53-405: Cleeton St Mary (or Cleeton ) is a small village in south Shropshire , England. It lies on the northeast slope of Titterstone Clee Hill , at an elevation of 316 metres (1,037 ft) above sea level. Cleeton forms part of the civil parish of Bitterley , even though the parish largely exists on the other side of Titterstone Clee, and Cleeton is effectively detached (by road). Cleeton St Mary
106-483: A frontier post for a cohort of Thracian Auxilia who were taking part in the campaigns of the governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula . The site is strategically located near the end of Watling Street , the primary Roman trunk road that ran across Britannia from Dubris ( Dover ). The post was a key frontier position because it defended the River Severn valley as it come out of Cambria ( Wales ) as well as protecting
159-661: A plague in Viroconium around this time. The site was probably abandoned peacefully in the second half of the seventh century or the beginning of the eighth. The later minor Wreocensæte sub-kingdom of the Angles emerged in the area when Oswiu conquered Pengwern in 656. Eventually the court of the Kingdom of Powys moved to Mathrafal sometime before 717 following famine and plague in its original location. Although archaeologist Philip A. Barker believed stonework from Viroconium Cornoviorum
212-774: A possible inspiration for the Robin Hood legend. Parts of Shropshire are inside the ancient Forest of Arden , which was the part if the English Midlands , that in antiquity and into the Early Modern Period was bounded by the Roman roads including to the North by the Watling Street and to the west by Wales. This forest was the Setting of Shakespeare's As You Like It , and that play
265-648: A wide, flat valley before exiting into Worcestershire south of Bridgnorth. The village of Edgmond , near Newport , is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England and Wales. There is evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age human occupation in Shropshire, including the Shropshire bulla pendant. The hillfort at Old Oswestry dates from the Iron Age , and the remains of the city of Viroconium Cornoviorum date from
318-441: Is Psmith , a fictional character in a series of Wodehouse's novels. In Oscar Wilde 's The Importance of Being Earnest , Algernon attempts to trick Jack into revealing the location of his country home by inferring he resides in Shropshire. The 1856 plantation literature novel White Acre vs. Black Acre by William M. Burwell features two Shropshire farms acting as an allegory for American slavery – "White Acre Farm" being
371-500: Is a Bronze Age stone circle set in dramatic moorland on Stapeley Hill . The area was once part of the lands of the Cornovii , which consisted of the modern day counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire, and eastern parts of Powys. This was a tribal Celtic Iron Age kingdom. Their capital in pre- Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin . There
424-541: Is a legend that one of the caves of Hawkstone Park was the burial ground of King Arthur , and the Arthurian story of the giants Tarquin and Tarquinus is located, or Whittington Castle and linked to the Holy Grail since the 13th century. Old Oswestry has been identified as a possible home of Guinevere. Ludlow Castle site features heavily in the folk-story of Fulk FitzWarin , outlawed Lord of Whittington, Shropshire and
477-400: Is a parish ward . Large areas of common land remain around the village; the countryside here is largely pasture (for grazing of sheep and horses), woodland and moorland . The church of Saint Mary ( Church of England ) is situated here but is relatively new, being built in the second half of the 19th century (along with the schoolhouse). It is grade II listed . Cleeton is mentioned in
530-683: Is acknowledged to potentially be a cultural monument to Sir Rowland Hill , a prominent Tudor statesman and publisher of the Geneva Bible from the county. Shropshire was the original seat of prominence of the Cotton family who held the Cotton Library before it was taken to found the British Library. Shrewsbury Abbey features in The Cadfael Chronicles ; Brother Cadfael is a member of
583-534: Is also referred to in the same play (Act II, scene ii). There is a tradition that the Stanley monuments in St Bartholomew's Church, Tong are the work of Shakespeare. William Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, although his birthplace has been said to be Trench Farm to the north near Wem later the birthplace of another writer, John Ireland , who was said to have been adopted by Wycherley's widow following
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#1733093132293636-591: Is an important Iron Age Hill fort at Old Oswestry earthworks, this has been linked to where King Arthur’s Guinevere was born and called "the Stonehenge of the Iron Age." According to tradition, Caracticus made his last stand against the Romans in Shropshire. Ptolemy 's 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter ), which became their capital under Roman rule and one of
689-474: Is believed the area of Shrewsbury was settled in the 5th century by refugees from the nearby Roman City of Viroconium Cornoviorum , most physical evidence dates from the 7th century. Oswestry saw conflict in the early mediaeval period and is reputed to be the place of death of Oswald of Northumbria in 641 or 642 CE. Oswald was later regarded as a saint, with Bede saying that the spot where he died came to be associated with miracles , and people took dirt from
742-478: Is estimated to have been one of the richest and the fourth largest Roman settlement in Britain with a population of more than 15,000. Its wealth is surprising for what remained a frontier town and is perhaps explained by its access to Wales and to other trade routes. Between 165 and 185 the forum burned down, including neighbouring shops and houses, and many shop contents were subsequently found in excavations. The forum
795-502: Is not known, but it may have been a bishop. Some of the buildings were renewed three times, and the community probably lasted about 75 years until, for some reason, many of the buildings were dismantled. There is a tradition that Shrewsbury was "founded in the 5th century, on occasion of the decay of the Roman Uriconium." The historian, John Wacher, suggests that Shrewsbury may have been refortified by refugees fleeing an outbreak of
848-582: The Historia Brittonum ' s list of the 28 civitates of Britain, Viroconium became the site of the court of a sub-Roman kingdom known in Old English as the Wrocensaete , which was the successor territorial unit to Cornovia. Wrocensaete means the ‘inhabitants of Wroxeter’. The Wroxeter Stone or Cunorix Stone, was found in 1967, with an inscription in an Insular Celtic language , identified by
901-564: The Cadfael novel The Virgin in the Ice which is set in 1139. This Shropshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shropshire Shropshire ( / ˈ ʃ r ɒ p ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪər / ; historically Salop and abbreviated Shrops ) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the border with Wales . It is bordered by Cheshire to
954-631: The Norman conquest in 1066, major estates in Shropshire were granted to Normans, including Roger de Montgomerie and later his son Robert de Bellême , 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 the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle and Shrewsbury Castle . The western frontier with Wales
1007-544: The Picts in Scotland. With the departure of Legio XIV Gemina, Legio XX Valeria Victrix took over the fortress. By the late 80s the fort had ceased to be used by the Roman army after Legio XX Valeria Victrix moved to Deva Victrix . In this period the canabae , or civilian settlement, that had grown up around the legionary fort began turning it into a town. Archaeological research has found that an unfinished legionary bath house in
1060-859: The Roman period. During the Anglo-Saxon era the area was part of Mercia . During the High Middle Ages the county was part of the Welsh Marches , the border region between Wales and England; from 1472 to 1689 Ludlow was the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches , which administered justice in Wales and Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. During the English Civil War Shropshire
1113-525: The abolitionist Northern United States, and "Black Acre Farm" being the slaveholding Southern United States. The angel Aziraphale , a principal character in Good Omens , was credited with designing Shropshire by Terry Pratchett . In the novel Howards End , Mr. Wilcox's daughter gets married in Shropshire. Part of the novel is set near Clun . Shropshire was the native county and rural seat of power of Sir Rowland Hill , who coordinated and published
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#17330931322931166-638: The 1560 Geneva Bible . This important Bible was the senior Bible of English Protestantism for the early decades of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement . Prior to the Reformation , there are accounts of major festivals in the county. The "first flowerings of English drama" in the Tudor period are considered to be in the town, according to the 18th century Poet laureate and scholar Thomas Warton . Whitsuntide and mystery plays were performed in
1219-480: The 8th. Extensive remains can still be seen. Viroconium is a Latinised form of a toponym that was reconstructed as Common Brittonic *Uiroconion ("[city] of *Uirokū ". *Uirokū ( lit. "man-wolf") is believed to have been a masculine given name meaning " werewolf ". The original capital of the local British tribe of the Cornovii was the impressive hillfort on the Wrekin known as *Uiroconion. When
1272-601: The Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) at UCL as "partly-Latinized Primitive Irish". The inscription, probably on a re-used gravestone, is dated to 460-475 AD, when Irish raiders had begun to make permanent settlements in South Wales and south-western Britain. Town life in Viroconium continued in the fifth century, but many of the buildings fell into disrepair. Between 530 and 570, when most Roman urban sites and villas in Britain were being abandoned, there
1325-479: The Cornovii were eventually subdued by the Romans, their capital was moved to Wroxeter and given its Roman name. Hence the term "Cornoviorum" distinguishes the site as the Viroconium "of the Cornovii ", the Celtic tribe whose settlement became civitas . The city is mentioned by Roman historians Ptolemy , Suetonius , and others. Wroxeter was first established in the early years of the Roman conquest of Britain as
1378-468: The English fantasy writer. In Susanna Clarke 's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), Jonathan Strange is from the county, and some parts of the book are set there. Another fictional character from Shropshire is Mr Grindley, from Charles Dickens ' Bleak House . P. G. Wodehouse 's fictional Blandings Castle , the ancestral home of Lord Emsworth , is located in Shropshire. Also from Shropshire
1431-588: The High Medieval period the Shropshire area influenced important poetry: the poet William Langland , writer of Piers Plowman , was born in Cleobury Mortimer , and the 14th-century alliterative poem St Erkenwald is written in a local dialect. The only copy of the ancient poem 'Life and Death' was also found in Shropshire. In this period the county was also associated in divers places and ways with Arthurian legends, for instance at Hawkstone, where there
1484-571: The Lichfield diocese. 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. From 1457, King Henry VI created for his son, Prince Edward , a Council to rule Wales and the Marches, Cheshire , and Cornwall , which became the Council of the Marches. Shropshire
1537-589: The centre of the town eventually became the town's forum . A decade later a civic street grid was subsuming the plan of the old legionary fort. The colonnaded forum was started in the 120s covering the unfinished bath house, and with the impressive dedicatory inscription to Hadrian found in excavations dating the completion to 130. By then the town had expanded especially under Emperor Hadrian to cover an area of more than 173 acres (70 ha). It then had many public buildings, including thermae . Simpler temples and shops have also been excavated. At its peak, Viroconium
1590-505: The community at the Abbey. The poet A. E. Housman used Shropshire as the setting for many of the poems in his first book, A Shropshire Lad . Moreover, many of Malcolm Saville 's children's books are set in Shropshire. Additionally, D. H. Lawrence 's novella, St. Mawr , is partially set in the Stiperstones area of South Shropshire . The early 20th century novelist and poet Mary Webb
1643-489: The death of Ireland's parents. The playwright George Farquhar 's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer is set in Shrewsbury. The "father of English ballet", as well as the originator of pantomime, John Weaver , developed his art in Shrewsbury. A second generation dancing master in the town, he founded English ballet, founded pantomime, and wrote on the philosophy, theology, statecraft and biology embedded in his era's understating of dance. Later in life he came to publish on
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1696-450: The early tenth century, the relics of St Alkmund were translated to Whitchurch, this was also probably the work of Æthelflæd. There is evidence to show that by the beginning of the 900s, Shrewsbury was home to a mint . Archaeological excavations at the site of Shrewsbury castle in 2019 have indicated that the castle itself may have been a fortified site in the time of the Saxons. After
1749-402: The east of the county, and Shrewsbury (76,782), in the centre, are the only large towns. Shropshire is otherwise rural, containing market towns such as Oswestry (15,613), Bridgnorth (12,212) and Newport (11,387). For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas: Shropshire , and Telford and Wrekin . Shropshire is generally flat in the north and hilly in
1802-690: The founding years of Shrewsbury School under Thomas Ashton ; they attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth I . Later this was expressed in the many arbours built in Shrewsbury for that town's particular tradition of pageantry and performance. Shakespeare memorialised the Battle of Shrewsbury in Henry IV, Part 1 , in Acts IV (Scenes and 3) and V (Scenes 1-5). The arrest of Buckingham referred to in Richard III ( Act IV, scene iv) happened near Wem. Ludlow castle
1855-517: The grounds of a church, the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton , Shrewsbury, making it Britain's oldest place of worship. The Shropshire bulla ("bulla" is Medieval Latin for "a round seal", Classical Latin for "bubble, blob", plural bullae), also known as the Shropshire sun pendant, is a Late Bronze Age gold pendant found by a metal detectorist in 2018 in Shropshire. At Mitchel's Fold there
1908-658: The largest settlements in Britain. After the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys ; known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys . As 'Caer Guricon' it is a possible Shrewsbury was the site of the seat of the Kingdom of Powys in the Early Middle Ages. This would date establishment of the town to the 500s CE under Brochwel Ysgithrog . It
1961-583: The name "Wroxeter Roman City". Some of the more important finds are housed in the Music Hall Museum in Shrewsbury . Most of the town still remains buried, but it has largely been mapped through geophysical survey and aerial archaeology . Archaeological research of the site is ongoing with further buildings being excavated. In February 2011 a reconstructed Roman villa was opened to the public to give visitors an insight into Roman building techniques and how
2014-400: The north, the Welsh county of Wrexham to the north and northwest, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the southeast, Herefordshire to the south, and the Welsh county of Powys to the west. The largest settlement is Telford , while Shrewsbury is the county town . The county has an area of 3,487 km (1,346 square miles) and a population of 498,073. Telford (155,570), in
2067-616: The route to the south that lead to the Wye valley . In the mid 1st century Caesar's Legio XIV Gemina took over the site from the Thracian Auxilia in preparation for the invasion of Wales and replaced the fort with a much larger legionary fortress. In 78 governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola led campaigns to suppress the tribes in North Wales and the druids on Ynys Môn . In 80 Agricola took Legio XIV Gemina north on his punitive expeditions against
2120-421: The site, which led to a hole being dug as deep as a man's height. King Offa of Mercia annexed the entirety of Shropshire over the course of the 8th century from Powys, with Shrewsbury captured in 778, with two dykes built to defend, or at least demarcate it from the Welsh. King Offa converted the palace of the rulers of Powys into his first church, dedicated to St Chad (a foundation that still survives in
2173-547: The south. The Shropshire Hills AONB covers about a quarter of the county, including the Wrekin , Clee Hills , Stiperstones , the Long Mynd , and Wenlock Edge . Part of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve , which extends into Wales, occupies the low-lying north west of the county. The county's major river is the Severn , which enters from the west and forms
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2226-457: The subject of dance, which he located in a wider understanding of his culture as representing a component of Ptolemaic harmony and an earnest part of the statecraft of his time. The first known architectural project of Inigo Jones is the Cotton monument in the Church of St Chad, Norton-in-Hales . There are a number of important buildings in the county. The world's first iron-framed building
2279-518: The town and operated on that initial site for over 1000 years, moving in 1792). In later centuries, Vikings repeatedly invaded and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth (912) and Chirbury (913). In 914, Æthelflæd , Lady of the Mercians, fortified Shrewsbury, along with two other fortresses, at Scergeat (a currently unknown location) and Weardbyrig , Viking rides from the north traveling south were reaching Bridgnorth at this time (910CE). In
2332-477: Was Royalist , and Charles II fled through the county—famously hiding in an oak tree —after his final defeat at the Battle of Worcester . The area around Coalbrookdale is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in
2385-457: Was a Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter , a small village in Shropshire , England, about 5 miles (8 km) east-south-east of Shrewsbury . At its peak, Viroconium is estimated to have been the 4th-largest Roman settlement in Britain , a civitas with a population of more than 15,000. The settlement probably lasted until the end of the 7th century or the beginning of
2438-472: Was a Royalist stronghold, under the command of Sir Francis Ottley . In the autumn of 1642, Charles I had a temporary capital at Shrewsbury, though he immediately moved to Oxford after the events of the Battle of Wem . Prince Rupert established his headquarters in the town on 18 February 1644, being welcomed by Shrewsbury's aldermen. Much Wenlock was the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement. In
2491-437: Was a substantial rebuilding programme. The old basilica was carefully demolished and replaced with new timber-framed buildings on rubble platforms. These probably included a very large two-storey building and a number of storage buildings and houses. In all, 33 new buildings were "carefully planned and executed" and "skillfully constructed to Roman measurements using a trained labour force". Who instigated this rebuilding programme
2544-664: Was born in Shropshire and lived most of her life there, and all her novels are set there, most notably Precious Bane , with its powerful evocation of the Shropshire countryside. A school in Pontesbury bears her name. Shropshire is widely believed to have been an influence for J. R. R. Tolkien 's landscape of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings . Specifically, the Wrekin (as The Lonely Mountain) and Ellesmere (as Laketown) are said to have inspired
2597-630: Was built in Shrewsbury at the Flaxmill Maltings : the techniques pioneered in that building were necessary preconditions for skyscrapers . Nash and Repton were active at Attingham Park . A rare Anglo-Saxon hall, which was a high status building from the Anglo Saxon period, and possibly a feasting hall or palace, was excavated at nearby Attingham in 2018; the dating window is between 400 AD and 1066. Viroconium Cornoviorum Viroconium or Uriconium , formally Viroconium Cornoviorum ,
2650-536: Was governed via this council for several centuries. According to historian John Davies , at its peak under Sir Henry Sidney and for a period thereafter the Council: represented a remarkable experiment in regional government. It administered the law cheaply and rapidly; it dealt with up to twenty cases a day and George Owen stated that the 'oppressed poor' flocked to it. During the English Civil War , Shropshire
2703-511: Was not finally determined until the 14th century. 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 parishes in the north-west of the county in later times fell under the Diocese of St. Asaph until the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, when they were ceded to
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#17330931322932756-430: Was rebuilt with several modifications. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain around 410, the Cornovii tribe divided into Pengwern ( Shropshire ) and Powys . This socio-political division started Viroconium's decline as an important settlement. Although Viroconium served as the early sub-Roman capital of Powys, variously identified with the ancient Welsh cities of Cair Urnarc or Cair Guricon which appeared in
2809-412: Was used to build the nearby parish churches of Atcham , Wroxeter , and Upton Magna , some substantial remains are still standing. These include "the Old Work" (an archway, part of the baths' frigidarium and the largest free-standing Roman ruin in England) and the remains of a baths complex. These are on display to the public and, along with a small museum, are looked after by English Heritage under
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