Discover

'Shropshire' (pronounced /, -/), alternatively known as '''Salop''' or abbreviated '''Shrops''', is a county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Wales to the west. Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties, with the population of the non-metropolitan/shire county 289,100 - making it the least populated two-tier governed area in the United Kingdom. The borough of Telford and Wrekin, included in Shropshire for ceremonial and geographical purposes, has been a unitary authority since 1998.
The county town is Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically the most important town in the area, although the new town of Telford, which was constructed around a number of older towns, is today the most populous. Other notable towns are Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow. The Ironbridge Gorge area has become known as the birthplace of industry. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which covers Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and a part of Madeley. There are additionally other notable historic industrial sites located around the county such as Coalport, Snailbeach and Highley as well as the Shropshire Union Canal.
The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, mainly in the south. The Wrekin is one of the most famous natural landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones and the Long Mynd. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark. The River Severn, Britain's longest river, runs through the county.

Contents

Divisions and environs

Local government reform

History

Geography

North Shropshire

South Shropshire

Transport

Towns and villages

Economy

Statistics

Education

Secondary education

Further education

Places of interest

Famous people

Politics

Cultural references

Sport

See also

References

External links

Divisions and environs

The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into five non-metropolitan districts. They are North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shropshire and Bridgnorth.^[1] Telford and Wrekin is a unitary authority which forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but does not come under county council control. Oswestry, Shrewsbury & Atcham and Telford & Wrekin have the status of boroughs. The county including Telford and Wrekin, the ceremonial county, borders Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and the Welsh preserved counties of Powys and Clwyd.
The border with Wales was defined in the 16th century - the hundreds of Oswestry (including Oswestry) and Pimhill (including Wem), and part of Chirbury had prior to the Laws in Wales Act formed various Lordships in the Welsh Marches.

Local government reform

In 2006 a Local Government White Paper supported proposals for new unitary authorities to be set up in England in certain areas. Existing non-metropolitan counties with small populations, such as Cornwall, Northumberland and Shropshire, are favoured by the government to be covered by unitary authorities in one form or another (the county can either become a single unitary authority, or be broken into a number of unitary authorities). Existing unitary authority areas within these counties' ceremonial boundaries (such as Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire) will not be affected and there will be no boundary changes.
Shropshire County Council, supported by South Shropshire District Council and Oswestry Borough Council, have proposed to the government that the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire become a single unitary authority (i.e. the district/borough councils would be abolished). The process would be similar to that of the Isle of Wight in the early 1990s, when its districts were abolished, leaving a unitary county authority. The ceremonial county of Shropshire would therefore consist of two unitary authorities - Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire. However, there has been opposition to the proposals, from Shrewsbury and Atcham, North Shropshire and Bridgnorth, who criticize the loss of local power. The proponents, however, feel that the move will save funds and allow the area to gain more national prominence. [1]
Part of the proposals include parishing and establishing a town council for the currently unparished area of Shrewsbury. This would create one of the largest civil parishes in England, with a population of over 70,000.

History

Main articles: History of Shropshire



The political area now considered Shropshire was annexed to Mercia by King Offa in the eighth century, at which time he built two significant dykes there to defend his territory against the Welsh or at least demarcate it. In subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, major estates in Shropshire were granted to Normans, including Roger de Montgomerie, who ordered significant constructions, particularly in Shrewsbury, the town of which he was Earl. Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow and Shrewsbury castles. Also in this period, a number of religious foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the diocese of Hereford and that of Coventry and Lichfield. (Some areas in later times fell under the diocese of St. Asaph until it ceased to exist in 1920).
The county was a central part of the Welsh Marches during the medieval period and was often embroiled in the power struggles between powerful Marcher Lords, the Earls of March and successive monarchs.
The county also contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Oswestry. Additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond in Shropshire is the location of the lowest recorded temperature (in terms of weather) in England and Wales.
The modern county boundaries are the same as the historic ones, except for the removal of several exclaves and enclaves, and other minor alterations along the border with Herefordshire and Worcestershire.^[2] The largest of the exclaves was Halesowen, which became part of Worcestershire in 1844, and the largest of the enclaves was Herefordshire's Farlow in South Shropshire, transferred to Shropshire in 1844 too.^[3]

Geography

Geographically, Shropshire is divisible into two distinct halves - North and South. The county has a highly diverse geology.

North Shropshire

Politically, North Shropshire is composed of Oswestry district, North Shropshire district, Shrewsbury and Atcham borough and the borough of Telford and Wrekin.
The North Shropshire Plain is an extension of the flat and fertile Cheshire Plain. It is here that most of the county's large towns, and population in general, are to be found. Shrewsbury at the centre, Oswestry to the north west, Whitchurch to the north, Market Drayton to the north east and Newport and the Telford conurbation (Telford, Wellington, Oakengates, Donnington and Shifnal) to the east. The land is fertile and agriculture remains a major feature of the landscape and the economy. The River Severn runs through the lower half of this area (from Wales in the west, eastwards), through Shrewsbury and down the Ironbridge Gorge, before heading south to Bridgnorth.
The area around Oswestry has more rugged geography than the North Shropshire Plain and the western half is over an extension of the Wrexham Coalfield and there are also copper deposits on the border with Wales. Mining of stone and sand aggregates is still going on in North Shropshire, notably on Haughmond Hill, near Bayston Hill and around the village of Condover. Lead mining also took place at Snailbeach and the Stiperstones, but this has now ceased. Other primary industries, such as forestry and fishing, are to be found too.
The A5 and M54 run from Wolverhampton (to the east of the county) across to Telford, around Shrewsbury parallel to the line of Watling Street an ancient trackway. The A5 then turns north west to Oswestry, before heading north into Wales in the Wrexham area. This is an important artery and the corridor is where most of Shropshire's modern commerce and industry is found, notably in Telford new town. There are also a number of railway lines crossing over the area, which centre at Shrewsbury. To the south west of Telford, near the Ironbridge Gorge, is Ironbridge Power Station.

The new town of Telford is built partly on a former industrial area centred on the East Shropshire Coalfield as well as on former agricultural land. There are still many ex-colliery sites to be found in the area, as well as disused mine shafts. This industrial heritage is an important tourist attraction, as is seen by the growth of museums in the Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and Jackfield area. Blists Hill museum and historical (Victorian era) village is a major tourist attraction as well as the Iron Bridge itself. In addition, Telford Steam Railway runs from Horsehay.

South Shropshire

:''For information specifically on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, see 'Shropshire Hills AONB'''.
Politically, the area is composed of South Shropshire district and Bridgnorth district.

South Shropshire is more rural, with fewer settlements and no large towns, and its landscape differs greatly than that of North Shropshire. The area is dominated by significant hill ranges and river valleys, woods, pine forests and 'batches', a colloquial term for small valleys and other natural features. Farming is more pastoral than the arable found in the north of the county. The only substantial towns are Ludlow, with a population of around 10,000 people, Bridgnorth and Church Stretton. The Shropshire Hills AONB is located in the south-west, covering an area of 804 km²; it forms the only specifically protected area of the county. Inside this area is the popular Long Mynd, a large plateau of 536m Stiperstones and 516 metres high to the East of the Long Mynd, overlooking Church Stretton.
The A49 is the main road through the area, running north to south, from Shrewsbury to Herefordshire. A railway line runs through the area on the same route as the A49 with stations at Church Stretton, Craven Arms and Ludlow. The (heritage) Severn Valley Railway runs from Bridgnorth into Worcestershire.
Church Stretton is known as ''Little Switzerland'' due to its valley location and character. Nearby are the old mining and quarrying communities on the Clee Hills, notable geological features in the Onny Valley and Wenlock Edge and fertile farmland in the Corve Dale. The River Teme drains this part of the county, before flowing into Worcestershire to the South and joining the River Severn.
One of the Clee Hills, the Brown Clee Hill, is the county's highest peak at 546 m.
South West Shropshire, or simply "Clun", is a little known and remote part of the county, with Clun Forest, Offa's Dyke and the River Clun. The small towns of Clun and Bishop's Castle are in this area. The countryside here is very rural and is in parts wild and forested. To the south of Clun is the Welsh town of Knighton.

Transport

Shropshire is connected to the rest of the United Kingdom via a number of road and rail links. Historically, rivers in the county and the Shropshire Union Canal were used for transport also, although their use in transport is now significantly reduced. The county's main transportation hub is Shrewsbury, through which many significant roads and railways pass and join.
Major roads in the county include the M54 motorway, sometimes referred to as the "Telford Motorway", which connects Telford to the rest of the motorway network, and more specifically to the West Midlands county. The A5 also runs through the county, in an east-west direction. The road formerly ran through Shrewsbury, although a large dual-carriageway bypass has since been built. Other major trunk roads in the county include the north-south A49, the A53 and the A41.
There are a number of major railway lines running through the county, including the Welsh Marches Line, the Cambrian Line, the Heart of Wales Line and the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line. The two train operating companies working in the county are Central Trains and Arriva Trains Wales, but a new company, the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway, may soon begin operating.
Shropshire is also the home of two major water supply aqueducts, the Elan Aqueduct running through South Shropshire carrying water from Elan Valley to Birmingham and the Vyrnwy Aqueduct running through North Shropshire delivering water from Lake Vyrnwy to Liverpool.

Towns and villages

Shropshire has no cities, but 22 towns, of which 2 can be considered major. Telford is the largest town in the county with a population of 138,241; whereas the county town of Shrewsbury has a lower, but still sizeable population of 70,560. Other substantial settlements include Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow. The majority of settlements can be classed as villages. Towns and villages are primarily concentrated in a central belt that roughly follows the A5/M54 roadway. Other settlements are concentrated on rivers, i.e. Ironbridge on the Severn, as these waterways were historically vital to trade.

Economy

The economy of Shropshire was traditionally dominated by agriculture. However, in more recent years it has become more service orientated. The county town of Shrewsbury, the historic castle-dominated Ludlow and the industrial birthplace of Ironbridge Gorge are the foremost tourist areas in Shropshire, along with the reclaimed canal network which provides canal barge holidays on the Shropshire Union Canal and linked canal networks in the region, although the natural beauty of the county draws people to all areas.
Industry is mostly found in Telford, Oswestry, Whitchurch, Market Drayton and Shrewsbury, though small industrial estates can be found in other, rural towns such as Church Stretton and Newport. Shrewsbury is becoming a centre for distribution and warehousing, as it is located on a nodal point of the regional road network. In Telford, a new rail freight facility is being built at Donnington.
Telford and Shrewsbury are the county's two main retail centres, with contrasting styles of shopping - Shrewsbury's historic streets and Telford's modern mall, Telford Shopping Centre. Shrewsbury's situation of being the nearest substantial town for those in a large area of mid-Wales helps it draw in considerable numbers of shoppers, notably on Saturday.
Well-known companies in Shropshire include Müller Dairy (UK) Ltd in Market Drayton. The RAF have two bases at RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury, and the charity PDSA has its head office in Priorslee, in Telford.

Statistics

Below is the chart of regional gross value added for the non-metropolitan county (without Telford & Wrekin) of Shropshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by 'Office for National Statistics' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
With the statistics for the borough of Telford and Wrekin added, the total for the Shire (non-metropolitan) county is:

Education

Shropshire has a completely comprehensive education system, with thirteen independent schools, including the prestigious Shrewsbury School, which the famed Charles Darwin attended. In the ceremonial county, the Telford and Wrekin borough has two selective schools and two independent schools.

Secondary education

The average number of pupils achieving five good GCSEs at grades A-C in England including Maths and English is 45.8%. For Shropshire it is 50.3, which is very good and the highest in the whole of the West Midlands for traditional counties (although excluding low-performing Telford will artificially boost Shropshire's average significantly). Every district is above the England average. Around 3500 school pupils take GCSEs each year in Shropshire, with the Oswestry district only having two schools and the Shrewsbury and Atcham district having the largest school population. Year sizes are mostly under two hundred; some counties have typical year sizes between 2-300. The best school at GCSE is The Corbet School in Baschurch, followed by the Church Stretton School and Priory School in Shrewsbury. Bottom place is shared by two schools in Shrewsbury - the Sundorne School and Sports College and the Wakeman School, however, it should be noted that these results can be skewed as there is no method to distinguish which schools use the GNVQ system (1 GNVQ = 4 GCSEs) and which do not. As such, The Wakeman, which uses no GNVQs, may appear worse than it actually is results-wise.
Below are the GCSE results as percentages, for each district/borough of the county:

★ South Shropshire 55.4

★ Oswestry 51.7

★ Bridgnorth 51.1

★ North Shropshire 50.9

★ Shrewsbury and Atcham 47.1

★ Telford and Wrekin (UA) 39.6

Further education

At A level, results are above the England average, although only two schools perform well. The best is Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, getting results only slightly lower than Shrewsbury School, followed by Bridgnorth Endowed School. Sixth form colleges often do very well - much better than traditional schools. Telford and Wrekin, although producing some lower than average GCSE results in general, has three superlative schools - two selective (Adams' Grammar School and Newport Girls' High School) and a City Technology College (Thomas Telford School) that produce results much better than any state or independent school in Shropshire (except the Concord College in Shrewsbury). Overall, Telford has slightly lower results than Shropshire at A level, although Telford New College performs at the England average.

Places of interest

★ Attingham Park, Atcham

★ Blists Hill, Madeley

★ Bishops Castle

★ Boscobel House, nr. Wolverhampton

★ Brown Clee Hill, South Shropshire

★ Burford House, Burford

★ Caer Caradoc, nr. Church Stretton

★ Cardingmill Valley, Church Stretton

★ Clun Castle, Clun

★ Flounder's Folly, nr. Craven Arms

★ Haughmond Hill, nr. Shrewsbury

★
★ Haughmond Abbey

★ Hawkstone Park, North Shropshire

★ Hopton Castle, nr. Craven Arms

★ The Ironbridge, Ironbridge

★ Kynaston's Cave, nr. Nesscliffe

★ Langley Chapel, nr. Shrewsbury

★ The Long Mynd, Church Stretton

★ Ludlow Castle, Ludlow

★ Mitchell's Fold, Chirbury

★ Moreton Corbet Castle, Moreton Corbet

★ Offa's Dyke Path, Welsh Marches

★ Shrewsbury Abbey, Shrewsbury

★ Shrewsbury Castle, Shrewsbury

★ Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), South Shropshire

★ Shropshire Union Canal

★ Snailbeach nr. Shrewsbury

★ St Laurence Church, Ludlow

★ The Stiperstones, nr Pontesbury

★ Stokesay Castle, nr Craven Arms

★ Telford Steam Railway, Telford

★ Titterstone Clee Hill, nr. Ludlow

★ Wenlock Edge, Much Wenlock

★
★ Wenlock Priory

★ Whittington Castle, nr. Oswestry

★ The Wrekin (and Ercall) nr. Wellington

★ Wroxeter, nr. Atcham

Famous people

★ Robert Clive "Clive of India"

★ Lords and Ladies Craven (of Stokesay Castle)

★ Abraham Darby early industrialist

★ Charles Darwin emminent naturalist

★ K.K. Downing, guitarist with Judas Priest

★ William Farr epidemiologist and early bio-statistician

★ Chris Hawkins (of Loppington), radio presenter, DJ, and celebrity

★ George Jeffreys of Wem, (infamous judge)

★ Adrian Jones, sculptor of the Quadriga at Hyde Park Corner

★ Stephen Marchant, ornithologist

★ Len Murray, (former head of the T.U.C)

★ Mirabel Osler, author

★ Wilfred Owen leading First World War poet

★ Edith Pargeter (1913-1995), author

★ Edmund Plowden (1518-1585)—legal scholar and theorist

★ Sir Edmund Plowden (1590-1659)—Proprietor, Earl Palatine and Governor of New Albion

★ Barbara Pym novellist

★ Morris Telford Author of "A Salopian Odyssey", philosopher, traveller and bingo enthusiast.

★ T'Pau, 1980's pop group

★ Sir Philip Sidney prominent Elizabethan

★ Mary Webb (1881-1927), author

★ Matthew Webb, (first man to swim the English Channel)

★ Billy Wright, Captain of Wolves and England

★ Humphrey Kynaston (1474-1534) - highwayman

★ John Mytton 'Mad Jack' Mytton, Regency rake, MP, gambler and horseman.

Politics

Shropshire has five constituencies, four of which returned Conservative MPs at the 2005 general election and one, Telford, returned a Labour MP. This is a marked change from the 2001 general election result, where the county returned only one Conservative, three Labour and a Liberal Democrat to the Commons (see maps to the right).
The current MPs of Shropshire are:

★ David Wright, Labour, Telford (covering the town of Telford)

★ Owen Paterson, Conservative, North Shropshire (covering the North Shropshire district and Oswestry borough)

★ Philip Dunne, Conservative, Ludlow (covering the South Shropshire and (the majority of) Bridgnorth districts)

★ Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham (covering the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham)

★ Mark Pritchard, Conservative, The Wrekin (covering Telford and Wrekin borough, minus Telford, and including a small area of Bridgnorth district)
In 2005 there was also a County Council election in which the Conservatives gained overall control of the shire county. Telford and Wrekin Unitary Authority remains under Labour control. Being a rural county, there are a number of independent councillors on the various councils in the county.
The Conservatives gained complete control of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council in the May 2006 local elections.

Cultural references

★ Many of Malcolm Saville's children's books are set in Shropshire.

★ A character from the "Bugs Bunny Show" episode "Prison to Prison" is named "Shropshire Slasher."

★ The 1985 television programme ''Blott on the Landscape'' was filmed mainly in South Shropshire, notably in Ludlow. The recently begun 2005 sit-com ''The Green Green Grass'' is set in Shropshire and is filmed near Bridgnorth.

★ The 1984 film version of Charles Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol' was filmed in Shrewsbury. Scenes from the film are still displayed inside Goldsmith's the jewellers in the Square.

★ Shrewsbury based football photographer Matthew Ashton published a book in 2007 about Gay Meadow, the old home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club.

★ Shropshire was also used as a setting for ITV1 soap Coronation Street

★ Shropshire was also used as a setting for the BBC's Fast Show for a Ted and Ralph special

★ P.G. Wodehouse's fictional Blandings Castle, the ancestral home of Clarence, the ninth Earl of Emsworth, is located in Shropshire.

★ In The Importance of Being Earnest Jack pretends to live in rural Shropshire, to mask his double life.

★ Poet A.E. Housman used Shropshire as the setting for many of the poems in his first book, A Shropshire Lad.

★ Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote 'On Wenlock Edge' in 1907.

Sport

There are a number of significant sporting clubs and facilities in Shropshire, many of which are found in Shrewsbury, in addition to a number of clubs found locally throughout the county. Below are some of the more major sporting entities of the county:

★ Shrewsbury Town Football Club

★ AFC Telford United Football Club

★ Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit International Motocross Circuit

★ Telford Tigers Ice Hockey Club

★ Telford Raiders Rugby League Club

★ Shropshire Revolution American Football Team

See also

★ 53rd Regiment of Foot

★ Etymological list of counties

★ Geology of Shropshire

★ List of civil parishes in Shropshire

★ Railways of Shropshire

★ Shropshire Family History Society

★ Shropshire Star

★ Shropshire Archives

References

1. Vision of Britain - Divisions of Shropshire
2. Vision of Britain - Modern county boundaries
3. Vision of Britain - Ancient county boundaries
4. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
5. includes hunting and forestry
6. includes energy and construction
7. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
8. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
9. includes hunting and forestry
10. includes energy and construction
11. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

External links

★ Shropshire Tourism- The official tourism website for Shropshire.

★ 1911 Encyclopedia - Shropshire article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

★ Goodbye Gay Meadow - Book about Shrewsbury Town's old historic ground, Gay Meadow