List of Shropshire deserted villages and lost places

Shropshire in England is a county rich in abandoned, modified or lost settlements. This list of settlements includes deserted, lost or shrunken places in the county. They span the period from Neolithic times to 1952 when a landslip into the River Severn destroyed a large part of Jackfield, which was part of Broseley at the time. Included are Iron Age Hill Forts, Romano-British sites, Domesday Manors, Deserted Medieval Villages, Lost Settlements, Shrewsbury Medieval Suburbs and 19th century industrial settlements. They have provided homes for Shropshire people of their time, have changed in some significant way, and have left documentary and/or landscape clues to their history and, for most, their location. A brief outline of such factors is given for a large proportion of sites.

It is significant that a large proportion of Deserted Medieval Villages in the south of the county were at higher altitudes, many on the slopes of the Clee Hills. These are the highest points in Shropshire and it is likely that their medieval inhabitants were literally pushing the boundary of cultivation and occupation into ever more marginal territory. So, when the economic decline and successive crop failures of the 13th and 14th centuries occurred, these places fell into decline. Contemporary technology and farming methods did not permit their successful cultivation, so their people withdrew to sustainable locations, often lower down. As in other counties, though, considerable desertion was due to piece by piece consolidation of land into extensive tracts by single owners, often monastic, as seen for example, in the estate of Wenlock Priory which subsequently became the nucleus of the scattered Borough of Much Wenlock.

The settlements listed as Former Domesday Manors may now be represented by single buildings of the same name, although some were clearly never greater than this. The term 'lost' is used in cases where the status is uncertain, for some places they are literally lost, as the site is not known. However, for some Lost Settlements an approximate location can be given because modern features and names reflect the original position. In some of these cases the description 'lost' is used to identify original settlements whose location is known because of modern redevelopment of the area but where there is a lack of continuity in habitation. Where a site has no known name, the nearby significant place is given in brackets. Ordnance Survey grid references are given where possible. In a few cases this is for the approximate, rather than precise location.

Sources

Sources for the sites list include The Place-names of Shropshire series compiled by Margaret Gelling and published by the English Place-name Society, The Sites and Monuments Record of Shropshire Council, English Heritage National Monuments Record and the Ordnance Survey series of Explorer maps that cover the county. These are referenced against just one entry compiled from their information. Other entries are not so referenced because to do so would produce an unwieldy document, although every entry has documentary support. Additional sources are referenced where relevant.

The sites

References

  1. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 4 Shrewsbury Town & Suburbs & the Liberties of Shrewsbury, Nottingham, 2004
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 217 The Long Mynd & Wenlock Edge, Southampton, 2000
  3. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 6 The Hundreds of Brimstree & Bradford South, Nottingham, 2012
  4. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 1 The Major Names of Shropshire, Nottingham, 1990
  5. ↑ Shropshire Council, Sites and Monuments Record, Shrewsbury, accessed via archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch
  6. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 2 The Hundreds of Ford & Condover, Nottingham, 1995
  7. ↑ English Heritage, National Monuments Record, London, accessed via archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch
  8. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 201 Knighton & Presteigne, Southampton, 1999
  9. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 203 Ludlow, Southampton, 1999
  10. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Map of Roman Britain, Southampton, 2000
  11. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 6 The Hundreds of Brimstree & Bradford South, Nottingham, 2012
  12. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 5 The Hundreds of Pimhill & Bradford North, Nottingham, 2006
  13. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 241 Shrewsbury, Southampton, 1999
  14. ↑ Gelling M, The Place-names of Shropshire Part 3 Telford New Town the Northern Part of the Hundred of Munslow & the Franchise of Wenlock, Nottingham, 2001
  15. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Street Atlas Shropshire, London, 2003
  16. ↑ Ed Baugh G C, A History of the County of Shropshire Volume 10 The Liberty and Borough of Wenlock, London, 1998
  17. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 240 Oswestry, Southampton, 2000
  18. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 242 Telford Ironbridge & The Wrekin, Southampton, 2000
  19. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 218 Wyre Forest, Southampton, 1999
  20. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 216 Welshpool & Montgomery, Southampton, 1999
  21. ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer Map 243 Market Drayton, Southampton, 2000
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