Bayston Hill
| Bayston Hill | |
|---|---|
| Population | 5,247 |
| OS grid reference | SJ482086 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHREWSBURY |
| Postcode district | SY3 |
| Dialling code | 01743 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Bayston Hill is a large village and parish in the English county of Shropshire.
History
The village was recorded in the Domesday Book and there is remaining evidence of both an Ancient British hill fort and a Roman settlement located on the village's high grounds. In the middle ages the wooded Bayston Hill area was established as a royal hunting forest. A busy rope works, complete with its own windmill, existed on Lyth Hill in the 19thCentury; supplying the many mines, farms and barge owners across the district. A church was built alongside the village green in 1843 to serve the local miners, quarry men and railway navvies. A very handsome brick mansion, Lythwood Hall, was accessed via a long driveway to the west of the village.
Bayston Hill was established as an new ecclesiastical parish with the building of Christ Church in 1843 [1] as an amalgamation of sections from the parishes of St. Julian's Shrewsbury, Meole Brace and nearby Condover. The village became a civil parish in the reoganisation of 1967.
The village used to have a busy railway station that was closed in 1968 as a result of the Beeching Axe. Although the station is long closed the Shrewsbury to Hereford main railway line is still open and runs straight past the village.
The 1920s novels House in Dormer Forest and Seven for a Secret were written at Spring Cottage, Lyth Hill by Mary Webb who was born in the village and the action in her most famous novel Precious Bane took place around nearby Bomere Pool.
Geography
Bayston Hill stands on an outcropping spur of Pre-Cambrian sedimentary rocks intruding into the Shropshire plain with major appearances at Longden, Lyth Hill, Bayston Hill, and Sharpstone Hill. North of the Severn it does not outcrop again until it appears east of Shrewsbury as Haughmond Hill. The sediments provide fertile land and contributed to Bayston Hill being a successful farming community throughout medieval times.
The village lies just three miles south of Shrewsbury and is separated from the county town by the main A5 Trunk road. It has good road transport links with easy access to both the A49 and A5. To the south lies the pre-cambrian Lyth Hill, with Sharpstone Hill standing to the east, the latter now being a major quarry with the hill itself now barely remaining after many years of constant quarrying activities.
Demographics
According to the 2001 census, there are 2,103 households containing a population of 5,247 which makes Bayston Hill one of the most populated villages in the county.
Only twenty five percent of the village are aged 60 or over, which is significantly lower than the national average and only 466 individuals were recorded as being over the age of 75.
Of the 2,146 recorded households only 630 had dependent children. Half of the 1,905 owner-occupiers own their own homes outright with the remainder still having mortgages. Of the 2,919 residents in gainful employment, 264 work exclusively from home and of those who travel to places of work, 77 cycle, 132 walk, 170 take the bus and vast majority of 1,966 travel by motor vehicle.
Politics
The village has a parish council which contains 15 elected councillors currently chaired by Mrs Janet Whittall. At present there is a vacancy for one councillor and the council is also actively seeking to appoint two young persons aged between 14 and 18 to represent the views of the village youth at council meetings.
Bayston Hill is also a borough council ward that returns two councillors to the borough council. The present elected councillors are Ted Clarke and Alan Parkhurst.
The village is a county council electoral division that returns one councillor, an appointment currently filled by Ted Clarke.
Facilities
The village facilities include the Mary Webb library which is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday morning and a large doctors surgery The Beeches Medical Practice.
There are two churches in the village, Christchurch near Oakland School is an evangelical Anglican fellowship church and Bayston Hill Methodist Church is on Lansdowne Road.
Within the village are four public houses including the Three Fishes, the Fox, the Compasses and the Beeches.
Unlike many modern rural villages Bayston Hill has managed to retain a compact and busy central parade of shops that include a newsagents, supermarket, fish & chip shop, greengrocers, a baker, and a family butchers.
The Village Association distributes a free monthly newsletter publication known as the "Villager" to every village household, which contains useful information about local events.
There is a popular local beauty spot to be found at Parrs Pool and the village is surrounded by attractive open countryside and many well used public footpaths and bridleways. The most frequented local walks and beauty spot can be found at Lyth Hill Country Park.
Schools
There is no secondary school in the village, with children over the age of eleven attending a number of secondary schools in nearby Meole Brace or Shrewsbury.
There are two primary schools in Bayston Hill both with excellent reputations and good teaching standards, Longmeadow a mixed Church of England junior school and Oaklands mixed non-demoninational school.
People associated with Bayston Hill
- Mary Webb - the famous author, born in the village
- Flight Lieutenant Eric Lock - a renouned Battle of Britain RAF pilot, who was born in the village. As one of The Few, Lock, shot down sixteen and a half Lutfwaffe aircraft during the brief battle and ranked as the highest scoring British born pilot for number of kills. Lock then went on to become one of the highest scoring RAF pilots in World War II despite being killed after just twelve months of combat. Eric Lock Road in Bayston Hill is named after him
- Christopher Timothy - a TV and film actor, famous for portraying James Herriott in the 1980's and more recently in the BBC soap drama Doctors