The constant necessity of defending their territories against the Welsh prompted the Norman lords of Shropshire to such activity in castle-building that out of r86 castles in England no fewer than 32 are in this county. Of these the most famous are Ludlow, founded by Roger de Montgomery ; Bishop's Castle ; Clun Castle Cleobury Castle; Caus Castle ; Rowton Castle and Red Castle. Other castles were Bridgnorth, Corfham, Holgate, Pulverbatch, Quatford, Shrewsbury and Wem.
One of the finest examples of moated manor houses is the 13th century Stokesay Castle near Craven Arms. It has a notable 14th century half-timbered gatehouse.
Among the Norman religious foundations were the Cluniac Priory at Wenlock, re-established on the Saxon foundation by Roger Montgomery in o8o; the Augustinian abbey of Haugh mond founded by William Fitz-Alan ; the Cistercian abbey of Buildwas, now a magnificent ruin, founded in 1135 by Roger, bishop of Chester ; Shrewsbury Abbey, founded in 1083 by Roger de Montgomery; the Augustinian abbey of Lilleshall, founded in the reign of Stephen; the Augustinian priory of Wombridge, founded before the reign of Henry I. ; the Benedictine priory of Alberbury founded by Fulk Fitz-Warin in the 13th century; and Chirbury Priory founded in the i3th century.
In post-Roman times the history of Shropshire is largely con cerned with the constant incursions of the Welsh from beyond Offa's Dyke. The Norman castles already enumerated, guarding the approaches to Wales (see Montgomeryshire), formed an inner and outer line of defence ; but the western half of the county, down to the time of Elizabeth, probably had little permanent population outside the castle towns and moated farms. For cen turies whole areas were waste land. When peace came in the i6th century it was chiefly Welshmen who began to occupy the rich plains. This infiltration has persisted down to modern times. Oswestry, Clun and Shrewsbury were more than once plundered and burnt, e.g., by Llewellyn the Great in the 13th century. It was then that Edward I. determined to remove the Welsh menace and in 1282 his "conquest" of Wales and his restoration of the border castles brought a measure of peace to the county.
Meanwhile the Shropshire lords were actively concerned in the more national struggles. At Acton Burnell in 1283 was held the parliament which passed the famous Acton Burnell statute. During the Percy rebellion a battle at Shrewsbury (14o3) saw the defeat and death of Hotspur. About 1473 a "Council of the Marches" was established to administer the Welsh borderland. It lasted for two centuries, with its headquarters at Ludlow, and did much good in suppressing border riots. During its term the Union of England and Wales was effected by parliament, and the boundaries of the Shire of Salop were fixed. On the outbreak of the Civil War in the 17th century the majority of the Shropshire gentry declared for the king. A mint and printing press were set up in Shrewsbury. The town was forced to surrender in 1644, and
the royalist strongholds of Ludlow and Bridgnorth were captured two years later.
One of the first acts of William and Mary was to abolish the Council of the Marches. About a century later came the agri cultural and industrial revolutions which so greatly affected the occupations and distribution of the population. The county is mainly indebted to geographical and geological causes for its industrial life both in the past and in the present, proximity to Wales having largely influenced the ancient cloth trade, while the richness of its mineral resources has resulted in the coal and iron industry of to-day.
The history of the cloth trade in Shropshire centres in Shrews bury (q.v.), where the drapers occupied a singular position in drawing their revenue not from their own manufacture, but from the distant markets of Oswestry, Welshpool and Montgomery, though the goods were dressed by the 'middlemen of Shrewsbury. The beginnings of the wool trade go back to the 13th century, when the interests were of municipal importance, Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Oswestry and Bridgnorth being the leading Shropshire centres. By the i6th century Shrewsbury drapers had many privileges and with geographical advantages the town became the chief market for an area including Merionethshire, Montgomery shire and parts of Denbighshire.
It is to this period of prosperity in the border, when the Council of the Marches had established order and commerce and popula tion increased, that we trace the spread of the custom of con structing houses with timber frames, many of which are to-day world-famed for their beauty and elegance. Such "black and white" houses, large and small, give a peculiar charm to the border counties from Cheshire to Gloucestershire. In Shropshire the best examples are in those towns mentioned above; while country houses include Pitchford Hall near Acton Burnell (cir. 157o) and Park Hall near Oswestry (156o) which was, however, nearly destroyed by fire in 1918. While some houses of this type date from the 15th century, most are of i6th century date, when much building in stone and brick was also carried on, Benthall Hall (158o), Shipton (1589) and Condover (159o) being fine Elizabethan country houses. By the end of the 18th century the Shropshire cloth trade had declined, new markets having been established in Wales with better means of communication, the improvement of roads and the construction of canals. , Within the county the River Severn had long been a source of food and a highway of industry. The salmon and eel fisheries of the river are famous, and Shrewsbury fishermen retain the primi tive "coracle." In mediaeval times the religious houses were con veniently placed near the river (e.g., Buildwas, Shrewsbury and the White [Alberbury] Abbeys), both for fishing and for water communication. Thus Buildwas Abbey exported wool to Italian markets in the i3th and 14th centuries.