Wistanstow is a village and

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 ...

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 ...

, England. Wistanstow is located about south of Church Stretton and north of

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

. It is about north of

Craven Arms Craven Arms is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the A49 road and the Welsh Marches railway line, which link it north and south to the larger towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow respectively. The Heart of Wales railway l ...

. It is just off the main Shrewsbury- Hereford road, the A49. The large parish, of , includes a number of other small settlements:

Woolston Woolston may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Woolston, Cheshire, a village and civil parish in Warrington * Woolston, Devon, on the list of United Kingdom locations: Woof-Wy near Kingsbridge, Devon * Woolston, Southampton, a city suburb in Ham ...

, Upper Affcot, Cwm Head, Bushmoor, Strefford, Whittingslow, Felhampton and Cheney Longville, and a population of 724 was recorded in the 2001 census, increasing to 812 at the 2011 Census. The

River Onny The River Onny is a river in Shropshire, England. It is a major tributary of the River Teme. Etymology The river's name derives from Welsh and means the river on which ash trees (Welsh: ''onnau'') grew. Course The river has its sources in th ...

flows through the parish, southwest of the village, also Leamoor Common and Wettles are to the north of the village.

History and amenities

The main lane running through the village is a Roman road, which ran between the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlements and forts at

Leintwardine Leintwardine ( ) is a small to mid-size village and civil parish in north Herefordshire, England, close to the border with Shropshire. History Roman A popular misconception is that the Romans called the village ''Branogenium''. Branogenium in ...

and

Wroxeter Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. '' Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was site ...

. The village takes its name from the Anglo-Saxon saint

Wigstan Wigstan (died c.840 AD), also known as Saint Wystan, was the son of Wigmund of Mercia and Ælfflæd, daughter of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia. History Like many Mercians of the period very little is known about Wigstan. He was the son of Wigm ...

who was the grandson of the King of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

. He was martyred at this location by his greatuncle. His burial took place at his family crypt at the abbey of Rependon (now known as

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

) the Mercian capital, memorialized as ''St. Wystan'' upon his canonization (one of the oldest unaltered places of Christian worship in England). The Saxon suffix ''stow'' means (enclosed) place. An uncle of W(ystan) H(ugh) Auden (named for the eponymous saint spelled ''Wystan'' by his father who was an alumnus of Repton school built on the remains of the Abbey) wrote the entry for Wistanstow in ''Little Guide to Shropshire'' The present church building, Holy Trinity, was mainly built between 1180 and 1200. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

roof of 1630 is one of the church's finest features and was re-gilded in the mid-1960s. The interior is also graced by a number of early 19th century

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s and fine mid-20th-century wooden panelling behind the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

. It contains a war memorial plaque to local men who died serving in the World Wars and another to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Beddoes who was lost when ''S.S. Chiosa'' hit a wartime mine off

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in January 1919. Wistanstow has a splendid

mock Tudor Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

village hall that was given to the village in 1925 by a local landowner. This enormous "blackandwhite" building included cottages for the district nurse and resident caretaker. The village has a small church primary school. At the other end of the village opposite Manor Farm is the Plough Inn. Just behind was a small independent

real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

, "Wood's", founded in 1980, which closed under "adverse trading conditions" in 2022 following the

Covid pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

.Report by David Tooley. In 1984, both the Plough and the brewery were featured as the final destination on a Shropshire edition of Treasure Hunt, with

Anneka Rice Anne Lucinda Hartley Rice (born 4 October 1958), known professionally as Anneka Rice, is a Welsh-born television and radio presenter, broadcaster, journalist and painter. Early life and education Rice was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wale ...

pulling herself a pint of real ale to complete the game. “The Smithy” is the village’s community shop which was officially opened by the 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 ...

OBE, a local parishioner in April 2000. Once the workplace of a local

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

and little more than the size of a shed, the shop stocks all the basics, with as much as possible sourced from local suppliers.

Notes

References

{{authority control Villages in Shropshire Civil parishes in Shropshire

History and amenities

See also

Notes

References