Shawbury is a 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 ...

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. The village is northeast of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

and northwest of

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and civil parish on the banks of the River Tern in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is located between the towns of Whitchurch, Shropshire, Wh ...

. The nearest railway station is at Yorton on the Welsh Marches Line for Shrewsbury/

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

. The 2011 census recorded a population of 2,872 for the entire civil parish of Shawbury.

History

Shawbury has an entry in 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1085. In the great book Shawbury is recorded by the name ''Sawesberie''. The main landholder was Gerard from Earl Roger of Shrewsbury. The survey also mentions that there is a church and a mill.

Geography

The River Roden flows through the village. The village of Moreton Corbet, with its

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, is just to the north. The main weather station for

is located in the village at the RAF base. In December 1981, a temperature of -25.2 °C was recorded, one of the coldest on record for England.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward covers much of the surrounding area with a total ward population as taken at the 2011 Census of 4,666.

Landmarks

There has been a church on the same site since at least the 12th century, although the present Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is not from that date. Many air force personnel from RAF Shawbury, an air station founded in 1917, are buried in the churchyard, which contains 32 Commonwealth War Graves, 3 from

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and 29 from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, besides 7

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

personnel from the latter war.
CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown of figures obtained from count of casualty list accompanying. Date accessed 14 August 2012. The village is home to RAF Shawbury, a helicopter airfield for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

of the United Kingdom and home of the tri-services Defence Helicopter Flying School and air traffic control training.

Notable people

Thomas Charles Thomas Charles (14 October 17555 October 1814) was a Wales, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales. Early life Charles was born in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn, near St Clears, Ca ...

(1755-1814), later Calvinistic Methodist minister and founder of the British and Foreign Bible Society, worked in Shawbury in 1783-84 as assistant to then rector, friend John Mayor * William Hazledine (born Shawbury 1763–1840) an English ironmaster, he was a pioneer in casting structural ironwork, most notably for canal aqueducts and early suspension bridges * Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Butler (1870-1935 in Shawbury) a British Army general during WW1, lived in retirement at Roden Lodge where he died. Both the ''Dictionary of National Biography'' and ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' are erroneous in stating he died in Shrewsbury.

Bus service

Shawbury is served by the 64 route, operated by Arriva Midlands North, which runs between

and

Sport

Shawbury's football club is Shawbury United F.C.

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Shropshire Civil parishes in Shropshire