20 Facts About Shropshire

Shropshire is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England.

Shropshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle annal for 1006.

Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as an abbreviated form for post or telegrams, it is thought to derive from the Anglo-French "Salopesberia".

Geographically, Shropshire is divisible into two distinct halves – north and south.

The West Midlands Green Belt extends into eastern Shropshire, covering an area north from Highley, to the east of Bridgnorth, north to the eastern side of Telford, leaving Shropshire eastwards alongside the A5.

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North Shropshire Plain is an extension of the flat and fertile Cheshire Plain.

South Shropshire is more rural, with fewer settlements and no large towns, and its landscape differs greatly from that of North Shropshire.

South West Shropshire is a little-known and remote part of the county, with Clun Forest, Offa's Dyke, the River Clun and the River Onny.

Shropshire has a huge range of different types of rocks, stretching from the Precambrian until the Holocene.

Shropshire has a number of areas with Silurian and Ordovician rocks, where a number of shells, corals and trilobites can be found.

Shropshire's blazon is erminois, three pile azure, two issuant from the chief and one in base, each charged with a leopard's face.

Shropshire has no cities, but 22 towns, of which two can be considered major.

Shropshire Council has been under Conservative control since the first election held in 2009; Telford and Wrekin Council has been under Labour control since 2011.

Shropshire is connected to the rest of the United Kingdom via a number of road and rail links.

Many of the businesses in Shropshire are family run such as Raven Yard Antiques, a family run antiques shop located in Watergate Street, Whitchurch.

Some Shropshire children attend schools in Wales, including Llanfyllin High School.

Shropshire has the highest educational attainment in the West Midlands region.

Shropshire is home to a variety of established amateur, semi-pro and professional sports clubs.

County has one American football team, Shropshire Revolution, which was founded in 2006, and is a club in the British American Football League.

Shropshire has a number of rugby clubs, including Newport Rugby Union Football Club, the highest-leveled team in the county, playing in the National League 3 Midlands.