In 1114, King Henry I gave Ellesmere to William Peverel as a part of the Maelor, which included Overton & Whittington at that time. His descendants retained Ellesmere until apparently the late 1140s when the lordship was acquired, probably by force, by Madog ap Maredudd of Powys. Madog died in 1160 and Ellesmere came into the hands of King Henry II.
In mid-April 1205, Llywelyn the Great married Joan, Lady of Wales illegitimate daughter of King John and Ellesmere was given to them as a wedding gift. Llywelyn's mother was Marared (Margaret), daughter of Madog ap Maredudd, Prince of Powys. There is evidence that, after her first husband Iorwerth's death, Marared married in the summer of 1197, Gwion, the nephew of Roger Powys of Whittington Castle. She seems to have pre-deceased her husband, after bearing him a son, David ap Gwion, and therefore there can be no truth in the story that she later married into the Corbet family of Caus Castle (near Westbury, Shropshire) and later, Moreton Corbet Castle. Ellesmere was ordered to be attacked by King Henry III in 1231, but Llywelyn retained control of the lordship until his death in 1240. In 1241 King Henry III ordered John le Strange to repair the wooden castle of Ellesmere.
By 1294, the preceptory of Dolgynwal (Ysbyty Ifan, Denbighshire, on the banks of the River Conwy) had been united with Halston, which was subsequently the administrative centre for all Knights Hospitaller estates in North Wales. Dolgynwal, which had been founded c. 1190, had acquired Ellesmere Church, its most substantial property, from Llywelyn the Great in 1225
There was a tannery located on the edge of the Mere in what is now known as Cremorne Gardens. These gardens were given to the people of Ellesmere by Lord Brownlow who was heavily involved in the Edward VIII abdication crisis of 1936.
Commerce
North Shropshire and the Cheshire Plain has always been a region well suited to dairy produce, and Ellesmere was a thriving market town with several fairs during the year in which dairy produce and livestock were sold. The Shrewsbury to Wrexham turnpike road, passing through Ellesmere, was created in 1752 which used tolls to maintain the road, and so improved transport. Later turnpike roads connected Ellesmere to Whitchurch and Oswestry. The opportunities for trade further increased from 1805 when Ellesmere gained its canal connection to Ellesmere Port and hence to the port of Liverpool, where ships sailed to all parts of the world. In 1806 a July Fair was introduced (in addition to the regular fairs in February, April, August and November) this being for the sale of "horned cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, leather, grain, butter, cheese, wool, bacon, hops, and every other produce of land". The Ellesmere Canal was said to offer speedy and safe conveyance to Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, etc., and North Wales, with the Earl of Bridgewater erecting wharves and warehouses on the canal.[3] The canal gave access to bulky materials, such as timbers for building, iron, and coal, and allowed the building of an adjacent gas works. At the head of the canal was an iron foundry, Bridgewater Foundry, which manufactured agricultural implements and also some of the ironwork required by the canal.
In 1863 Ellesmere gained railway access when the new line arrived from Whitchurch. In July 1864 the extension of the line to Oswestry was completed, and in 1895 the line opened from Ellesmere to Wrexham. The station had a large goods yard, and a siding to a livestock dock. A new cattle market was opened adjacent to the cattle dock in December 1869.[4]
In particular the Ellesmere area was known for its cheese making, and a considerable proportion of Cheshire cheese was made in North Shropshire. In 1909, following the death of its owner, William Clay, the foundry was closed and the works auctioned.[5] This location was later to become the site for a cheese factory which by the 1930s was the largest employer in Ellesmere.[6] The cheese factory continued as a major employer until its closure in January 1987, with the loss of 329 jobs.[7]
Geography
The Mere
The town is located by the side of Ellesmere (aka 'the Mere'), one of the largest natural meres in England outside the Lake District and one of nine glacial meres in the area. ('glacial' means that the depression occupied by the mere was the location of a block of ice that persisted at the end of the last ice age). These meres are different from those in the Lake District in that they do not have a flow of water into them to maintain the level.
An artificial island in the Mere was constructed in 1812 from soil dug out during the making of the gardens at Ellesmere House. This was later named Moscow Island, as Napoleon was forced to retreat from Moscow that year. The Mere has a visitors' centre and is popular with birdwatchers, many of whom visit to see grey herons nesting. There are eight other meres nearby: Blakemere, Colemere, Crosemere, Kettlemere, Newtonmere, Whitemere, Sweatmere and Hanmer Mere.
205 Town Service (Tuesdays and Fridays) (Lakeside Coaches)
449 to Oswestry via Welsh Frankton and Whittington – roughly hourly Monday – Saturday, with 3 journeys daily continuing from Ellesmere to Welshampton (Lakeside Coaches, with Arriva Midlands operating the three Welshampton services: one in the morning and two in the evening);
501 to Shrewsbury via Cockshutt, Myddle (most but not all) and Harmer Hill – roughly hourly (Lakeside coaches).
The Old Town Hall – Ellesmere's most notable building, built in 1833. A grade II listed building.[10]
Education
The town has two schools. Ellesmere Primary School is a primary and nursery school for boys and girls aged 4–11. In 2013 Lakelands School became an academy. Lakelands Academy provides state-paid education for boys and girls in the 11–16 age range (for whom schooling is compulsory) and its former pupils include Luke Preston. Several other nearby schools serve the wider community, such as Welshampton Church of England School, which recently scored among the highest in the country in OFSTED reports in all categories.
A short distance outside the town is Ellesmere College, a public (i.e., private) boarding school founded in 1884 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard for sons of the middle classes. It is now a fully co-educational school catering for pupils from 7–18.
Sport
The town also has a semi-professional football club, Ellesmere Rangers FC, who play their home games at Beech Grove. They are currently members of the North West Counties Football League Division One South, the 10th tier of the English football pyramid.
Shropshire is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the southeast, and Herefordshire to the south. A unitary authority of the same name was created in 2009, taking over from the previous county council and five district councils, now governed by Shropshire Council. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a separate unitary authority since 1998, but remains part of the ceremonial county.
The Welsh Marches is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies 2 miles (3 km) east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, 20 miles (30 km) north of the county town of Shrewsbury, 20 miles (30 km) south of Chester, and 15 miles (24 km) east of Wrexham. At the 2021 Census, the population of the town was 10,141. Whitchurch is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire. Notable people who have lived in Whitchurch include the composer Sir Edward German, and illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
North Shropshire was a local government district in Shropshire, England from 1974 to 2009. The district council was based at Edinburgh House in Wem. Other settlements included the towns of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem and Whitchurch, as well as the large villages of Shawbury and Baschurch. The district bordered onto Wales, Cheshire and Staffordshire as well as the Shropshire districts of Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham and the unitary Telford and Wrekin.
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands. More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough.
Llanymynech is a village straddling the border between Montgomeryshire/Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England, about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh for "Church of the Monks". The village is on the banks of the River Vyrnwy, and the Montgomery Canal passes through it.
Shropshire was established during the division of Saxon Mercia into shires in the 10th century. It is first mentioned in 1006. After the Norman Conquest it experienced significant development, following the granting of the principal estates of the county to eminent Normans, such as Roger De Montgomery and his son Robert de Bellême.
The English county of Shropshire has a fairly large railway network, with 19 National Rail stations on various national lines; there are also a small number of heritage and freight lines, including the famous heritage Severn Valley Railway running along its eastern border with Worcestershire.
Whittington is a village and civil parish in north west Shropshire, England, lying east and north-east of Oswestry. The parish had a population of 2,592 at the 2011 census. The village of Whittington is in the centre of the parish, and three smaller villages, Park Hall to its west, Hindford to the north-east and Babbinswood to the south, are also within the parish.
Madog ap Maredudd was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry.
Powys Wenwynwyn or Powys Cyfeiliog was a Welsh kingdom which existed during the high Middle Ages. The realm was the southern portion of the former princely state of Powys which split following the death of Madog ap Maredudd of Powys in 1160: the northern portion (Maelor) went to Gruffydd Maelor and eventually became known as Powys Fadog; while the southern portion (Cyfeiliog) going to Owain Cyfeiliog and becoming known, eventually, as Powys Wenwynwyn after Prince Gwenwynwyn ab Owain, its second ruler.
Hordley is a small and rural village and civil parish in North Shropshire, Shropshire, England. The population of this Civil Parish at the 2011 census was 292.
The SY postcode area, also known as the Shrewsbury postcode area, is a group of 25 postcode districts in England and Wales, within 32 post towns. These cover most of Shropshire, north Powys, and north Ceredigion, plus small parts of south Cheshire and north Herefordshire, and very small parts of Gwynedd and Wrexham County Borough.
Whittington Castle is a castle in northern Shropshire, England, owned and managed by the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund. The castle was originally a motte-and-bailey castle, but this was replaced in the 13th century by one with buildings around a courtyard whose exterior wall was the curtain wall of the inner bailey. As a castle of the Welsh Marches, it was built on the border of Wales and England very close to the historic fort of Old Oswestry.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1201–1300 to Wales and its people.
The England–Wales border, sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for 160 miles (260 km) from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary in the south, separating England and Wales.
The Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway was a railway company that constructed a line from Whitchurch via Ellesmere to Oswestry. Most of the line was in Shropshire but part entered Flintshire, now Wrexham County Borough. It was seen as a link from the local railways around Newtown to the London and North Western Railway, breaking the local monopoly of the Great Western Railway. It opened as a single line in 1863 and 1864. Throughout the construction period it was short of money, and was paid for by the contractor, who took shares. Sporadically through its life it became a useful part of a through route for mineral trains, but it never developed greatly.
↑ "Townend's golden moment". Shropshire Star. 3 August 2021. p.48.Report of his win at the Tokyo Olympics.
Remfry, P.M., Whittington Castle and the families of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Peverel, Maminot, Powys and Fitz Warin ( ISBN1-899376-80-1)
Further reading
Collins, Martin; Collins, Fran (2017). U.S. Army Hospital Center 804: An Account of the U.S. Military Hospitals in the Shropshire/Flintshire Area during World War. Brewin Books. ISBN978-1-85858-565-9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
