Sheriffhales is a scattered village in

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, north-east of

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

, north of

Shifnal Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of the county town of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of the city of Wolverhampton. It is near the M5 ...

and south of Newport. The name derives from Halh (Anglican) and scīr-rēfa (Old English) which is a combination of Hales (a nook of land, small valley) and Sheriff (a king's executive). At the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

, it was held by Roger de Balliol the Sheriff of Shropshire. As well as Sheriffhales itself, the modern

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Sheriffhales includes the smaller settlements of Lilyhurst, Burlington, Heath Hill, Weston Heath, Redhill and Chadwell. The parish has a population of about 700 people, however it reached 1019 people in 1850, when the Duke of Sutherland owned most of it. The village was in Staffordshire until 1895 when the border between Staffordshire and Shropshire was moved. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 722. Despite being a small village of around 100 people, there is a primary school, a

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 ...

church (St Mary's) and a local post office, as well as a playing field with football goals and a children's playground. The church is a Grade II listed building that dates back to the 12th century. Between 1663 and 1697, when its founder moved to London, Sheriffhales was home to a

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...

run by nonconformist minister John Woodhouse. Sheriffhales was the site of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

PoW Camp 71, located along the drive to

Lilleshall Hall Lilleshall Hall is a large former country house and estate in the fields of Lilleshall, Shropshire, England. It is run by Serco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf of Sport England as one of three National Sports Centres, alongside Bisham Abbey ...

. The camp was intended for Italian Prisoners of War and housed up to 2,000 until

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

surrendered in 1943; thereafter it was used to house

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

PoW's until 1948 when most were repatriated. The

2007 Tour of Britain The 2007 edition of the Tour of Britain stage race was run as a UCI 2.1 category in seven stages starting in London on 9 September and finishing in Glasgow on 15 September. The Tour was extended to seven days for 2007, with the extra day being u ...

bike race passed through the village on the first of September as part of the Wolverhampton to Birmingham stage. The main farm within the village, Meadow Farm, was a predominantly dairy farm, but has been subsequently converted into an arable farm. It is also the centre for a point to point yard. Sheriffhales is mentioned (under the name "Hales") in the

Ellis Peters Edith Mary Pargeter (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her ''nom de plume'' Ellis Peters, was an English author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her transla ...

novel '' The Confession of Brother Haluin''. Hope Vere Anderson is Lord of the Manor of Sheriffhales and descends from the senior branch of the Hope Vere's of Lesmahagow, Scotland. The Hope Vere's trace their ancestry to Roger De Vere who was Lord of the Manor of Hales and when he became Sheriff of Shropshire in the 16th century he changed the name of his Manor from that of Hales to Sheriffhales to reflect his importance in being appointed to this additional role.

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{{authority control Civil parishes in Shropshire Villages in Shropshire World War II prisoner of war camps in England

See also

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