Shipston-on-Stour
| Shipston-on-Stour | |
|---|---|
 High Street, Shipston |
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 Shipston-on-Stour
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| Shipston-on-Stour shown within Warwickshire | |
| Population | 5,038 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP2540 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Shipston-on-Stour |
| Postcode district | CV36 |
| Dialling code | 01608 |
| Police | Warwickshire |
| Fire | Warwickshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Shipston-on-Stour Town Council |
Shipston-on-Stour is a town and civil parish on the River Stour about 10 miles (16 km) south of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire close to the boundaries with Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
In the 8th century the Toponym was Scepwaeisctune,Old English for Sheep-wash-Town, as it was once an important sheep market. The name evolved through Scepwestun in the 11th century, Sipestone, Sepwestun and Schipton in the 13th century and Sepestonon-Sture in the 14th century.
The Church of England parish church of Saint Edmund has a 15th-century tower. The Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street rebuilt the rest of the church in 1855. The tower had a ring of five bells until 1695 when they were recast and rehung as a ring of six. Since then all the bells have been recast and rehung from time to time, notably in 1754 and by John Taylor & Co. in 1979.
Shipston is on the A3400 road (formerly the A34) between Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford and was once an important staging place for stagecoaches. Many former coaching inns, such as the Coach and Horses, remain in the area of the High Street.
Following a fall in the demand for local wool, the local economy was in part sustained by the opening in 1836 of a branch line running from the horse-drawn Stratford and Moreton Tramway, built ten years before and linking Moreton-in-Marsh with Stratford. In 1889 the line was upgraded to allow the operation of steam trains from Moreton to Shipston. Passenger services to the town were withdrawn in 1929 and the line closed completely in 1960.
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Wikipedia