Early history

Richard Fletcher mentions Much Wenlock as one of the possible locations where a Sub-Roman British Christian community may have survived the Anglo-Saxon occupation and eventually integrated with the conquerors and influenced their culture.^[4]

The town of Wenlock is known to have grown up around an abbey or monastery founded around 680^[5] by Merewalh, a son of King Penda of Mercia, with the small town within its parish boundaries. King Penda installed his daughter Milburga as abbess in 687. Milburga of Wenlock was credited with many miraculous works.^[6] The abbey flourished until around 874 when it is thought that a Danish Viking attack occurred.^[7]

The Domesday Book records the manor as 'Wenloch' and forming part of the hundred of Patton. It was already at this time a fairly large settlement, with 73 households. The abbey is also recorded in the book, separately.^[3][8] In the 11th century another religious house was built on the same site by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Countess Godiva his wife. In the 12th century this was replaced by a Cluniac priory, established by Roger de Montgomery after the Norman Conquest, the ruins of which can still be seen and which is now in the care of English Heritage.^[9]

Early in the 12th century the hundred of Patton was merged with Culvestan to form the hundred of Munslow, but in 1198 Much Wenlock, together with the other manors held by Wenlock Priory, was transferred to the hundredal jurisdiction of the Liberty of Wenlock (also known as Wenlock Franchise).^[9]

The Manor of Much Wenlock belonged to the Cluniac Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540 when it passed to the Lawley family, and then by marriage of Ursula Lawley to the Bertie family.^[9]

Borough of Wenlock

In 1468 Edward IV granted the men of Much Wenlock a charter forming the Borough of Wenlock, at the request of Sir John Wenlock, and "in consideration of the laudable services which the men of the town performed in assisting the king to gain possession of the crown." The charter was confirmed in 1547 by Henry VIII after Wenlock Priory was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The charter was again confirmed in 1631 by Charles I.^[10]

Over the years the borough asserted jurisdiction over the liberty of Wenlock. The lands of the liberty included rural areas and a number of detached parts well outside the town, and this resulted in an unusual, geographically dispersed borough.^[11] At its height, it was – by area – the largest borough in England^[12] outside London and encompassed several of the towns that now constitute Telford. The borough had unusual boundaries, covering Much Wenlock itself, but also Little Wenlock, Broseley and Ironbridge, a total area of 71 square miles (180 km²). In 1836 the borough was reformed as a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and lost some of its rural areas and detached parts. The borough was further reduced in size in 1889, and was finally abolished in 1966.^[9]

Later history

11-year-old Alice Glaston from Little Wenlock was hanged together with two men in Much Wenlock on 13 April 1546, for an unknown crime.^[13][14][15] She is the youngest known girl legally executed in Great Britain, though 8- or 9-year-old John Dean was hanged for arson in 1629.^[16]

Sir Thomas Wolryche, 1st Baronet (1598–1668) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for Wenlock between 1621 and 1625. He fought in the Royalist army in the English Civil War, serving as military governor of Bridgnorth.^[17]

In 1714, the Manor of Much Wenlock was held by Viscount Gage, who sold it to the Williams-Wynn family.^[9]

In the 19th century the town and much of the surrounding land came into the possession of James Milnes Gaskell, from his wife's family the Williams-Wynns. James was MP for Wenlock for many years. His son Charles Milnes Gaskell restored the Priory lodging as a home with his wife Lady Catherine, daughter of the Earl of Portsmouth. There they entertained many famous people of the day, writers, politicians, artists and explorers, among them Thomas Hardy, Henry Adams, Henry James, Thomas Woolner, Henry Morton Stanley, Isabella Bird and Philip Webb.^[18]

Much Wenlock has become known as the birthplace of Wenlock Olympian Games set up by William Penny Brookes and his Wenlock Olympian Society (WOS) in 1850. In 1861 he was also instrumental in setting up the Shropshire Games and later in 1866, the National Olympian Games. Dr Brookes is credited as a founding father of the Modern Olympic Games. In 1890 it was the turn of the Raven Hotel to be the venue for the annual post Wenlock Olympian Games' dinner, and Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the guest of honour. Copies of some of the WOS's archive images are on display in the hotel, including letters from Coubertin to Brookes. The Wenlock Olympian Games, a nine-day event staged on eight sites across Shropshire, are still held annually during July, and are still organised by WOS. Much Wenlock's secondary school is named William Brookes School after Dr Brookes.^[19]

The London 2012 Summer Olympics mascot was named Wenlock^[20] to honour Brookes, WOS and Much Wenlock. On 30 May 2012, the Olympic flame of the 2012 Summer Olympics, was carried through Much Wenlock to acknowledge the founding footsteps of Brookes.^[21]

Recent times

When the Borough was abolished in 1966 the core Wenlock parts became part of the Bridgnorth Rural District,^[22] with other parts also going to Dawley Urban District and to Wellington Rural District. In 1974 Much Wenlock joined Bridgnorth District until it was abolished in 2009. It is now represented in the unitary Shropshire Council.^[23]

In 1983, actress Gabrielle Drake and her husband purchased Much Wenlock Manor and restored it.^[9]

Much Wenlock was the location for the third broadcast episode (the first filmed) of the first series of the archaeology television programme Time Team in 1994.^[24]

In 2019, Much Wenlock was featured by The Sunday Times as one of the best places to live in the UK.^[25]

Other notable people

Mary Beard, 2017

• Peter de Leia (died 1198), Bishop of St David's, Wales, was previously prior of Wenlock Priory.
• David Cranage (1866-1957), Dean of Norwich, was previously curate at Much Wenlock parish church in 1898-1902.^[32]
• Rosemary Leach (1935 in Much Wenlock – 2017) English stage,^[33] television and film actress
• Tony Levin (1940 in Much Wenlock – 2011) was an English jazz drummer,^[34] who played at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in the 1960s
• Dame Rosemary Butler DBE (born 1943 in Much Wenlock) politician ^[35] and Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales 2011 to 2016.
• Gabrielle Drake (born 1944) the actress,^[36] lives in Wenlock Priory
• John Constable (born 1952 in Much Wenlock) is an English playwright, poet, performer and activist, author of The Southwark Mysteries.
• Mary Beard (born Much Wenlock 1955) an English scholar and classicist,^[37] the New Yorker characterises her as "learned but accessible"
• Roger Preece (born 1968 in Much Wenlock) was professional midfield footballer^[38] between 1986 and 2004, playing over 350 games mainly for Wrexham A.F.C. and Chester City F.C.
• Matthew Green (born 1970), Liberal Democrat politician, lived in Much Wenlock when he became MP for Ludlow from 2001 to 2005.^[39]
• Isobel Cooper (born Much Wenlock 1975), operatic pop soprano singer,^[40] known professionally as Izzy.

Films

• In 1950 the town and its surrounding countryside were the locations of the film Gone to Earth by Powell and Pressburger. In 1985 the film was fully restored by the National Film Archive, and premiered to great acclaim. The New Statesman review claimed the restored film to be... "One of the great British regional films" ...(and)... "one of the most beautiful films ever to be shot of the English countryside". The film was based on the 1917 novel of the same name by the Shropshire writer Mary Webb, which was partly inspired by the Diary of Francis Kilvert.
• The John Cleese film Clockwise was filmed partly in and around Much Wenlock.

Bus

• The Arriva service 436 connects Much Wenlock with Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth with hourly services. A less frequent service links the town to Telford.
• A Shropshire Hills Shuttle service at weekends and on Bank Holidays during the spring and summer started in 2012, but ceased in 2013. The route, called the "Wenlock Wanderer", connected the town with Church Stretton and operated mostly along the B4371 which runs atop the Wenlock Edge, before turning off to Acton Scott and then to Marshbrook and the market town of Church Stretton.^[46]

Rail

Much Wenlock used to be served by trains between Wellington and Craven Arms. The station became a terminus when through running southwards to Craven Arms ceased in 1951. The branch closed in 1962, just before Dr Beeching published his report.^[47]

The nearest active network railway stations are Shrewsbury and Wellington although Bridgnorth has a heritage railway to Kidderminster.