Cross Houses is a village in Shropshire, England, the largest village in the Parish of Berrington. It is located on the A458 road and is 4 miles south east of Shrewsbury.
Cross Houses is also the name of a hamlet south-west of Bridgnorth.
Transport
It was once served by Berrington railway station, which despite the name was much closer to Cross Houses than to its namesake.
Local businesses
The village has a Shop/Post Office/Petrol Station and also a pub "The Bell". The village also used to be home to a second pub "The Fox" which has since been converted into a single dwelling and a second house built in the former car park.
Developments
Over the decades, Cross Houses has expanded in phases. Properties in Lower Cross were originally built as council houses in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Further social housing was added on the adjacent Noel Hill Road in the 1960s. There was little substantial change in the 1970s and 1980s, before the first phase of homes by Shrewsbury-based developer Fletcher Homes were completed in the 1990s on land immediately to the south of the A458.
The turn of the Millennium saw substantial further developments. The Chestnuts, providing 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes, was built on the site of the former Cross Houses Hospital in the early to mid 2000s. The Chestnuts development was located on the site of the old workhouse and incorporated renovation of some of the old buildings.
During 2016 work started by Fletcher Homes on a new development, known as Berrington Meadows, located on the land opposite the village shop. This development also features a selection of 3 and 4 bedroom properties. As part of this development a new roundabout was built in 2019.
Banbury Developments, a company associated with Fletcher Homes, also owns the field to the east of the existing Berrington Meadows development, where further expansion of the village is likely to take place.
Atcham Union Workhouse/Cross Houses Hospital
Cross Houses has long been renowned [citation needed] for the hospital site, which has recently been redeveloped for housing.
The hospital was originally built as the Atcham Union Workhouse in 1793 following Atcham's incorporation under a local Act in 1792. The Incorporation was allowed under the Act to build and operate workhouses. The original building was designed by local architect John Hiram Haycock (1759–1830), and was later extended in 1851, 1871 and 1903 to increase capacity.[1]
The part of the building that was the original Workhouse, now residential accommodation, is called Haycock House after the original architect.
In 1916, during World War I, the building became Berrington War Hospital before becoming successively a general hospital, maternity hospital and geriatric hospital after that war. The building was eventually used as NHS Trust admin offices and storage. The offices were closed in 2000 and redeveloped into modern housing.
The development, commencing in 2001, aimed to preserve the heritage of the original buildings in the workhouse complex. The original workhouse building, the kitchen/laundry block and the chapel remained where other extensions were taken down.
The chapel now houses a community centre and the former laundry and kitchen block houses offices.
Architecturally, the appeal of the building is with the original Workhouse and the original laundry/kitchen block which has some of the earliest cast-iron windows in the world. It is also note-worthy that "great" bricks were used in the construction of the Workhouse, reflecting the response of brick manufacturers to the brick tax.[2]
To the north of Cross Houses lies Work House Wood – a wood strategically positioned to protect the residents of Attingham Park Mansion from views of the Workhouse.[2]
Art in Cross Houses
The history of the buildings inspired a group of artists during its redevelopment and Benchart in Cross Houses was formed. The artists developed contemporary public artworks in rural areas, recycling reclaimed materials from the site. Some of the art works include sculpted benches around the Workhouse and chapel and bus shelters built using reclaimed materials and reflecting the 'local vernacular'.[3]
Shrewsbury and Atcham was a local government district with borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009.
Coleham Pumping Station is a historical pumping station at Coleham in Shrewsbury, England.
Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the B4380, 5 miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows round the village. To the south is the village of Cross Houses and to the north-west the hamlet of Emstrey.
Minsterley is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. In the 2011 census, its population was 1,777. Minsterley lies one mile south-west of Pontesbury and 10 miles south-west of Shrewsbury. East from Minsterley along the A488, is the larger village of Pontesbury and to its south the hill range, the Stiperstones. The Rea Brook flows nearby and the smaller Minsterley Brook flows through the centre of the village.
Cressage is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the nearest town Much Wenlock and 8 miles (12.9 km) south-east of Shrewsbury. It lies the junction of the A458 and B4380 roads; the River Severn flows around its northern boundary. The parish council is combined with the neighbouring parish of Sheinton. The village's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census was 730.
Frankwell is a district of the town of Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, England. It lies adjacent to the River Severn, to the northwest of the town centre, and is one of Shrewsbury's oldest suburbs. The main road running through the area is also called Frankwell.
Longden is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is located 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Shrewsbury.
Berrington is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. According to the 2001 census the village had a population of 30, though the parish, which also includes the larger village of Cross Houses and other settlements such as Betton Strange and Cantlop, had a population of 805 in total.
Cruckton is a small village in Shropshire, England. Cruckton is situated approximately five miles from Shrewsbury town centre, off the B4386 road to Montgomery, Powys. The postcode begins SY5. It is within the civil parish of Pontesbury and the Shrewsbury and Atcham parliamentary constituency.
Plealey is a small village in Shropshire, England. It is located between Pontesford and Longden.
Betton Strange is a hamlet in the English county of Shropshire. It is only 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Shrewsbury town centre, situated in countryside just beyond the Shrewsbury bypass and near the A458.
Cound is a village and civil parish on the west bank of the River Severn in the English county of Shropshire, about 7 miles south east of the county town Shrewsbury. Once a busy and industrious river port Cound has now reverted to a quiet rural community and dormitory village, for commuters to the commercial centres of Shrewsbury and Telford.
Hanwood is a large village in Shropshire, England.
Sutton Farm is a suburb on the south-east side of Shrewsbury, in the civil parish of Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, England.
The Manor Hospital, formerly The Manor Asylum and The Manor Certified Institution was a mental handicap and psychiatric hospital in Horton, near Epsom, Surrey, United Kingdom
Edward Haycock Sr. was an English architect working in the West Midlands and in central and southern Wales in the late Georgian and early Victorian periods.
John Hiram Haycock (1759-1830) was an architect who built many notable buildings in Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. He was the son of William Haycock (1725-1802), a carpenter and joiner of Shrewsbury. He was apprenticed to his father and became a freeman of the Shrewsbury Carpenters’ and Bricklayers’ Company in 1796. From about 1814 he worked in partnership with his son Edward Haycock, Sr., and became the Shropshire county surveyor in 1824.
Longner Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Longner, Shropshire, England, some 2 miles south-east of Shrewsbury in the civil parish of Atcham.
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