Longdon-Upon-Tern (also known as Longdon-on-Tern or colloquially Longdon) is a village in east central

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 is in the

unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation In mathematics, a unitary representation of a grou ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called The Wrekin. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin" ...

, and is approximately east of

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 north-west of

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

. Longdon-Upon-Tern is situated on the

River Tern The Indian river tern or just river tern (''Sterna aurantia'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a resident breeder along inland rivers from Iran east into the Indian Subcontinent and further to Myanmar to Thailand, where it is uncommon ...

, a tributary of 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 ...

. Settled since at least the Normans, the village is notable as the site of the Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct, the first large-scale

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

navigable aqueduct Navigable aqueducts (sometimes called water bridges) are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of ...

, designed and built by

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 ...

for the canal. The aqueduct is

Grade I listed 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 I ...

and a preserved as a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

History

The name Longdon is derived from two

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 settlers in the mid-5th ...

words, ''lang'' and ''dūn,'' meaning ''long hill''. A settlement at Longdon-Upon-Tern dates to at least the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

, as it 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 ...

of 1086 as ''Languedune'', held by St. Alkmund's Church, Shrewsbury. It continued with the church until the 12th century when it passed to Lilleshall Abbey until its dissolution in the 16th century. Its Domesday assets were: 2 hides, 5

ploughs A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

, and a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

worth 5s.

Parish

Longdon-Upon-Tern is an ecclesiastical

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. In 1988 it merged with

Rodington Rodington is a village in Shropshire, England. Situated between the towns of Wellington and Shrewsbury it lies on the relatively level Shropshire plain and just within the borough of Telford & Wrekin. The Church of England parish church, St G ...

ecclesiastical

, a close by village, to create 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 authorit ...

of Rodington with a parish council, to relieve civil responsibilities from the two ecclesiastical parishes. 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 authorit ...

boundaries now include the areas of Long Waste, Long Lane, Isombridge, Marsh Green, Sugdon,

, Rodington Heath, and Longdon-Upon-Tern. Although the two separate parishes have now merged into a

with a parish council, the two distinct ecclesiastical parishes maintain both village halls hosting varied community activities."Parish Plan"
, Rodington Parish Church

Church

Today's church is the Church of St Bartholomew. This is a small 18th-century,

Grade II listed 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 I ...

, Georgian stone and red brick church. Built in 1742 the church has had major alterations and an extension in the late 19th century. On the same site stands the refurbished

Grade II* listed 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 I ...

Longdon-Upon-Tern village hall, formerly a schoolhouse provided by the

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made th ...

and opened in 1849. Due to a decline in population, the school closed in 1970.

Population

There have been no population figures for Longdon-Upon-Tern since 1961 as the census data from Longdon-Upon-Tern is now included with the

Civil Parish. In 2001 the population for

Civil Parish was 869. The last population figure for Longdon-Upon-Tern in 1961 was 126."Population, Longdon-Upon-Tern"
Vision of Britain In 1801 at the time of the first UK census, the population of Longdon-Upon-Tern was 102 and peaked in 1881 at 131. The adjacent graph shows the total population in Longdon-Upon-Tern from 1801 to 1961.

Aqueduct

The village is particularly notable as the location of the world's first large-scale

(, ). Designed by

, the aqueduct opened in 1797 as part of the

Shrewsbury Canal The Shrewsbury Canal (or Shrewsbury and Newport Canal) was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 183 ...

built the cast iron aqueduct to replace a stone aqueduct, originally built by Josiah Clowes, which was swept away by floods in 1795. Although the canal was abandoned in 1944 due to the shift in traffic to the rail networks, the aqueduct remains. It is

and a

, situated in fields astride the River Tern. The monument is signposted and visible from the road. Clearly marked footpaths lead directly to the monument from a small roadside car park. Telford later designed and built the very much larger

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (; cy, Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales. The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use ...

in Wales, now designated as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Transport links

Bus

The 65 from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

High Ercall High Ercall, also known in the past as Ercall Magna, is a village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. The civil parish is still called Ercall Magna, and had a total population of 1,679 at the 2001 ce ...

passes through Longdon-Upon-Tern with busses departing every 60 minutes from

Train

The closest railway station is away in

, from here there are frequent services to

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Shropshire Telford and Wrekin Buildings and structures in Shropshire