Pant, Shropshire

Last updated

Pant
Course of Montgomery Canal at Pant - geograph.org.uk - 51038.jpg
Course of the Montgomery Canal at Pant, Shropshire
Shropshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Pant
Location within Shropshire
OS grid reference SJ275224
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town OSWESTRY
Postcode district SY10
Dialling code 01691
Police West Mercia
Fire Shropshire
Ambulance West Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Shropshire
52°47′38″N3°04′30″W / 52.794°N 3.075°W / 52.794; -3.075 Coordinates: 52°47′38″N3°04′30″W / 52.794°N 3.075°W / 52.794; -3.075

Pant is a village in Shropshire, England. It lies near the border with Wales. Pant means 'hollow' in Welsh: it is located directly below the disused mines at Llanymynech Rocks Nature Reserve. The population at the 2011 census is listed under the Civil Parish of Llanymynech and Pant. The built-up area of Pant and Llanymynech is roughly 2,000. [1]

Contents

Pant has a few notable features: Llanymynech Golf Club is unique as the only 18 hole course in the UK to straddle the border between two countries; Llanymynech Ogof, a copper mine where many Roman artefacts have been found; Bryn Offa Church of England Primary School, a school built after the closure of four schools in the surrounding area; and a large gin wheel in the village. This quiet village was once much more lively, with several shops and a post office.

History

The Llanymynech Rocks Reserve has known human activity since Roman times, when it is known to have had a copper mine. More recently there has been a limestone quarry. At their prime, Pant and Llanymynech had a tramway from the mines down to various kilns in the villages. Pant's state of the art kilns by the Montgomery Canal were used for only a short period after which they were superseded by the more efficient hoffman kiln at Llanymynech.

The quite quaint love story of "The Pant Heiress" tells the story of a young lady from a wealthy Chester family who eloped with a man who worked on the trains that ran through Pant. The couple got married and lived in a house in the village. After her husband died, she raised her children alone and rented out rooms in her house. She enjoyed painting, especially in the Cornish town of St. Ives.[ citation needed ]

There is also an abandoned gold mine found up Llanymynech Rock where many have collected samples of gold over the years. The mine is hard to find so there is reportedly still adequate quantities there.[ citation needed ]

Transport

Pant was once on the railway line from Whitchurch to Welshpool and also on the Montgomery Canal; they are both now disused.

Cambrian Heritage Railways have restored 0.75 miles (1.21 km) of the railway line between Pant and Llynclys as a heritage railway. Trains operate as far as Penygarreg Lane Halt at present. The trust often holds steam events on the restored stretch. There are plans to reopen the whole line from Gobowen and Oswestry to Welshpool. Work is also under way to make the Montgomery Canal navigable through the village again.

Pant residents are inconvenienced by the busy A483 road, which runs through the centre of the village. A possible bypass around Pant and Llanymynech had long been discussed, but there were no firm plans for this until its authorisation was announced in the 2020 budget. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Shropshire County of England

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.

Morda is a village on the outskirts of the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England, located near the border of England and Wales.

Offas Dyke Path Footpath in Wales and England

Offa's Dyke Path is a long-distance footpath broadly following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout the world. About 60 miles (97 km) of the 177-mile (285 km) route either follows, or keeps close company with, the remnants of Offa's Dyke, an earthwork, most of which was probably constructed in the late 8th century on the orders of King Offa of Mercia.

Oswestry Town in Shropshire, England

Oswestry is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.

A483 road

The A483, officially described as the Swansea to Manchester Trunk Road, although now ending in Chester, is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs from Swansea in Wales to Chester in England via Llandovery, Llandrindod Wells, Oswestry and Wrexham, a distance of around 153 miles (246 km).

Welshpool Human settlement in Wales

Welshpool is a market town and community in Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire, but currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys. The town is four miles from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name Y Trallwng means "the marshy or sinking land". The community includes Cloddiau and Pool Quay.

Montgomery Canal Canal in Shropshire, England, and Powys, Wales

The Montgomery Canal, known colloquially as "The Monty", is a partially restored canal in eastern Powys and northwest Shropshire. The canal runs 33 miles (53 km) from the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction to Newtown via Llanymynech and Welshpool and crosses the England–Wales border.

The Cambrian Railways owned 230 miles (370 km) of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the northwest of England via the London and North Western Railway, and the Great Western Railway for connections between London and Wales. The Cambrian Railways amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922 as a result of the Railways Act 1921. The name is continued today in the route known as the Cambrian Line.

The Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway,, was a project to build a line from the Potteries via Market Drayton, Shropshire, to quarries at Nantmawr and Criggion, Wales. It was initially opened in 1866, obtaining notoriety as the most expensive non-metropolitan railway then built, but was never constructed between Shrewsbury and the Potteries. The line rapidly became very run down as a result of low revenues and poor maintenance, and was closed for safety reasons in June 1880, becoming one of the few railways to close in Victorian times. Attempts to re-open the line were made in the late 1880s and the 1890s by the Shropshire Railways, which took over the property, but these failed. After years of lying derelict, it re-opened as the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway in 1911.

Llanymynech Village straddling the England-Wales border

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.

Railways of Shropshire

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.

Llynclys Human settlement in England

Llynclys ) is a small village in Shropshire, England, in the civil parish of Llanyblodwel. It lies north of Pant at the crossroads of the A483 and B4396, where there are several houses and a pub, the White Lion.

Four Crosses railway station

Four Crosses railway station was a station on the former Cambrian Railways between Oswestry and Welshpool.

Penygarreg Lane is a halt on the Cambrian Heritage Railways' line in Shropshire. It is on the northern edge of the village of Pant, north of the disused Pant station. Prior to its construction, trains stopped here only to reverse back towards Llynclys and passengers could not board or alight here.

The Morda Tramway refers to two industrial railways south of Oswestry, on the border between England and Wales. They connected the coal pits around Morda to transport networks, the first to the Montgomery Canal and the second to the Cambrian Railways at Whitehaven.

The Oswestry and Newtown Railway was a British railway company that built a line between Oswestry in Shropshire and Newtown Montgomeryshire, now Powys. The line opened in stages in 1860 and 1861. It was conceived to open up the area to rail transport, when local opinion formed the view that the trunk railway companies would not do so. Subscription money for the construction proved very difficult to generate. It was the action of a contractor partnership, Davies and Savin, in agreeing to accept shares as the majority of their payment for construction work, that saved the company from failure.

Llanfyllin Branch

The Llanfyllin Branch was a railway line extension of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway to access the limestone resources within the Llanfyllin area; it opened in 1863.

Llanymynech railway station

Llanymynech railway station was an important junction station on the Cambrian Railways mainline from Welshpool, Powys to Oswestry, Shropshire, serving the village of Llanymynech which is partly situated in Shropshire, England and partly in Powys, Wales.

Llanymynech Heritage Area

Llanymynech Heritage Area is an historic former lime kiln, quarry and industrial site near the village of Llanymynech, Shropshire in the Welsh Marches. The site is adjacent to the A483 road and close to the Montgomery Canal. It is about 6 miles (10 km) south of Oswestry on the English side of the border, and about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Powys town of Welshpool.

Llanymynech and Pant is a civil parish in Shropshire, England. It contains 23 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. All the listed buildings are designated at Grade II, the lowest of the three grades, which is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest". The parish contains the villages of Llanymynech and Pant, and the surrounding area. The border between England and Wales passes through Llanymynech, and this is marked by a boundary stone which is listed. The area was once important for the manufacture of lime, and seven groups of lime kilns are listed, together with the much larger Hoffmann Kiln and its chimney. In Llanymynech is a listed pair of houses, a public house, and a church together with a pair of gate piers, and a memorial in the churchyard. Elsewhere, the listed buildings include farmhouses, farm buildings, an ice house, a gin wheel, a former mill, and a canal bridge.

References

  1. "Custom report - Nomis - Official Labour Market Statistics".
  2. Austin, Sue (11 March 2020). "Budget 2020: Delight as funding for Pant/Llanymynech bypass near Oswestry revealed". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 11 March 2020.