Oswestry

Oswestry is a town in Shropshire, England, very close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads. The town is the administrative headquarters of the borough of Oswestry and is the third largest town in Shropshire with a population of 17,110 [1], after Telford and Shrewsbury. The former Marcher Lordship of Oswestry was annexed to Shropshire along with the Lordships of Whetington, Masbroke and Knoking to form the Hundred of Oswestry by section 11 of the Laws in Wales Acts 1535.

The area has long been settled. Old Oswestry is the site of a large Iron Age hill fort with evidence for occupation dating back to the 550s BC.

The Battle of Maserfield is thought to have been fought here in 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Penda and Oswald. Oswald was killed in this battle and was dismembered; according to a legend, one of his arms was carried to an ash tree by a bird, and miracles were subsequently attributed to the tree (as Oswald was considered a saint). Thus it is believed that the name of the site derived from a reference to "Oswald's Tree". The spring Oswald's Well is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree.

Offa's Dyke runs nearby to the west. The town, being very close to Wales, has many Welsh street and place names and the town's name in Welsh is Croesoswallt.

The Domesday Book records a castle being built by Rainald, a Norman Sheriff of Shropshire: "L'oeuvre" (meaning "the work" in French) (which was reduced to a pile of rocks during the English Civil War), and the town changed hands between English and Welsh a number of times during the Middle Ages.

The town built walls for protection, but these were torn down by the Parliamentarians after they took the town after a brief siege on the 22nd of June 1644, leaving only the Newgate Pillar visible today.

Attractions of Oswestry include Whittington Castle (in nearby Whittington), and Shelf Bank. As well as numerous primary schools in or just outside Oswestry, there are two private schools, Oswestry School and Moreton Hall, and a comprehensive, The Marches School and Technology College. In addition, post-16 education is provided by North Shropshire and Walford College. The town also has a noted specialist orthodpaedic hospital.

The former local football club, Oswestry Town F.C., was one of the few English teams to compete in the Welsh football league. Oswestry Town folded due to financial difficulties in 2003 and merged with Total Network Solutions F.C. of Llansantffraid, a village eight miles (13 km) away on the Welsh side of the border. Following the takeover of the club's sponsor in 2006, the club renamed itself as The New Saints F.C. They are planning to build a new ground in Oswestry, but will probably not break ground until at least 2007.

Oswestry does not have an active railway station itself, although the buildings of the long-disused former railway station occupy a prominent place in the town, and the still mostly intact railway runs right through the middle, just past the town centre. The nearest active station is at Gobowen.

For decades following World War 2, Oswestry was a prominent military centre for Canadian troops, later British Royal Artillery and latterly, a very successful training centre for 16-18 year old Infantry Junior Leaders. This long and proud military connection came to an ignominious end in the mid-1970s, shortly after some local licensed wildfowlers were shot by the young military guard one winter's night, mistaken for an attacking IRA force, as the locals discharged their shotguns at some passing duck.

[edit] Notable Oswestrians

Frank Bough, British television presenter.
Thomas Bray, theologian.
Henry Walford Davies, composer.
Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, Chairman of Macmillan Publisher Ltd.
Wilfred Owen, WWI soldier and poet.
Barbara Pym, author.
William Henry Griffith Thomas, clergyman and scholar.
George Williams, Michigan State Senator.
Ian Woosnam, golfer.
Per Lindstrand, balloonist.
Ian Hunter, Musician - Mott the Hoople, etc.
Rev. William Archibald Spooner, originator of the Spoonerism.
Jesse Armstrong, TV comedy writer.
Trevor Rees-Jones, bodyguard and survivor of the accident in which Diana, Princess of Wales died.

[edit] External links

Shropshire Tourism The official tourism website for Shropshire
107.1 The Severn
Oswestry Borough Council
Oswestry Town Council
Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser, the town's weekly newspaper
Whittington Castle
Cambrian Railway Museum
RJAH Orthopaedic hospital [2]

Ceremonial county of Shropshire
Unitary authorities:	Telford and Wrekin
Boroughs/Districts:	Bridgnorth • North Shropshire • Oswestry • Shrewsbury and Atcham • South Shropshire
Cities/Towns:	Bishop's Castle • Bridgnorth • Broseley • Church Stretton • Cleobury Mortimer • Clun • Craven Arms • Dawley • Ellesmere • Ludlow • Madeley • Market Drayton • Much Wenlock • Newport • Oakengates • Oswestry • Shifnal • Shrewsbury • Telford • Wellington • Wem • Whitchurch See also: List of civil parishes in Shropshire