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While #Lockdown rumbles on, there's still time to take advantage of our e-book #LockdownSale! For just £1.49 you can read some high-quality local history. The THREAD that follows profiles one of them, the Shropshire town of Wem.
More details here: https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/04/discover-victoria-county-history-shorts-a-lockdown-special-offer/
More details here: https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/04/discover-victoria-county-history-shorts-a-lockdown-special-offer/
You might wonder why we start with a picture of Sweet Peas from our editor's allotment? This is because it was in Wem that Henry Eckford developed the Grandifloria Sweet Pea and for that reason that the town was called (in 1907) 'the Mecca for Sweet Peas'. [Continues...]
![You might wonder why we start with a picture of Sweet Peas from our editor's allotment? This is because it was in Wem that Henry Eckford developed the Grandifloria Sweet Pea and for that reason that the town was called (in 1907) 'the Mecca for Sweet Peas'. [Continues...]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatGPGAWAAInxri.jpg "You might wonder why we start with a picture of Sweet Peas from our editor's allotment? This is because it was in Wem that Henry Eckford developed the Grandifloria Sweet Pea and for that reason that the town was called (in 1907) 'the Mecca for Sweet Peas'. [Continues...]")
![You might wonder why we start with a picture of Sweet Peas from our editor's allotment? This is because it was in Wem that Henry Eckford developed the Grandifloria Sweet Pea and for that reason that the town was called (in 1907) 'the Mecca for Sweet Peas'. [Continues...]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatHNiKWsAAXbde.png "You might wonder why we start with a picture of Sweet Peas from our editor's allotment? This is because it was in Wem that Henry Eckford developed the Grandifloria Sweet Pea and for that reason that the town was called (in 1907) 'the Mecca for Sweet Peas'. [Continues...]")
Wem sits in the middle of the north Shropshire plain, c.9 miles north of Shrewsbury, the administrative and landholding centre of a large rural parish with the Welsh border to the north west. The book's focus is the township of Wem, with its castle, church & market [continues...]
![Wem sits in the middle of the north Shropshire plain, c.9 miles north of Shrewsbury, the administrative and landholding centre of a large rural parish with the Welsh border to the north west. The book's focus is the township of Wem, with its castle, church & market [continues...]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatI71nWoAE9uu2.jpg "Wem sits in the middle of the north Shropshire plain, c.9 miles north of Shrewsbury, the administrative and landholding centre of a large rural parish with the Welsh border to the north west. The book's focus is the township of Wem, with its castle, church & market [continues...]")
And in this, it is like a lot of small Shropshire towns, looking both to of Shrewsbury and into the Welsh March. Some, like Clun, Oswestry or the amazingly-named Ruyton XI Towns became separated - privatised if you like - from the county and were made Marcher Lordships. [cont...]
Wem was not one of these, but retained the features of a medieval castle borough even if the castle itself was lost by the 15th century. What is left is a Scheduled Monument (though there is a Castle Pub!): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020287 [continues]
![Wem was not one of these, but retained the features of a medieval castle borough even if the castle itself was lost by the 15th century. What is left is a Scheduled Monument (though there is a Castle Pub!): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020287 [continues]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatLoNEWoAgk-RS.png "Wem was not one of these, but retained the features of a medieval castle borough even if the castle itself was lost by the 15th century. What is left is a Scheduled Monument (though there is a Castle Pub!): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020287 [continues]")
![Wem was not one of these, but retained the features of a medieval castle borough even if the castle itself was lost by the 15th century. What is left is a Scheduled Monument (though there is a Castle Pub!): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020287 [continues]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatMGUxXgAAbnHC.jpg "Wem was not one of these, but retained the features of a medieval castle borough even if the castle itself was lost by the 15th century. What is left is a Scheduled Monument (though there is a Castle Pub!): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020287 [continues]")
What else shaped #Wem? One element can be seen in its name - in Old English 'Wemm' means a marshy place and with the river Roden to the south (and Wem Moss, a surviving area of upland bog) to the north the damp nature of the landscape is obvious [continues...]
![What else shaped #Wem? One element can be seen in its name - in Old English 'Wemm' means a marshy place and with the river Roden to the south (and Wem Moss, a surviving area of upland bog) to the north the damp nature of the landscape is obvious [continues...]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatQf2jXgAEMc6j.png "What else shaped #Wem? One element can be seen in its name - in Old English 'Wemm' means a marshy place and with the river Roden to the south (and Wem Moss, a surviving area of upland bog) to the north the damp nature of the landscape is obvious [continues...]")
The town, however, was shaped by fire which destroyed most of the medieval borough in 1677 and thus appears Georgian and Victorian today though the narrow burgage plots of the medieval borough survive. [continues]
![The town, however, was shaped by fire which destroyed most of the medieval borough in 1677 and thus appears Georgian and Victorian today though the narrow burgage plots of the medieval borough survive. [continues]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EatRf8TWsAIqJVy.jpg "The town, however, was shaped by fire which destroyed most of the medieval borough in 1677 and thus appears Georgian and Victorian today though the narrow burgage plots of the medieval borough survive. [continues]")
For more, including the role of cheese in the town's economy, the Civil War, canal, railway brewing and farming you'll have to buy the book.
For the e-book: https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/04/discover-victoria-county-history-shorts-a-lockdown-special-offer/
For hard copies and how to support @VCH_Shropshire, visit their website: http://www.vchshropshire.org/ .
For the e-book: https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/04/discover-victoria-county-history-shorts-a-lockdown-special-offer/
For hard copies and how to support @VCH_Shropshire, visit their website: http://www.vchshropshire.org/ .
