Longnor, Shropshire

Longnor
The ford at the Old Forge, Longnor
Longnor
Longnor shown within Shropshire
Population	289 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SJ485005
Civil parish	Longnor
Unitary authority	Shropshire
Ceremonial county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHREWSBURY
Postcode district	SY5
Dialling code	01743
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Shrewsbury and Atcham

Longnor is a village and civil parish off the A49 road, south of Dorrington and north of Leebotwood in Shropshire, England, with a population of 289. The nearest railway station is 4.7 miles (7.6 km) away at Church Stretton. The Cound Brook flows just to the west of the village and its medieval deer park. The village is also noted for a famous Shropshire ghost, the White Lady of Longnor. It contains Longnor Hall and the Grade I listed medieval St Mary's Church. Regional Cycle Route 32/33 passes through Longnor, as do bus routes on between Church Stretton and Shrewsbury and Radbrook Green.

Facilities

Education

Longnor CE Primary School is the village primary school.^[2] In January 2011 it had 112 pupils aged between five and eleven.^[3] There is also a pre-school in Longnor called Little Seekers.^[4] The nearest secondary school is in Church Stretton.

Church

Longnor Church from the rear left corner

Longnor Church from the west

St. Mary's church is an ancient, Grade 1 Listed Building building in the medieval Early English style, which has been continually and carefully conserved over the years. Two new stained glass windows were installed in 2000, to mark the turn of the millennium in the year 2000.

Originally a chapel to Condover, it was turned into a chapel for the Corbett family of Longnor Hall, before evolving into the parish church.^[5]

Longnor was the birthplace of Samuel Lee (1783–1853), a linguist, Cambridge academic and Anglican cleric, whose translations from the Bible and other religious works into Arabic and other languages helped to launch the missionary activities of the Evangelical movement in the first half of the 19th century.^[6]

Food and drink

The nearest restaurant is 1.7 miles away in Leebotwood south-east of Longnor. The restaurant is called The Pound and serves British cuisine.^[7] The nearest pub to Longnor is the Fox Inn which is 1.7 miles away in Little Ryton to the north.

Local government

Leebotwood & Longnor PC

Longnor is part of a joint parish council with the village of Leebotwood. In 2008, the electorate in the parish was 343 members, who vote on matters such as improving the quality of life of the two communities and looking after the environment. It influences and works alongside the principal authority Shropshire Council, Police, Highways Agency, PCT.^[8]

Longnor Hall

Not to be confused with Longner Hall, near Shrewsbury

Longnor Hall features a park and formal gardens, the park originated in the 14th Century. In the 17th century it was turned from being a park to having formal gardens laid out. It is now left with having the 18th Century park and modern gardens still in survival.^[9] The current hall was built by Sir Richard Corbett in 1670 as successor for Roger Sprencheaux's fortified manor house from 1235.^[10] The hall had some alterations done between 1838 and 1842 by the architect and builder Edward Haycock Snr.^[11][12]

Photograph of Longnor Hall from 1891.

Corbet family

The Corbet family were the builders and original inhabitants of Longnor Hall. Originally built for Sir Richard Corbett in 1670 and finished in 1693 for his son, Uvedale Corbett, in 1694.^[11] The name of Corbet arrived in Shropshire in the times of the Norman Conquest, when Hugh Corbet settled in the area. The name developed from Corbet, to Corbett, and the branch of the Corbett family living in Longnor dates from the 1500s. The last in this line was Jane Corbett who married archdeacon Joseph Plymley. However, he took on the name Corbett and it has continued, although many Corbets or Corbetts had moved away from Shropshire by the 19th century.^[13]

Farming

Longnor is home to numerous different farms, five of which are, Micklewood Farm, Shrubbery Farm, Upper House Farm, The Farm and Green Farm.^[14] These farms are the main economic force in the area, the majority of industry in the area has been in agriculture throughout history.^[15] One farm is specialised in the milk industry, Green Farm, which in 2010 acquired a modern milking facility to boost production and profits.^[16] The farm however is not just focused on dairy farming; it also produces mixed crops.

View of Green Farm, from the Roman Road

Natural features

Cound Brook

Cound Brook is a 25-mile-long (40 km) tributary of the River Severn, it runs from the All Stretton area, through Longnor, Condover and exits into the Severn near Cound. Longnor is situated in the middle section of Cound Brook. Having rainwater runoff from the Stretton Hills join it, the brook rapidly widens to a significant flow, passing to the east of Leebotwood and west of Longnor and the Medieval deer park there. Continuing to the east of Dorrington village, at Stapleton the Cound changes direction and heads eastwards. The flow of the Cound Brook can vary from a slow, sluggish flow in a dry summer to a raging torrent in winter or spring.^[17]

The Cound Brook from Longnor Bridge

Medieval deer park

A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside,^[18] thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving. There is a medieval deer park in Longnor.

Climate and environment

The climate in the area of Longnor is typical for England and especially the area, being of a temperate nature. This means that there is relatively little variation in the climate between summer and winter. Longnor is in the part of England however that can get hit by some extremes of weather for example snow in winter months, for example snow warnings were issued for Shropshire in April 2012.^[19] As it lies in the midlands of Britain, it has a climate that is essentially transitional between northern and southern England in terms of temperature differentials and also between Wales and eastern England with regards to levels of rainfall.^[20]

View of the countryside in the area of Longnor

History

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Longnor like this:

Longnor, a village and a parish in Church-Stretton district, Salop. The village stands on the Cound Brook, near Watling-street, 1½ mile NNE of Leebotwood r. station, and 5 NNE of Church-Stretton; and is supposed to occupy the site of a Roman station. The parish comprises 1,200 acres; and its Post town is Leebotwood, under Shrewsbury. Real property, £3,656; of which £88 are in mines. Pop., 244. Houses, 48. The property is divided among a few. Longnor Hall is a chief residence. Coal is found, but is worked less now than formerly. The living is a vicarage annexed to the vicarage of Leebotwood, in the diocese of Lichfield. The church is ancient but good; and belonged formerly to Haughmond abbey. There are a national school, and charities £44. The Rev. Samuel Lee, late professor of Arabic at Cambridge, was a native. ^[21]

Shropshire ghost

The White Lady of Longnor

The White Lady of Longnor is one of Shropshire's most famous ghosts. She appears clothed in her long white wedding dress. Her haunt is on or near the road bridge near the village, she is thought to have thrown herself from the old bridge into the water below after being deserted at the altar. She is rumoured to stand staring at the water as it flows beneath her feet. There are various accounts of what she appears to do, one is that she will drift eerily through the parapet of the bridge and fall slowly into the stream then fade away. Another claims that she attends village dances and parties.^[22]

Transport

Road

A49 Near North Lodge, to the North of Longnor

The A49, is the main road that passes by Longnor just to the West of the village. It heads from South to North traversing the Welsh Marches region from Hereford to Wigan. The road provides the main routes from Longnor into the surrounding towns and villages, especially into Shrewsbury and Church Stretton, with Church Stretton being where the nearest shops are to Longnor as it is the nearest town. The A49 is also the road which has the bus links for the people of Longnor, having the number 435 bus stopping just to the North of the village on the road.^[23]

Cycling

Route 32/33 links the village with the National Cycle Network, on its way from Little Ryton to All Stretton as part of National Cycle Route 44.^[24]

Trains

The nearest train station to Longnor is 4.7 miles (7.6 km) away in Church Stretton. The station is served by the 435 bus route to Shrewsbury. The next nearest train station is in Shrewsbury 7.7 miles (12.4 km) to the north.^[25]

Buses

Bus routes that go through Longnor are the number 435 and 540. Both start in Church Stretton being the largest town near to Longnor, the 435 goes through a number of different villages, including Longnor on its way to Shrewsbury. The 540 has different destination at the end of its route being Radbrook Green a suburb of Shrewsbury.^[25]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Longnor, Shropshire.

• Photos of Longnor and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk