Hopesay is a small 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 authorit ...

, in south

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. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 561. The name 'Hopesay' derives from "Hope de Say", the valley of Picot de Say, a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

baron who held the manor of neighbouring Sibdon Carwood and whose power base was the nearby

Clun Castle Clun Castle is a medieval ruined castle in Clun, Shropshire, England. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the Norman invasion of England and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, ...

. Though most of the Norman influence has been lost, the church tower does date back to Norman times. The 13th-century church of St Mary, restored c.1880, is a Grade I listed building. Hopesay church & rectory (1294443)

The village has an active community though in recent decades has suffered from depopulation, leading to the closure of both the village shop and Post office, and the school (closed in 1989). Within the parish lies the larger village of Aston on Clun, and the village of Broome which has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

on the

Heart of Wales Line The Heart of Wales line ( cy, Llinell Calon Cymru) is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Lla ...

. The hamlet of Basford, in the north of the parish, straddles the boundary with

Edgton Edgton is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is also an ecclesiastical parish and a chapelry. It lies in a rather remote and very rural area, south of the River Onny. The nearest market towns are Bishop's Castle, Craven ...

parish. The writer and adventurer

Vivienne de Watteville Vivienne Florence Beatrice de Watteville (1900–1957) was a British travel writer and adventurer, author of two books based on her experiences in East Africa in the 1920s, ''Out in the Blue'' (1927) and ''Speak to the Earth'' (1935). She is best ...

(Vivienne Goschen) is buried at Hopesay.Perrin, Jim, ''Shipton and Tilman'' (London, 2013), p.115

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Civil parishes in Shropshire Villages in Shropshire {{shropshire-geo-stub

See also

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External links