Church Stretton
| Church Stretton | |
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 Church Stretton viewed from the Ragleth |
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 Church Stretton
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| Church Stretton shown within Shropshire | |
| Population | 4,671 |
| OS grid reference | SO453937 |
| • London | 158 miles (254 km) |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHURCH STRETTON |
| Postcode district | SY6 |
| Dialling code | 01694 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | churchstretton.co.uk |
Church Stretton is a small town in Shropshire, England, 13 miles (21 km) south of Shrewsbury and 15 miles (24 km) north of Ludlow. The population in 2011 was 4,671.
The town was nicknamed Little Switzerland in the late-Victorian and Edwardian period because of its landscape and became a health resort. The local geology includes some of the oldest rocks in England and a notable fault is named after the town.
Today, Church Stretton is a busy market town in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
People have lived in the Stretton Gap (or Dale) for thousands of years; an Iron Age hillfort on Caer Caradoc overlooks the town. The name "Stretton" is derived from the Old English words stræt meaning "Roman Road" and tun meaning "settlement"; a Roman road, Watling Street runs through the Stretton Gap, though the town (and adjacent settlements) were not historically located on this road – during the "Dark Ages" the settlements grew a short distance away from the old thoroughfare, for defensive purposes. Today the modern A49 road, which was constructed on its current alignment through the Stretton Gap in the late 1930s, runs along a similar course to the Roman Road. The Roman Road was historically known as Botte Street.
The settlements of Little Stretton, Church Stretton and All Stretton (until the late 19th century regarded as separate townships) formed the manor of Stretton or Stretton-en-le-Dale. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded 35 households and a mill in the manor. Church Stretton became the largest of the settlements, with the manor's parish church and market located there, and being where Bristol Road had a junction with the road to Much Wenlock and the Burway - a route over the Long Mynd. At the time of the Domesday Book, the manor came under the hundred of Culvestan, a Saxon hundred that was amalgamated during the reign of Henry I — the Strettons then came within the upper division of the hundred of Munslow.
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Wikipedia