Abdon, Shropshire
Historical Description
Abdon, a parish in Salop, under the Clee Hills, 5 miles SE of Rushbury station on the G.W.R., and 9 NNE of Ludlow. Post town, Craven Arms (R.S.O.), which is the telegraph office; money order office, Munslow. Acreage, 2189; population, 172. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford; gross value, £236. Patron, the Earl of Pembroke. The church lias been enlarged and will seat 100. Abdon Burf is a large enclosure on Brown Clee Hill, containing Druidical remains, and a Roman camp can be traced close at hand.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Salop | |
County Court district | Ludlow | |
Diocese | Hereford | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Abdon St. Margaret | |
Hundred | Munslow | |
Petty-Sessional Division | Ludlow | |
Poor Law union | Ludlow |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Shropshire Archives have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Abdon
The register dates from 1554, but is imperfect till the year 1650.
Churches
Church of England
St. Margaret (parish church)
The church of St. Margaret is a small and plain but ancient building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western turret containing 2 bells: there are 100 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Abdon from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Abdon (St. Margaret))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Acton Burnell Park is a spacious white mansion, standing in a large park containing two lakes of 26 acres: the park has grass drives in all directions to the adjoining woods: the pleasure grounds are extensive and tastefully laid out and planted with a variety of American and other flowering shrubs: in the hall is a Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, and open to the public: in 1793, when the suppression of the religious houses in France forced the communities of English Benedictine monks-which had been established in that country for nearly 200 years-to flee to England, the hospitality of the Smythe family was offered to the exiles, and the community of St. Lawrence, of Dieulouard, in Lorraine, was the first to reach Acton Burnell; shortly after came the monks of St. Gregory, of Douai, who remained here till 1814, when they removed to their present establishment at Downside, near Bath; the monks of Dieulouard went to Vernon Hall, near Liverpool, and afterwards to their present premises at Ampleforth, Yorkshire; the buildings formerly occupied by them here have mostly disappeared, except a wing extending from the present portico: the shrubbery walk and many of the trees were planted by the Benedictines, whose mission has been in existence here since 1748. In the park are the ruins of a building, called by tradition the "Parliament barn." A parliament was called in Sept. 1283, by Edward I, and adjourned from Shrewsbury to this place. On this occasion the Lords sat in the Castle, and the Commons in the barn, the gable ends of which still remain; here it was on the 12 Oct. 1283, that the statute of merchants against debtors, known by the name of the "Acton Burnell statute" (9 Edw. I.) was passed, and for the recognizances of debtors a remarkable series of seals, to be used at certain places, was provided.
Maps
Online maps of Abdon are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Shropshire newspapers online:
- Shrewsbury Chronicle
- Wellington Journal
- Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales
- Ludlow Advertiser
- Salopian Journal
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Shropshire, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.