The Bill was passed in 1846, Cobden, Bright, and
Villiers leading the agitation against them, and after the Corn Laws
were abolished a period of great prosperity prevailed in England.
[Illustration: SIR ROBERT PEEL. _From the portrait by Sir Thomas
Lawrence_.]
Sir Robert Peel died from the effect of an accident sustained when
riding on horseback in Hyde Park, on June 25th, 1850; he fell from his
horse, dying three days afterwards, and was buried in his mausoleum, in
the Parish Church of Drayton Bassett, a village about two miles from
Tamworth.
It was the day of the Municipal Elections as we passed through Tamworth,
but, as only one ward was being contested, there was an almost total
absence o f the excitement usual on such occasions.
[Illustration: TAMWORTH CASTLE.]
Tamworth Castle contains some walls that were built by the Saxons in a
herringbone pattern. There was a palace on the site of the castle in the
time of Ofta, which was the chief residence of the Kings of Mercia; but
William the Conqueror gave the castle and town of Tamworth and the Manor
of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire to his dispensor, or royal steward, Robert
of Fontenaye-le-Marmion in Normandy, whose family were the hereditary
champions of the Dukes of Normandy:
These Lincoln lands the Conqueror gave,
That England's glove they might convey
To Knight renowned amongst the brave--
The Baron bold of Fontenaye.
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