Bedstone is a small village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in south

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England, close to the border with

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. The village is approximately from the railway stations at Hopton Heath and Bucknell and is situated just off the B4367 road.

Bedstone College

Bedstone College, an independent boarding and day school founded in 1948, was purchased in 2017 by London & Oxford Group, an asset management and investment banking firm specialising in introduction of Chinese investment to the UK Education sector. LOG has reportedly made little or no governance changes to the school and "giving its full support to the current management team at Bedstone." Famous former pupils include the present

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...

, Sir Martin Rees (whose parents founded the school), now Baron Rees of Ludlow, and explorer and TV presenter

Monty Halls Monty Halls (born 5 November 1966) is a British TV broadcaster and marine biologist best known for his BBC Great Escape series ''Monty Halls' Great Escape'', ''Monty Halls' Great Hebridean Escape'' and ''Monty Halls' Great Irish Escape'', dur ...

. The current head is Toby Mullins. Educating around 220 day and boarding students, the College is not selective and does not require pupils to sit an entrance exam. It offers a broad curriculum from reception through to A Level. Physical education and extra-curricular activities are an integral part of the school week, which includes Saturday-morning lessons and five afternoons set aside for sports and a choice of activities. There are four boarding houses: * Bedstone House - for junior girls * Wilson House - for senior girls * Rutter House - for junior boys * Pearson House - for senior boys Each is run by houseparents who are typically academic staff and their families. Its campus houses the notable country house that is Bedstone Court. Its founders include the parents of Sir Martin Rees. On

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

results, the College is the second best non-selective school in Shropshire and the sixth overall. In 2025, Bedstone College announced plans to close, following changes to the

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

regime for independent schools.

Norman Origin

St Mary's

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

dates back to Norman times and features an original Norman

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, a timber framed bellcote and a shingled spire, and some of the houses, which include several thatched cottages, are more than 600 years old.

Buildings

Manor Farm house is an example of a timber-framed house and was partly stone-faced in 1775. Bedstone Court, now the home of Bedstone College, is a more flamboyant black-and-white mansion, built between 1882 and 1884, designed by Thomas Harris for Henry Ripley, MP and is a calendar house reputed to have 365 windows, 52 rooms (on the first two floors) twelve chimneys and seven external doors. The central hall has a magnificent 52-panelled stained-glass window depicting the months of the year, signs of the zodiac, birds associated with the month and the agricultural activity of the month. The building was heavily damaged by a fire in 1996 but was fully restored and continues to be the centrepiece of Bedstone College: the independent co-educational boarding and day school for pupils from 4 to 18.

Amenities

Until the 2000s there was a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

but now there is just a

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post box in the hamlet.dracos.co.uk
Postboxes in SY7

Parish

The civil parish covers a small area, with no other settlements than Bedstone itself. With a parish population of just 85 (in 2001), the parish council has now been merged with that of neighbouring Bucknell parish. In

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor