Place:Clungunford, Shropshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Clungunford is a village and civil parish in south Shropshire, England, located near the border with Herefordshire. The River Clun flows just to the west of the village and can be crossed here by Clungunford Bridge.

The name derives from when this part of the Clun Valley was owned by the Saxon Lord Gunward and so was called "Clun Gunward" (meaning the place on the Clun owned by Gunward). It is written in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Clone Gunward".

The civil parish of Clungunford (which has an area of 1,343 hectares (3,320 acres)) includes the village of Clungunford, the hamlets of Abcott, Beckjay, Broadward, Hopton Heath (with its railway station) and Shelderton, and a number of outlying farms and houses including Rowton Grange, The Crossways, and part of Twitchen. The population as of the 2011 census was 316.

Neighbouring civil parishes are Clunbury, Craven Arms (formerly Stokesay), Hopesay, Hopton Castle, Leintwardine (Herefordshire), and Onibury.

At the time of the Domesday Book, the manor of Clungunford fell within the hundred of Leintwardine, but later came within the Purslow Hundred (the township of Shelderton however fell under [[Place:Munslow Hundred, Shropshire, England|Munslow Hundred). Abcott, Beckjay, Broadward and Shelderton were medieval townships, whilst Hopton Heath came into being with the coming of the railway in 1861.

In 1894 Clungunford became part of Clun Rural District, followed by Clun and Bishop's Castle Rural District in 1967. In 1974 the non-metropolitan district of South Shropshire took over from the rural districts. In 2009 there was another re-organisation of local administration, with the creation of a unitary authority (Shropshire District) covering most of Shropshire.

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

"CLUNGUNFORD, a parish in Clun [registration] district, Salop [or Shropshire]; on the river Clun, Watling-street, and the Central Wales railway, near Hopton-Heath [railway] station, 6¼ miles ESE of Clun. It includes the townships of Abcott, Beckjay, Broadward, Shelderton, and part of Broom and Rowton: and its post town is Aston-on-Clun. Acres: 3,620. Real property: £4,261. Population: 647. Houses: 113. The property is divided among a few. Clungunford House and Broadward Hall are chief residences. Limestone is found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford. Value: £530. Patron: the Rev. Mr. Rocke. The church is early decorated English, in good condition; and there are charities £59."

NOTE: Wikipedia states that Clungonford was part of Ludlow Rural District. The data above comes from A Vision of Britain through Time and from the Ordnance Survey Map of Shropshire of 1900.

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