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Shropshire

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'''Shropshire''' (abbreviated '''''Salop''''' or '''''Shrops''''') is a Traditional counties of England traditional, ceremonial and administrative Counties of England county in the West Midlands (region) West Midlands region of England. The ceremonial county borders Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and the Preserved counties of Wales Welsh ceremonial counties of Powys and Clwyd. Shropshire is one of England's most rural counties. The county town is Shrewsbury, although the new town of Telford is the largest town. Also in this rural county is Coalbrookdale and Broseley - where the Industrial Revolution started, Ironbridge - where the world's first iron bridge was constructed and Ditherington - where the world's first iron framed building was built. (See the "cradle of industry" section below). An estimate of the population of the administrative county of Shropshire for 2006 is put at 288,846 - making the county the least populated shire county two-tier governed area in the United Kingdom. {| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|Shropshire |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:EnglandShropshire.png
''Shropshire (with Telford and Wrekin) in England'' |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|Status:||Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial & (smaller) Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Non-metropolitan county |- |Region:||West Midlands (region) West Midlands |- |Surface area Area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area||List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area Ranked 13th
1 E9 m² 3,487 square kilometre km²
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area Ranked 14th
3,197 km² |- |Admin HQ:||Shrewsbury |- |ISO 3166-2:GB ISO 3166-2:||GB-SHR |- |ONS coding system ONS code:||39 |- |Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics NUTS 3:||UKG22 |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. |List of ceremonial counties of England by population Ranked 42nd
449,000
129 / km²
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population Ranked 34th
288,000 |- |Ethnicity:||97.3% White
1.2% S.Asian |- !colspan=2 align=center|Image:Shropshire.gif May Salop Flourish
Badge of Shropshire County Council'' |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Shropshire County Council
http://www.shropshire.gov.uk |- |Executive:||Conservative Party (UK) Conservative |- |MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 MPs:||Mark Pritchard, Philip Dunne, Daniel Kawczynski, Owen Paterson, David Wright (politician) David Wright |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Districts |- |colspan=2|Image:Shropshire_Ceremonial_Numbered.png #North Shropshire #Oswestry (borough) Oswestry #Shrewsbury and Atcham #South Shropshire #Bridgnorth (district) Bridgnorth #Telford and Wrekin (Unitary) |}

History
''See also the article History of Shropshire''

Cradle of industry
Quite why this remote, rural county on the Welsh border became the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution is mystifying to many people. The reason, however, is mainly due to Shropshire's diverse geology. Shropshire is the "Geology of Shropshire geological capital" of the United Kingdom UK, as just about every rock type in Northern Europe is found within its borders, as are coal, lead, copper and iron ore deposits. In addition to this, the River Severn flows through the county and has been used for the transportation of goods and services for centuries.

Salop
The origin of the name "Shropshire" is the Old English "Scrobbesbyrigscīr" (literally ''Shrewsburyshire''). However, the Normans who ruled England after 1066 found both "Scrobbesbyrig" and "Scrobbesbyrigscir" difficult to pronounce so they softened them to "Salopesberia" and "Salopescira". '''Salop''' is the abbreviation of these. When a county council council for the county was set up in 1888, it was called "Salop County Council". The name was never popular, and the council renamed itself "Shropshire County Council" in 1980. However, the term "Salopian", derived from "Salop", is still used to mean "from Shropshire". The latin motto of "Floreat Salopia" (may Shropshire flourish) is also used for Shropshire on crests and emblems. Salop can also mean the county town, Shrewsbury, and in historical records Shropshire is described as "the county of Salop" and Shrewsbury as "the town of Salop".

Regional
Shropshire is part of the West Midlands (region) West Midlands region of England, though it is also described as being in the Welsh Marches. Both Shrewsbury and Ludlow have held the position of capital of the Welsh Marches, at a time when it was a political entity (with the Council of Wales and the Marches). Historically Shropshire was part of the Kingdom of Mercia and the name exists to this day in the police force which the county comes under - the West Mercia Constabulary.

The county today
The ceremonial counties of England ceremonial county of Shropshire is now split up into the Non-metropolitan county administrative county of Shropshire and the unitary authority of Telford and Wrekin. The administrative county is then split up into five districts - Shrewsbury and Atcham, Oswestry (borough) Oswestry, North Shropshire, South Shropshire and Bridgnorth (district) Bridgnorth. The county, including Telford and Wrekin, is then further sub-divided into Civil parish (England) parishes, except for the town of Shrewsbury which is unparished. Shrewsbury and Telford have no town councils. The area covered by the county has not changed substantially since the county's creation in the 11th Century. The modern day ceremonial county is the same as the traditional county, except for the removal of several exclaves and enclaves, and other minor alterations along the border with Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The largest of the exclaves was Halesowen, which became part of Worcestershire in 1844, and the largest of the enclaves was Herefordshire's Farlow, Shropshire Farlow in South Shropshire, transferred to Shropshire in 1844 too.

Geography
Geographically, Shropshire is divisible into two distinct halves - North and South.

North Shropshire
Politically - 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 the Telford conurbation (Telford, Wellington, Newport, 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 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. Other primary industries, such as forestry and fishing, are to be found too. The A5 road A5 and M54 motorway M54 run from Wolverhampton (to the east of the county) across to Telford, around Shrewsbury and then 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 Buildwas Power Station. The new town of Telford is built on a former industrial area centred on the East Shropshire Coalfield. There are still many colliery heaps 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.

South Shropshire
Politically - South Shropshire district and Bridgnorth district; Ludlow constituency. 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 hill ranges and valleys, forests and glens, and other natural features. Farming is more pastoral than the arable found in the north of the county. The only substantial towns are Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Church Stretton. The A49 road 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. Infrastructure is generally quite poor in the south of the county, but this is due mainly to the low population density. 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 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. One of the Clee Hills, the Brown Clee Hill, is the county's highest peak at 540m. 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, Wales Knighton.

Towns and villages
''See the list of places in Shropshire.'' Shropshire has no cities, but 22 towns (of which 5 can be considered to be major - Shrewsbury, Telford, Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow) and hundreds of villages. See also the :Category: Towns in Shropshire and :Category: Villages in Shropshire.

Economy
*The non-metropolitan county of Shropshire had a gross domestic product for 2005 at an estimated £3,840 million *Telford and Wrekin's gross domestic product for 2005 was estimated at £2,970 million

Places of interest
*Attingham Park, (Atcham) *Blists Hill, (preserved 19th century industrial/victorian age community) *Boscobel House, (on border with Staffordshire) *Brown Clee Hill, (highest peak in Shropshire) *Burford House *Caer Caradoc, (near Church Stretton) *Cardingmill Valley, (Church Stretton) *Flounder's Folly, near Craven Arms *Haughmond Hill, (forest park on the edge of Shrewsbury with the medieval Haughmond Abbey ruins) *Hawkstone Park, (large rural park and folly follies in north Shropshire) *Hopton Castle, (scene of a English Civil War Civil War massacre) *Ironbridge The Ironbridge, (the world's first iron bridge) *Langley Chapel *Long Mynd The Long Mynd, (means "long mountain", overlooks Church Stretton) *Ludlow Castle *Mitchell's Fold, (a bronze age stone circle) *Moreton Corbet Castle *Offa's Dyke Path, a long distance footpath *Shropshire Hills AONB *Shropshire Union Canal *Snailbeach, (a historic lead mining village) *The Stiperstones, (mountainous ridge near Pontesbury, including the "Devil's Chair") *Stokesay Castle *Titterstone Clee Hill, (hill near Ludlow, ex-coalmining and famed for the unusual accent of the locals) *Wenlock Edge, (a long wooded ridge and the geology geological capital of the UK) *Whittington Castle *Wroxeter, (a ruined Roman Britain Roman city and legionary fortress)

Famous people
* Robert Clive "Clive of India" * Earl of Craven Lords and Ladies Craven (of Stokesay Castle) * Abraham Darby * Charles Darwin * William Farr * 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 * Len Murray, (former head of the T.U.C) * Wilfred Owen * Edmund Plowden (1518-1585)—legal scholar and theorist * Sir Edmund Plowden (1590-1659)—Proprietor, Earl Palatine and Governor of New Albion * Barbara Pym
- Morris Telfod Author of "A Salopian Odyssey", philosopher, traveller and bingo enthusiast. * T'Pau (band) T'Pau, pop group * Sir Philip Sidney * Mary Webb (1881-1927), authoress * Matthew Webb, (first man to swim the English Channel) * Billy Wright (footballer) Billy Wright Also, British poet A.E. Housman used Shropshire as the setting for many of the poems in his first book, A Shropshire Lad.

Politics
Shropshire has List of Parliamentary constituencies in Shropshire 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 below). Image:Shropshirepolitics2001.png thumb|left|Election results 2001 Image:Shropshirepolitics2005.PNG thumb|centre|Election results 2005 *David Wright (politician) David Wright, Labour, Telford (UK Parliament constituency) Telford (covering the town of Telford) *Owen Paterson, Conservative, North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency) North Shropshire (covering the North Shropshire district and Oswestry (borough) Oswestry borough) *Philip Dunne (politician) Philip Dunne, Conservative, Ludlow (UK Parliament constituency) Ludlow (covering the South Shropshire and (the majority of) Bridgnorth (district) Bridgnorth districts) *Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham (UK Parliament constituency) Shrewsbury and Atcham (covering the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham) *Mark Pritchard, Conservative, The Wrekin (UK Parliament constituency) 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 and the Conservatives gained overall control of the administrative 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 also control Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. [http://www.shropshireportal.gov.uk/ Shropshire Portal - links to the councils of the county]

Trivia
Shropshire holds the record for the coldest temperature recorded in England and Wales (weather wise). This was set on January 10, 1982, in Edgmond, Shropshire Edgmond at -26.1 C. The following day the coldest daytime maximum temperature recorded in England occurred in the county, at -11.3 C. Shrewsbury has the tallest town crier in the world, at 7ft 2in, and now also the tallest Member of Parliament MP in the United Kingdom - Daniel Kawczynski is 6ft 8.5in tall. The ceremonial county of Shropshire is the United Kingdom's largest inland (surrounded entirely by land) county. There are 701 [http://www.btinternet.com/~rmoj/ ] public houses in the county. See :Category:Public houses in Shropshire. 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.

See also
*List of civil parishes in Shropshire *Railways of Shropshire *Shropshire Star *Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom Etymological list of counties *Geology of Shropshire *53rd Regiment of Foot

External links

- Virtual Shropshire - Extensive tourism & leisure guide to Shropshire and the Welsh Borders.
- Secret Shropshire - Document archives relating to Shropshire are being made available online, over 10,000 images including maps, photographs of scenery, buildings, famous people and natural history, sketches, and writings.
- BBC Shropshire - A Salopian Odyssey - Morris Telford - A Salopian Odyssey.
- Shropshire Star - Local newspaper.
- BBC Shropshire history - BBC Shropshire's history page.
- Fords in Shropshire - Listing of all fords in Shropshire, including photos.
- Pubs in Shropshire - A growing database on the public houses of the county, from the Shropshire Star.
- Shropshire aerial photos - Fantastic website with many photos of places in Shropshire, taken from the air
- Inside Shropshire - historical and other information on Shropshire
- Shropshire - Shropshire article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
- History of Shropshire - Domesday Book, 1750-1875
- Shropshire Gallery Photographs of Shropshire
- 107.4 Telford FM - Local radio for the Telford & Wrekin area {{West_Midlands}}
{{England ceremonial counties}}
{{England traditional counties}} Category:Shropshire ang:Scrobbesbyrigscīr da:Shropshire de:Shropshire es:Shropshire eo:Shropshire fr:Shropshire nl:Shropshire no:Shropshire ru:Шропшир simple:Shropshire sk:Shropshire sv:Shropshire This :Category category contains articles relating to the county of Shropshire, England. Category:Counties of England Category:Counties of the Welsh Marches

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