Cressage 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 ...

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 th ...

, England. It lies on the junction of the A458 and B4380 roads and the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

flows around its northern boundary. The

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

postcode 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 a ...

begins SY5. The parish council is combined with the neighbouring parish of Sheinton.

History

The village is mentioned 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 ...

under the name ''Christesache''. The meaning is "Christ's Oak", and this over time has been corrupted to form the word "Cressage". The oak tree was part of a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

(which no longer exists), and a cutting from it was planted near the village in 1616. This was later relocated due to

railway 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 ...

construction. In 584,

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

reputedly preached under the Cressage Oak. On 30 June 2012, the Olympic torch passed through the village on its way to London.

Geography

The

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 ...

once ran through the village calling at

Cressage railway station Cressage railway station was a railway station on the Severn Valley Railway. It opened on 1 February 1862 with a single platform and a siding. By 1898 it had acquired an additional platform along with a signal box and the sidings had been expand ...

, before the section between

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 ...

and

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

was dismantled. The village lies on the intersection of the A458 and the B4380, near to the River Severn. Cressage is 4 miles to the northwest of the nearest town

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villag ...

and is 8 miles southeast of Shrewsbury. Cressage Bridge lies several hundred metres north of the village and carries the B4380 road over the River Severn. Designed by L.G. Mouchel and built in 1913, it has a hollow construction of reinforced concrete and a span of 170 feet (52 metres). There are two hexagonal brick pill boxes, one on each side of the river, constructed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to defend the bridge in the event of enemy invasion. The parish's war memorial, in the form of a granite 'wheel' or

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

, stands at the village's main road junction on the A458.

Amenities

Cressage had 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 ...

, "The Eagles" which was shut down early 2008, but reopened December 2009. It was once again shut down in early 2015 and sold at auction. It currently remains closed. The

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, "Christ Church" holds regular services. There is a small village store and a health centre.

Notable people

Among the village's well-known inhabitants was Admiral Sir Herbert Annesley Packer, who was born in the village on 9 October 1894.

References

External links