A special welcome to visitors from The USA and the British Commonwealth.

When our website had been up and running for less than a month, we had some 2,500-3,000 visits from North America, and other visitors from Australia and New Zealand. This rate of visits has continued, we welcome you to our site, and are pleased and delighted that you are showing us so much interest. We are, however, puzzled by the sheer volume of hits; some 80% of our traffic comes from you. Perhaps you or your ancestors came from Pontesbury, and you have a natural desire to trace their way of life or their history.

So here's a little local history:-

Two hundred years ago the county of Shropshire contained some of the most heavily industrialised areas in the world. The Industrial Revolution, as it is called, conjures up in most minds a very noisy, dirty, uncomfortable and unhealthy environment. So, what relevance has this Revolution to a rural, tranquil Shropshire village - Pontesbury - in the Marches? 

At the end of the 17th century the Pontesbury area comprised a manor, estates, farms, a few minor industries and one place of worship, and very little else. Furthermore, walking or driving through the Pontesbury area today, it appears that the landscape has changed very little over the centuries and is a relatively peaceful rural English landscape.

It is therefore very difficult to imagine that for less than 100 years, during the last quarter (circa 1780) of the eighteenth century to beyond the middle of the nineteenth century (circa 1860), the area was a major industrial centre with coal mines, lead smelters, corn mills and other associated industries.  With this industrial growth came the workers’ families with their needs for housing and the local infrastructure to support them. Furthermore, during this period, those in power (ie the land owners and merchants) had the money to rebuild St George’s Church; ie between 1825 and 1829.

The decline in coal mining occurred in the early 1860’s when the railway came to the village, allowing cheaper, better quality coal to be transported from North Wales.  Additionally, at almost the same time, the two lead smelters in Pontesford (part of Pontesbury Parish) were closed and all major industrial activity either ceased or moved to Snailbeach, some 3 miles to the South. As a direct result of this reduction, the population in the village decreased, as the miners and their families moved away.

We would like to hear from those of you who may have had ancestors here, or may have had other connections with the area. Please use our contact form to email the webmaster. You may also find some information about the inhabitants by downloading the pew layout dated about 1830 here....

In the meantime we shall try to make our site as informative as possible.

Email through our contact page here...

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