Baschurch is a large village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
, England.
It lies in
North Shropshire
North Shropshire was a local government district in Shropshire, England from 1974 to 2009. The district council was based at Edinburgh House in Wem. Other settlements included the towns of Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem and Whitchurch, as w ...
, north-west of
Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-east,
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
to the north-west, and
Wem to the north-east. There is a large village not far west of Baschurch called
Ruyton-XI-Towns
Ruyton-XI-Towns ( "ry-tən eleven towns"), formally Ruyton of the Eleven Towns or simply Ruyton, is a village and civil parish next to the River Perry in Shropshire, England. It had a population of 1,379 at the 2011 Census.
The preparatory schoo ...
.
History
The earliest references to Baschurch are under its
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
name ''Eglwyssau Bassa'' (Churches of Bassa), in a seven-stanza ''
englyn
(; plural ) is a traditional Welsh and Cornish short poem form. It uses quantitative metres, involving the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent ...
''-poem of the same name found in the Welsh cycle of poems called ''
Canu Heledd
''Canu Heledd'' (modern Welsh /'kani 'hɛlɛð/, the songs of Heledd) are a collection of early Welsh ''englyn''-poems. They are rare among medieval Welsh poems for being set in the mouth of a female character. One prominent figure in the poems i ...
'', generally thought to date to the ninth century:
The English name ''Baschurch'' first appears in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 as ''Bascherche'', and both names may derive from an Anglo-Saxon personal name ''Bass(a)''. Thus the name in ''Canu Heledd'' is a
Brittonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
version of an English name.
Local tradition holds that the Berth Pool and its ancient earthworks outside the village are the resting place of the legendary
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
.
In medieval times, several properties in the parish, including Adcote Mill, were owned by
Haughmond Abbey near Shrewsbury.
Baschurch had a township called Boreatton, or Bratton, standing on the banks of the
River Perry
The River Perry is a river in Shropshire, England. It rises near Oswestry and flows south to meet the River Severn above Shrewsbury. Along its length, its level drops by some 320 feet (95 m). The channel has been heavily engineered, bot ...
, with a country house called Bratton House.
The world's first orthopaedic hospital was established at Florence House in Baschurch by Sir
Robert Jones and
Dame Agnes Hunt in 1900 as a convalescent home for crippled children and later to treat wounded from the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The hospital moved to Oswestry in 1921.
In 2000 a large stone made of local sandstone was erected in the modern centre of the village to commemorate the
Millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
. Similar smaller stones were erected in neighbouring communities.
Churches
A major feature of the village is All Saints' Church (
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
) which is one of the oldest standing structures in the village (perhaps ''the'' oldest). A timber church which burnt down is believed to have stood on the same site previously. Leading industrialist and builder
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...
made numerous major alterations to the modern sandstone church.
The village also had a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
chapel which was built in 1873 and closed in 2014 after the congregation had "dwindled to less than a dozen". It was sold for conversion into a house in April 2015.
Twin town
Baschurch is twinned with the town of
Giat
Nexter Systems (formerly known as GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer, based in Roanne, Loire.
Group organization
The Nexter group is ...
in the
French ''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
'' of
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.[Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...]
''
région
France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...
''.
Education
The village has two schools including Baschurch Church of England Primary School, and
the Corbet School
The Corbet School is a mixed secondary school located in Baschurch in the English county of Shropshire.
Originally known as Baschurch Secondary Modern School, later the school became comprehensive and went on to gain specialist status as a ...
formerly known as Baschurch Secondary Modern School. Just outside the village is Walford College, an agricultural and sports college which in 2002 merged with Oswestry-based North Shropshire College to form
Walford and North Shropshire College
North Shropshire College is a further education college in Shropshire, England and is part of Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College. It has campuses at Walford and Oswestry.
Creation and branding
Walford and North Shropshire Colle ...
.
Amenities
Baschurch has a number of amenities including a post office, a retained
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service
The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin, in the West Midlands region of England.
Shropshire's Fire and Rescue Service is provided by 512 full-time and ...
fire station and a village hall located on Eyton Lane next to the Corbet School.
Railways
The
Shrewsbury to Chester Line
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
passes through the village, though the Victorian
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
was closed to passengers in 1960 and goods trains in 1965.
On 13 February 1961 a passenger train travelling from Shrewsbury to Chester collided with a goods train which was partially shunted into a siding in Baschurch. Three people died in th
accident Television footage of the wreckage is available from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
There have been repeated efforts to bring the railway station back into use, most recently in autumn 2008, with the support of Baschurch Parish Council and the Shrewsbury-Chester Rail Users' Association. In September 2009, a public meeting organised by th
was attended by 250 local people and received extensive media coverage.
(1822–1896 in Baschurch) an English composer and conductor, supported amateur choral musicians.
, was gardener at home of Dr Sankey of Boreatton in the parish before moving to
(1838 in Baschurch–1927) a civil engineer, prominent in the field of railway and canal engineering.
*
.
DBE RRC (1866–1948 in Baschurch) sister of above, a British nurse, recognised as the first orthopaedic nurse
*
.
Baschurch was one of just six places in the United Kingdom to succeed in a competition held by
. The winners of the "Race to Infinity" competition were announced on 6 January 2011 and Baschurch came sixth. BT originally promised that only the top 5 places would go through with the upgrade (involving
-based infrastructure), but were impressed enough by the response in Baschurch.