William Pearson Much Wenlock, Shropshire

An original 1802 watercolour painting, William Pearson, Much Wenlock, Shropshire.

An interesting large, wide-format watercolour showing the rural settlement at Much Wenlock in Shropshire around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. William Pearson (1772–1849) was an admirer of Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and closely imitated his style. This watercolour is dated 1802 and it was from around this date that Pearson was based at nearby Shrewsbury.

Much Wenlock is one of the possible locations where a Sub-Roman British Christian community may have survived the Anglo-Saxon occupation and eventually integrated with the conquerors and influenced their culture. The town of Wenlock is known to have grown up around an abbey or monastery founded around 680. Pearson was painting the village at a time when its economy had stagnated and its buildings—mostly old, timber framed and thatched, many incorporating limestone rubble—were in poor repair. In 1735 visitors had described it as 'a very paltry, dirty town' and coined the name 'Muck Wenlock'; by 1793 it seemed 'sunk'. The turn of the century, however, marked the beginnings of an upturn for the area, with improvements in the 19th century coming as a result of limestone quarrying and the then buoyant iron trade.

In watercolour with graphite. On wove paper laid down on its original backing paper with washline border and inscription verso.