (Kingsland) Bridge Act.
1875 – The House of Industry was closed. Shrewsbury School bought the site and 15 acres from Directors and also bought 10 acres of adjacent land on Kingsland from the Corporation.
1878 – Shrewsbury Show closed by Home Secretary.
1879 – Work on Shrewsbury School buildings began. The stone gateway to the Shoemakers’ Arbour was moved to the Quarry.
1880 – Second Shrewsbury (Kingsland) Bridge Act.
1882 – Shrewsbury School moved to the adapted House of Industry on Kingsland in May and the Kingsland Bridge opens in July.
1883 – Magistrates dismissed a summons for alleged nuisance arising from the lead works on Kingsland.
1891 – First phase of development of Kingsland completed – 26 new buildings including 16 private houses have been built since 1881.
Next chapter: APPENDIX 2:Details of Houses in Ashton, Butler & Kennedy Roads
Kingsland, Shrewsbury 