Minton is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in Shropshire, England. It is located in the

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 o ...

of Church Stretton, 2½ miles southwest of the market town of Church Stretton. A historic settlement, it is situated on a foothill of 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 ...

at around 240m above sea level. As of 2010, there are around 12 dwellings in the hamlet. Three lanes lead out from the hamlet: one to the

A49 road The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrin ...

, one mile southeast at

Marshbrook Marshbrook is a hamlet (place), hamlet in Shropshire, England. It is sometimes spelt "Marsh Brook", which is also the name of a small watercourse which flows through the area. It lies on the junction of the A49 road, A49 and B4370, 3 miles to ...

; another lane leads to the hamlet of

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 is also in Church Stretton parish; and Little Stretton is one mile to the northeast.

History and features

The place name is from Welsh ''mynydd'' meaning 'hill' and

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 c ...

''tun'' meaning 'settlement', 'town'. The hamlet has largely retained its Anglo-Saxon layout, with a patchwork of plots and haphazard narrow lanes. There are remains of a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

, which dates from either Anglo-Saxon or

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 ...

times. It was a township and Royal manor,British History Online
Church Stretton held by King Edward prior to the Norman conquest. 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 manus ...

. Today the hamlet consists of farms and cottages and is agricultural in character. It is designated a conservation area and there are 5

Listed building 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 ...

s in the hamlet – Long Mynd House, Ivanhoe, Manor Farmhouse, Well Cottage, and Minton House. There is an outdoors activity centre located on the lane between Minton and Hamperley, the ''Longmynd Adventure Camp'', with overnight accommodation and camping ground.

Minton Hill and Batch

Minton Hill is to the northwest of the hamlet and rises to 453m. A bridleway leads up to its summit (and continues beyond onto the Long Mynd) from the hamlet of Minton. Another walking route up to the Long Mynd is via the Minton Batch, where a bridleway leads up from the lane to Hamperley.

Famous residents

The Oscar-nominated actor,

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical fil ...

, lived at Yew Tree Cottage in Minton for many years before moving to the village of

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

near

Bishop's Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of Sh ...

. "I do love Shropshire," he was quoted as saying. "Whenever I get home, my shoulders drop by two inches. The only reason I’ve been able to do the things I’ve done is because I have my family and Shropshire to come home to. They’ve made everything else possible."

The Minton surname

The Shropshire surname of Minton originates from the name of the hamlet although resources seem to disagree as to its earliest occurrence. Some point to Jordan de Minton, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Northumberland in 1169. However, the Rev R W Eyton in his book, 'The Antiquities of Shropshire' identifies Walter de Miniton (later Walter de Muneton) as the first tenant of Minton or Muneton as the site was then known. Subsequent Mintons of note include

Thomas Minton Thomas Minton (1765–1836) was an English potter. He founded Thomas Minton & Sons in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which grew into a major ceramic manufacturing company with an international reputation. During the early 1780s Thomas Minton ...

(English potter), John Minton (British artist),

Yvonne Minton Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (born 4 December 1938) is an Australian-born but mostly British-resident opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto. A native of Sydney, she originally studied voice while on a scholarshi ...

(Australian opera singer), Mary Minton (novelist) and

Sherman Minton Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. senator from Indiana and later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; he was a member of the ...

(US Democratic senator).

Popular culture

Film: The titular character of the movie, ' Big Stan' starring

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

was named Stan Minton. The characters of Conrad and Wilma Minton (played by

Lew Ayres Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film '' All Quiet on the Western Fr ...

and Herta Ware) also appeared in the episode, 'Old Flames' in 1980s crime drama, '

Cagney and Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very di ...

'. Literature: A series of children's books called, 'Minton Goes...' has been written by Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble. A character called Sophia Minton also appeared in Agatha Christie's book, '

N or M? ''N or M?'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1941 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November of the same year.Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Coll ...

'. The fictional airfield of RAF Minton featured in '

The Shepherd ''The Shepherd'' is a 1975 novella by British writer Frederick Forsyth. Plot ''The Shepherd'' relates the story of a De Havilland Vampire pilot, going home on Christmas Eve 1957, whose aircraft suffers a complete electrical failure en route f ...

' by

Frederick Forsyth Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', '' The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alter ...

while the village of Little Minton was invented by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have b ...

for her book, ' The Mystery of the Secret Room'. The fictional town of Minton, New England also provided the setting for the 1860 novel, ' The Ebony Idol' by G M Flanders. The Ebony Idol

References