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Lying on the A3400 (formerly the A34) between Stratford and Oxford, Shipston-on-Stour is a market town located in the northern Cotswold Hills beside the River Stour some 10 miles (16 km) south of Stratford-upon-Avon.
It is believed that the town was first settled in Roman times, possibly on account of its proximity to the Fosse Way. The town is mentioned in the Doomsday Book; by the 8th century the town was sufficiently well-developed for it to be given by the Saxon under-king Uhtred to the Bishop of Worcester
In the 8th century, the town was called Scepwaeisctune - Old English for “Sheep Wash Town. Over the centuries the name evolved through Scepwestun (11th century), Sipestone, Sepwestun and Schipton (13th century) and Sepestonon-Sture (14th century).
Shipston was already a trading post when its Prior obtained a Charter for an annual fair and a weekly market in 1268 which allowed him to charge tolls at the market place.
The broader economy of Shipston was focused on the wool trade.
In the early summer, Sheep were driven off the Cotswold Hills and washed in the River Stour, before moved to higher pastures after lambing.
The town developed to become one of the largest sheep markets in the country. Running between Sheep Street and Telegraph Street, there are a number of narrow alley ways along which the sheep were forced to run, so that they could be counted at the exits.
One “famous son” of Shipston was John Hart, who, in the seventeenth century, established the woollen velvet (known as “shag”) industry using home workers in the town. Hart became very wealthy and was appointed High Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1738
Following the Napoleonic Wars, Shipston and its surrounding parishes suffered tremendous poverty which was devastating. This eventually led to the building, in 1835, of the Poor Law Workhouse. The building, now known as Shipston House, stands to this day albeit the extensive grounds used for growing food and crops now forms the land on which the local Primary School is built and the chapel has become the local Roman Catholic Church.
The Anglican Parish Church of St Edmund with its 15th Century tower sits proudly in Church Street and houses a peel of six bells, last re-cast and hung in 1979.
Following a fall in the demand for local wool, the economy was in part revived by the opening in 1836 of a branch line running from the horse-drawn Stratford and Moreton Tramway, built some ten years earlier. In 1889 the line was upgraded to allow the operation of steam trains from Moreton to Shipston – the former station and goods yard can still be seen within a housing development in Station Road.
Passenger services to the town were withdrawn in 1929 and the line closed completely by Dr Beeching in 1960.
Until 1931, Shipston was within the County of Worcestershire, in which it was part of the Oswaldslow Hundred. It was transferred to Warwickshire and until the 1974 local government reorganisation it was the political centre of Shipston-on-Stour Rural District. The town now has its own Council comprising a Mayor and twelve elected councillors
Notable people born in Shipston include the actor Richard Morant and the 19th century archaeologist Francis Haverfield.
For more information about activities and initiatives in Shipston on Stour, please contact the Stour Area Coordinator on 01789 260103 or by email at ecodev@stratford-dc.gov.uk or by fax on 01789 260607.
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