Shrawardine
Shrawardine is a small village in the civil parish of Montford. It is 5.9 miles (9.5 km) outside Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.[1]
Shrawardine | |
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St Mary The Virgin Church, Shrawardine | |
Shrawardine Location within Shropshire | |
OS grid reference | SJ399153 |
Civil parish | |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | SHREWSBURY |
Postcode district | SY3 |
Dialling code | 01743 |
Police | West Mercia |
Fire | Shropshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Etymology
Its name is locally pronounced Shray-den, and was often spelt "Shraydon" in old documents;[2] it is otherwise pronounced Shray-war-dine. The placename originates from Old English worðign "enclosed settlement" combined with either scraef "cave" or screawa "shrew", the latter used as a byname for an individual.[3]
Landmarks
The village's landmarks include Shrawardine Castle and St Mary's Church. The castle, known as Castell Isabella by the Anglo-Normans, was built in the reign of Henry I of England, and dismantled during the English Civil War in 1645.[1] It had been held since 1644 by the Royalist commander Sir William Vaughan, whose aggressive tactics earned him the nickname "the Devil of Shrawardine".[4]
Little Shrawardine
The River Severn passes to the west of the village. On the other side of the river is a hamlet called Little Shrawardine. It lies mainly within the civil parish of Montford.
Notable residents
- Rev Dr Nevil Maskelyne FRS FRSE , the fifth Astronomer Royal, was Rector of the parish 1775 to 1782.[5]
References
- Raven, M. A Guide to Shropshire, 2005, p.178
- Vale, Edmund (1949) Shropshire, London: Robert Hale, p.73
- Gelling, M. (2006) The Place-names of Shropshire, Part Five: The hundreds of Pimhill and Bradford North, EPNS, p.112
- Mangianello, S. The concise encyclopedia of the revolutions and wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660, Scarecrow, 2004, p.491
- Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.