Mainstone is a small village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
in southwest
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
, England, near the border with
Powys
Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The village lies approximately 1 mile northwest of the small village of
Cefn Einion. The
market town
A market town is a Human settlement, settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...
of
Bishop's Castle
Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893.
Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west o ...
lies some 3 miles to the east, while the small town of
Clun
Clun ( cy, Colunwy) is a town in south west Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills AONB, Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 United Kingdom census, census recorded 680 people living in the town.Combined populat ...
is about 5 miles away to the south.
It lies in the
Clun Forest, a large remote and very rural area which is semi-forested and rather hilly.
The
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
parish church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, lies in the hamlet of Churchtown (alternatively written as "Church Town") a mile west of Mainstone, though the village itself contains a
Primitive Methodist
The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834).
In the United States, the Primit ...
chapel, built in 1892 and still in use in the mid-2000s.
[Mainstone]
Shropshire's Nonconformist Chapels
The
River Unk originates in and then flows through the parish.
Offa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to h ...
also cuts north–south through the area, bisecting the hamlet of Churchtown. The long-distance footpaths "
Shropshire Way" and "
Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout t ...
" pass through the area and join just outside Churchtown.
Mainstone lies at around the 260m
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
The ...
mark. The surrounding hills all peak at roughly 400-420m.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Mainstone
References
External links
Villages in Shropshire
Civil parishes in Shropshire
{{Shropshire-geo-stub