Bouldon is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in Shropshire, England. It lies in the
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 ...
of
Diddlebury.
The hamlet comprises approximately 14 houses, a number of agricultural buildings and a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
named the "Tally Ho". It is by road northeast of the
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
of
Ludlow.
Etymology
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 it was written as "Bolledone". In 1166 it was written as "Bullardone". The second part of the name likely comes from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
word for hill ("dun") whilst the meaning of the first part is unknown. It could be either from the Old English word for
bullocks ("bula"); a personal name: "Ballu" or "Bulla"; or the name of a tribe: "Bulwana".
[ It has been conjectured by some that the various earlier spellings and uncertain origin of the name is because a settlement relocated to where Bouldon today is.
The place name is also written as Boulden and this spelling is used for the ]habitational surname
A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name. that originates from the hamlet. This indicates also an alternative origin for the second part of the name, the Old English word for a valley "denu".
History
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 records 4 households existing at the time. Bouldon was at that time part of Culvestan hundred, a Saxon hundred that was in the early 12th century replaced by Munslow
Munslow is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is situated on the B4368, northeast of the small town of Craven Arms, in the Corvedale, at around above sea level.
The village formed part of and gave its name to the hun ...
.
From the late 11th century to 1884, Bouldon was a detached part of Holdgate
Holdgate (or Stanton Holdgate or Castle Holdgate) is a small village in Shropshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Abdon and Heath. Its name is taken from its Norman lord Helgot who owned the village in 1086 along with 17 other p ...
parish. Its transfer to Diddlebury parish was effectively a return to the situation prior to the change in the 11th century.[ (Bouldon was transferred to the Church of England's ecclesiastical parish of Diddlebury, from Holdgate, only in 1921.)][
Bouldon used to be a more populous place, as was this rural area of Shropshire generally, and was a place to stop en route between Ludlow and Bridgnorth. The route from Bouldon to Ludlow was a ]turnpike road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...
between 1794 and 1873.[British History Online]
Bouldon The main road between the towns of Ludlow and Bridgnorth no longer passes through the hamlet; it today takes a route to the east of Brown Clee Hill instead.
Bouldon Mill is Grade II Listed[British Listed Buildings]
Bouldon Mill former mill building in the hamlet, now a residence/therapy centre, which still has the Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
This is where iron ore was first s ...
iron-cast water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...
[Raven, Michael ''A Guide To Shropshire'' (2005) p 32] (using the flow of the Pye Brook) and inside workings. The stone building was built in 1790 but there was a timber mill beforehand built in 1611. It may have operated as a mill as late as the 1930s.
There is also a house on the site where a small church, built from corrugated iron, used to be.[ This small church, or chapel, was called All Saints and was erected by the rector of the ]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 ...
's Holdgate parish (which Bouldon was part of until 1921) in 1873. It was demolished in the 1980s, having become dilapidated.[Oliver, Marina (2006) ''Castles and Corvedale'']
Bouldon had a charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
-fuelled ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...
of its own in the 17th and 18th centuries, producing pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
. It was important during the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. On 28 September 1643, Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
authorised payment of £965 10s. to the iron master, Francis Walker, for manufacture of artillery and ammunition delivered to the Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
forces at Shrewsbury
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 ...
, Bridgnorth and Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
. It closed around 1795 and only a tree covered slag heap
A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quant ...
remains.[
The Tally Ho Inn was first licensed in 1844.][ It closed in 2006, but reopened in 2012 as a locally-owned freehouse, and retains its country character and serves several local real ales.
In Bouldon, and also in nearby ]Peaton
Peaton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Diddlebury in Shropshire, England.
It is situated in the Corvedale, between Diddlebury and Bouldon. The Pye Brook flows past the hamlet, with Peaton Bridge taking the Bouldon-Diddlebury lane across it. T ...
and Peatonstrand, weather-board houses were constructed in the 1950s by the Church Commissioners, who bought the Holder Estate in 1942.[ Of the four in Bouldon, two are currently derelict. The ones in Bouldon are named Cedarwood Houses.
]
Listed buildings
There are 5 Listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s in Bouldon, all Grade II: the early 19th century Wynetts Bank Cottage, the 17th / 19th century Bouldon Farmhouse, two separate barns near Bouldon Farmhouse, and Bouldon Mill (as described in the history section).[
]
Geography
Bouldon lies on the Pye Brook (which is known as the Clee Brook immediately upstream of Bouldon), at approximately above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
, and is located on the eastern boundary of the relatively flat Corvedale
The River Corve is a minor river in Shropshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Teme which it joins in the town of Ludlow, and which joins the River Severn at Powick near Worcester, England, Worcester. The valley it flows through is know ...
, where the valley meets the upland Clee Hills.
Nearby localities
A mile (1.6 km) to the northeast, in the neighbouring parish of Heath, is a notable historic chapel. A mile to the north is Broncroft Castle, a medieval fortified manor house, extensively renovated in the 19th century. A mile to the west, on the lane to Diddlebury, is the hamlet of Peaton
Peaton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Diddlebury in Shropshire, England.
It is situated in the Corvedale, between Diddlebury and Bouldon. The Pye Brook flows past the hamlet, with Peaton Bridge taking the Bouldon-Diddlebury lane across it. T ...
, with Peatonstrand roughly half-way.
Diddlebury is a larger village, with a parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
and a primary school, to the west and on the other side of the River Corve. Craven Arms is by road to the west, and Church Stretton
Church Stretton is a market town in Shropshire, England, south of Shrewsbury and north of Ludlow. The population in 2011 was 4,671. is by road to the northwest.
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Bouldon lies partially within the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The boundary runs along the lane to Peaton/Diddlebury and along the lane to Broncroft/Tugford, with the southern and eastern buildings of the hamlet falling within the AONB.
Transport
The only public transport provided currently in Bouldon are buses to Ludlow in the morning, returning in the late afternoon. These services (176 and 715) are provided mainly for travel to and from schools and colleges, and only run on schooldays.Shropshire Council
Bouldon bus services
The nearest railway stations are Ludlow and Craven Arms, both approximately away by road.
See also
* Listed buildings in Diddlebury
References
External links
British History Online
Bouldon
Open Domesday
Bouldon
{{Shropshire
Hamlets in Shropshire