Little Stretton is a village 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 th ...

, England. It is located in the

Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Shropshire Hills area, in the English county of Shropshire, is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ( AONB). It is located in the south of the county, extending to its border with Wales. Designated in 1958, the area encompass ...

between the

Long Mynd , photo = , photo_alt = , photo_caption = View down Townbrook Valley toward Burway Hill , country_type = , country = England , subdivision1_type = County , subdivision1 = Shropshire , border ...

and Ragleth Hill. Lying on the B5477 south of the market town of

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.

(and is part of 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 that town); similarly, the small village of

All Stretton All Stretton is a village and a now separate civil parish in Shropshire, England. Much of it is covered by a Conservation Area. Geography All Stretton lies about a mile to the north of the market town of Church Stretton, on the old Shrewsbury ...

lies to the north of Church Stretton on the same road. A

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

in the centre of the village on the B5477, which is called Ludlow Road at this point, indicates that

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

is away, to the south. The centre of Church Stretton is away via the B5477. The River Ashes Hollow runs through the village and it is a popular place to begin walks up the

. The village lies between 590 and 616 feet

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 ...

. Ragleth Hill lies immediately to the east of the village, on the other side of the Welsh Marches Line and A49. Little Stretton once had its own railway halt:

Little Stretton Halt railway station Little Stretton Halt was a minor railway station on the Welsh Marches Line between Craven Arms and Church Stretton in Shropshire, England. History Opened by the independent Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway in 1852–53, the line through Littl ...

. To the southwest are the hamlets of Minton and

Hamperley Hamperley is a dispersed hamlet in Shropshire, England. It is mainly located in the parish of Church Stretton, 2½ miles southwest of Little Stretton and 4 miles from the market town of Church Stretton. The parishes of Church Stretton, Wista ...

, which are part of Church Stretton parish and are included within the parish ward of Little Stretton. Little Stretton was previously a civil parish itself, but the whole parish merged with that of Church Stretton and a large part of All Stretton, to form the modern-day parish of Church Stretton, which is sometimes referred to as "Church Stretton and Little Stretton".

Amenities and attractions

The village has a large

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

. There are many

Listed buildings 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 ...

and structures in the village.

Church

There is a small

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 * Chris ...

in the village, built in 1903 - "All Saints". It is a

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 ...

church and is one of three in the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

of Church Stretton, along with the churches in All Stretton and Church Stretton. The parish is part of the

Diocese of Hereford The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. The cathedral ...

. It is a very unusual church (for England in the present era) for its construction is timber with a

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

replacing the original corrugated iron roof.

Pubs

As of 2012, there are approximately 110 dwellings in the village. Little Stretton today has two

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 ...

s: the ''Green Dragon'' and the ''Ragleth Inn'' (historically the "Sun Inn"), both of which serve a wide range of local

real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

Brockhurst Castle

Half a mile to the north are the earthwork remains of the 12th-century Brockhurst Castle. It is situated on private land with no public access.

Notable people

Novelist and short story writer

Beatrice Harraden Beatrice Harraden (1864–1936) was a British writer and suffragette. Life Born in Hampstead, London on 24 January 1864, to parents Samuel Harraden and Rosalie Lindstedt Harraden, Beatrice Harraden grew up to become an influential feminist wri ...

(1864-1936) spent summer holidays lodging at the Green Dragon, inspiring her short story ''At the Green Dragon'' (published 1894).

Oliver Sandys Marguerite Florence Laura Jarvis, also known under the pseudonym of Oliver Sandys (7 October 1886 – 10 March 1964) was a British writer, screenwriter, and actress. She used several other names and aliases, such as Countess Barcynska, Hélène B ...

(1892-1964), widow of

Caradoc Evans David Caradoc Evans (31 December 1878 – 11 January 1945), was a Welsh story writer, novelist and playwright. Biography Evans was brought up in a Welsh-speaking community in Rhydlewis, Cardiganshire, and although he learned English at school ...

and a novelist in her own right, lived at the Ancient House, across the road from the church, from the 1950s. A later novel, ''Quaint Place'' (1952) was set in this area. The poet

Peter Reading Peter Reading (27 July 1946 – 17 November 2011) was an English poet and the author of 26 collections of poetry. He is known for his deep interest for the nature and use of classical metres. ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry'' de ...

(1946–2011) lived in the village.'An Interview with Peter Reading by Robert Potts' ''Oxford Poetry'' The horologist Charles Jendon was a well-known figure in the village for many years; his knowledge of long-case clocks was well known to many specialists in the field. The music critic Ephriam Monk, who championed the early work of Lionel Crill, who himself was a pioneer in the use of the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

in classical music, lived in the village between 1952 and 1959.

Gallery

File:The Ragleth Inn, Little Stretton - geograph.org.uk - 255655.jpg, ''Ragleth Inn'' in the village Image:Little Stretton today.jpg, Ludlow Road where it crosses the small brook Ashes Hollow - the beige milestone, facing the other way, can be seen

References

External links

{{authority control Church Stretton Villages in Shropshire Former civil parishes in Shropshirehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Stretton,_Shropshire&action=submit