Meole Brace, sometimes known locally as simply Meole (pronounced like ''meal''), is a south-western suburb 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 ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The

Rea Brook The name Rea Brook can refer to either of two brooks in Shropshire, England. One of the brooks, which eventually becomes the River Rea, is in southern Shropshire. It is to the east of Brown Clee Hill. The other, described here, is a minor r ...

, 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 ...

, flows through the area. The brook was in the past known as the "Meole Brook". Meole Village is the name used locally for the older part of Meole Brace, which was originally a village outside Shrewsbury. It still retains a village feel, though it is surrounded by newer urban development. This older settlement lies on the route of a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

and could be older than the town of Shrewsbury. There are two estates, Radbrook and a privately owned estate near the retail park. Nearby are the small villages of Nobold and

Pulley A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...

Etymology

The name Meole Brace comes from the old

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, which no longer stands, owned by the Brace family (perhaps originally 'de Bracey':

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

barons). It has been known as Meole, or Mole, or Mill for almost 1000 years; it may come from Mill, as in flour mill, as there was certainly a mill on the brook, or possibly from the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

'moel' meaning "bare", or by extension "bare hill" - or from

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 ...

mele, "meal" as in "oatmeal", referring to the sediment in the brook giving a "mealy" appearance. This last

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

is supported by most of the earlier (

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

) spellings which have "Mele" without an "o"; 'Malvern', derived from the Welsh ''moel'', appears as mal- or mael- while Old English myll "mill" only appears with an e in southeastern (mostly Kentish) texts.

Amenities

A5112 (Hereford Road), formerly the A49, is the main road running north–south. There is a large

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standal ...

in Meole Brace, with several leading retailers, including

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is the UK's largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. Halfords Group is listed on the Lon ...

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

Currys PC World Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. E ...

and

TK Maxx TK Maxx is a subsidiary of the American apparel and home goods company TJX Companies based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The stores operate throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands, totall ...

. There is also a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

and

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert a ...

restaurant, a

Costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

café and a

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

supermarket. The Welsh Marches and

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

railway lines run through the area, but there is no longer a railway station here. Meole Brace retail park

There is a local comprehensive

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

Meole Brace School Meole Brace School is a coeducational secondary school in the suburb of Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, England. It is one of two state-funded secondary schools in South Shrewsbury and serves a wide catchment area which includes Meole Brace, areas of ...

, and in the heart of the village there 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 ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

and nursery. The village also has a church, Holy Trinity Meole Brace (part of Trinity Churches). Built at a cost of £7500 on the site of the old vicarage, the present building was consecrated by the Bishop of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

in 1869 and is a Grade II* listed building. The parish is now in the

Diocese of Lichfield The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of seve ...

. Phillip John Cansdale is the Vicar.

Sports

Meole Brace is home to Meole Brace Bowling Club, built in 1934, and to the council-run 12-hole Meole Brace Municipal Golf Course whose professional is award-winning Class AA PGA Pro, Will Shakespeare who offers a full range of professional golf services to all visitors and members. The course links the village to the nearby settlements of Reabrook and Sutton Park as well as Reabrook Nature Reserve. The suburb has a sunday league football club, AFC Meole Brace, who currently compete in the Shrewsbury & District Sunday League. They play home games at Church Road.

New Meadow New Meadow, also known as Montgomery Waters Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is a stadium situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5. It serves the ho ...

(aka Montgomery Waters Meadow), the home ground of

Shrewsbury Town F.C. Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, is located within the suburb.

Notable residents

Thomas Barker (fishing guide) Thomas Barker ('' fl''.1591–1651) was an English fishing guide and author. Life For more than sixty years, he practised the art of angling, and "spent many pounds in the gaining of it". In the dedicatory address to Lord Montague, the author t ...

(fl.1591-1651), author of ''The Arte of Angling'', was born at Meole Brace, then called by him ''Bracemeol''. * Edward Bather (1779-1847), later

Archdeacon of Salop The Archdeacon of Salop is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield. The incumbent is Paul Thomas. History Shropshire was historically split between the diocese of Hereford (under the Archdeacon of Shropshi ...

, was Vicar of Meole Brace from 1804 until his death there. * Thomas Bucknall Lloyd (1824-1896), later Archdeacon of Salop, was Vicar of Meole Brace 1851–1854. * Lucy Elizabeth Bather (1830-1864), writer for children as 'Aunt Lucy', lived at Meole Brace from her marriage in 1860 and died at Meole Brace Hall. * Henry Bather (1832-1905), later Archdeacon of Ludlow, was Vicar of Meole Brace 1858–97. *

James Cosmo Melvill (naturalist) James Cosmo Melvill (1 July 1845 – 4 November 1929) was a British botany, botanist and malacology, malacologist who collected plants in Europe and North America. Family Melvill was born at Hampstead, London, on 1 July 1845. He was a grand ...

(1845-1929) lived at Meole Brace Hall from 1904 to his death. * William Bather (1861-1939) born at Meole Brace, first-class cricketer, later clergyman who was Vicar of Meole Brace 1897-1930. *

Mary Webb Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English Romance (literary fiction), romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and ...

(1881-1927), poet and novelist, lived at Meole Brace from 1902 to her marriage in 1912. * Lady Joan Dunn (1918-2018), one of first women to work for

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

, died a resident at Maesbrook care home in Meole Brace.

Literature

Meole Brace is mentioned in

The Cadfael Chronicles ''The Cadfael Chronicles'' is a series of historical murder mysteries written by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter (1913–1995) under the name "Ellis Peters". Set in the 12th century during the Anarchy in England, the novels focus on a Bene ...

References

External links

Local guideArchaeology found at Meole BracePhotos of Meole Brace and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
*{{oscoor gbx, SJ487103 Suburbs of Shrewsbury