Oswestry
[9] However, A. D. Mills's Dictionary of English Place Names concluded that 'the traditional connection with St Oswald, 7th-century king of Northumbria, is uncertain'.[10] A spring called 'Oswald's Well' is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree, though one historian has suggested that it was likely to have had sacred associations long before Oswald's time.[12] This interpretation is supported by a passage in Fouke le Fitz Waryn (13th century romance) which states that Oswaldestré was derived from Arbre Oswald (Oswald's tree), which in turn was changed from La Blanche Launde (Welsh: y tir Gwyn) which belonged to a Briton called Meredus Fitz Beledyns (Maredudd ap Bleddyn).[13] There is an alternative view that Oswestry was named after Oswy, Oswald's brother, who fought a battle here against King Penda in 655 AD.[16] The Battle of Maserfield is widely thought to have been fought at Oswestry in 641 or 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Penda of Mercia and Oswald of Northumbria.[9] The Domesday Book (1086) records the castle being built by Rainald, a Norman Sheriff of Shropshire: L'oeuvre (French for 'The work').[17] Alan fitz Flaad (died c.1120), a Breton knight, was granted the feudal barony of Oswestry[18] by King Henry I who, soon after his accession, invited Alan to England with other Breton friends, and gave him forfeited lands in Norfolk and Shropshire, including some which had previously belonged to Ernulf de Hesdin (killed at Antioch while on crusade) and Robert of Bellême.[23] The town changed hands between the English and the Welsh a number of times during the Middle Ages and still retains some Welsh-language street and place names.[30] Park Hall, a mile east of the town, was taken over by the Army during World War I in 1915 and used as a training camp and military hospital.During the 1970s some local licensed wildfowlers discharged their shotguns at some passing ducks and were shot themselves by a young military guard, who had mistaken them for an attacking IRA force.[32] The area previously occupied by the Park Hall military camp is now mainly residential and agricultural land, with a small number of light industrial units.The 3,000-year-old settlement is one of the most spectacular and best preserved Iron Age hill forts in Britain, with evidence of construction and occupation between 800 BC and AD 43.[35] A story incorporating the names of all of the many pubs once open in Oswestry can be found hanging on a wall inside The Oak Inn on Church Street.[58] The Bishop of Oswestry serves the western 13 dioceses of the southern province (Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Oxford, Salisbury, Truro, and Worcester).[59] The town of Oswestry and surrounding villages fall into the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Oswald, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury.A plan to transform a 19th-century former Presbyterian church on Oswald Road into a permanent base for meetings and prayer services fell through in March 2013 due to cost.[67] New plans were submitted to Shropshire Council for approval in 2019, to convert the former Salvation Army citadel in King Street into an Islamic Prayer Centre.The hospital is now home to the UK's first orthopaedic outpatient centre for British Armed Forces veterans following a fund-raising appeal by the RJAH League of Friends in 2018.Further education is provided by The Marches School's Sixth Form and the North Shropshire College which is situated in the town at Shrewsbury Road and at the Walford Campus near Baschurch.On 9 November 2023, Oswestry was awarded Coach Friendly accreditation by the Conference for Passenger Transport (CPT) at a ceremony in the Guildhall on Bailey Head.The branch-line track-bed from south of Gobowen to Llanyblodwel is now owned by Shropshire Council, who lease the land to CHR, a registered charity.The aim was for this transfer to be completed by 2014, and for the railway line between Gobowen and Oswestry to be fully re-instated and operational by 2017; however the legal process of the TWAO Unit administering a form of written debate between the proposer and objectors with a guided number of exchanges, was still ongoing in mid 2016.CHR purchase of the final section of the Oswestry to Gobowen railway branch line was completed in April 2016; nevertheless, other hurdles to becoming operational, such as permissions and finances to reinstate the level crossings on the main A5/A483 Trunk Roads, will also need to be overcome.The New Saints or TNS is a full-time-professional football club that play in the Welsh Premier League, which they have won a record twelve times.
Oswestry (disambiguation)ShropshireOS grid referenceLondonCivil parishUnitary authorityCeremonial countyRegionWest MidlandsCountryEnglandSovereign statePost townPostcode districtSY10, SY11Dialling codeISO 3166PoliceWest MerciaAmbulanceUK ParliamentNorth ShropshireConservativeLib DemsIndependentrailway townWelsh borderBorough of OswestryTelfordShrewsburyOswestry Uplandsnatural areanational character areaMiddle EnglishOld EnglishŌswaldOswald of NorthumbriaBattle of MaserfieldOffa's DykeFouke le Fitz WarynromanceRiver VyrnwyPengwernCynddylanOld OswestryIron Age hill fortsGuinevereArthurianAnglo-Saxon kingsPenda of MerciaDomesday Bookthe castleNormanSheriff of ShropshireFrenchAlan fitz FlaadHenry IBretonNorfolkErnulf de HesdinAntiochRobert of BellêmeSporle PrioryWilliam FitzAlanHigh Sheriff of ShropshireStephenRobert of GloucesterWalterDavid ISteward of ScotlandStewart Royal familyMiddle Agesplace namesMadog ap MareduddThe AnarchyOwain GlyndŵrKing Henry IVEnglish Civil WarShropshire librariesParliamentariansfoot and mouthWorld War IBaschurchRobert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic HospitalRoyal ArtilleryWorld War IIWelsh GuardsThe New Saints FCOswestry GuildhallIron Agehill forts in BritainShelf BankOswestry CastleWeston Wharf railway stationBrogyntynLords Harlechfourth Lord Harlech, William Ormsby-GoreCambrian Railways MuseumThe Duchess of EdinburghThe Princess RoyalPrincess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady OgilvyThe Duke of Gloucester2011 CensusDiocese of Lichfieldlistedstained glassJane Graytraditional CatholicsProvince of CanterburyBishop of EbbsfleetBishop of OswestryBath and WellsBirminghamBristolCoventryExeterGloucesterHerefordOxfordSalisburyWorcesterRoman CatholicDiocese of ShrewsburyMethodistBaptist ChurchNonconformist