Shrewsbury
| Shrewsbury | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Shire county | Shropshire |
| Council | Shropshire Council |
| Population | 76,782 (2021 Census) |
Shrewsbury is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire, of which it is the county town and namesake. It is situated on the River Severn, roughly 35 miles south-east of Chester and 50 miles almost due north of Hereford. It is approximately nine miles east of England's border with Wales and the railway station is a regional interchange. The town's colours are blue and amber. It is no longer the county's largest town, the conurbation of Telford in the east of the county is bigger.
The town centre sits on a peninsula of the Severn, and many of its buildings are medieval. The town has a castle and an abbey. In the medieval times it was an important walled city in battles against the Welsh. The only remains of the wall are in the town's McDonald's. Shrewsbury was where one of England's bloodiest battles was fought. The rebel leader Harry Hotspur raised an army against Henry IV in 1403. The King won.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club play in the English Football League Two (soccer). Their Gay Meadow stadium was famous for flooding as it lay right by the river. It was demolished in 2007 and replaced by a 10,000 seater stadium in the Meole Brace suburb, commercially known as the Prostar Stadium after the team's kit supplier but known by fans as the New Meadow.
Its population is 67,126 (2001).
History
There is no recorded Roman settlement at present-day Shrewsbury, although 8 miles to the south-west is the site of Viroconium Cornoviorum (now Wroxeter), the 4th largest settlement in Roman Britain. The Shrewsbury Hoard, which consists of over 9,300 Roman coins, was discovered near the town in August 2009, and were found inside a Roman pot thought thought to have been buried around the year 335 AD.
There is some suggestion that Shrewsbury may have been the site of Pengwern, which is regarded as being the seat of the kings of Powys in the 6th century. Indeed, Pengwern appears to have been in modern-day Shropshire. The identification of Pengwern with Shrewsbury appears popular, as proven by Pengwern Rowing Club (founded 1871), Pengwern Hotel (closed 1998) and Pengwern Road, all in Shrewsbury. However, Shrewsbury has been known in Welsh as Amwythig since the Middle Ages.
The first physical evidence of a settlement in the area dates from the 7th century, after the Anglo-Saxons arrived. The first mention of the town by name was in 901 AD, during the reign of Edward the Elder.[1]
Shrewsbury's monastic institutions ended during the Protestant Reformation, with the closure of Shrewsbury Abbey in 1539. At this time, Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury one of his new bishoprics (and would have covered Shropshire and Staffordshire) and, therefore a cathedral city. The citizens of the town, however, refused the king's offer. This is the origin of the term "Proud Salopians": Shrewsbury's leadership preferred to be the most senior town in England, not its most minor city.
Notable people
- Charles Darwin (1809-1882) - English naturalist, geologist and biologist.
- Leo Blair (1923-2012) - British barrister, father of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, lived in Shrewsbury at the time of his death in 2012.
