Prees () is a village and

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 authority ...

in north

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 ...

, near the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

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 James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

and

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. Also located in Prees in the Prees

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 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 Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus. Arriva Midlands North Operations In September 1981 Midland Red North was formed with 230 buse ...

, 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 Quina Brook is a hamlet in north Shropshire, near the border between England and Wales. Population details for the 2011 census are found under Wem Rural. Quina Brook was the final destination of an arm of the Ellesmere Canal. This arm was origi ...

. The arm is now known as the

Prees Branch The Llangollen Canal ( cy, Camlas Llangollen) is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshi ...

of the

Llangollen Canal The Llangollen Canal ( cy, Camlas Llangollen) is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshi ...

, 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 James Fleetwood (baptised 25 April 1603, Chalfont St Giles; died 17 July 1683, Hartlebury Castle) was an English clergyman and Bishop of Worcester. Life He was descended from the old Lancashire family of Fleetwood and was the seventh son of Sir ...

(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 The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England, following Stuart Restoration, The Restoration of Charles II of England, Charles I ...

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 General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, (11 August 1772 – 10 December 1842) was a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars as a brigade, division and corps commander. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1828. ...

(1772 in Prees Hall – 1842) as a British Army officer who served in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, 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 Order of the Bath, 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. Backg ...

(1778 in

Hawkstone Hall Hawkstone Hall is a early 18th-century country mansion near Hodnet, Shropshire, England which was more recently occupied as the pastoral centre of a religious organisation for many years. It is a Grade I listed building. It is currently a weddi ...

– 1860) a British Army cavalry officer, fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. *

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 The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. *

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, Hill ...

(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 The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...

1924-1929 * William Hutchings (1879 – 1948 in Prees) soldier and English amateur cricketer, played in 24 first-class matches for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

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