Church Stretton

Coordinates: 52°32′19″N 2°48′21″W / 52.5385°N 2.8058°W / 52.5385; -2.8058

Church Stretton
Church Stretton  Church Stretton shown within Shropshire
Population	2,789
OS grid reference	SO453937
- London	158 miles (254 km)
Parish	Church Stretton
Unitary authority	Shropshire
Ceremonial county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHURCH STRETTON
Postcode district	SY6
Dialling code	01694
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Ludlow
List of places: UK • England • Shropshire

Church Stretton from the Burway

Church Stretton is a small town in Shropshire, England, located approximately 13 miles (21 km) south of Shrewsbury, the county town. The population of the town was recorded as 2,789 in 2001.^[1] It lies entirely in the Shropshire Hills AONB.

The area has been settled since the Iron Age, during which a hillfort was constructed on Caer Caradoc Hill.^[2] The town was nicknamed Little Switzerland during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, due to its landscape and development as a health resort.^[3] The local geology is complex and incorporates some of the oldest rocks in England - a notable fault line is named after the town.^[4]

History

People have lived in the Stretton Gap for thousands of years; an Iron Age hillfort on Caer Caradoc^[2] overlooks the town. The name "Stretton" is derived from the Old English words stræt meaning "Roman Road" and tun meaning "settlement"; a Roman road, Watling Street runs through the Stretton valley, though the town (and adjacent settlements) were not historically located on this road, for defensive purposes during the Dark Ages. Today the modern A49 road runs along a similar course to the Roman Road.

The town was granted a market charter by King John in 1214^[5], and the market is still held every Thursday. Much of the town centre was destroyed by fire in 1593^[5] and many of the present half timbered buildings in the town centre date from the time of the rebuilding.^[5]

18th century

During the 18th century, Church Stretton began to develop as a spa town^{[citation needed]}. Historically the town was known for its textiles, specifically in Carding Mill Valley. Carding Mill was built in the 18th century, and named after a stage in making cloth, the three stages being carding, spinning and weaving. Carding would have been done by children, and involved using a hand-card that removed and untangled short fibres from the mass of raw material. The cards were wooden blocks with handles and covered in metal spikes, which were angled, (to make it easier to untangle) and set in leather. When untangled, the material would be spun, and then weaved into the final product.

The carding mill closed at the beginning of the 20th century. The mill is still in the valley today, but has been converted into luxury flats. The valley it was in took the name "Carding Mill Valley", and is now a tourist attraction owned by the National Trust.

Victorian and Edwardian times

Church Stretton was nicknamed Little Switzerland during its growth in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, both because of the way many houses hug the hillside, the surrounding mountainous landscape,^[3] and because the town is said to have been run like clockwork.^{[citation needed]}

The Long Mynd Hotel in Church Stretton was built in 1900^{[citation needed]}, originally as the Hydro, at a time when the town was popular as a spa.

Governance

The town is located within the civil parish of Church Stretton, and is administered by a town council, which also manages the neighbouring villages of All Stretton, Little Stretton, and the hamlets of Minton and Hamperley.^[6] At the 2001 census, the parish's population was 4,186.^[7] The parish is divided into four wards: Church Stretton North (represented by four councillors on the town council), Church Stretton South (represented by five councillors), All Stretton and Little Stretton (each represented by two councillors).^[8] Church Stretton is part of the Shropshire Council electoral division of Church Stretton and Craven Arms.

On a national level, Church Stretton is located within the Ludlow constituency, and the current MP for that constituency is Philip Dunne, a Conservative MP.^[9]

Geography

View of The Lawley from Caer Caradoc.

Church Stretton is located approximately 13 miles (21 km) south of Shropshire's county town, Shrewsbury. The town is dominated by the surrounding hills, including the huge Long Mynd massif to the west, and Caer Caradoc Hill, and the adjacent hills to the east. The Long Mynd massif provides the town with both its views, and the water that the town's economy is based around. The water comes from an underground glacial lake^{[citation needed]}, and is extracted from boreholes at various places on the Long Mynd.

Church Stretton effectively lies at a saddle point - the railway station and the Crossways industrial estate lie roughly at this position, which is at 187m above sea level. The High Street through the town centre runs at an altitude of 194 to 195m. Because of its position at a saddle point, water drains away from the town in two directions - to the north (to the Cound and then the Severn) and to the south (to the Onny and then the Teme). Parts of the town are subject to flooding after heavy rain and in 2000 serious flooding closed the railway line through the town.

The local geology is complex; the area lies astride the Church Stretton Fault^[4] and atop some of the oldest rocks in the British Isles - over 560 million mya. On 2 April 1990, another nearby fault - the Pontesford-Linley Fault - registered an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale, known as the Bishop's Castle earthquake.^[4] The area also plays a part in the history of geology: the three major subdivsions of the Lower Paleozoic are named for local celtic tribes - Cambrian, Ordovician & Silurian. Also, Comley Quarry is about 2.5 miles (4 km) from the town and the first site in the British Isles where trilobites were recorded.

Transport

The A49 runs through the Stretton valley, from Shrewsbury in the north towards Ludlow and Hereford to the south. The B5477 runs through the villages of All Stretton and Little Stretton, as well as the historic core and town centre of Church Stretton. The B4371 starts at the B5477 in the town centre and heads east, having a crossroads junction with the A49, then up to Hazler and on towards Much Wenlock. The B4371 in the town is known as Sandford Avenue and is partially lined with lime trees.

The B5477 was, until renumbered in 2004, the northern section of the B4370. The renumbering to B5477 is inexplicable in two ways - the number does not comply with the Great Britain road numbering scheme (it is "out-of-zone") and is already in use in Wallasey.

The Welsh Marches Line runs through the town^[10] and there is a station, situated off Sandford Avenue just east of the town centre, near the junction of the A49 and B4371. The railway was originally built as the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway in 1852. Today there are direct train services to Shrewsbury, Chester, Holyhead, Crewe, Manchester, Ludlow, Hereford, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. The town is served by a number of rural bus routes, the most notable being the 435 Shrewsbury-Ludlow service, run by Minsterley Motors.^[11]

Education

St Laurence - the town's ancient parish church (Church of England)

Shrewsbury Road (the B5477), looking south towards the town centre

Church Stretton also has two schools: a secondary school with 750 pupils^[12] and a primary school with 250 pupils.^[13]

Economy

The water bottling plant is a large, local employer.^[14] Other employers include Polymer Laboratories on the east side of the town,^[15] and tourism which is a growth industry in the area. The town has a large antiques market, situated in a former malthouse on Sandford Avenue.

As of the 2001 census, in the northern ward of Church Stretton, 50.6% of residents are in employment, and 32.2% are retired. Unemployment is at 2%. In Church Stretton South, the rate of employment is higher, at 57.5%, with 24.9% of residents retired. The rate of unemployment is 1.9%.^[16]

Culture and sport

Aerial photo of part of the town in 2008, showing the town's golf course clubhouse

Church Stretton is a major centre for the sport of archery,^[17] and there is also a gliding club atop the Long Mynd. There is a golf course, the Church Stretton Golf Club, situated above Cardingmill Valley, around 350 m (1,148 ft) above sea level. It the oldest 18-hole golf course in Shropshire, opened in 1898, and one of the highest in the country.

The novelist Henry Kingsley (1830–1876) wrote "Stretton" based around this area, and Oliver Sandys' book, "Quaint Place" is set in Church Stretton.^[18] Mary Webb's works also made reference to the town, under the name "Shepwardine". The Lone Pine Club series of children's books by Malcolm Saville is also partly set in the area.

Notable people

Residents of the town include Pete Postlethwaite, who lives near to the neighbouring village Little Stretton, which was also the home of Oliver Sandys. Also, the Olympic bronze-medal archer, Alison Williamson lives in All Stretton.^[19] In the 1930s, E. M. Almedingen, the biographer and children's writer, lived in the town,^[20] and, following retirement, the writer Kenneth Bird moved to Church Stretton.

The 'White House' nursing home on Sandford Avenue was destroyed in 2006 to make way for a housing development, and it was previously the family home of Charles Silvester Horne a congregationalist minister, Liberal MP for Ipswich, and father of the BBC broadcaster Kenneth Horne.

Hesba Stretton came to Church Stretton often before moving away from Shropshire, becoming an established author. There is a plaque to her memory in St. Lawrence's Church together with a window depicting the figure of "Jessica" from her immensely popular story Jessica's First Prayer.^[21]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Church Stretton

• Church Stretton - Official Town Council website
• Extract from A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 10 (1998)
• Geograph - SO4593
• Annual Arts Festival

Destinations from Church Stretton

	Picklescott, Minsterley, Welshpool	Shrewsbury All Stretton, Dorrington	Telford Cardington, Cross Houses, Much Wenlock
	Long Mynd, Bishop's Castle, Montgomery		Rushbury, Bridgnorth
		Church Stretton
	Clun, Knighton	Little Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow	Ticklerton, Munslow, Clee Hills

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