Church Stretton: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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GBP 35 - 88 Longmynd Hotel
 Nestled in woodland overlooking the small market town of Church Stretton, the hotel is situated in the South Shropshire hills, an area of outstanding … More | ||||||
Church Stretton: Guide
Church Stretton is a town in South Shropshire|South Shropshire, England.
"Stretton", as it's known by locals, is a small town hidden away in the Shropshire hills and famous for its spring water and stunning views.
See the Shropshire Hills AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) for more about the natural geography of the area.
The population is 4186, as measured by the 2001 census, and it is the only town, other than the district capital Ludlow, with a population over 3000 in the South Shropshire district. The town has a Church Stretton railway station|station on the Welsh Marches Line|Welsh Marches railway line, which runs through the valley. Trains can be caught to Shrewsbury, Hereford, Manchester and Cardiff, amongst other destinations.
People have lived in the Stretton gap for thousands of years, and an Iron Age hillfort on Caer_Caradoc_Hill |Caer Caradoc still overlooks the town, which is called "Stretton" from the Saxon name "town on the street" because a Roman Road, Watling Street, runs through it (now the A49 road|A49).
The town is dominated by the huge Long Mynd massif, which provides the town with both its views, and the water that the town's economy is based around. The water comes from an underground glacial lake, and is extracted from boreholes at various places on the Long Mynd, and the water bottling is the town's biggest employer.
Historically, the town was noted for its textiles, but the carding mill closed at the beginning of the 20th century, leaving only the name of the valley that the mill was in (Carding Mill Valley, now the town's popular tourist area).
Other employers include a polymer laboratory on the east side of the town, and tourism which is a growth industry in the area and as a result the town is getting more media exposure than it used to (it was, for example recently mentioned in the infamous tabloid The Sun (newspaper)|The Sun).
A notable feature of the town, is the large number of different churches.
Church Stretton was nicknamed Little Switzerland (landscape)|Little Switzerland during its growth in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, both because of its mountainous terrain, and because the town is run like clockwork.
Church Stretton also has two schools a secondary school with 750 pupils and a primary school with 250 pupils.
Church Stretton is a major centre for the sport of archery.
;Nearby towns and villages include:
;Christian Communities in Church Stretton:
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Church Stretton". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Little Stretton, Shropshire|Little Stretton - to the south
All Stretton - to the north
Craven Arms - town to the south
Wall under Heywood
Rushbury
Longville in the Dale
Ticklerton
Ratlinghope
Anglican (Low Church)
Methodist
Roman Catholic
United Reformed Church
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Eastern Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox External links
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[http://www.shropshiregallery.co.uk/towns/churchstretton/churchstretton.html Photographs of Church Stretton on Shropshire Gallery