Prees () is a village and civil parish in north Shropshire, near the border between England and Wales. Its name is

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and means "brushwood".

Prees civil parish

The civil parish includes many other villages and hamlets as well as the namesake Prees Village. Examples include the villages

Prees Higher Heath Prees Higher Heath (commonly shortened to Higher Heath) is a large village located within the civil parish of Prees in north Shropshire, England. Location Prees Higher Heath is south of the town of Whitchurch, northeast of the small town of We ...

and Prees Green and the hamlets of Prees Lower Heath and Prees Wood (which all share the name Prees). Sandford, Darliston,

Fauls Fauls Green (or Faulsgreen) is a hamlet situated from Prees (and lies in that parish) in rural north Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in ...

and Mickley to the east of the village are also included in the parish. Prees Heath, a nearby village, despite its name, is not part of the civil parish and is actually contained within the neighbouring Whitchurch civil parish. The population of the civil parish in 2001 was recorded at 2688, increasing to 2,895 Census.

Prees village

Prees is northeast of the small town of

Wem Wem may refer to: * HMS ''Wem'' (1919), a minesweeper of the Royal Navy during World War I *Weem, a village in Perthshire, Scotland * Wem, a small town in Shropshire, England *Wem (musician), hip hop musician WEM may stand for: * County Westmeath, ...

. It is also west of

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "Dray ...

and south of Whitchurch. The population in 2001 was recorded at 814, increasing to 939 Census.

History

The church in the village dates back to the 14th century (when the village was commonly spelt "Prys"), however, the tower is younger. Several ancient coins were found on farmland outside Prees in 2017. They included four 300-year-old coins that date to the reign of James I and Charles I. Also located in Prees in the Prees Church of England Primary School and Nursery, a Victorian building that holds much history. There are a number of other churches in the village.

Transport

Roads

The A41 and A49 roads pass on either side of the village.

Railway

West of the village of Prees, but not in the village or the parish as the name would suggest, is the railway station of Prees. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line, between Whitchurch and

. There is a regular service with pre-determined stops. The station is not in the village itself because Captain Black, a wealthy resident in the village stated that the station had to be exactly one mile away from the centre of the village, which at the time was the mill, located (still today) on Mill Street. This was so that it could be easily reached as a route out with the goods produced.

Bus

The village is served by the 511 bus route, operated by Arriva Midlands North, which runs between

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 Whitchurch via

. Some services terminate in Wem and do not continue to Whitchurch.

Canals

Prees was the intended destination of an arm of the

Ellesmere Canal The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales an ...

. However, the arm was only completed as far as Quina Brook. The arm is now known as the Prees Branch of the Llangollen Canal, and is navigable for about a mile to Whixall

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

; the following 3/4 mile is still followable on the towpath as it passes through Prees Branch Canal Nature Reserve.

Notable people

* James Fleetwood (c.1603-1683) an English clergyman, vicar of Prees and later

Bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. * Thomas Gilbert (1613 in Prees – 1694) an English ejected minister of the seventeenth century. *

Philip Henry Philip Henry (24 August 1631 – 24 June 1696) was an English Nonconformist clergyman and diarist. His son Matthew Henry was a notable commentator on the Bible and also a Presbyterian minister. Early life Philip Henry was born at Whitehall, L ...

(1631–1696) an English nonconformist clergyman. and diarist, ordained in Prees in 1657 * Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill (1772 in Prees Hall – 1842) as a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars, ultimately Commander in Chief. His doric

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

stands in

. *

Robert Chambre Hill Sir Robert Chambre Hill CB (25March 17785March 1860) was a British Army cavalry officer who fought in the Peninsular War and was wounded while in command of the Royal Horse Guards at the Battle of Waterloo on 18June 1815. Background He was born ...

(1778 in Hawkstone Hall – 1860) a British Army cavalry officer, fought in the Peninsular War. *

Clement Delves Hill Major-general Clement Delves Hill (6 December 178120 January 1845) was a British Army Officer who fought at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and later saw service in India. Career The sixth son of Sir John Hill Bt. and Mary, co-heir and daughter of J ...

(1781 in Hawkstone Hall – 1845) a British Army officer who fought in the Battle of Waterloo. *

Thomas Noel Hill Colonel Sir Thomas Noel Hill KCB KTS (24February, 17848January, 1832) was a British Army officer of the Napoleonic Wars who fought at the Battle of Waterloo on 18June, 1815. Life and career Born at Hawkstone Hall, near Hodnet, Shropshire, Hil ...

(1784 in Hawkstone Hall - 1832) a British Army officer who fought in the Battle of Waterloo. *

Francis Sandford, 1st Baron Sandford Francis Richard John Sandford, 1st Baron Sandford, (14 May 1824 – 31 December 1893), known as Sir Francis Sandford between 1863 and 1891, was a British civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Committee of Council on Ed ...

KCB, PC (1824–1893) known as Sir Francis Sandford a British civil servant who implemented the Elementary Education Act of 1870, buried in Prees. * Henry Maddocks (1871 in Prees — 1931) an English lawyer and Conservative Party politician. * Thomas Oakley (1879 in Prees – 1936) a British electrician and politician, MP for The Wrekin 1924-1929 * William Hutchings (1879 – 1948 in Prees) soldier and English amateur cricketer, played in 24 first-class matches for Kent and Worcestershire.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches northeast to

Adderley Adderley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire, several kilometres north of Market Drayton. It is known as Eldredelei in the Domesday Book. The Irish statesman Robert le Poer was parish priest of Adderley in 1319. ...

with a total ward population taken at the 2011 census of 4,281.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Shropshire Civil parishes in Shropshire World War II prisoner of war camps in England