Shelton, Shropshire
| Shelton | |
| Shropshire | |
|---|---|
 Oxon and Shelton church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SJ467134 |
| Location: | 52°42’54"N, 2°47’33"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Shrewsbury |
| Postcode: | SY3 |
| Dialling code: | 01743 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Shropshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Shrewsbury |
Shelton is a village of Shropshire which has become a suburb in the west of the county town, Shrewsbury. It is described by the Pevsner Architectural Guides as "Shrewsbury's principal interwar suburb."[1]
The village has a Church of England parish church, Christ Church (built 1854).
History
Possible Roman Road
The 1861 six-inch Ordnance Survey map [2] shows a footpath just south of the lunatic asylum as "site of Roman road". On later OS maps the marking was dropped from this location.
Domesday Book
Shelton appears in the Domesday Book as ‘Saltone’, with 4 households.[3]
The Shelton Oak
The Shelton Oak (see watercolour [4]) was a long lived oak tree which, by tradition, Owain Glyndŵr climbed to view the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.[5][6] An oak tree which died in the 1940s (see photograph [7]), and the remnants of which were removed for road widening in the 1950s, was said to be the Shelton Oak.
In the 1880s an acorn from the Shelton Oak was planted in the Dingle in The Quarry, the main park in Shrewsbury. Shropshire Council planted an acorn from that tree on opening the nearby Mytton Oak Remembrance Park in 2014.[8]
A young oak tree located by the side of the modern junction, where the footpath from the end of Merlin Road emerges onto the main road, has a plaque at its base which reads:
Near this site once stood the Shelton Oak from which according to a tradition recorded in the late 18th century Owen Glyndŵr viewed the Battle of Shrewsbury on 31st July 1403. This tree was planted by the Mayor of Shrewsbury Councillor Mrs Jean Marsh on 27th January 1981 and was presented by Major W Manners MBE.
(The date for the Battle of Shrewsbury is erroneous: it was fought on 21 July 1403.)
The Oak, Shelton
An inn called The Oak (see photograph[9]) formerly stood between the Mount and Shelton Road where the two roads meet. It was constructed in 1939 and demolished 60 years later.[10]
There is now a monument at the junction where the two roads meet, with a relief featuring the story of the Shelton Oak.
Vicarage
A modern day pub called Oxon Priory, occupied the listed former vicarage for Oxon and Shelton parish.[11] The pub has since closed down as of October 2025. The building's roof caught fire on 6 October[12]
Toll House
Following the Act of Union in 1801, the road through the village was improved as part of the scheme to enable Irish MPs to make easier journeys to the House of Commons in London. Thomas Telford was Director of the Holyhead Road Commission between 1815 and 1830 and made many improvements to the Holyhead Road.
A Toll house was built by Telford in 1829 on the Holyhead Road at Shelton. It was situated at the junction with Featherbed Lane. To allow for road widening in the early 1970s, it was dismantled and re-erected at Blists Hill Victorian Town.[13]
Severn Trent Water Site
Severn Trent Water has a major site on Welshpool Road in Shelton, consisting of offices and a water treatment works.[14]
Cricket
Shelton has a cricket club whose ground is adjacent to the former Shelton Hospital (see above), with which the club has strong historic associations.[15]
References
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Shropshire, 1958; 2006 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09642-2
- ↑ 1861 six-inch OS map of Shelton
- ↑ Opendomesday.org - Shropshire
- ↑ darwincountry.org - Watercolour of the Shelton Oak
- ↑ Chestofbooks.com - the Shelton Oak
- ↑ The History and Antiquities of Shrewsbury: From Its First Foundation to the Present Time, comprising a Recital of Occurrences and Remarkable Events, for Above Twelve Hundred Years, Volume 1 : Thomas Phillips, James Bowen, Charles Hulbert editor (1837)
- ↑ darwincountry.org - photograph entitled The Shelton Oak
- ↑ Shropshire Council - descendant of Shelton Oak at remembrance park
- ↑ darwincountry.org - photograph of The Oak, Shelton (inn)
- ↑ Trinder, Barrie "Beyond the Bridges"
- ↑ pub-explorer.com - Oxon Priory (pub)
- ↑ Giddings, Andy (7 October 2025). "Former pub badly damaged in suspected arson". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98d003n6dpo.
- ↑ Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
- ↑ BBC - Severn Trent Water Works
- ↑ Phil Gillam - Shelton Hospital shows how attitudes have changed