Buildwas is a 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, England, on the north bank of the
River Severn
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, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
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, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
at . It lies on the
B4380 road between
Atcham
Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the B4380 (once the A5), 5 miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows round the village. To the south is the village of Cross Houses and ...
and
Ironbridge
Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, an ...
. The
Royal Mail
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, type = Public limited company
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, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
postcodes
A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...
begin TF6 and TF8.
Buildwas Primary Academy is situated on the Buildwas bank road. The school has been running since 1855, and has three classes and a nursery.
Buildwas has a nine-hole golf course which runs between the River Severn and
Ironbridge Power Station
The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to a series of two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was ope ...
. It is open to members of Buildwas Abbey Club.
Village
The village of Buildwas has been recognised since 1086 as the first reference to it was made 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 ...
. Buildwas was valued at 45
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s (£2.25) to the Bishop of Chester, i.e. the
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West M ...
, the local diocesan bishop, in 1086. The value of the
manor was the same as in 1066, although it had slipped in the interim period. Its value lay in its location on the
River Severn
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, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
, map = RiverSevernMap.jpg
, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
in its woodland, which was useful for agricultural and farming purposes. During this time period, the village had a total population of nine households, three of
villein
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
s, five of slaves and one the
reeve. Due to this the village only had a total tax assessment of one geld unit which was very small. Buildwas had resources of 200 pigs and a mill which people relied on. The manor was assigned to Buildwas Abbey, originally founded as a
Savigniac
The monastic Congregation of Savigny (Savigniac Order) started in the abbey of Savigny, situated in northern France, on the confines of Normandy and Brittany, in the Diocese of Coutances. It originated in 1105 when Vitalis of Mortain established ...
monastery, in 1135 by
Roger de Clinton
Roger de Clinton (died 1148) was a medieval Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He was responsible for organising a new grid street plan for the town of Lichfield in the 12th century which survives to this day.
Life
Clinton was the nephew of Geof ...
(1129–1148), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. The Savigniac houses were later absorbed into the
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
order. After the abbey was suppressed in 1536, as part of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site and much of the property was granted to
Edward Grey, 3rd Baron Grey of Powis
Buildwas was also the site of
a station opened in 1862 on the
Wellington to Craven Arms Railway
The Wellington to Craven Arms Railway was formed by a group of railway companies that eventually joined the Great Western Railway family, and connected Wellington, Shropshire and Shifnal, with Coalbrookdale, Buildwas, Much Wenlock and a junction ...
and
Severn Valley Railway
The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The heritage line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route, and c ...
, although the station was inaccessible to the population and visitors who had to get off further down the line at either Ironbridge or Coalbrookdale. The site was, until recently, occupied by
Ironbridge Power Station
The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to a series of two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was ope ...
. However, the station was demolished in stages completed in 2021. with hopes a new railway station to serve Ironbridge Gorge area could be opened near Buildwas.
Based on a study of train journeys and travel times,
Michael Cobb
Michael Roy Cobb (born 16 March 1945) is an Australian politician who represented the electorate of Parkes in the Australian House of Representatives from 1984 to 1998.
Before entering politics Cobb worked as a veterinary surgeon and ran a fa ...
argued in 1977 that Buildwas could have been a location setting for the fictional Market Blandings in the writings of
P.G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...
, and the mansion Buildwas Park an original for Blandings Castle.
Occupations
The first census regarding occupational data for the village of Buildwas was taken in 1831 and gives a valuable insight into the village for this time period. The census showed that the biggest employability sector at this time was agricultural labourers, and there were 35 people employed in this field.
The second-biggest field was retail and
handicrafts
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
, which employed seven people in the village. There was one capitalist or professional person within the village, and the remaining people were farmers and servants.
The 1881 census of the village gave valuable insight into how the population had slowly increased and how the jobs had diversified. Agriculture was still the biggest employment sector with 41 people, but other job fields had grown over the course of fifty years.
There were fifteen females and eight males employed in domestic services and offices. There were twelve males employed in the extraction of mineral substances and three people who worked in transport and commerce. There were forty people in the survey who were classified as having an unknown occupation and three male workers in food and lodging.
Population
Population change in Buildwas has experienced a great deal of fluctuation since the first census of 1801 was taken. This is because the village had a small population of 258 to begin with, meaning that any change is a lot more visible.
In 1811 the population had declined to 226 people but then experienced a gradual increase to 240 people in 1821 and stayed at this level through to 1831. Over the next ten years, the village had experienced a rapid population increase of 33 people in 1841 and in 1851 the population had increased again to 290 people. From 1851 to 1881 there had been a population decrease of eighteen people. During 1881 there was a national population change across the country with an overall decrease of 3% and this change of population was apparent in Buildwas as from 1881 to 1891 there was a population decrease of 31 people. The population increased by 34 people in 1901 and by 1911 the population had increased by 32 people.
Housing
According to the
2001 Census, Buildwas had a total of 134 dwellings. Of these, 42 were categorised as being flats or apartments, 46 detached houses or bungalows, and 46 semi-detached or terraced houses. The average price of property which has been sold in Buildwas was valued at £218,114 which was well above the national average of £161,558 in April 2012.
Visiting Buildwas
Buildwas Abbey
The preserved remains of a Cistercian
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
lie on the south bank of the River Severn. These include an unusually unaltered 12th-century church, a vaulted and tile-floored chapter house, and a re-opened crypt chapel. The stone abbey buildings were completed mainly during the abbacy of Ranulf, which began around 1155. The income for the abbey came mainly from a large portfolio of properties, concentrated around
monastic grange
Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by monasteries independent of the manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, most of which were largely a ...
s in the surrounding areas of Shropshire and
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. The site is now cared for by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
Bridge
![Buildwas Bridge (Telford's bridge)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Buildwas_Bridge_%28Telford%27s_bridge%29.jpg)
A brick and stone bridge crossed the Severn from medieval times to the 18th century; in the floods of 1773 and 1795, it was irreparably damaged and finally swept away by severe flooding following an earthquake.
After its destruction,
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 Scotla ...
built a
cast-iron arch bridge in 1796, which survived subsequent floods until its replacement by a steel
Pratt truss
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
in 1905, which itself was replaced in 1992.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Buildwas
*
Ironbridge Gorge
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge, containing the River Severn in Shropshire, England. It was first formed by a glacial overflow from the long drained away Lake Lapworth, at the end of the last ice age. The deep exposure of the rocks cut t ...
*
Buildwas Junction railway station
Buildwas railway station was an isolated junction railway station on the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway and Severn Valley Railway. Opened on 1 February 1862. Although the station served both the Severn Valley Railway and Wellington to Cra ...
*
Telford Steam Railway
The Telford Steam Railway (TSR) is a heritage railway located at Horsehay, Telford in Shropshire, England, formed in 1976.
The railway is operated by volunteers on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September, and at Christmas. ...
References
{{authority control
Civil parishes in Shropshire
Villages in Shropshire
Populated places on the River Severn
Ironbridge Gorge