EDITORIAL NOTE

Volume II is the third volume of the Victoria History of Shropshire to be published, and the second since the revival of the project outlined in the Editorial Note to Volume VIII (1968). The partnership there described between the Shropshire County Council and the University of London has continued, and Major General the Viscount Bridgeman, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C., has remained Chairman of the sub-committee appointed to superintend those arrangements. It is a pleasure once again to record the University's appreciation of the generosity of the County Council.

Mr. A. T. Gaydon, who had been county editor for Shropshire since 1961 when work was resumed on the Shropshire History, became seriously ill in the summer of 1970, and was unable to return to the task thereafter. Mr. D. T. W. Price, from 1967 part-time and from 1968 full-time assistant editor, resigned in the autumn of 1970 to take up an appointment at St. David's University College, Lampeter. The Shropshire History was without any active staff of its own until the autumn of 1971, when Mr. G. C. Baugh was appointed as Mr. Gaydon's successor. In August 1972 Dr. D. C. Cox became assistant editor. Mr. Gaydon planned the present volume, and had prepared the greater part of it for the press before illness prevented him from completing his work as its editor. Mr. Price and, at a later stage, Mr. C. R. Elrington, Deputy Editor of the series, were responsible for the final editing of the volume.

The structure and aims of the Victoria History series as a whole are outlined in the General Introduction to the History (1970). In the present volume, as in the Victoria History of Middlesex, Volume I (1969), the traditional general article on religious history is replaced by a shorter account of the ecclesiastical organization of the county. In the articles on religious houses the main features of surviving buildings are described, but architectural descriptions of those collegiate and monastic churches which remained in use as churches after the Dissolution have been reserved for the appropriate topographical volumes.

Many people have helped in the preparation of the volume. Among the many libraries, record offices, and collections public and private whose resources have been made available are the Shropshire County Library, the Shrewsbury Public Library, Shrewsbury School Library, the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Lichfield Joint Record Office, and the National Library of Wales. The help given by the archivists or librarians of those and other institutions, and by their respective staffs, is gratefully acknowledged, particularly that given by Miss M. C. Hill, the Shropshire County Archivist. Thanks are also rendered to Mr. N. R. Cave, Town Clerk of Shrewsbury, and the Revd. J. D. McEvilly, Archivist to the Archbishop of Birmingham, for making available records in their custody. Also acknowledged with gratitude is the assistance of a general sort given after Mr. Gaydon's illness by Mrs. L. B. Halford of the Shropshire Record Office, Mr. J. B. Lawson of Shrewsbury School, Mr. A. L. Thomas of Shrewsbury Public Library, Mr. B. S. Trinder, and Mr. Price, the former assistant editor, who continued to give of his time and knowledge to the Shropshire History after he had left its employment.