Shropshire

Shropshire (also called Bastard or in its shortened form Shrops ) is an English county of the west the Midlands, area of England.

The chief town is Shrewsbury, although the new city of Telford is the most populated city. The county counts several important historical industrial sites of which the area of the Ironbridge throat (literally throat of the iron bridge), known like the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The throats of Ironbridge (iron bridge) are listed with the world heritage of UNESCO, including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and part of Madeley.

Shropshire is one of the most rural counties of England. The population of this county is of 289.000 inhabitants, which makes some the least densément populated counties with subdivision of the United Kingdom. The recent publication of the report/ratio of the local government implies that the assembly of the county of Shropshire will propose the removal of the councils of district, becoming in fact an entity with single political body.

The hills of Shrophire, classified Area off Oustanding Natural Beauty (Zone of remarkable natural beauty), cover a quarter of the county, mainly in the south. The hill of Wrekin is one of the most famous natural visual reference marks of the county, although highest are Clee Hills, Stiperstones and Long Mynd. Wenlock Edge is another famous geographical and geological place. The Severn river, longest of Great Britain, traverses the county.

Divisions and surroundings

The area under the control of the council of county, or shire county, is divided into 5 districts not-subways. They are North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shrophire and Bridgnorth. Telford and Wrekin is an entity with single political body which belongs to the county for several reasons such as Lord Lieutenant but does not depend on the authority of the council of county. Oswestry, Shrewsbury & Atcham and Telford & Wrekin have the statute of Boroughs. The county including Telford & Wrekin, the county ceremonial, borders Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and the county preserved Welsh Powys & Clwyd.

The border with Wales was defined in the 16th century.

Local reform of the government

In 2006, one white paper of the local government supported proposals for the installation of new unit authorities in certain areas of England. The counties not-subways having a weak population, such as for example Cornwall, Northumberland and Shropshire, are supported by the government to be covered by the unit authorities in one way or another (the county can is to become only one unit authority, or to be divided in several unit authorities). The areas of unit authority inside the borders of these cérémoniaux counties (like Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire) will not be affected and there will be no change of borders.

The Council of County of Shropshire, supported by the Council of District of Southern Shropshire and the Council of the Commune of Oswestry, suggested that the County not-subway of Shropshire becomes only one unit authority (c.à.d. that the Councils of district and communes would be abolished). The process would be similar to that of the island of Wight to the beginning of the year 1990, when its districts were abolished, leaving a unit authority of County. The county ceremonial of Shropshire would consist then of two unit authorities - Telford & Wrekin, and Shropshire. However, there was opposition to these proposals, on behalf of Shewsbury and Atcham, of Northern Shropshire and Bridgnorth, which criticize the loss of a local authority. The partisans, however, think that the change will save funds and will make it possible the area to gain more prominence at the national level.

History

The now called area Shropshire was attached to the Mercie by the king Offa to the 8th century, time to which it ordered the construction of two important ground walls to protect his territory from the Welsh, or at least to dissociate it. In the centuries which followed the area sudden of the repeated Danish invasions and of the fortresses were built in Bridgnorth and Chirbury.

After the conquest Norman in 1066 of many properties were given to the Norman ones, gift Roger de Montgomerie which ordered the construction of important buildings, especially in Shrewsbury, the city of which he was the count. Many castles with defensive goal were built at that time to be denied the Welsh and to allow an effective control of the area of which castles of Ludlow and Shrewsbury. During this period were also formed many religious infrastructures, the county being mainly in the diocese of Hereford like those of Coventry and Lichfield. Some parts of the county will be later in the diocese of St Asaph before it ceases existing in 1920.

The county was in the center of Welsh Marches at the time medieval and was often involved in power struggles between the lords of the Steps, the counts of the steps and the sovereigns successive.

The county contains also a great number of important cities such as Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Oswestry. Moreover the zone around Coalbrookdale in the county is regarded as important of share the fact that she is regarded as the birthplace of the Industrial revolution. The village of Edgmond is the place where the lowest temperature was ever recorded in England and in Wales.

The current borders of the county are the same ones as the historical borders with share certain enclaves and other minor deteriorations along the borders with the Herefordshire and the Worcestershire. Most of territory lost was Halesowen which became share of Worcestershire in 1844, and the greatest attached part was too Farlow, of Herefordshire, in the south of Shropshire, transferred to Shropshire in 1844.

Geography

Shropshire can be divided into two distinct parts, north and the south. The county has a very varied geology.

Shropshire of north

Shropshire of north east made up of the districts of Oswestry, North Shropshire, Shrewsbury & Atcham borough and the borough of Telford & Wrekin.

The plain of North Shropshire is an extension of plane and fertile plain of Cheshire. It is here that the majority of the big cities of the county, as well as the majority of the population, are. Shrewsbury in the center, Oswestry in north east, Whitchurch in north, Market Drayton in north east and Newport as well as the conurbation of Telford (Telford, Wellington, Oakengates, Donnington and Shifnal) in the east. The ground is fertile and agriculture remains determining for the landscape and the economy. The Severn river runs through the low half of this area (coming from Wales, in the west, running towards the east), crosses Shrewsbury then the throats of Ironbridge before going towards the south in Bridgnorth.

The territory around Oswetry is more broken, the western half is with the top of a prolongation of the coal basin of Wrexham, there are also deposits of copper at the border of Wales. Sand and the stone aggregate exploitation is still in activity in North Shropshire, in particular in the Colline Haugmond, close to the hill Bayston and around the village of Condover. Lead was also exploited with Snailbeach and the Stiperstones, but the activity ceased. Other primary activities, such as the forestry and sins it, are also practiced.

A5 main roads and the M54 highway go from Wolverhampton (in the east of the county), passes to Telford, then close to Shrewsbury parallel to the line Watling Street, an old economic road. A5 turns towards western north to go on Owestry, before going to north in Wales in the area of Wrexham. It is an important artery and the corridor is the site where one finds the majority of industries and marketing activities of Shropshire. There are also some lines of train crossing the gathering county with Shrewsbury. In the western south of Telford, close to the throat of Ironbridge the powerplant of Ironbridge is.

The new city of Telford is built partly on an old industrial park centered on the coal basin of the east of Shropshire like on old arable lands. One can still find old coal workings as well as mine shafts. The industrial heritage is an important tourist attraction, as one can see it by the increase in the number of museums around Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and Jackfield. The MUSE of Blists Hill as of the villages dating from the era victorienne are major attractions just like Ironbridge him even. Moreover the steam train of Telford rolls since Horsehay.

Cities and villages

Shropshire has 22 medium-sized cities of which 2 can be considered important although no city is of big size. Telford is more the big city of the county with 138.241 inhabitants, whereas the chief town, Shrewsbury, have a smaller population with 70.560 inhabitants. Among the other notable towns of population one can quote Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow. The majority of the communities can be classified in the village category. Cities and villages concentrate mainly along a central line which follows the road A5 /M54 roughly, the others concentrate around the waterways, like Ironbridge on Severn, because these ways were historically vital for the trade.

Economy

The economy of Shropshire was traditionally dominated by agriculture, however the economy was recently directed towards the services. The Shrewsbury chief town, the historical city of Ludlow dominated by its castle and the birthplace of the industrial revolution Ironbridge Gorge are the most important tourist places of Shropshire, with the canal system which allows cruisings in the barge along the Shropshire Union Channel and of the canal system in the area, although the natural beauty of the county brings visitors in all the county.

Industry concentrate with Telford , Oswestry , Whitchurch , Market Drayton and Shrewsbury ; although other industrial complexes can be found in more rural zones such as Church Stretton and Newport . Shrewsbury is becoming a storage and distribution center, being located at the center of the regional highway network. In Telford a new complex of railway freight is being built in Donnington.

Telford and Shrewsbury are both principal center shopping, with quite different styles: Shrewsbury and its historical center town against modern Telford and its shopping malls. The situation of Shrewsbury, being the only town of importance for those alive in the area of Powys (mid-Wales) assistance to attract a considerable number of barges, notably saturdays.

Among the large companies of Shropshire one finds Müller Dairy (the U.K.) Ltd) Market Drayton. The RAF has 2 bases with Cosford and Shawbury. The PDSA (charity association of protection of the animals) has its head office with Priorslee with Telford.

Statistics

Below is the table of the rough added-value for the nonmetropolitan part of the county (without Telford & Wrekin) published (pp.240-253) by the Office for National Statistics in million pound sterling.

With the statistics of the borough of added Telford & Wrekin, the total for the county not-subway becomes:

Policy

Shropshire contains 5 districts, 4 which were allocated to the conservatives during the general elections of 2005 and one, Telford, which became again Labor. This is a great change compared with the elections 2001 when the county voted for only one preserving deputy, 3 members of the Labor Party and a democratic liberal with the House of Commons (cf charts on the line).

The deputies of Shropshire are:

David Wright, member of the Labor Party, Telford
Owen Paterson, Conservative, North Shropshire; covering the district of North Shropshire as well as the borough of Owestry.
Philip Dune, conservative, covering South Shrophire as well as the majority of the district of Bridgnorth.
Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative, Shrewsbury & Atcham
Mark Pritchard, Conservative, covering Telford & Wrekin except Telford, and including a small portion of the district of Bridgnorth.

In 2005 there was also an election of the chief of county in which the conservatives seized the power. The unit authority of Telford & Wrekin remains in the hands of the members of the Labor Party. Being a rural county there is a certain number of independent elected members in various assembled county.

The conservatives gained the complete control of the council of town of Shrewsbury & Atcham during the local elections of May 2006.

Personalities

Robert Cleaves " Cleave India" off;
early Abraham Darby industrial
Charles Darwin eminent naturalist
K.K. Downing, guitarist with Judas Priest
William Farr epidemiologist and pionner in bio-statistics
Chris Hawkins (of Loppington), radio operator presenter, DJ, and " célébrité"
George Jeffreys off Wem, (judge celebrates)
Adrian Jones, sculptor of Quadriga with Hyde Park Corner
Stephen Going, ornithologist
Len Murray, former director of the TUC
Mirabel Osler, author
Wilfred Owen, large poet of the First World War
Edith Pargeter (1913-1995), author
Edmund Plowden (1518-1585), legal specialist and theorist
Sir Edmund Plowden (1590-1659), owner, Palatin account and governor of the Nouvelle Albion
Barbara Pym novelist
Morris Telford author of " In Salopian Odyssey" , philosopher, traveller and amateur of bingo.
You Pau, pop group of the years 1980
Sir Philip Sidney prominent character under the reign of the Queen Elizabeth.
Mary Webb (1881-1927), author
Matthew Webb, first man to cross the Handle
Billy Wright, Footballer, captain of Wolves and England
Humphrey Kynaston (1474-1534) - Highwayman
John Mytton “Mad Jack” Mytton, " Regency rake" , deputy, flambor and rider.

Sport

Shrewsbury Town Football club
AFC Telford United Football club
Hawkstone Park Motocross International Circuit Motocross Circuit
Telford Tigers Club of Hockey
Telford Raiders Club of Rugby
Shropshire Revolution American Football TEAM

External bonds

Shropshire Tourism- Official site of the tourist bureau of Shropshire
1911 Encyclopedia - Article on Shropshire in the encyclopedia Britannica edition 1911

References

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