Much Wenlock

Much Wenlock
The Guildhall
Much Wenlock
Much Wenlock shown within Shropshire
Population	2,877 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SO623997
Unitary authority	Shropshire
Ceremonial county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MUCH WENLOCK
Postcode district	TF13
Dialling code	01952
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Ludlow

Much Wenlock is a small town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford.

Much Wenlock was historically the chief town of the ancient borough of Wenlock. The "Much" was added to the name to distinguish it from the nearby Little Wenlock, and signifies that it is the larger of the two settlements. Notable historic attractions in the town are Wenlock Priory and the Guildhall. The name Wenlock probably comes from the Celtic name Wininicas, meaning "white area" (in reference to the limestone of Wenlock Edge), plus the Old English loca, meaning "enclosed place".^[2] The town was recorded in the Domesday Book as Wenloch.^[2] The population of the town's parish, according to the 2001 census, was 2,605, increasing to 2,877 at the 2011 Census.

The Wenlock Olympian Games established by Dr William Penny Brookes in 1850 are centred in the town. Dr Brookes is credited as a founding father of the modern Olympic Games, and one of the Olympic mascots for London 2012 was named Wenlock after the town.

History

Historic council chamber, Guildhall, Much Wenlock

Richard Fletcher mentions Much Wenlock as one of the possible locations where a Sub-Roman British Christian community may have survived the Anglo-Saxon occupation and eventually integrated with the conquerors and influenced their culture.^[3]

The town of Wenlock is known to have grown up around an abbey or monastery founded around 680^[4] by Merewalh, a son of King Penda of Mercia, with the small town within its parish boundaries. King Penda installed his daughter Milburga as abbess in 687. Milburga of Wenlock was credited with many miraculous works.^[5] The abbey flourished until around 874 when it is thought that a Danish Viking attack occurred.

In the 11th century another religious house was built on the same site by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Countess Godiva his wife. In the 12th century this was replaced by a Cluniac priory, established by Roger de Montgomerie after the Norman conquest, the ruins of which can still be seen and which is now in the hands of English Heritage. It prospered until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Other architectural attractions include the 16th century Guildhall, many other historic buildings in the Early English style and an annual well dressing at St Milburga's Well on Barrow Street.

11-year-old Alice Glaston from Little Wenlock was hanged together with two men in Much Wenlock on 13 April 1546, for an unknown crime.^[6][7][8] She is the youngest known girl legally executed in Great Britain.

In the 19th century the town and much of the surrounding land came into the possession of James Milnes Gaskell, from his wife's family the Williams-Wynns. James was MP for Wenlock for many years. His son Charles Milnes Gaskell restored the Priory lodging as a home with his wife Lady Catherine, daughter of the Earl of Portsmouth. There they entertained many famous people of the day, writers, politicians, artists and explorers, among them Thomas Hardy, Henry Adams, Henry James, Thomas Woolner, Henry Morton Stanley, Isabella Bird and Phillip Webb.^[9]

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the manor as 'Wenloch' and forming part of the hundred of Patton. It was already at this time a fairly large settlement, with 73 households. The abbey is also recorded in the book, separately.^[10] The borough of Wenlock was incorporated under the "Bailiff, Burgesses and Commonalty" by Edward IV in 1468 at the request of Sir John Wenlock, and "in consideration of the laudable services which the men of the town performed in assisting the king to gain possession of the crown," and the charter was confirmed in 1547 by Henry VIII and in 1631 by Charles I.^[11]

Much Wenlock has become known as the birthplace of Wenlock Olympian Games set up by Dr William Penny Brookes and his Wenlock Olympian Society (WOS) in 1850. In 1861 he was also instrumental in setting up the Shropshire Games and later in 1866, the National Olympian Games. Dr Brookes is credited as a founding father of the Modern Olympic Games. In 1890 it was the turn of the Raven Hotel to be the venue for the annual post Wenlock Olympian Games' dinner, and Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the guest of honour. Copies of some of the WOS's archive images are on display in the hotel, including letters from Coubertin to Brookes. The Wenlock Olympian Games, a nine-day event staged on eight sites across Shropshire, are still held annually during July, and are still organised by WOS. Much Wenlock's secondary school is named after Dr Brookes.

The Olympic mascot for London 2012 was named Wenlock^[12] to honour Dr Brookes, WOS and Much Wenlock. On 30 May 2012, the Olympic flame of the London 2012 Summer Games, was carried through Much Wenlock to acknowledge the founding footsteps of Dr Brookes.^[13] WOS Vice-President, John Simpson, carried an Olympic torch from the town into the William Brookes School.

A borough of Wenlock existed until 1966 which, at its height, was – by area – the largest borough in England^[14] outside London and encompassed several of the towns that now constitute Telford. The borough had unusual boundaries, covering Much Wenlock itself, but also Little Wenlock, Broseley and Ironbridge, a total area of 71 square miles (180 km²).^[15] In 1966 the core Wenlock parts became part of the Bridgnorth Rural District, with other parts also going to Dawley Urban District and to Wellington Rural District.

Much Wenlock was the first community in the West Midlands to have a neighbourhood development plan. The plan was put to a parish referendum on 22 May 2014. There was a 41.8% turnout, and 84.6% of those voting said "yes" to the referendum question: "Do you want Shropshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Much Wenlock to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area." The Neighbourhood Plan was "made" (adopted) by Shropshire Council on 17 July 2014. Planning applications in the town and surrounding parish must be considered against the Neighbourhood Plan as well as existing planning policy where appropriate, such as the Shropshire-wide Core Strategy and as well as the National Planning Policy Framework.

Much Wenlock was the location for the third episode of the first series of the archaeology television programme Time Team in 1994.^[16]

Churches

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church, in Wilmore Street, is the Anglican parish church. The first church on this site was built in Anglo-Saxon times. The present church dates from 1150 and was built by the Cluniac monks from Wenlock Priory. Features of interest include the plain Norman tower which had a spire until early in the 20th century, and a memorial inside the church to W. P. Brookes as well as the refurbished family gravestones in the churchyard. The churchyard is a large, open, green space with some tall trees. The Shit Brook ran along the road towards the church before it was culverted. There is also a Methodist church in King Street. The town's former Roman Catholic Church of St Mary Magdalene, in Barrow Street, closed in 2008, was demolished in 2012 and domestic properties built in its place.

Cultural associations

• The annual Live Arts Festival held during March is a section of Wenlock Olympian Games. There are competitions in music, creative writing and dance for young people aged 18 years and under.

Bookshop in Much Wenlock

• Nearby is Wenlock Edge, an important geological feature. Both the Edge and the town are the subject of several poems by A. E. Housman in his famous volume A Shropshire Lad, such as: "On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble..." and "Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town...". In 1909 these poems were set to music by Vaughan Williams as On Wenlock Edge, Song cycle for tenor and piano quintet.
• The Victorian era romantic painter and sculptor Robert Bateman (1842–1922) lived near Much Wenlock, at the 16th century Benthall Hall. In 1907 Walter Crane described his painting as of... "a magic world of romance and pictured poetry ... a twilight world of dark mysterious woodlands, haunted streams, meads of deep green starred with burning flowers, veiled in a dim and mystic light."
• The novelist Mary Webb (then Mary Meredith), lived in childhood at The Grange just outside the town, on the Church Stretton road, from 1882 to 1896.^[17]
• The classicist Mary Beard was born here.
• St. Milburga's Well was supposed to cure eye diseases and the town was a destination popular for medieval pilgrims, coming to worship at St Milburga's Shrine.
• The London 2012 Summer Olympics mascot, Wenlock, is named after the town in honour of Dr WP Brookes and his Wenlock Olympian Society.
• Much Wenlock is host to an annual Poetry Festival, held the week-end after Easter. Founded by Anna Dreda of Wenlock Books, its patron is Carol Ann Duffy.
• Rosemary Leach (born 1935) English stage, television and film actress was born here.
• The actress Gabrielle Drake (born 1944) lives in Wenlock Priory
• Isobel Cooper (born in Much Wenlock in 1975), is an English operatic pop soprano singer, known professionally as Izzy.

Films

• In 1950 the town and its surrounding countryside were the locations of the film Gone to Earth by Powell and Pressburger. In 1985 the film was fully restored by the National Film Archive, and premiered to great acclaim. The New Statesman review claimed the restored film to be... "One of the great British regional films ...(and)... one of the most beautiful films ever to be shot of the English countryside". The film was based on the 1917 novel of the same name by the Shropshire writer Mary Webb, which was partly inspired by the Diary of Francis Kilvert.
• The John Cleese film Clockwise was filmed partly in and around Much Wenlock.
• Parts of the film "European Psycho" were filmed here, with the Guildhall being used as a nightclub.

In July 2011, the documentary 'Tony Robinson's Olympics' was filmed during the Wenlock Olympian Games and also in and around Much Wenlock

Books

• The fiction based on fact novel A Spurious Brood is set in and around Much Wenlock. The book is based on the true story of Katherine More, youngest daughter of an ancient Shropshire family, whose four children were taken from her to be transported to America on board the Pilgrim Fathers’ ship the Mayflower.
• Much Wenlock also features in the mystery novel Saint Milburga's Bones, by Jason Vail. Set in the 13th century, the novel is part of the Stephen Attebrook mystery series. The town is known as 'Greater Wenlock' in the novel, as the word 'Much' is derived from the Old English 'micel,' pronounced 'mich-el,' and meaning greater or larger. The novel involves the hunt for the bones of the saint.^[18]

Schools

• Much Wenlock Primary School^[19]
• William Brookes School^[20]

Transport

Bus

• 2012 sees the introduction of a Shropshire Hills Shuttle service that operates at weekends and on Bank Holidays during the spring and summer. The route, called the "Wenlock Wanderer", connects the town with Church Stretton and operates mostly along the B4371 which runs atop the Wenlock Edge, before turning off to Acton Scott and then to Marshbrook and the market town of Church Stretton.^[21]
• The Arriva service 436 connects Much Wenlock with Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth with hourly services.

Rail

Much Wenlock used to be served by trains between Wellington and Craven Arms. The station became a terminus when through running southwards to Craven Arms ceased in 1951. The branch closed in 1962, just before Dr Beeching published his report.^[22]

Twin towns

• Cysoing, Nord, France

See also

• Little Wenlock – nearby village.
• Wenlock Edge – nearby geological formation.

References

Further reading

• British History Online The Liberty and Borough of Wenlock

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Much Wenlock.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Much Wenlock.

• Much Wenlock Town Council
• Shropshire Tourism – A tourism website for Shropshire
• Wenlock Olympian Society
• Much Wenlock Bowling Club
• Much Wenlock Visitor Guide by Virtual Shropshire
• A Literary Walk
• Festival at the Edge, an annual three-day festival of traditional storytelling
• William Brookes School and Sixth Form
• Much Wenlock Forester Charitable Trust
• Much Wenlock Neighbourhood Plan
• Wenlock Poetry Festival
• Shropshire Councillor for Much Wenlock, David Turner