Shawbury

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place

Shawbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.<ref>OS Explorer Map 241, Shrewsbury, Wem, Shawbury & Baschurch. Template:ISBN</ref> The village is Template:Convert northeast of Shrewsbury and Template:Convert northwest of Telford.

The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Drayton.<ref>Shrewsbury & Telford Street Atlas, Template:ISBN</ref> The nearest railway station is at Yorton on the Welsh Marches Line for Shrewsbury/Crewe. The 2011 census recorded a population of 2,872 for the entire civil parish of Shawbury.<ref>Neighbourhood Statistics Census 2011 - Shawbury CP</ref>

HistoryEdit

Shawbury has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1085.<ref>The Domesday Book, Englands Heritage, Then and Now, Editor: Thomas Hinde, Shropshire, Shawbury, page 230, Template:ISBN</ref> In the great book Shawbury is recorded by the name Sawesberie. The main landholder was Gerard from Earl Roger of Shrewsbury. The survey also mentions that there is a church and a mill.

GeographyEdit

The River Roden flows through the village. The village of Moreton Corbet, with its castle, is just to the north. The main weather station for Shropshire is located in the village at the RAF base.<ref>Observations Template:Webarchive</ref> In December 1981, a temperature of -25.2 °C was recorded, one of the coldest on record for England.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Shawbury weatherbox

GovernanceEdit

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward covers much of the surrounding area with a total ward population as taken at the 2011 Census of 4,666.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LandmarksEdit

There has been a church on the same site since at least the 12th century, although the present Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is not from that date. Many air force personnel from RAF Shawbury, an air station founded in 1917, are buried in the churchyard, which contains 32 Commonwealth War Graves, 3 from World War I and 29 from World War II, besides 7 Polish Air Force personnel from the latter war.<ref name=cwgc>[1] CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown of figures obtained from count of casualty list accompanying. Date accessed 14 August 2012.</ref>

The village is home to RAF Shawbury, a helicopter airfield for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom and home of the tri-services Defence Helicopter Flying School and air traffic control training.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Notable peopleEdit

Thomas Charles (1755-1814), later Calvinistic Methodist minister and founder of the British and Foreign Bible Society, worked in Shawbury in 1783-84 as assistant to then rector, friend John Mayor <ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref>
William Hazledine (born Shawbury 1763–1840) an English ironmaster, he was a pioneer in casting structural ironwork, most notably for canal aqueducts and early suspension bridges
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Butler (1870-1935 in Shawbury) a British Army general during WW1, lived in retirement at Roden Lodge where he died.<ref>Template:Cite news Both the Dictionary of National Biography and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography are erroneous in stating he died in Shrewsbury.</ref>