Place:Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England

NameBridgnorth
TypeCivil parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates52.535°N 2.4195°W
Located inShropshire, England
See alsoBridgnorth St. Mary, Shropshire, Englandparish from which municipal borough was formed in 1835
Bridgnorth St. Leonard, Shropshire, Englandparish from which municipal borough was formed in 1835
Bridgnorth District, Shropshire, Englandnon-metropolitan district replacing the MB in 1974
Shropshire District, Shropshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 2009


source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into a "High Town" and "Low Town", the upper town on the right (west) bank and the lower on the left (east) bank of the river. The population at the 2011 UK census was 12,079.

Brignorth was a municipal borough from 1835 until 1974. In 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Bridgnorth gave up its municipal borough status and became the largest settlement in the newly created Bridgnorth District, a non-metropolitan area. In 2009 the Bridgnorth District was replaced by a unitary authority called the Shropshire District which covered the whole of the county with the exception of The Wrekin District (to the north of Bridgnorth) which was formed in 1998.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bridgnorth#History.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides a very long article describing of Bridgnorth from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72. Here are some excerpts:

"The town was founded by the Princess Ethelfleda, and was anciently called Brugge or Brigge. A castle is thought to have been built at it by the Saxons; and either this was renovated or a new one erected, of great strength, in 1102, by Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury. Henry I. speedily took the castle, and made it a royal fortress. Henry II (1133 – 1189)) was at it, and narrowly escaped death beneath its walls. Thomas a Becket lodged in it. John (1215) made it a visit. Edward I (1239 – 1307) came to it, fresh from his fields of victory. Edward II (1284 – 1327) took refuge in it from the alarms of pursuit. Henry IV (1367 – 1413) rendezvoused his forces at it. Charles I (1600-1649) came to it at the commencement of the great disasters of his reign; and pronounced the promenade connected with it the finest walk in his kingdom. The parliamentarians, in 1645, laid siege to it; obtained possession of it, at the end of three weeks, by capitulation; and then dismantled it, and blew up its fortifications.
"The town has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, and two chief inns; is a seat of sessions and a polling-place; and publishes a weekly newspaper. A market is held on Saturday; and fairs on the third Monday of Jan., Feb., March, Aug., and Sep.; on the second Monday of June, July, and Dec., and on 1 May and 29 Oct. Much business is done in agricultural produce; and manufactures are carried on in carpets, rugs, and worsteds. The town was chartered by Henry II; sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward I till 1867; was reduced, in that year, to the right of sending only one; and is governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The municipal borough includes the two town parishes [Bridgnorth St. Mary and Bridgnorth St. Leonard], part of Quatt, and most of Quatford. The parliamentary borough includes also the parishes of Astley-Abbots, Tasley, and Oldbury, the rest of Quatford parish, and Romsley liberty in Alveley parish. Direct taxes in 1857: £4,666. Electors in 1868, 658. Population in 1861, of the [municipal] borough: 6,240. Houses: 1,270. Population of the [parliamentary] borough: 7,699. Houses: 1,570. Francis Moore, the physician, and Stedman, the divine, were natives."

Research Tips

  • The historical short form for Shropshire was "Salop". This is quite often found in archive material.
  • Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury SY1 2AQ
  • Shropshire Family History Society.
  • The GENUKI main page for Shropshire provides information on various topics covering the whole of the county, and there is also a link to a list of parishes. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. This is a list of pre-1834 ancient or ecclesiastical parishes but there are suggestions as to how to find parishes set up since then.
  • GENUKI also provides transcriptions of parish registers for numerous parishes throughout Shropshire. These will be noted at the bottom of this list as time permits for the parishes involved. Each register is preceded by historical notes from the editor-transciber and other details than simply births, marriages and deaths that have been found in the individual books from the parishes. These registers probably only go up to 1812 when the proscribed style for registers across the country was altered.
  • GENUKI lists under each parish further references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. (URLs for these other websites may not be up to date.)
  • The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date and from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851. There is a list of all the parishes in existence in 1851 with maps indicating their boundaries. The website is very useful for finding the ecclesiastical individual parishes within large cities and towns.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time, Shropshire, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are similar pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions that existed pre-1974. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72 which often provides brief notes on the economic basis of the settlement and significant occurences through its history.
  • The two maps below indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.
  • Map of Shropshire illustrating urban and rural districts in 1900 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown. (Unfortunately the online copy of this map has pencil codings in each parish which make it difficult to see the orignal.)
  • Map of Shropshire urban and rural districts in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown. This is not a repeat of the first map. There were a number of changes to urban and rural district structure in the 1930s.
  • A map of the ancient divisions named "hundreds" is to be found in A Vision of Britain through Time. Some of the hundreds were broken into separate sections with other hundreds in between.
  • The website British History Online provides four volumes of the Victoria County History Series on Shropshire. Volume 2 covers the religious houses of the county; Volume 4 provides a history of agriculture across the county, and Volumes 10 and 11 deal with Munslow Hundred, the Borough of Wenlock and the Telford area (i.e., the northeastern part of the county). The rest of the county is not presently covered. References to individual parishes will be furnished as time permits.
  • A transcription of the registers of Bridgnorth Castle Street Baptist Chapel (1779-1836) and also the registers of http://www.melocki.org.uk/salop/BridgnorthStoneway.html Bridgnorth Stoneway Chapel] (1765-1812) are online and provided through the auspices of GENUKI. The registers for the two Church of England parishes (Bridgnorth St. Leonard and Bridgnorth St. Mary) are not available online from GENUKI.

NOTE:I have a particular interest in the place - I have a one-place study and reconstitution active on my WeRelate "home" page BridgnorthOnePlaceStudy.

Daniel Longmore