Shifnal

History

The town most probably began as an Anglian settlement, established by the end of the 7th century. The oldest part of the town is said to be the area around St Andrew's Church, Church Street and Innage Road where excavations have turned up evidence of ancient buildings. The village, as it would have been in 1086, is recorded in the Domesday Book within the hundred of Alnodestreu. The initial part of the entry states: Robert, son of Theobald, holds of Earl Roger Iteshale. Earl Morcar held it." This entry records that possession was lost by the Saxon Earl Morcar when he rebelled against the Norman conquerors. The church of St Andrew has a Norman chancel and was almost certainly built on the site of an earlier church. It was a collegiate church or minster with a chapter of priests ministering to the needs of congregations in outlying settlements. St Andrew's lost its collegiate status when it was given to Shrewsbury Abbey c. 1087. In 1245 Walter de Dunstanville, the Crusader and lord of the manor, applied to King Henry III for, and was granted, a market charter for the town. Walter then laid out a broad market street that is Broadway, Bradford Street, Market Place and Park Street for the markets. This area to the east of the stream was known as Shifnal and gradually this name superseded Idsall as the town's name. Just outside of Shifnal are the Caynton Caves, a system carved into the sandstone. Local legend has them made by followers of the Knights Templar 700 years ago, although Historic England – the government body responsible for historic monuments – believes the caves were probably excavated in the late 18th or early 19th Century. Shifnal had something of an early industrial revolution during the late 16th century with the construction of a charcoal fired blast…