Belle Vue is a suburb of the town of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. It is located about a mile south of the town centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 4,550.

History and development

Built up during the 19th and early 20th Centuries, it is now mainly residential. "Belle Vue Road" (the A5191, formerly the A49) runs through the middle of the area, which has many

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s such as The Grove, the Belle Vue Tavern, the Masonic Arms and the Boar's Head. It also has a selection of small shops, though many have become houses in recent decades. Also in the suburb, off the Belle Vue Road, is the Prince of Wales public house, which has its own bowling green. Streets branching off the Belle Vue Road include Greyfriars Road, Trinity Street, Havelock Road, South Hermitage and Belle Vue Gardens. Oakley Manor, now private housing, was one of the locations of

Shrewsbury and Atcham Shrewsbury and Atcham was a local government district with borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009. Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, although itself only a village, was included in the name as a refle ...

Borough Council from the 1970s to the early 2000s, before the council moved to a purpose-built Guildhall in Frankwell.

Churches

Belle Vue has an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church, dedicated to the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church and the Wellspring Apostolic Church, all on Belle Vue Road.

Belle Vue Cemetery

In 1852, a 2-acre cemetery for Nonconformists in Shrewsbury was opened on Belle Vue Road but was ultimately superseded by the interdenominational, municipal General Cemetery established on Longden Road further west in 1856. The consequently disused mortuary chapel, which became a worship place for the Apostolic Church in 1929, was demolished after being partly burned down (by children) in 1943. It was on part of the cemetery that the present Wellspring Apostolic Church, whose building had been transplanted from Minsterley in 1949, was erected.

Railways

The Welsh Marches Line and

Cambrian Line The Cambrian Line (), sometimes split into the Cambrian Main Line () and Cambrian Coast Line () for its branches, is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury in England, westwards to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli in Wales. Passenger train services ...

run through the area and meet at a junction called Sutton Bridge Junction.

Notable residents

* Samuel Pountney Smith, architect, remodeled The Limes as his own home, where he died in 1876, as well as building Morfe House and Kynnersley House nearby. * William Snook, English running champion, was born in Belle Vue in 1861. * William Henry Fletcher, Church of England clergyman, later Archdeacon of Wrexham, was curate of Holy Trinity Church 1876-78 and Vicar there 1883-88. *

Clopton Lloyd-Jones Clopton Allen Lloyd-Jones (12 November 1858 – 7 March 1918) was an English businessman and amateur sportsman, best known for football and cricket. He played for the Clapham Rovers when they won the FA Cup in 1880 and was selected, but did not ...

, sportsman, winning scorer in the 1880 FA Cup Final - last home at 'Montreux' in Belle Vue Gardens, where he died in 1918. * Jack Bowdler, former Wales international footballer - last home at Oakfield House, South Hermitage, where he died in 1927. He also served as Shrewsbury Borough Councillor for the Belle Vue ward. * Nick Bevan, rowing coach and schoolmaster, was born at The Limes Nursing Home (a later use of the house built by S P Smith, above) in 1942.

References