The Goldstone Estate in 1851
Extracts from Samuel Bagshaw's
History, Gazetteer and Directory of Shropshire 1851
CHESWARDINE
…….. The parish comprehends the townships of Cheswardine, Chipnall, Goldstone, Sambrook and Sowdley, and contains 5,723a 3r 4p. of land.
GOLDSTONE is a township and small village pleasantly situated on the declivity of a hill about a mile and a half west by south from Cheswardine church. The township contains 452a. 1r. 16p. of land, and at the census of 1841 there were 14 houses and 75 inhabitants. Rateable value, £598. 1s. 6d. There are only three farms in this township, two of which are the property of William Vardon, Esq., and the other is possessed by Mrs. Charlotte Masefield. GOLDSTONE HALL is a neat brick house, the occasional residence of William Vardon, Esq. Near to the hall is an antique house, chiefly composed of timber and plaster, which was most probably erected about the middle of the fifteenth century; it is now the residence of Mr. Alfred Holden, farmer. On the banks of the Shropshire Union Canal, which passes about half a mile from the village, there is a wharf where coal is sold, called Goldston Wharf.
The resident farmers in this township are Thomas Beeston, Alfred Holden, and Anna Lea; William Vardon, Esq., The Hall; Thomas Finn, gardener to W. Vardon, Esq.
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Note on above: Thomas Beeston was agent to William Vardon of Goldstone Hall as well as one of his tenants. Thomas's son Thomas appears to have succeeded him as agent - he was certainly acting in an advisory capacity for Hugh Ernest Vardon into the late 1800s, keeping him up to date with developments at Goldstone and news of Hugh's tenants there. However, Thomas was living at Holly House in Market Drayton, rather than Goldstone. The Beestons were buried in Cheswardine churchyard alongside the Vardons.