Place:Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England

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NameMuch Wenlock
Alt namesMuch Wenlocksource: from redirect
Wenlocksource: Wikipedia (name of ancient borough)
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates52.597°N 2.558°W
Located inShropshire, England
See alsoWenlock Franchise, Shropshire, Englandliberty in which it was located until 1836
Bridgnorth District, Shropshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area 1974-2009
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

Much Wenlock is a small town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford.

Much Wenlock was historically the chief town of the ancient borough of Wenlock. The "Much" was added to the name to distinguish it from the nearby Little Wenlock, and signifies that it is the larger of the two settlements. Notable historic attractions in the town are Wenlock Priory and the Guildhall. The name Wenlock probably comes from the Celtic name Wininicas, meaning "white area" (in reference to the limestone of Wenlock Edge), plus the Old English loca, meaning "enclosed place". The town was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wenloch. The population of the town's parish, according to the 2001 UK census, was 2,605, increasing to 2,877 at the 2011 UK census.

The Municipal Borough of Wenlock existed until 1966 which, at its height, was – by area – the largest borough in England outside London and encompassed several of the towns that now constitute Telford. The borough had unusual boundaries, covering Much Wenlock itself, but also Little Wenlock, Broseley and Ironbridge, a total area of 71 square miles (180 km2). In 1966 the core Wenlock parts became part of the Bridgnorth Rural District, with other parts also going to Dawley Urban District and to Wellington Rural District.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Much Wenlock from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"WENLOCK (Much), a town, a parish, and a borough, in Salop [or Shropshire]. The town stands on the Buildwas and Craven-Arms railway, under the NE end of Wenlock Edge, 11 miles SE of Shrewsbury; dates from the ancient British times; was anciently called Llan-Meilain, signifying "St. Milburg's church;" acquired importance from a monastery, founded in 680, by Milburga, daughter of King Merwald; suffered severely from the inroads of the Danes; became a borough, sending two members to parliament, in the time of Edward IV.; gives the title of Baron to the family of Lawley; is a seat of sessions and a polling place; consists chiefly of two streets, crossing at right angles; and has a post-office under Wellington, Salop, a [railway] station, a banking office, an ancient guildhall, restored in 1848, a corn exchange of 1852, with agricultural library and reading room, an ancient church, partly Norman and recently enlarged, two dissenting chapels, a public library, an endowed school with £14 a year, alms houses, some other charities, a weekly market on Monday, and five annual fairs.
"The ancient monastery was destroyed by the Danes; and was refounded, as a Cluniac abbey, in 1080, by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. The abbey gave rise, in 1164, to Paisley abbey, founded by the first Stuart; went, at the dissolution, to the Berties; passed to the Gages and the Wynnes; was a noble cruciform edifice, measuring 401 feet from E to W, and 166 feet along the transept; included a Lady chapel of the 15th century 48 feet long, and a chapter-house 60 feet by 30; and is now represented by extensive ruins, comprising large parts of the main body of the church, parts of the Lady chapel, the chapter-house, and the cloisters, and the prior's lodge and gate. An ancient hospital of St. John also was here.
"The parish comprises 8,846 acres, and is a [registration] sub-district of Madeley [registration] district. Real property: £13,956 (of which £441 are in quarries, and £40 in gasworks). Population in 1851: 2,398; in 1861: 2,494. Houses: 509. The property is much subdivided.
"The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford. Value: £180. Patron: J. M. Gaskell, Esq.
"The borough [Wenlock Municipal Borough] includes 12 parishes and a part municipally, and 17-and a part parliamentarily; is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; and sends two members to parliament. Corporation revenue, about £560. Electors in 1833, 691; in 1863, 1,011. Population of the municipal borough in 1851: 18,728; in 1861: 19,699. Houses: 4,000. Population of the parliamentary borough in 1851: 20,588; in 1861: 21,590. Houses: 4,369."

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

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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Much Wenlock. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.