A Brief History of Market Drayton

Bronze Age 2400-700BC
There is no evidence of settlement but an axe head was found near Broomhall Grange and a hammerhead, or net sinker, was discovered near Longford Turning.

Iron Age 700BC-100AD
No Iron Age remains have been identified in the Drayton area. However, this does not imply that there were no settlements.

Roman Period
A Roman villa has been discovered at Hales and the A41 between Stoke Heath and Ternhill lies on the line of a Roman road. Roman coin hordes were discovered near Cliffe Grange and Longford Grange, though these are no evidence of settlement.

Saxon Period
Drayton owes its creation as a Saxon settlement to the topographically commanding escarpment on which the Saxon church of St Mary was built in about 950AD. A tiny settlement called 'Draitune' was established near the church. ('tun' is the Saxon word for a settlement and any modern place name ending in 'ton' may well have a Saxon origin.) The Saxon parish of St Mary was extensive and included:

Sutton — from the Saxon 'Sudtone' or south settlement
Betton — from the Saxon 'Becetun' or settlement in the beechwood
Almington — from the Saxon 'Almentone'
Tyrley — the Saxon 'ley' meant a clearing in the wood
Longslow — from the Saxon 'Walenceslaw' meaning the burial place of a Saxon named Walenc
There were two Saxon settlements called Draitune, which, in the medieval period, were to be differentiated as Drayton Magna and Drayton Parva (Little Drayton).

The ancient parish of St Mary had a boundary of 27 rniles and an area of 13,800 acres, almost equally divided between Shropshire and Staffordshire, thus implying that the parish was created prior to the establishment of the shire counties, which were themselves a 10th century Saxon creation. The extremities of the parish were at Sweet Apple Tree in the south, Loggerheads in the east, Ridgewardine in the north and Lostford Brook in the west. 13 miles of the parish boundary was defined by water courses.

Drayton is sometimes referred to as Drayton-in-Hales, as are Betton and Norton. There is also within the ancient parish the more recent settlement of Hales. 'Hales' is a Saxon district name meaning 'a broad shallow depression'.

Domesday Book 1086
This lists all seven former Saxon settlements and gives sufficient information to deduce that the total population of the parish was then about 250.


Churchways
These were straight footpaths from outlying settlements to the parish church. Their routes are still to be found on modem maps. A notable former churchway is now called Longslow Road.

The Market
In Saxon times there were no shops and little currency. Trading of essentials usually took place by barter and often at the only place where people regularly met -the churchyard on Sundays and Holydays. In 1201 the Pope issued an edict banning the practice of trading in churchyards, which must have been a practice widespread in Western Europe. This led to the formalisation of markets by royal charter.

In 1112 the manor of Great Drayton was acquired by the Abbey of Combermere (nine miles to the north, just over the Cheshire border). The Abbey set about developing the town, obtaining in 1245 a charter for a Wednesday market and an autumn fair. The basic street plan, with its narrow but deep plots going back from the principal roads, must have been established in the following hundred years.

The 16th and 17th centuries
Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the manor of Great Drayton was acquired by Sir Rowland Hill, a wealthy London mercer. In 1562 it passed by marriage to the Corbet family.

The town managed to avoid major problems during the Civil War, showing no great enthusiasm for either side, though it was an anxious period for the town's officers.

Most of the centre of the town was destroyed by fire in 1651, though luckily the church was unaffected.

The development of modern Market Drayton
In the 18th century, Market Drayton was essentially a centre for the farming community. The open fields were not enclosed until near the end of that century, and it was not until the enclosure of the common in 1851 that Little Drayton became a centre of growth. Farming-related industries included milling, tanning and horse-hair weaving.

In the second half of the 19th century, iron-founding became important with the establishment of two major works, Gower's and Rodenhurst's; however, most of their products were for agricultual use. Drayton's two main employers today are also closely linked to agriculture: Müller's and Palethorpe's.

The major roads in the Drayton area were improved following turnpiking in the 1760s. The canal did not open until 1835, only two years before the station at Baldwin's Gate (only nine miles away) was opened on the railway from Liverpool to Birmingham. Market Drayton acquired its own railway station in 1863.

The first non-conformist (Congregationalist) chapel in Market Drayton was opened in 1778. Little Drayton acquired its own Anglican church in 1847, becoming an independent parish the following year.

The town's infrastructure developed with its workhouse (1730, expanded 1839 and 1854), National School (1835), its first sewers (1848, though proper sewage disposal was not effected until the early 20th century), gasworks (1850), water supply (1892) and electricity works (1902).

The urban population has increased by 76% from 5,900 in 1961 to 10,400 in 2001, but Market Drayton has a higher proportion of people who work out of the town than any other Shropshire town. Commuting and the ease of transport has tended to weaken the shopping and social facilities. Nor is Market Drayton any longer the focus of a local authority area, with the district council headquarters being in Wem since 1974.

[Early history based on notes by Dr David Jenkins; later history from Peter Brown]