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'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 17,181 , 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.

Contents

History

Notable Oswestrians

References

External links

History

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 Maesfield 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'', meaning ''Oswald's Cross''.
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.
In 1190 the town was granted the right to hold a market each Wednesday Oswestry Market . After the foot and mouth outbreak in the late 1960s the animal market was moved out of town and a statue of a shepherd and sheep installed in the market square. With the weekly influx of Welsh farmers the town folk were often bilingual.
The town built walls for protection, but these were torn down by the Parliamentarians after they took the town after a brief siege on 22 June 1644, leaving only the 'Newgate Pillar' visible today.
Attractions of Oswestry include Whittington Castle (in nearby Whittington),Shelf Bank and the Cambrian Railways Museum and the Old Station Visitor Centre. 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 orthopaedic hospital the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt History of Oswestry Orthopedic Hospital .
The town is famous for its high number of public houses per head of population. There are around 30 in the town today, although many have closed over the past 100 years (or been subject to poor modernisations which have removed much of their character e.g. The Butcher's Arms on Willow Street). That said, many still offer excellent real ales, real fires and a warm welcomes. A story incorporating the names of all of the pubs once open in Oswestry can be found hanging on the walls of The Oak on Church Street.
The parish church is almost a 1000 years old with the Norman tower dating from 1085. There is also 12 other churches in the town including a Welsh Presbyterian in Victoria Road. Churches in Oswestry
The former local football club, Oswestry Town F.C., was one of the few English teams to compete in the League of Wales. 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 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.
Park Hall, a mile east of the town was one of the most impressive Tudor buildings in the country. It was taken over by the Army in 1915 and used as a training camp. On 26 December 1918 it burnt to the ground following an electrical fault. The ruined hall and camp remained derelict between the wars. Introduction to Park Hall Shropshire Routes to Roots 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 ducks.

Notable Oswestrians

★ Jesse Armstrong, TV comedy writer.

★ Frank Bough, British television presenter.

★ Thomas Bray, theologian.

★ Henry Walford Davies, composer.

★ Ian Hunter (singer), Musician - Mott the Hoople, etc.

★ Per Lindstrand, balloonist.

★ Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, Chairman of Macmillan Publisher Ltd.

★ Wilfred Owen, WWI soldier and poet.

★ Barbara Pym, author.

★ Trevor Rees-Jones, bodyguard and survivor of the accident in which Diana, Princess of Wales died.

★ Rev. William Archibald Spooner, originator of the Spoonerism.

★ William Henry Griffith Thomas, clergyman and scholar.

★ George Williams, Michigan State Senator.

★ Ian Woosnam, golfer.

★ Andy Lloyd, former England Test Batsman & Captain of Warwickshire CCC

References

External links

★ Shropshire Tourism The official tourism website for Shropshire

★ Oswestry Borough Council

★ Oswestry Town Council

★ 107.1 The Severn, the town's local radio station

★ Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser, the town's weekly newspaper

★ Whittington Castle

★ Cambrian Railway Museum