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51-556: The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire , England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted. It opened in 1788, and parts of it were taken over by the Shrewsbury Canal Company in 1792, who built an inclined plane at Trench. It lowered tub boats 75 feet (23 m), and remained in operation until 1921, becoming the last operational canal inclined plane in

102-667: A booster . In the 1970s, Irish Industrial Explosives Limited produced 6,000 tonnes annually of Frangex, a commercial gelignite intended for use in mines and quarries. It was produced at Ireland's largest explosives factory in Enfield, County Meath . The Gardaí and the Irish Army patrolled the area, preventing the IRA from gaining direct access. However, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) indirectly acquired amounts of

153-523: A detonator , so it can be stored safely. In the United Kingdom, an explosives certificate, issued by the local Chief Officer of Police, is required for possession of gelignite. Due to its widespread civilian use in quarries and mining , it has historically been used by rebel groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Volunteer Force who often used gelignite as

204-515: A canal from Wombridge to Shrewsbury. The company bought 1,848 yards (1.690 km) of the canal at a cost of £840. Although this price was considerably less than the cost of construction, Reynolds was both a shareholder and a director of the new company, and the act of Parliament specifically waived any tolls for his own internal traffic. It is also likely that he had exhausted the supplies at minerals at Wombridge by this time. The new company constructed an inclined plane , to transport tub boats from

255-405: A population of 498,073. Telford (155,570), in 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

306-774: 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

357-494: 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

408-576: Is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the border with Wales . It is bordered by Cheshire to 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

459-500: 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

510-541: 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

561-683: 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

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612-534: 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

663-591: 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

714-474: 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

765-572: Is generally flat in the north and hilly in 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

816-551: The Donnington Wood Canal . A curious feature of the canal was the tunnel which was constructed near to the church. There is no obvious reason for it, and it has been suggested that it was built to placate a local landowner. Another feature was an iron bridge, built in sections, which carried Teague's Bridge Lane over the canal. In 1792, an act of Parliament created the Shrewsbury Canal Company, with powers to build

867-604: The English Civil War Shropshire 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,

918-583: 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

969-525: 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

1020-638: 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

1071-561: The 1970s and the mill has since been converted into apartments. The third industrial enterprise was owned by James Foster, who built two furnaces at Wombridge in 1818. He added a third furnace sometime before 1843, when he closed the operation and moved it to Madeley Court . In 1854, John Bennett, working for the Wombridge Iron Company, reopened it, and added a forge. It continued in use until 1900, producing wire and wire rods. In 1919, new furnaces were built at Wombridge and most of

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1122-468: 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

1173-588: 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

1224-676: 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

1275-715: The Tara mines in County Tipperary , enabling the organisation to intensify its bombing campaign. The INLA carried out its deadliest attack in December 1982 with the bombing of the Droppin' Well disco in Ballykelly , County Londonderry , which catered to British military personnel, in which 11 soldiers on leave and six civilians were killed. A bomb, estimated to be 2.5 to 4.5 kg (5 to 10 lb) of Frangex explosive, small enough to fit into

1326-453: The canal to the Shrewsbury Canal Company, Reynolds' sons, William and Joseph, erected a glass house near to Church Road Bridge, just to the south of the current Wrockwardine Wood church building. They made a variety of objects from dark green glass, including door-stops, rolling pins, jugs and bottles for French wine manufacturers. They flourished for over 40 years, until the factory closed between 1835 and 1842. Less than 300 yards (270 m) to

1377-505: 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

1428-413: The country. The canal had been little used since 1919, and closed with the closure of the plane. Iron ore and coal were mined at Wombridge , near to the church. In order to transport it to the furnaces at Donnington Wood, William Reynolds started to build a tub-boat canal in 1787. It was completed in 1788, at a cost of £ 1,640 and was 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long, connecting with both the furnaces and

1479-489: 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

1530-450: 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

1581-615: The first six months of 1973 alone. PIRA volunteer, later informer, Sean O'Callaghan estimated that planting 11 kg (25 lb) of Frangex would kill everyone within an 18-metre (60 ft) radius. The Real IRA (RIRA) also acquired Frangex, and, in December 2000, eighty sticks were discovered on a farm in Kilmacow, County Kilkenny , near Waterford . In early 1982 the Irish National Liberation Army stole 450 kg (1,000 lb) of Frangex commercial explosives from

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1632-642: 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

1683-497: The incline on 31 August 1921. Most of the working traffic was in the downward direction of the incline, and was counterbalanced by empty tub-boats returning up to the top level. The inclined plane was the last operational canal plane in the country. A prominent feature near the top of the incline was the Wombridge Pumping Engine house. This was a Cornish type, with a tall chimney, and was erected in 1858, to pump water from

1734-708: 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

1785-583: The level of the Wombridge Canal, down to that of the Shrewsbury Canal. It was 243 feet (74 m) long, with a fall of 75 feet (23 m). It consisted of twin railway tracks, each with a cradle in which a single tub-boat was carried. Power was provided by an engine supplied by the Coalbrookdale Company. This was replaced in 1842 by a new engine that lasted for 79 years, until the final demise of

1836-573: The material. At the time of Patrick Magee 's arrest on 22 June 1985, 3.5 kilograms (8 lb) was found in his possession, while 300 kilograms (660 lb) was discovered in a hijacked road tanker in January 1976. Gelignite material stolen by the IRA from quarries, farms and construction sites in the Republic was among the 48,000 lb (22,000 kg) of explosives detonated in Northern Ireland in

1887-422: The mines. The main cylinder was 60 inches (150 cm) in diameter, with a 10-foot (3.0 m) stroke, and it lifted water from a depth of around 600 feet (180 m). The engine developed 250 hp (190 kW) and normally ran slowly, raising 3,338 imperial gallons (15.17 m) of water per minute, in three strokes. When running at maximum speed, it could achieve eleven strokes per minute. Prior to selling

1938-711: The remains of the city of Viroconium Cornoviorum date from 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

1989-590: The rest of the canal fell into decline from then onwards. The canal was abandoned in 1921 when the inclined plane was closed. In 1968, material from the embankment and docks of the inclined plane was used to fill in the basin, destroying what remained. The Wombridge engine house survived the demise of the inclined plane, but was destroyed on 27 December 1964, when 82 pounds (37 kg) of gelignite were used to demolish it. Download coordinates as: Shropshire Shropshire ( / ˈ ʃ r ɒ p ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪər / ; historically Salop and abbreviated Shrops )

2040-421: 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

2091-457: 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

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2142-518: 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

2193-500: The west and forms 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

2244-457: The west, John Bullock erected a corn mill by the side of the canal in 1818. It produced flour, and the company continued to be run by the Bullock family until the 1940s, after which it was run by new owners. The building was constructed of red brick, and powered by a steam engine. The original building had two storeys, but a new four-storey structure was added to the rear in 1891. The business closed in

2295-472: 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

2346-664: 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

2397-556: 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. Gelignite It

2448-543: Was discovered in 2017 in 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

2499-536: 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

2550-410: Was invented in 1875 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel , who also invented dynamite . It is more stable than dynamite, but can still suffer from "sweating" or leaching out nitroglycerine. Its composition makes it easily moldable and safe to handle without protection, as long as it is not near anything capable of detonating it. One of the cheapest explosives, it burns slowly and cannot explode without

2601-414: 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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