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Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury (/ˈʃroʊzbri/ ⓘ SHROHZ-bree, also /ˈʃruːz-/ ⓘ SHROOZ-) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, 33 miles (53 km) northwest of Wolverhampton, 15 miles (24 km) west of Telford, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Wrexham and 53 miles (85 km) north of Hereford. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 76,782. It is the county town of the ceremonial county of Shropshire.
Shrewsbury has Anglo-Saxon roots and institutions whose foundations, dating from that time, represent a cultural continuity possibly going back as far as the 8th century. The centre has a largely undisturbed medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of the naturalist Charles Darwin. It has had a role in nurturing aspects of English culture, including drama, ballet, dance and pantomime.
Located 9 miles (14 km) east of the England–Wales border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and parts of mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution centres, such as Battlefield Enterprise Park, on the outskirts. The A5 and A49 trunk roads come together as the town's by-pass and five railway lines meet at Shrewsbury railway station.
The name comes from Old English Scrobbesburh (dative Scrobbesbyrig), meaning either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place of the scrubland". The surrounding county was known as Scrobbesbyrigscir or simply Scrobscir, a name that later became Shropshire. The Normans, who had trouble pronouncing the initial consonant cluster, referred to the town as Salopesberie and the county as Salopescira, hence the abbreviation Salop.
The town's name can be pronounced as either /ˈʃroʊzbəri/ ⓘ (SHROHZ-bər-ee) or /ˈʃruːzbəri/ ⓘ (SHROOZ-bər-ee), the correct pronunciation being a matter of longstanding debate.
Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton Farm, making it Britain's oldest place of worship. An Early Bronze Age urned burial was excavated at Crowmeole in 2015. An Iron Age double ring ditch has been excavated at Meole Brace. Amongst other finds, parts of an iron age sword and scabbard were recovered.
At Meole Brace, an extensive roadside settlement along the line of the Roman military road connecting Viroconium Cornoviorum and Caersws was uncovered, with evidence of trading of amphorae and mortaria. A major discovery was the finding of the Shrewsbury Hoard of more than 9000 Roman coins in a field near the town in 2009.
It is claimed that Pengwern, sometime capital of the Kingdom of Powys (itself established by the 440s), was at Shrewsbury, and it has been said in Parliament that the town was founded by the late 600s, the basis for this likely the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's account of the 584 battle at Fethanleag, where Ceawlin defeated the Britons and captured numerous settlements including possibly Uriconium, which sets the historical context for the first likely textual mention of Shrewsbury in the poetry of the British prince Llywarch Hen, who mourned the destruction of Uriconium. Llywarch Hen's presence at the court of Prince Cynddylan at Pengwern, understood as the British name for Shrewsbury, implies the town's existence during this period. There is consistent tradition that the town was "founded in the 5th century, on occasion of the decay of the Roman Uriconium." Historian John Wacher suggests that Shrewsbury may have been refortified by refugees fleeing an outbreak of a plague in Viroconium around this time. Context for the nature of early Medieval period life in the wider district can be found in archaeological evidence on the nearby Attingham estate, where foundations of two rare 25m-long Anglo-Saxon timber halls dating to around 650 AD have been discovered, highlighting a significant and well-resourced Anglo-Saxon community in the region.
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Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury (/ˈʃroʊzbri/ ⓘ SHROHZ-bree, also /ˈʃruːz-/ ⓘ SHROOZ-) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, 33 miles (53 km) northwest of Wolverhampton, 15 miles (24 km) west of Telford, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Wrexham and 53 miles (85 km) north of Hereford. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 76,782. It is the county town of the ceremonial county of Shropshire.
Shrewsbury has Anglo-Saxon roots and institutions whose foundations, dating from that time, represent a cultural continuity possibly going back as far as the 8th century. The centre has a largely undisturbed medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of the naturalist Charles Darwin. It has had a role in nurturing aspects of English culture, including drama, ballet, dance and pantomime.
Located 9 miles (14 km) east of the England–Wales border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and parts of mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution centres, such as Battlefield Enterprise Park, on the outskirts. The A5 and A49 trunk roads come together as the town's by-pass and five railway lines meet at Shrewsbury railway station.
The name comes from Old English Scrobbesburh (dative Scrobbesbyrig), meaning either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place of the scrubland". The surrounding county was known as Scrobbesbyrigscir or simply Scrobscir, a name that later became Shropshire. The Normans, who had trouble pronouncing the initial consonant cluster, referred to the town as Salopesberie and the county as Salopescira, hence the abbreviation Salop.
The town's name can be pronounced as either /ˈʃroʊzbəri/ ⓘ (SHROHZ-bər-ee) or /ˈʃruːzbəri/ ⓘ (SHROOZ-bər-ee), the correct pronunciation being a matter of longstanding debate.
Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton Farm, making it Britain's oldest place of worship. An Early Bronze Age urned burial was excavated at Crowmeole in 2015. An Iron Age double ring ditch has been excavated at Meole Brace. Amongst other finds, parts of an iron age sword and scabbard were recovered.
At Meole Brace, an extensive roadside settlement along the line of the Roman military road connecting Viroconium Cornoviorum and Caersws was uncovered, with evidence of trading of amphorae and mortaria. A major discovery was the finding of the Shrewsbury Hoard of more than 9000 Roman coins in a field near the town in 2009.
It is claimed that Pengwern, sometime capital of the Kingdom of Powys (itself established by the 440s), was at Shrewsbury, and it has been said in Parliament that the town was founded by the late 600s, the basis for this likely the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's account of the 584 battle at Fethanleag, where Ceawlin defeated the Britons and captured numerous settlements including possibly Uriconium, which sets the historical context for the first likely textual mention of Shrewsbury in the poetry of the British prince Llywarch Hen, who mourned the destruction of Uriconium. Llywarch Hen's presence at the court of Prince Cynddylan at Pengwern, understood as the British name for Shrewsbury, implies the town's existence during this period. There is consistent tradition that the town was "founded in the 5th century, on occasion of the decay of the Roman Uriconium." Historian John Wacher suggests that Shrewsbury may have been refortified by refugees fleeing an outbreak of a plague in Viroconium around this time. Context for the nature of early Medieval period life in the wider district can be found in archaeological evidence on the nearby Attingham estate, where foundations of two rare 25m-long Anglo-Saxon timber halls dating to around 650 AD have been discovered, highlighting a significant and well-resourced Anglo-Saxon community in the region.