Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town,
civil parish and historic
railway town in
Shropshire, England, close to the
Welsh border
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 peopl ...
. It is at the junction of the
A5,
A483 and
A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the
Borough of Oswestry until that was abolished in 2009. Oswestry is the third-largest town in Shropshire, following
Telford and
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 ...
. At the 2011 Census, the population was 17,105. The town is five miles (8 km) from the Welsh border and has a mixed English and Welsh heritage.
Oswestry is the largest settlement within the
Oswestry Uplands, a designated
natural area and
national character area.
Toponym
The name ''Oswestry'' is first attested in 1191, as ''Oswaldestroe''. This
Middle English name transparently derives from the
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 ...
personal name
Ōswald and the word ''trēow'' ('tree'). Thus the name seems once to have meant 'tree of a man called Ōswald'.
[A. D. Mills, ''A Dictionary of English Place Names'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), s.v. ''Oswestry'' .] However, the traditional Welsh name for the town, (first attested in 1254), means 'Oswald's cross', and 'cross' is a possible meaning of Old English ''trēow''. Thus the town's name may have meant 'Oswald's cross' in both English and Welsh.
The Oswald mentioned is widely imagined to have been
Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642, however there is some question as to whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology an ...
, who died at the
Battle of Maserfield
The Battle of Maserfield () was fought on 5 August 641 or 642 (642 according to Ward) between the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria and Penda of Mercia, ending in Oswald's defeat, death, and dismemberment. The location was also known as ...
in 641/642. The location of the battle is debated among scholars, but for much of the twentieth century was assumed to be at Oswestry.
[Andrew Breeze, ''British Battles, 493-937'' (London: Anthem Press, 2020), ch. 9 .] However, A. D. Mills's ''Dictionary of English Place Names'' concluded that 'the traditional connection with St Oswald, 7th-century king of Northumbria, is uncertain'.
The name and the association with King Oswald have attracted more fanciful interpretations. According to legend, one of the dismembered Oswald's arms was carried to an ash tree by a raven. Miracles were subsequently attributed to the tree, and the legend has it that this was "Oswald's Tree", and gave its name to the town. A spring called 'Oswald's Well' is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree, though one historian has suggested that it was likely to have had sacred associations long before Oswald's time. The water from the well was believed to have healing properties, particularly for curing eye trouble.
Offa's Dyke runs near the well, to the west.
There is an alternative view that Oswestry was named after Oswy, Oswald's brother, who fought a battle here against King Penda in 655 AD. Oswy became King of Northumbria after Oswald's death in 642 AD. The battle of 655 AD was fought near to a river called the Winwead, which it is believed, was the nearby
River Vyrnwy. Welsh folklore has it that this battle was called the battle of
Pengwern and in it their leader
Cynddylan was also killed.
History
Prehistory
The earliest known human settlement in Oswestry is
Old Oswestry, one of the best-preserved
Iron Age hill forts in Britain, with evidence of construction and occupation between 800BC and 43AD.
The site is known in Welsh as ''Caer Ogyrfan'', meaning 'City of Gogyrfan', referring to the father of
Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
in
Arthurian legend.
Saxon times
The
Battle of Maserfield
The Battle of Maserfield () was fought on 5 August 641 or 642 (642 according to Ward) between the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria and Penda of Mercia, ending in Oswald's defeat, death, and dismemberment. The location was also known as ...
is widely thought to have been fought at Oswestry in 641 or 642, between the
Anglo-Saxon kings
The Heptarchy were the seven petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England that flourished from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century until they were consolidated in the 8th century into the four kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, Wess ...
Penda of Mercia and
Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642, however there is some question as to whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology an ...
. However, the location of the battle is debated among scholars.
The Conquest
The
Domesday Book (1086) records
the castle being built by Rainald, a
Norman Sheriff of Shropshire: ().
Alan fitz Flaad (died c.1120), a Breton knight, was granted the feudal barony of Oswestry by King
Henry I who, soon after his accession, invited Alan to England with other
Breton friends, and gave him forfeited lands in
Norfolk and
Shropshire, including some which had previously belonged to
Ernulf de Hesdin (killed at
Antioch while on crusade) and
Robert of Bellême.
Alan's duties to the Crown included supervision of the Welsh border. He also founded
Sporle Priory
Sporle Priory was a priory in Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its nor ...
in Norfolk. He married Ada or Adeline, daughter of Ernulf de Hesdin. Their eldest son
William FitzAlan was made
High Sheriff of Shropshire by King
Stephen in 1137. He married a niece of
Robert of Gloucester. Alan's younger son,
Walter, travelled to Scotland in the train of King
David I, Walter becoming the first hereditary
Steward of Scotland and ancestor of the
Stewart Royal family.
Border town
The town changed hands between the English and the Welsh a number of times during the
Middle Ages and still retains some Welsh-language street and
place names. In 1972,
ITV broadcast a television report asking residents if they thought the town should be English or Welsh, with mixed responses.
In 1149 the castle was captured by
Madog ap Maredudd during '
The Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
', and it remained in Welsh hands until 1157. Occasionally in the 13th century it is referred to in official records as ''Blancmuster'' (1233) or ''Blancmostre'' (1272), meaning "White Minster". Later, Oswestry was attacked by the forces of Welsh rebel leader
Owain Glyndŵr
Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...
during the early years of his rebellion against the English
King Henry IV in 1400; it became known as ''Pentrepoeth'' or "hot village" as it was burned and nearly totally destroyed by the Welsh. The castle was reduced to a pile of rocks during the
English Civil War.
The town is now the home of the
Shropshire libraries' Welsh Collection.
Market town
In 1190 the town was granted the right to hold a market each Wednesday.
The town built walls for protection, but these were torn down in the English Civil War by the
Parliamentarians after they took the town from the Royalists after a brief siege on 22 June 1644, leaving only the Newgate Pillar visible today.
After the
foot and mouth outbreak in the late 1960s the animal market was moved out of the town centre. In the 1990s, a statue of a shepherd and sheep was installed in the market square as a memorial to the history of the market site.
Military
Park Hall, a mile east of the town, was taken over by the Army during
World War I in 1915 and used as a training camp and military hospital. On 26 December 1918 it burnt to the ground following an electrical fault. The ruined hall and camp remained derelict between the wars,
the camp hospital, however, was still in use; the
Baschurch
Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.
It lies in North Shropshire, north-west of Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-e ...
Convalescent and Surgical Home moved there in February 1921 and it became known as the
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.
One of the main uses of the land from the 1920s was for motorcycle racing and it became quite a well-known circuit.
The camp was reactivated in July 1939 for
Royal Artillery training and the Plotting Officers' School.
Following
World War II, Oswestry was a prominent military centre for Canadian troops, then for the British Royal Artillery, and finally a training centre for 15 to 17-year-old Infantry Junior Leaders. The camp closed in 1975. During the 1970s some local licensed wildfowlers discharged their shotguns at some passing ducks and were shot themselves by a young military guard, who had mistaken them for an attacking
IRA force.
The area previously occupied by the Park Hall military camp is now mainly residential and agricultural land, with a small number of light industrial units. Park Hall Farm became a visitor attraction in 1998, it is home to the Museum of the
Welsh Guards.
The Park Hall Football Stadium (home of
The New Saints FC
The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...
) and The Venue is now closed.
Landmarks
Old Oswestry, situated on the northern edge of the town, dominates the northern and eastern approaches. The 3,000-year-old settlement is one of the most spectacular and best preserved
Iron Age hill forts in Britain Hillforts in Britain refers to the various hillforts within the island of Great Britain. Although the earliest such constructs fitting this description come from the Neolithic British Isles, with a few also dating to later Bronze Age Britain, Briti ...
, with evidence of construction and occupation between 800 BC and AD 43.
Other attractions in and around Oswestry include: Park,
Shelf Bank
This large hill in the centre of Oswestry is a area consisting of acid grassland and naturally regenerated areas of woodland and scrub.
Location and surroundings
The site occupies the majority of a knoll which offers views across Oswestry t ...
, Wilfred Owen Green, Saint Oswald's Well at Maserfield,
Oswestry Castle, and the Cambrian Railway Museum located near the former railway station.
Oswestry Guildhall, the meeting place of Oswestry Town Council, was completed in 1893.
A story incorporating the names of all of the many pubs once open in Oswestry can be found hanging on a wall inside The Oak Inn on Church Street. There is a tapestry of 40 Oswestry pub signs on display in Oswestry Guildhall on the Bailey Head. The Stonehouse Brewery was opened in 2007, on the site of the former Weston Wharf railway station at Weston, in nearby Oswestry Rural; Stonehouse Brewery supplies many of the pubs with real ale.
Brogyntyn Hall, which belonged until recently to the
Lords Harlech, lies just outside the town. Brogyntyn Park is five and a half acres of parkland occupying the southern slope of the Grade II listed Brogyntyn Estate. It was gifted to Oswestry Town Council by the
fourth Lord Harlech, William Ormsby-Gore, on 11 August 1952.
Culture
There is a range of arts related activities in the town.
* The Qube
* Oswestry Visitor & Exhibition Centre
* Willow Gallery
* The Oswestry Town Museum
*
Cambrian Railways Museum
* Attfield Theatre
* Fusion Arts organises arts and music activities for young people.
* Kinokulture, a cinema
* Hermon Chapel Arts Centre
* Oswestry Choral Society, the Oswestry Recorded Music Society, and the Oswestry Ladies Choir has developed.
* OsRocks Choir
* Wilfred Owen Green
* Borderlines Film Festival
* The Oswestry Food and Drink Festival
* Oswestry Balloon Festival
* The Whittington International Chamber Music Festival
Religion
In the
2011 Census, 68.7% of the population of Shropshire stated that their religion was 'Christian'. The second largest group (22.8%) stated that they had 'no religion'.
There are a number of places of worship in Oswestry.
Oswestry is divided into two Church of England parishes, which are part of the
Diocese of Lichfield: Holy Trinity, which encompasses Oswestry East and eastern part of Oswestry Rural; and St. Oswald, which encompasses Oswestry South, Oswestry West and the western part of Oswestry Rural. Each parish has its own parish church.
St Oswald's Church was first mentioned in the 1085
Domesday book and a
tithe document in Shrewsbury the same year. St Oswald's Church is Grade II*
listed, having a tower dating from late 12th or early 13th century and later additions particularly in the 17th and 19th centuries. There is a new window in the east nave, designed by
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
artist
Jane Gray in 2004.
In June 2022, it was announced that, from January 2023, oversight of
traditional Catholics within the Anglican Church in the west of
Province of Canterbury
The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses).
Overview
The Province consist ...
(formerly the
Bishop of Ebbsfleet
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionist Anglo-Catholic parishes that could not ac ...
's area) would be taken by a new
Bishop of Oswestry
__NOTOC__
The Bishop of Oswestry is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Lichfield who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England.
Background
Following the first ordinations of women in 1993 to the priesthood ...
, suffragan to the Bishop of Lichfield. The Bishop of Oswestry is to serve the western 13 dioceses of the southern province (
Bath and Wells
The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England.
The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the C ...
,
Birmingham,
Bristol,
Coventry,
Derby,
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
,
Gloucester,
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 ...
, Lichfield,
Oxford,
Salisbury,
Truro, and Worcester).
The town of Oswestry and surrounding villages fall into the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Oswald, in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. The single Catholic church is Our Lady and St Oswald's Catholic Church. There is an associated primary school.
There are two
Methodist churches: the Horeb Church on Victoria Road and the Oswestry Methodist Church. Cornerstone
Baptist Church
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
is on the corner of Lower Brook Street and Roft Street in a modern 1970s building. Other
Nonconformist churches include the Albert Road Evangelical Church, Hope Church (formerly Church, ), founded in 1964, and the Cabin Lane Church, established by members of the Hope Church in 1991 following the eastern expansion of Oswestry.
Christ Church, formerly
Congregationalist but now shared by the
United Reformed Church and the
Presbyterian Church of Wales, was the home church of the composer
Walford Davies, who sang in the choir. There is a Welsh-speaking church, the Church, and the Holy Anglican Church, a Western Rite Anglican establishment. Coney Green has a
Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. The
Religious Society of Friends also holds meetings in Oswestry. The Grade II* star Hermon Chapel, by chapel architect
Thomas Thomas, was a Welsh-speaking Congregational church and is now an arts and community centre.
A small
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
community exists in the town. A plan to transform a 19th-century former Presbyterian church on Oswald Road into a permanent base for meetings and prayer services fell through in March 2013 due to cost.
New plans were submitted to Shropshire Council for approval in 2019, to convert the former
Salvation Army
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
citadel in King Street into an Islamic Prayer Centre. These plans were eventually approved by Shropshire Council.
There is a small
Orthodox Christian
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...
community in Oswestry, which has increased in size over years due to the town's growing
Bulgarian community. There is no Orthodox church in Oswestry, however, so congregants have to travel to the Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Fathers of Nicaea, Shrewsbury, to worship. There used to be an Orthodox outreach at Holy Trinity Church for a few years, but a disagreement over the church layout brought this service to an end. Congregants also used to benefit from a Greek Orthodox priest at
Weston Rhyn, who left the area in the 1990s.
Healthcare
The
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust in Oswestry provides elective orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal medical services.
The hospital is located towards Gobowen.
There is a Health Centre on Thomas Savin Road, next to Shelf Bank and opposite the bus station. Within the Health Centre is the Oswestry Minor Injuries Unit, Cambrian Medical Centre and a range of services run by
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust. There are three other GP surgeries situated within the town, and numerous opticians, pharmacists and dentists.
Education
Oswestry is home to the second oldest 'free' (which in this context means not linked to any ecclesiastical foundation) school in the country,
Oswestry School
Oswestry School is an ancient public school (English independent day and boarding school), located in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1407 as a 'free' school, being independent of the church. This gives it the distinction of b ...
, which was founded in 1407. (The oldest,
Winchester College, was founded in 1382.) Oswestry School's 15th century site, adjacent to St Oswald's Parish Church, is now a heritage centre, housing the Tourist Information Centre, Shropshire Poacher Coffee Shop, and exhibitions.
There are four state primary schools in Oswestry: The Meadows Primary School, Cabin Lane; Woodside Primary School, Gittin Street; Holy Trinity C.E. Primary Academy & Nursery, Beech Grove and Middleton Road; and Our Lady & St. Oswald's Catholic Primary School, Upper Brook Street. There is also an independent co-educational preparatory school in Church Street, Bellan House, which is run by Oswestry School.
Secondary education is provided by both Oswestry School and the state secondary school with academy status:
The Marches School, Morda Road.
Further education is provided by The Marches School's Sixth Form and the
North Shropshire College which is situated in the town at Shrewsbury Road and at the Walford Campus near
Baschurch
Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.
It lies in North Shropshire, north-west of Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-e ...
.
Transport
Oswestry is at the junction of the
A5 with the
A483 and
A495. The A5 continues from
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 ...
to the north, passing the town, before turning west near
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
and entering Wales.
Bus services are operated by
Arriva Midlands and local independents
Tanat Valley Coaches, Lakeside Coaches and Owen's Travelmaster. The town has regular bus routes that link nearby villages and towns including
Wrexham and Shrewsbury.
Gobowen railway station
Gobowen railway station is a railway station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line of the former Great Western Railway's London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside via Birmingham Snow Hill line, serving the village of Gobowen in Shropshire, England ...
is 2 miles from the northern edge of Oswestry. It has direct services to Birmingham, Cardiff, Chester and North Wales.
The original station name board 'Gobowen for Oswestry' is permanently displayed on the station platform.
Canals
The
Llangollen Branch of the
Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
The canal lies in ...
runs from
Ellesmere to
Llangollen, running east of the town at Hindford and on through
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
, north. A navigable section of the partially restored
Montgomery Canal, runs from Frankton Junction (connecting to the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal) to
Newtown.
Historic railways
The
railway station, once on the main line of the
Cambrian Railways
The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the ...
, was closed in 1966 as a consequence of the
Beeching cuts. Opened in 1840, the section from
Whitchurch to
Welshpool (Buttington Junction), via
Ellesmere,
Whittington
Whittington may refer to:
Places
* Whittington, Victoria, Australia
* Whittington, Illinois, United States
England
* Old Whittington, Derbyshire
* New Whittington, Derbyshire
* Whittington Moor, Derbyshire
* Whittington, Gloucestershire
* Whitti ...
, Oswestry and
Llanymynech
Llanymynech is a village straddling the border between Montgomeryshire/Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England, about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh for "Church of the Monks". The village is on the ba ...
, closed on 18 January 1965, leaving only a short branch line from to continue to serve Oswestry – but only until 7 November 1966. This former
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) branch had once run into a separate GWR Oswestry terminus, but this has long since disappeared and the land redeveloped as a bus station and supermarket. Trains were re-routed into the main Cambrian station from 7 July 1924.
The main building of the Cambrian station is still a prominent landmark in the town centre: it once housed the headquarters of the Cambrian Railways company. After restoration, this building was reopened as the Cambrian Visitor Centre in June 2006 but closed on 11 January 2008. It later reopened, and has since evolved into the headquarters of the Cambrian Heritage Railways (CHR) and a small catering establishment known as "Buffers"; other parts of the building have been converted into retail and office units to contribute to the upkeep of the building.
A single railway track still runs through the station, once overgrown and rusting, it has been cleared and repaired and is the subject of an ambitious plan to reopen the line as a steam heritage railway between Oswestry and Llanyblodwel and Pant, Shropshire, Pant (to link with the restored
Montgomery Canal – see above), and as a sustainable community transport rail link from Oswestry to the National Rail railway station at Gobowen.
By 2013, the main "up" platform at Oswestry station had been reconstructed and some new semaphore signalling installed. The branch-line track-bed from south of Gobowen to Llanyblodwel is now owned by Shropshire Council, who lease the land to CHR, a registered charity. Work is advancing in securing the transfer of the existing Transport & Works Act Order (TWAO) from Network Rail to CHR. The aim was for this transfer to be completed by 2014, and for the railway line between Gobowen and Oswestry to be fully re-instated and operational by 2017; however the legal process of the TWAO Unit administering a form of written debate between the proposer and objectors with a guided number of exchanges, was still ongoing in mid 2016. CHR purchase of the final section of the Oswestry to Gobowen railway branch line was completed in April 2016; nevertheless, other hurdles to becoming operational, such as permissions and finances to reinstate the level crossings on the main A5/A483 Trunk Roads, will also need to be overcome.
Immediately to the south of Oswestry Railway Station is the Cambrian Railways Museum; while a short distance to the north are the "listed" Works Bridge and the former Cambrian Railways works, which are now occupied by a variety of local commerce concerns and Oswestry's Community Health Centre and ambulance facility.
Sport
Since 2013, the town has been represented in Association football, football by F.C. Oswestry Town, who are currently members of the North West Counties Football League Division One South. The former local football club, Oswestry Town F.C., was one of the few English teams to compete in the Welsh Premier League, League of Wales. It also won the Welsh Cup in 1884, 1901 and 1907. The club folded due to financial difficulties in 2003 and merged with Total Network Solutions F.C. of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, Llansantffraid, a village eight miles (13 km) away on the Welsh side of the border. Following the takeover of the club's sponsor in 2006, the club was renamed as The New Saints F.C., The New Saints. They moved to the redeveloped Park Hall (football ground), Park Hall Stadium on the outskirts of the town in September 2007. The New Saints or TNS is a Full-time job, full-time-Professional sport, professional Association football, football club that play in the Welsh Premier League, which they have won a record twelve times.
Oswestry Lions F.C. of the Shropshire County League also play at the ground.
Recreation and leisure
From the 1700s to 1848, there was a popular racecourse outside the town. Known as (), the site was chosen on this high hilltop because of its location between the Kingdom of England and the Principality of Wales, and the aim was to bring together the local landowners and gentry of Wales and England. Remnants of the old grandstand and figure-of-eight racetrack can still be seen.
[Greyhound Derb]
"Oswestry racecourse"
Retrieved 14 August 2013.
Nowadays, Oswestry Race Course is common land, registered under the Commons Act 1899 and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, with a number of rights of way on the South Common including Offa's Dyke Path and Bridleway. Also designated as a publicly accessible open space and a Wildlife Site in the 1999 Local Plan, it is an area reserved for:
::quiet, informal leisure activities and recreation;
::the biological diversity of the matrix of heathland, sparse woodland, ponds and ditches; and
::the sustainable management and conservation of nature and wildlife.
The site provides extensive views across the surrounding landscape of England and Wales.
The to
Chirk
Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
Mill section of the Offa's Dyke Path National Trails, National Trail crosses the common.
Twin towns
Oswestry is twinned with:
Notable people
Arts and media
*Guto'r Glyn (c1412-c1493) Welsh bard, resident of the town as appears from poem, ''In Praise of Oswestry''.
* Shirley Brooks (1816–1874) journalist, novelist and editor of ''Punch (magazine), Punch'', lived there when training as a solicitor 1832–38
* William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930) Oxford don, originator of the Spoonerism, educated at Oswestry School
* Sir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE (1869 in Oswestry – 1941) composer, Master of the Queen's Music 1934 / 1941
* Wilfred Owen MC (1893 in Oswestry – 1918) poet and soldier in the first World War
* Ivor Roberts-Jones RA (1913 in Oswestry – 1996) sculptor, sculpted Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London, Parliament Square
* Barbara Pym (1913 in Oswestry – 1980) novelist, Booker Prize nominee 1977
* Michael Croft OBE (1922 in Hengoed – 1986) actor, schoolteacher and writer.
* Frank Bough (1933-2020) former television presenter, went to school in Oswestry
* Ian Hunter (singer), Ian Hunter (born 1939 in Oswestry) lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople 1969 / 1974
* Philip Llewellin (1940 in Oswestry – 2005) journalist and writer, went to Oswestry School
* Paul Jerricho (born 1948 in Oswestry) actor, educated at Oswestry School
* Peter Edwards (artist), Peter Edwards (born 1955) BP Portrait Award-winning artist, went to Oswestry school
* Jesse Armstrong (born in Oswestry 1970) comedy writer, best known for the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show (British TV series), Peep Show'' and the BBC political satire ''The Thick of It''.
Public service
* Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine (1634–1705) courtier and diplomat
* Owen Owen (school inspector), Owen Owen (1850–1920) teacher, headmaster and school inspector in Wales
* Harold Whitfield (1886–1956) Victoria Cross recipient
* Francis Humphrys (1879–1971) cricketer, colonial administrator and diplomat
* John Lloyd Williams (RAF officer), John Lloyd Williams MC (1894-unknown), World War I flying ace, Chief Constable of Cardiganshire
* Trevor Rees-Jones (bodyguard), Trevor Rees-Jones (1968-) bodyguard of Diana, Princess of Wales
Religion and politics
* William FitzAlan, Lord of Oswestry (1105–1160) nobleman of Breton ancestry, major landowner and a Marcher lord
* John FitzAlan, 6th Earl of Arundel, John FitzAlan, Lord of Oswestry, Clun and Arundel (1223–1267) Marcher Lord with lands in the Welsh Marches.
* David Holbache (c.1355 – c.1422) Welsh politician, MP for Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency), Shropshire, founded
Oswestry School
Oswestry School is an ancient public school (English independent day and boarding school), located in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1407 as a 'free' school, being independent of the church. This gives it the distinction of b ...
in 1407.
* Robert Ussher, (1592–1642) Provost of Trinity College, Dublin and Bishop of Kildare, buried at Doddleston Chapel, near Oswestry
* Thomas Bray (c.1657–1730) clergyman and abolitionist, went to Oswestry School
* Stanley Leighton (1837 – 1901) barrister, landowner, artist, antiquarian and Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1885 / 1901
* Francis Jayne (1845-1921), former Bishop of Chester, died in retirement at Oswestry.
* George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech (1855–1938), British soldier and Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1901 / 1904
* William Griffith Thomas (1861 in Oswestry – 1924), Anglican cleric and scholar
* William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman (1864–1935) Home Secretary 1922 / 1924 and Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1906 / 1929
* Kate Williams Evans (1866-1961), suffragette, died in Oswestry
* Bertie Leighton (1875–1952), Army officer, landowner and Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1929 / 1945
* David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (1918–1985), diplomat and Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1950 / 1961
* John Biffen (1930–2007) respectfully regarded Conservative MP for Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency), Oswestry 1961 / 1997
* George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock (born 1942 in Oswestry), former Scottish Labour Co-operative MP, now life peer
Science, medicine and business
* Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818 in Oswestry – 1864), surveyor and architect, educated at Oswestry School
* Thomas Savin (1826 in Llwynymaen – 1889 in Oswestry), railway engineer, buried Oswestry Cemetery
* Edward Weston (chemist), Edward Weston (1850 in Oswestry – 1936) chemist, developed electroplating and the Weston cell in the USA
* Northcote W. Thomas (1868 in Oswestry - 1936) British anthropologist and psychical researcher
* Katharine Lloyd-Williams CBE (1896 in Oswestry – 1973) anaesthetist, general practitioner and medical educator
* Gordon Jackson Rees (1918 in Oswestry – 2001) anesthesiologist and a pioneer in pediatric anesthesia
* Dame Steve Shirley CH DBE FREng FBCS (born 1933) information technology pioneer, businesswoman and philanthropist, Kindertransport child refugee, lived at Oswestry for six years and attended Oswestry Girls' High School.
*Malcolm Walker (businessman), Sir Malcolm Walker CBE (born 1946 in Yorkshire) Founded the supermarket chain Iceland (supermarket), Iceland in the town in 1970
* Per Lindstrand (born 1948) Swedish aeronautical engineer and pilot, founded Lindstrand Balloons in Oswestry
* Ian Robertson (businessman), Ian Robertson CMG (born 1958 in Oswestry) automotive executive, MD of Land Rover, now on the Board of BMW Group
Sports
* Alfred Payne (cricketer, born 1849), Alfred Payne (1849 in Oswestry – 1927) cricketer for the Marylebone Cricket Club
* Di Jones (1867 in Trefonen – 1902) Welsh international footballer, 340 club caps for Bolton Wanderers F.C. and Manchester City F.C.
* Charlie Morris (footballer), Charlie Morris (1880 in Oswestry – 1952) footballer, 277 club caps for Derby County F.C.
* George Wynn (1886 in Treflach – 1966) Welsh professional footballer
* Herbie Roberts (1905 in Oswestry – 1944) footballer, 297 club caps for Arsenal F.C.
* Harry Cooke (1919 in Oswestry - 1992) footballer, 228 club caps for Luton Town F.C., Luton Town
* Harry Weetman (1920 in Oswestry - 1972) golfer
* Alan Ball, Sr (1924-1982) football player and club manager, kept The King's Head public house in Church Street while being player-manager at Oswestry Town. His son Alan Ball, Jr (1945-2007) later England national football team, England player in the FIFA World Cup 1966, 1966 World Cup and club manager, attended Oswestry Boys' High School and also played with Oswestry Town during the same period.
* Fred Morris (footballer, born 1929), Fred Morris (1929 in Oswestry – 1998) footballer, 350 club caps, mainly for Walsall F.C.
* Andy Lloyd (cricketer), Andy Lloyd (1956 in Oswestry) England test cricketer and captain of Warwickshire CCC
* Ian Woosnam OBE (born 1958 in Oswestry) Welsh professional golfer
* Carl Griffiths (born 1971 in Oswestry) retired footballer, 334 club caps beginning at Shrewsbury Town F.C.
* Darren Ryan (born 1972 in Oswestry) former footballer, over 300 club caps; now trains youngsters at Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolves
* Paul Evans (footballer born 1974), Paul Evans (born 1974 in Oswestry) retired footballer, 475 club caps beginning at Shrewsbury Town F.C.
* Boaz Myhill (born 1982) football goalkeeper, over 350 club caps, mostly for Hull City F.C.
* Amy Hughes (runner), Amy Hughes (born 1987) marathon runner, a sports therapist in Oswestry
* Matt Done (born 1988 in Oswestry) professional footballer,
SoccerBase Database
Retrieved 17 March 2018. over 350 club caps, plays for Rochdale A.F.C., Rochdale
See also
* Listed buildings in Oswestry
* Battle of Oswestry - Civil War
References
External links
*
Oswestry Town Council
{{Authority control
Oswestry,
Holy wells in England
Market towns in Shropshire
Towns of the Welsh Marches
Towns in Shropshire
Railway towns in England
Civil parishes in Shropshire