Bromfield 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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 ...

, England. According to the 2001

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

it had a population of 306, which had fallen to 277 at the 2011 census.

Location

Bromfield is located near the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

, two miles (3 km) northwest of the town centre, on the

A49 road The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrin ...

. The A4113 road (to Knighton) has its eastern end in Bromfield, at its junction with the A49. The village is situated near the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

River Teme The River Teme (pronounced ; ) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of Bucknell and continu ...

and

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 ...

. The latter splits the village into two, with the church and many of the older buildings to the west and the recently redeveloped business area to the east (towards Ludlow). A bridge takes the main road over the river.

History

The manor of Bromfield, and separately

Bromfield Priory Bromfield Priory was a priory in Shropshire, England, located at Bromfield near Ludlow. It was a college of secular canons, founded before 1061. The Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manusc ...

, are recorded 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, then still falling within the Saxon

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Culvestan Culvestan was a hundred (county division), hundred of Shropshire, England. Formed during Anglo-Saxon England, it encompassed Manorialism, manors in central southern Shropshire, and was amalgamated during the reign of Henry I of England, Henry I ( ...

, which was abolished in the reign of

Henry I Henry I or Henri I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry ...

; Bromfield then came within

Munslow Munslow is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is situated on the B4368, northeast of the town of Craven Arms, in the River Corve, Corvedale, at around above sea level. The village formed part of and gave its name to t ...

hundred. It was a large and well-populated manor. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

at that time extended beyond the present-day boundaries, to the north (with a detached part at Halford existing into the 19th century) and the south (another detached part, near Ashford Bowdler). In 1884 it expanded significantly by taking in a large part of the southern portion of

Stanton Lacy Stanton Lacy is a small village and geographically large civil parish located in south Shropshire, England, north of Ludlow. The River Corve flows through the parish, on its way south towards the River Teme, and passes immediately to the wes ...

's parish; in 1934 another significant boundary change took place, with a large part (on both sides of the

, and including a small part of the 1884 transfer from Stanton Lacy) transferred to Ludlow. Circa 1967 the borders of Ludford, Bromfield and Ludlow were re-aligned in the Whitcliffe area. 1987 saw a small area, containing the places of Wigley and Fishmore, transferred from East Hamlet which was being dissolved at the time. The effect of the boundary changes caused by this dissolution was the creation of a second boundary with Ludford, with Ludlow now encircled by the two parishes of Ludford and Bromfield. Much of the parish, as well as the neighbouring parish of Stanton Lacy, is part of the

Earl of Plymouth Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, one of the dozens of illegitimate ...

's Oakly Park Estate. Oakly Park is now the Plymouth family seat. The village

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and is a grade I listed building. There was, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a priory at Bromfield.

Amenities

Three-quarters of Ludlow Racecourse and the Ludlow Golf Club are located in the parish, to the northeast of the village. The Welsh Marches Line passes through the parish, between the village and the racecourse. A level crossing and manned signal box still exist, but the station once sited here closed in 1958. The village now boasts a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

(open Monday-Friday only), a hotel/restaurant/bar, a large local food centre, a smaller restaurant/cafe, and a garden/plant centre. These are all located adjacent to one another in a recently redeveloped business area by the A49 road. Islabikes were based in the business area but moved to nearby Ludford; they manufacture specialist bicycles, in particular for children.

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

route 44 passes through the village, on its way between

Bishop's Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales–England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of ...

and Ludlow. It passes under the A49 by a subway, an unusual feature for a village in Shropshire.

People associated with Bromfield

Henry Hill Hickman Henry Hill Hickman (born Henry Hickman) (27 January 1800 – 2 April 1830) was an English physician and promoter of anaesthesia. Life He was born to tenant farmers at Lady Halton, (near Bromfield, Shropshire, Bromfield, just outside Ludlow, ...

, early promoter of

anaesthetics An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into tw ...

References

External links