Little Wenlock

Little Wenlock is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 605.[1] It was mentioned in the Domesday Book, when it belonged to Wenlock Priory. Ancient habitation is attested by the discovery of two caches of Bronze Age weapons.[2]

Little Wenlock

The Old Quarry Plantation and Little Wenlock, seen from the Wrekin
Little Wenlock
Location within Shropshire
Population605 (2011)
OS grid referenceSJ645068
Civil parish
  • Little Wenlock
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTELFORD
Postcode districtTF6
Dialling code01952
PoliceWest Mercia
FireShropshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

The village is situated two miles west of Dawley, a market town now part of Telford.

Nearby is the 1335-foot-high Wrekin, one of Shropshire's iconic hills with an ancient hill fort. Part of it falls within Little Wenlock parish, while the adjoining parts fall into other parishes.

The name "Wenlock" as found in Much Wenlock and Little Wenlock (and also Great Wenlock, a now obsolete name, but found in some historic sources[3]) is probably derived from the Old English *Wenan loca meaning "Wena's Stronghold" (wéna being feminine and meaning "hope")[4] The town was recorded in the Domesday Book as Wenloch.[4] The "Little" of the name distinguishes it from the larger settlement and market town of Much Wenlock, which is situated several miles to the south, on the other side of the River Severn.

11-year-old Alice Glaston from Little Wenlock was hanged together with two men in Much Wenlock on 13 April 1546, for an unknown crime.[5][6][7] She is the youngest known girl legally executed in Great Britain.

The village features a public house (the "Huntsman Inn"),[8] village hall, playing field and church of St Lawrence.

For many years there was small scale mining in the parish, for coal, limestone and fire clay.[9]

See also

Notes
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  2. Local history from British History Online
  3. Worcester, Joseph Emerson (1823). A geographical dictionary or universal gazetteer, ancient and modern. 2 (2 ed.). Cummings & Hilliard. p. 876.
  4. Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary, Henry Harrison, Genealogical Publishing Com, 1996, 0806301716, 9780806301716. Page.270
  5. Butler, Sir Thomas (1861). The Cambrian Journal, 49. London. p. 89.
  6. https://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/alice-glaston/
  7. http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/child.html
  8. WhatPub.com The Huntsman Inn, Little Wenlock
  9. "Little Wenlock: Economic history | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
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