1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 24s. 2d. 15s. 5d. 13s. 2d. 
          Return 46s. 0d. 29s. 0d. 26s. 4d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­“The Corbet Arms,” etc. =Alternative Route.=—­None.

In the parish of Moreton Say, 3 miles west of Market Drayton, is Styche Hall, the birthplace of Robert Clive.  The family of Clive took their name from the little town of Clive in Cheshire, removing to Styche when the heiress of the latter place married James Clive in the reign of Henry VI.  Robert Clive, the hero of Plassey, born in 1725, was educated for a few years at Market Drayton before he went to the Merchant Taylors’ School.  His father not being at all wealthy, Clive accepted a writership in the East India Company and went out to Madras, but soon changed his post for a commission in the army.  After a brilliant career in India, which he won for the English, raising them from the position of mere traders to be the rulers of an Eastern Empire, he returned to England in 1767.  Worn out by the persecutions of his enemies, he died by his own hand in 1774, when only in his forty-ninth year.  “Great in council, great in war, great in his exploits, which were many, and great in his faults, which were few,” Sir Charles Wilson says, “Clive will ever be remembered as the man who laid deeply the foundations of our Indian Empire, and who, in a time of national despondency, restored the tarnished honour of the British arms.”

The parish church of Moreton Say contains Clive’s tomb besides other old monuments dating from 1600, though the church itself is chiefly eighteenth-century work.  Market Drayton, sometimes thought to be the Roman Mediolanum, still has a few timbered houses, but its church has been much restored.

Close to the town, standing on a wooded hill, is Buntingsdale, a stately red brick and stone house built in Georgian times, belonging to the Tayleurs.  Situated 2-1/2 miles from Market Drayton is Audley Cross, marking the site of the battle of Blore Heath, fought between the Yorkists and Lancastrians, when many Cheshire gentlemen were slain.

[Illustration:  Valentine & Sons, Ltd.

MARKET DRAYTON FROM THE RIVER.

Where Clive was educated before he went to the Merchant Taylors’
School.]

CHESTER

=How to get there.=—­Train from Euston.  L. and N.W.  Railway. =Nearest Station.=—­Chester. =Distance from London.=—­179 miles. =Average Time.=—­Varies between 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours.

                     1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 27s. 10d. 18s. 8d. 14s. 11d. 
          Return 51s. 9d. 32s. 8d. 29s. 10d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­“Queen’s Hotel,” “Grosvenor Hotel,”
  “Talbot Hotel,” “Blossoms Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=—­Train from Paddington.  Great Western Rly.