Wem, Shropshire
Historical Description
Wem, a small market-town, the head of a poor-law union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and a parish in Salop. The town stands on the river Roden, 10 miles N of Shrewsbury, 18 E of Oswestry, and 174 by railway from London. It has a station on the Shrewsbury and Crewe branch of the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Shrewsbury. Wem belonged at Domesday to W. Pandulph, passed to the Howards, the Wycherleys, and Judge Jeffreys; gave to Jeffreys in 1685 the title of Baron, declared for the Parliament at the outbreak of the Civil Wars of Charles I., sustained and repelled in 1643 an attack by a party of the royal troops, suffered devastation by fire in 1677 with the loss of £23,000 worth of property, and numbers among its natives Lord Mayor Adams who died in 1667, and Wycherley the dramatist A quiet little town, it comprises one principal street and several cross streets and lanes. It carries on malting and leather manufacture, and has a tannery and corn-mills. The town-hall is a plain brick edifice rebuilt in 1848, and includes an assembly-room. There are two banks, a police station, a workhouse, and a working-men's club. The grammar school was founded and endowed in 1650 by Sir Thomas Adams, who was lord mayor of London in 1645, and accompanied General Monk to Breda to congratulate Charles II. on his restoration. The church is a handsome edifice with a tower 70 feet high; it was rebuilt in 1679 after the fire, and was restored and enlarged in 1886. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Catholic Apostolic chapels, and two cemeteries. Markets are held on Thursdays, and fairs on alternate Mondays. The parish contains the townships of Aston, Cotton, Edstaston, Newtown, Northwood, Wolverley, Lacon, Horton, Sleap, Lowe and Ditches, and Tilley and Trench. Acreage, 13,898; population of the civil parish, 8796; of the ecclesiastical, 2724. For parish council purposes it is divided into three wards-Wem sending ten members to the council, Edstaston three, and Newtown two. Edstaston with Cotton, and Newtown with Wolverley and Northwood, form separate ecclesiastical parishes. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £851.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Salop | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Wem St. Peter and St. Paul | |
Hundred | North Bradford | |
Poor Law union | Wem |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Cemeteries
The church cemetery, in Aston street, is about an acre in extent, with a mortuary chapel; it was formed in 1852, but closed in January, 1892, and a new cemetery opened on the Whitchurch road; this is about 4½ acres in extent and has also a mortuary chapel. There is also a cemetery belonging to the Congregationalists of about a quarter of an acre, laid out in 1844, and controlled by the minister and deacons; it contains a chapel.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Shropshire Archives have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Wem
The parish register dates from the year 1582.
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter and St. Paul (parish church)
The church of SS. Peter and Paul, erected early in the 19th century, is a building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and an embattled western tower of about the 16th century, with pinnacles, and containing a clock and 8 bells: at a considerable elevation in the walls are two ancient statues; the one looking east probably represents St. Chad: the church was restored, enlarged and decorated in 1886, at a cost of £5,000, when a new chancel, the gift of the Rev. H. V. Russell M.A. rector 1873-95, was erected: the old stained east window was re-inserted at a much higher level and a memorial reredos of Caen stone, statuary marble and alabaster erected.
St. Peter and St. Paul, Wem
Baptist
Baptist Chapel, Market Street
The Baptist chapel, in Market street, erected in 1870 at an outlay of £1,100, is a structure of brick, with stone dressings, and will seat 250 persons.
Congregational
Congregational Chapel, Chapel Street
The Congregational chapel, in Chapel street, is an edifice of brick and stone, erected in 1775, enlarged in 1834, at a total cost of £2,000, and restored in 1888 at a further cost of £850: it will seat 400 persons.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Chapel Street
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel in Chapel street.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Wem from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Wem (St. Peter and St. Paul))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Wem 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.