Rorrington 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 west

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. It is in the

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 ...

Chirbury with Brompton Chirbury () is a village in west Shropshire, England. It is situated in the Vale of Montgomery, close to the Wales–England border ( at its nearest), which is to its north, west and south. The A490 and B4386 routes cross at Chirbury. It is t ...

. Four

lanes In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...

lead into the hamlet: from Marton in the north, Meadowtown in the east, Middleton in the south, and

Wotherton Wotherton is a hamlet in west Shropshire, close to the Welsh border. It is in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton. Its name, mentioned as a manor in Domesday means, roughly, "settlement at a woodland ford"; the road through the village c ...

in the west.

National Cycle Route 44 National Cycle Network Route 44, part of the National Cycle Network, connects Shrewsbury, Shropshire with Cinderford, Gloucestershire. The part of the route from Shrewsbury to Bromfield is signed - the remainder of the route is currently unsign ...

passes through the hamlet.Shropshire Council
National Cycle Route 44

History

Rorrington's name is possibly derived from Old English personal name and could be translated as "the estate of Hror".Mills, A. ''A Dictionary of British Place-Names'', OUP, 2003 As ''Roritune'', it was recorded as a manor 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 manusc ...

, when it was held jointly by Robert and Roger fitz Corbet.Eyton, ''Antiquities of Shropshire, Volume XI'', 1860, p.94 There was once a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its gua ...

here, located on the hillside at Rorrington Green. In the mediaeval period it was a place of pilgrimage and there was a small chapel on the site, administered by the canons of St Michael's church in Chirbury and probably dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This may have been the Christianisation of an earlier tradition.Hannaford, H. R. ''Notes on a sketch survey of the Holy Well at Rorrington'', Shropshire Archaeology Service, 1996, p.2 Until the 1830s, a "Halliwell Wakes" was held on

Ascension Day The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared b ...

, when villagers would process round the hillside, with music and dancing: pins were thrown in the well ( dressed with green boughs, rushes and flowers) for good luck.Hope, R. ''Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England Including Rivers, Lakes, Fountains and Springs'', 1893, p.147

References

Villages in Shropshire {{shropshire-geo-stub

History

See also

References