Mersete - The People of the Border Country

One thousand years ago, Ethelred the Unready was King of England, and both Wales and England were once more under attack by the Vikings. The Iron Age hillfort now known as Old Oswestry, a relic of previous millennia, was already 2,000 years old; it had stood abandoned for almost a thousand years. Wat's Dyke, now thought to be Romano-British, was 500 years old; Offa's Dyke, the more famous Anglo-Saxon landmark, was already over 200 years old. Villages familiar to us today were already well established in the local landscape. Domesday Book lists Weston, Aston, Morton, Wootton, Woolston, Whittington, Melverley -each one an Anglo-Saxon place name - all lying within the Hundred of Mersete, a name which means the people of the border country. The names Maesbury (Meresberie) and Maesbrook (Meresbroc) also reflect this border status; before the Normans arrived, the fortified settlement of Maesbury was the chief town of the district.

There was no Anglo-Saxon town of Oswestry. However, names found in mediaeval records - Upton (the area east of Shelf Bank) and Sheldemer (the area below and beyond what is now the cemetery) - indicate the presence of small Anglo-Saxon settlements, hamlets perhaps, in the vicinity of the present town. And St Oswald s Well? We know that on August 5th 642 King Oswald died fighting at the battle of Maserfelth. Some people doubt that Maserfelth is really Oswestry, but clearly something local prompted the Norman's to dedicate their new church to St Oswald - perhaps it was local tradition, or a holy well; perhaps there was a small chapel at the we)), or on the banks of the fast flowing brook which runs away from it.

As a town, Oswestry was a Norman foundation. It developed around the motte and Bailey castle that was built shortly after the Conquest by Reginald de Bailleu), Sheriff of Shropshire, as one fink in a strong chain of new fortresses built along the We)sh Marches. People set up houses, shops, workshops, and a market grew up, in the streets laid out below the castle; close by a substantial) Norman parish church was established.

At the start of the 1 2th century, Oswestry was granted to the FitzAlan family, from Brittany. The family prospered over succeeding centuries, increasing their estates and status such that the lord of Oswestry became the Ear) of Arunde), a man of great influence at court. The FitzAlans ruled their Marcher Lordships almost independent of the Crown and, in return, they tried to keep the border safe from Welsh raids. However, Oswestry's frontier status made it a prime target for attack, in 1233 by Prince Llywelyn: in 1277 and 1282; and by Owain Clyndwr in 1400 King John attacked Oswestry too, in 1216, to punish John FitzAlan, one of the barons who had forced the Magna Carta upon him the year before In spite of this, Oswestry flourished, its commercial growth fostered by the FitzAlans, who granted severe) civic charters; the earliest, granted by William FitzAlan, dates back to 1190. Oswestry's first royal charter was granted in 1398, by King Richard II, whilst the FitzAlan's assets, including Oswestry, were in royal hands.

Mediaeval Oswestry was both Welsh and English. It was governed by an Anglo-Norman elite, but, by the 14th century, a large number of its townspeople were We)sh, attracted in to the town from the surrounding area. By Tudor times, and up to the Civil War, Oswestry was effectively a We)sh borough, even though the Tudor Act of Union had placed it on the English side of the border It was an important centre for the trade in We)sh woollens; it was home to Welsh poets and bards; it had We)sh street names and field names, and its leading families boasted of their Welsh ancestry. An early example was David Holbache who, with his wife Gwenhwyfar, founded Oswestry Grammar School at the start of the 1 5th century; he had a fine family tree - his mother Angharad was a direct descendant of Madog ap Meredudd, a 12th century Prince of Powys.

The closing years of the 16th century and the early years of the 17th century - the time of Elizabeth Tudor and of James -coincided with Oswestry's first "Golden Age". This came to an abrupt end, with the loss of the wool trade in 1621 to Shrewsbury, followed by a disastrous Civil War for the town, when Oswestry's Royalist garrison was defeated by Parliamentary forces. The parish church was devastated during fighting in 1644; Oswestry Castle and the 13th century town walls were pulled down shortly afterwards.

Oswestry regained a certain stability at the Restoration, and in 1673 received a charter from the new King, Charles II, enabling the Corporation to elect a Mayor each year In the following century, the fine buildings of Church Street and Brook Street, and the elegance of the Broad Walk, show the town rediscovered some of its former prosperity as a local centre for agriculture and commerce, although it was a much quieter place than before.

The opening of the Montgomery Canal, the development of brick making and coal mining industries in the district, and above all the coming of the railways 150 years ago, with Oswestry the hub of the Cambrian Railways network, transformed the town again, and made it once more an important commercial centre, serving the Welsh hills and valleys to its west. Queen Victoria's reign coincided with Oswestry's second "Golden Age". Present day Oswestry still has much of the appearance, in its buildings, of a Victorian town, reflecting the energy of the Victorians who practically rebuilt the town centre, with new market halls, schools, a hospital, and civic buildings. The population expanded rapidly at this time; new housing was built on the Cast)efields, around Welsh Walls, off Salop Road, Morda Road, and Beatrice Street: anywhere that was available.

The optimism of the Victorians continued into the 20th century, unti) it was swept aside by the horrors of the First World War, whose impact upon the town is evident in the long list of names upon the Memorial Gates in Church Street. During the war, Oswestry's railway links led to Park Hall's use as a military base. After the war in 1921, what is now the world famous Shropshire Orthopaedic Hospital moved from Baschurch, making use of the former army buildings just beyond the Park Hall estate.

Increasingly, the impetus for change has come from outside. The Cambrian Railways was taken over by the Great Western Railway, while on a much smaller scale, the local Dorset Owen brewery was subsumed within Border Breweries of Wrexham After the second World War, the local rail network was gradually dismantled, and in 1966, Oswestry's own station closed. The last local colliery, at If ton, closed in 1968, as did Park Hall Camp in the 1970s. Local agriculture and the town itself, suffered hardship in the late 1960s as a result of a major epidemic of foot and mouth disease. However, as in earlier centuries, in adversity the local community spirit has thrived and in recent years Oswestry has begun to prosper once more. New jobs have been created, often in new industries. More shops have opened, and once more Oswestry has grown in size, with new houses stretching right out to the A5 bypass.

At the close of the millennium, at the start of the next thousand years, Oswestry is looking forward, yet it is proud of its past, and concerned to preserve what remains of its history. Looking back over the last thousand years, from the time of Ethelred to today, the changes that have taken place are difficult to comprehend. Looking forward another thousand years must be a futile exercise, except in so far as it raises important questions for our common future on this planet.

return to top Piece Written By John Pryce-Jones