Shropshire, England Genealogy

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Shropshire, or Salop, is an inland county of England along its border with Wales. Traditionally the county was bounded by the English counties of Cheshire; Staffordshire; Worcestershire and Herefordshire; and the historic Welsh counties of Denbighshire; Flintshire; Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire.

Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties, although it also played an important role in the Industrial Revolution.

The county town is the history town of Shrewsbury, although the new town of Telford, built around the towns of Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, is the largest town in the county.

Much of Shropshire was previously within Wales, and formed the eastern part of the ancient Kingdom of Powys. It was annexed to Saxon Mercia by King Offa in the eighth century.

Motto: Floreat Salopia

Featured content

 * Browse by Topic: All pages for Shropshire
 * Shropshire Gazeteer 1870

Jurisdictions

 * Hamlet
 * Parish: an area of varying size under the responsibility of a clergyman of the Church of England
 * Hundred: a group of two or more parishes
 * Sub-district: comprised of more than one civil parish
 * Registration District
 * Poor Law Union
 * Archdeaconry
 * Diocese
 * County

Did you know?

 * The world's first bridge to be made out of cast iron was built across the River Severn at Ironbridge in 1779.
 * Charles Darwin, the eminent naturalist, was born in Shrewsbury in 1809.
 * Cadfael (or Cadfael ap Meilyr ap Dafydd), in Ellis Peters' mediaeval novels, was a Benedictine monk and herbalist at the abbey at Shrewsbury.

Things you can do

 * Visit the Shropshire Archive in Shrewsbury.

Useful websites

 * Shropshire FHS
 * Shropshire Nonconformist Chapels
 * Ironbridge Gorge Museum