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Shropshire (abbreviated Salop or Shrops) is an English county in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Shropshire is one of England's most rural counties. The county town is Shrewsbury, although the new town of Telford is the largest town. Despite the county being so rural, the Ironbridge Gorge area of Shropshire is known as the birthplace of industry. The population of the non-metropolitan, or shire county, of Shropshire is 289,100 - making the county the least populated two-tier governed area in the United Kingdom Under under the recent Local Government White Paper, Shropshire County Council is expected to propose the abolition of Shropshire's district councils, becoming a unitary authority. *
Divisions and environs The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into five districts. They are North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shropshire and Bridgnorth. Telford and Wrekin is a unitary authority which forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but does not come under county council control. Oswestry, Shrewsbury & Atcham and Telford & Wrekin have the status of boroughs. The area including Telford and Wrekin, the ceremonial county, borders Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and the Welsh preserved counties of Powys and Clwyd. The border with Wales was defined in the 16th century - the hundreds of Oswestry (including Oswestry) and Pimhill (including Wem), and part of Chirbury had prior to the Laws in Wales Act formed various Marcher Lordships. Location Shropshire is part of the 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. History 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 "geological capital" of the 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. The Ironbridge Gorge became a focal point of new industrial energies in the 18th Century. The towns of Broseley and Madeley were centres of innovation during the late 18th Century. It was in nearby locations where key events of the Industrial Revolution took place. Coalbrookdale is where modern iron smelting techniques were developed, Ironbridge is where the world's first iron bridge was constructed and Ditherington is where the world's first iron framed building was built. Other places notable for early industry are Jackfield and Coalport. Salop The origin of the name "Shropshire" is the Old English "Scrobbesbyrigscīr" (literally Shrewsburyshire), perhaps taking its name from Richard Scrob (or FitzScrob or Scrope), the builder of Richard's Castle near what is now the town of Ludlow. 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 council for the county was set up in 1888, it was called "Salop County Council". The name was never popular, with local MP Jasper More raising an amendment to the 1972 Local Government Bill to rename the county "Shropshire" • - at the time the council itself opposed the change, although later, in 1980, would exercise its power to legally change the name of the county. The Times noted in a February 19, 1980 article about the name change that "there was no record of why the name Salop County Council was adopted". The decision to make the change was taken on March 1, 1980, at a special meeting of the council, with 48 votes in favour versus five against. It came into effect on April 1. 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". The modern county boundaries are the same as the historic ones, 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 in South Shropshire, transferred to Shropshire in 1844 too. Geography Geographically, Shropshire is divisible into two distinct halves - North and South. North Shropshire
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 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. Towns and villages 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. Economy This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. includes hunting and forestry includes energy and construction includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured Components may not sum to totals due to rounding See Telford and Wrekin#Economy for the borough of Telford and Wrekin's economic figures. Places of interest Famous people 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 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). The current MP's of Shropshire are: In 2005 there was also a County Council election in which the Conservatives gained overall control of the shire 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 gained complete control of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council in the May 2006 local elections. Sport Trivia See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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