Shipston-on-Stour
| Shipston-on-Stour | |
| Worcestershire | |
|---|---|
 Shipston High Street | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP2540 |
| Location: | 52°3’36"N, 1°37’23"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 4,456 ((2001)) |
| Post town: | Shipston-on-Stour |
| Postcode: | CV36 |
| Dialling code: | 01608 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Stratford-on-Avon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Stratford-on-Avon |
| Website: | Shipston-on-Stour Town Council |
Shipston-on-Stour is a town in Worcestershire, in a detached part of that county (within the Oswaldslow Hundred) locally situate in Warwickshire. It stands on banks of the River Stour about 10 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon. Shipston is in the northern part of the Cotswolds, close to the boundaries with Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Shipston is on the A3400 road between Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford and was once an important staging place for stagecoaches. Many former coaching inns, such as the Coach and Horses,[1] remain in the area of the High Street.
Name
In the 8th century the town is recorded as Scepwæisctune,[2] Old English for "Sheep-wash-Town", as it was once an important sheep market.
The name evolved through Scepwestun in the 11th century, Sipestone, Sepwestun and Schipton in the 13th century and Sepestonon-Sture in the 14th century.[2]
Parish church
The parish church is Saint Edmund. It has a 15th-century tower.[3] The Gothic Revival architect George Edmund Street rebuilt the rest of the church in 1855.[3]
The tower had a ring of five bells until 1695 when they were recast and rehung as a ring of six.[4] Since then all the bells have been recast and rehung from time to time, notably in 1754 and by John Taylor & Co. in 1979.[4]
History
Following a fall in the demand for local wool, the local economy was in part sustained by the opening in 1836 of a branch line running from the horse-drawn Stratford and Moreton Tramway, built ten years before and linking Moreton-in-Marsh with Stratford. In 1889 the line was upgraded to allow the operation of steam trains from Moreton to Shipston. Passenger services to the town were withdrawn in 1929 and the line closed completely in 1960.
Notable people born in Shipston include the actor Richard Morant and the 19th century archaeologist Francis Haverfield.
Big Society
Shipston Town Band is based in the town.[5]
Sport
- Rugby: Shipston on Stour Rugby Football Club
The Sports Club hosts football,[6] cricket, bowls, and tennis[7] teams.
References
- ↑ Hook Norton Pubs: Coach and Horses
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Victoria County History, 1913, pages 521-524
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pevsner & Wedgwood, 1966, page 395
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Church Bells of Warwickshire: Shipston on Stour St Edmund
- ↑ http://web.mac.com/gsharp2/ShipstonTownBand/Find_Us.html
- ↑ Football club web site
- ↑ Tennis Club's web site
Visit Shipston-on-Stour Town Council: Shipston Town Council
Books
- Allen, Geoff (2000). Warwickshire: Towns and Villages (Towns & villages of Britain). Sigma Leisure. ISBN 1-85058-642-X.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus; Wedgwood, Alexandra (1966). The Buildings of England: Warwickshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 395–396.
- Victoria County History: A History of the County of Worcester, Volume 3. 1913. pp. 521–524.