Shropshire County

With a population of only 287,900 (60,000 young people) and at only 0.9 persons per hectare, the county is one of the most sparsely populated. Shropshire does have vast areas of uninhabited land, therefore, delivering services to communities living throughout our county in small settlements and many isolated dwellings, is Shropshire Council and its partners greatest service delivery challenge.

Shropshire is a great place to live and we have a strong sense of community and identity. Our communities have a rural tradition of self sufficiency and independence and are keen to devise practical solutions that respond appropriately to local needs.

The county town is Shrewsbury, with other major centres including Oswestry, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Church Stretton.

Some interesting facts about Shropshire County:

• Some two-thirds of the population live in Shrewsbury, Telford or one of the ten main market towns, while the county's 600 villages and many scattered hamlets are home to the rest
• Shropshire has over 90 places to visit; historic houses with beautiful gardens, the famous Ironbridge (built in 1779), museums and family attractions
• Shropshire has always lived in interesting times. A stormy past has left us with a littering of hillforts, castles (32 in all) and abbeys
• The castle keep at Bridgnorth leans at a seventeen-degree angle. This is three times further than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
• The play Comus by John Milton was first performed in the Great Hall at Ludlow Castle in 1634
• Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) was born in Shrewsbury!
• The Shropshire landscape reflects the fact that Shropshire is geologically unique and creates the special habitats that ensures that Shropshire wildlife is so diverse
• Shropshire is built on rocks from 11 out of the 13 known periods of geology - the smallest place in the world to boast so many.