Cantlop

Cantlop

Signpost at Cantlop Cross, the crossroads. The centre of Shropshire is in this vicinity.
Cantlop
 Cantlop shown within Shropshire
OS grid referenceSJ517055
Civil parishBerrington
Unitary authorityShropshire
Ceremonial countyShropshire
RegionWest Midlands
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town SHREWSBURY
Postcode district SY5
Dialling code 01743
Police West Mercia
Fire Shropshire
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands
UK ParliamentShrewsbury and Atcham
List of places
UK
England
Shropshire

Coordinates: 52°38′42″N 2°42′47″W / 52.645°N 2.713°W / 52.645; -2.713

Cantlop is a small village in the English county of Shropshire. It is part of the civil parish of Berrington.

Various meanings have been suggested for the name, such as an enclosed or cut-off valley[1] or an enclosure in a waste or common.[2]

Nearby villages include Condover, to the west of Cantlop, and the village of Berrington to the north-west, on the other side of the Cound Brook which flows to the north of Cantlop, and Pitchford to the south. The area is largely agricultural. The elevation at Cantlop Cross is 96 metres (315 ft) above sea level.[3]

History

Cantlop Bridge

To the north of the village there is a cast-iron single-span bridge — the Cantlop Bridge — now generally accepted to have been designed by Thomas Telford, who was the County Surveyor of Shropshire.[4] The bridge crosses the Cound Brook and was built in 1818. Today it no longer takes road traffic, as a modern bridge exists adjacent to it, but is open to pedestrians.

The bridge carried the 1797 turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Acton Burnell, which continued through Cantlop itself. A late 18th-century milestone exists just to the north of Cantlop Cross (the crossroad junction at Cantlop) which marks 5.0 miles (8.0 km) from (the centre of) Shrewsbury (written on the milestone as "Salop"); it is now Grade II listed.[5]

Centre of Shropshire

On 1 August 2014, on BBC Radio Shropshire, it was confirmed by Andy Stegall from Ordnance Survey that Cantlop is the geographic centre of the ceremonial county of Shropshire. This is also shown on the Ordnance Survey's mapping of the ceremonial counties, where the name of Shropshire is centred immediately to the southwest of Cantlop Cross.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Bowcock, E. Shropshire place names, Wilding & Son, 1923, p.61
  2. ↑ Gelling and Foxall, The place-names of Shropshire, Volume 1, English Place-Name Society, 1990, p.69
  3. ↑ Ordnance Survey mapping
  4. ↑ Cragg, R. Civil Engineering Heritage: Wales and west central England, Telford, 1997, p.242. ISBN 978-0-7277-2576-9
  5. ↑ Shropshire History
  6. ↑ Ordnance Survey

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