Shropshire

Shropshire
Ceremonial county
The Long Mynd; the clock tower of Shrewsbury Market Hall; and the Iron Bridge, Ironbridge
Shropshire within England
Coordinates: 52°37′N 2°43′W / 52.617°N 2.717°W / 52.617; -2.717
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Established	Ancient
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Members of Parliament	List of MPs
Police	West Mercia Police
Ceremonial county
Lord Lieutenant	Anna Turner JP[1] (from 2019)
High Sheriff	Robert Anthony Morris-Eyton (2021/22)
Area	3,487 km2 (1,346 sq mi)
• Ranked	13th of 48
Population (2021)	498,073
• Ranked	42nd of 48
Density	143/km2 (370/sq mi)
Ethnicity	Figures for Shropshire UA:[2] 93.8% White, British 1.9% White, other 1.5% S. Asian 0.9% Mixed 0.6% White, Irish 0.6% Black
Unitary authorities
Councils	Shropshire Council Telford and Wrekin Council
Districts
Districts of Shropshire   Unitary
Districts	Shropshire Telford and Wrekin

Shropshire (/ˈʃrɒpʃər, -ʃɪər/; historically Salop^[3] and abbreviated Shrops) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the Welsh border. It is bordered by Wrexham County Borough and Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south and Powys to the west. The largest settlement is Telford, and Shrewsbury is the county town.

The county has an area of 3,487 km² (1,346 square miles) and a population of 498,073. Telford (155,570), in the east of the county, and Shrewsbury (76,782), in the centre, are the only large towns. Shropshire is otherwise rural, containing market towns such as Oswestry (15,613), Bridgnorth (12,212) and Newport (11,387). For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas: Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin.

Shropshire is generally flat in the north and hilly in the south. The Shropshire Hills AONB covers about a quarter of the county, including the Wrekin, Clee Hills, Stiperstones, the Long Mynd, and Wenlock Edge.^[4][5] Part of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, which extends into Wales, occupies the low-lying north west of the county.^[6] The county's major river is the Severn, which enters from the west and forms a wide, flat valley before exiting into Worcestershire south of Bridgnorth. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England and Wales.^[7]

There is evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age human occupation in Shropshire, including the Shropshire bulla pendant. The hillfort at Old Oswestry dates from the Iron Age, and the remains of the city of Viroconium Cornoviorum date from the Roman period.^[8][9] During the Anglo-Saxon era the area was part of Mercia. During the High Middle Ages the county was part of the Welsh Marches, the border region between Wales and England; from 1472 to 1689 Ludlow was the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches, which administered justice in Wales and Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.^[10] During the English Civil War Shropshire was Royalist, and Charles II fled through the county—famously hiding in an oak tree—after his final defeat at the Battle of Worcester.^[11] The area around Coalbrookdale is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[12][13]