At this time the Severn was navigable nearly up to Welshpool, and Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Gloucester and Bristol were con nected by brisk traffic, which persisted and at times flourished down to about 185o. Goods carried included coal, iron, lead ores, groceries, wool and timber. Nearly 400 barges were in use in 1758, Broseley alone having 87 vessels employed in the export of coal and pig and bar iron. But the river was not navigable for three or four months of the year, and as the ancient rules for maintain ing the waterway, etc., fell into disuse the barge traffic decayed until, by 1900, it had practically disappeared.
In 1792 the Shropshire canal was completed, in which the in clined plane system invented by Mr. William Reynolds of Ketley was first successfully used instead of locks. Local transport of coal and iron was greatly assisted by this and other canals in the industrial districts. The Shropshire Union canal was designed by Telford. By means of this system, now defunct, it was possible to pass from the Severn to the Dee, Mersey and Stour. With the building of railways the canals gradually fell into disuse, though they were still used for heavy goods up to the World War.
The railway systems show a remarkable concentration on Shrewsbury, whose position as a route centre they have greatly enhanced. The principal line is that of the G.W.R. from Albrighton to Shrewsbury, Chirk and Birkenhead. Other main railways run from Shrewsbury to Welshpool, to Whitchurch, to Bridgnorth and Bewdley and to Ludlow. The L.M.S. line from Stafford skirts the north-west border of the coalfield to Wellington. From Craven Arms a railway line (L.M.S.) runs to Knighton and Builth Road. There are numerous local lines.
The chief industries are coal-mining, iron founding and the making of china, tiles and bricks. They are concentrated in the "Coalfield Peninsula" from Broseley to Lilleshall. Other coal fields are those of Chirk, the Forest of Wyre, Hanwood and the Clee hills. Iron smelting is an old industry at Coalbrookdale, charcoal having been used long before the beds of coal, found interbedded with the ironstone, were utilized. Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale first applied pitcoal to the reducing of iron stone. Under the Darbys and Reynolds the Shropshire works gained a reputation both for their large size castings and for their delicate "hollow" work. The first cast-iron bridge ever erected (1779), designed by Abraham Darby, spans the Severn near Coalbrookdale and gives its name to the town of Ironbridge. The manufacture of cast and wrought iron still continues on a smaller scale.
Very important industries early developed from the exploitation of the coal-measure clays. Bricks, white, red and blue, are largely made, and roof tiles, fire bricks and encaustic tiles. Coarse pottery, earthenware and drain pipes are also made from local clays, while the Coalport china works and the once famous Broseley clay pipes are typical of other aspects of the industry, though Kaolin clay is imported for these old industries. Other clays used for
brick-making include the marls of the Upper Trias, boulder clay and river alluvium. The chief building stone is the upper Triassic sandstone, the most famous quarries being at Grinshill, whence came the stone of Buildwas Abbey (e.g.) in the 12th century. Many other rocks, including limestone, igneous rocks and con glomerates, are locally used as building material. The dolerite or "dhu-stone" which caps the Clee hills is a well-known road metal.
For the most part, however, Shropshire remains an agricultural county. More than four-fifths of its area is under cultivation. On the sandy soils and loams of the north barley and oats are the chief crops, and sugar beet is increasingly grown. Wheat is grown especially on the west and south sides. There are con siderable tracts of hill-pasture in the south, where Shropshire and Kerry Hill Sheep (the latter related to the old Clun Forest breed) are reared. "Cheshire" cheese is made on the northern plain from Market Drayton to Ellesmere. The cattle are chiefly Shorthorns, but Herefords are preferred for fattening. The prosperous market towns of Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Wellington, Ellesmere and Lud low (q.v.) serve as centres for the agricultural regions. The county contains considerable areas of coppice and woodland, modern plantings of conifers occurring chiefly in the south, while the northern plains have much hedgerow timber and beautiful clusters of typical Scots pine. Part of the ancient Forest of Wyre extends into the Cleobury Mortimer area in the south-east.
The area of the ancient county is 859,516 ac., with a population of 244,162 in 1931. The area of the administrative county is 861,80o ac. or 1,343 sq.m. The dioceses of Lichfield and Hereford divide the county between them, but a few parishes in the west are in the diocese of St. Asaph. The municipal boroughs are Bishop's Castle, Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Wenlock.
There are 14 hundreds, 267 civil parishes and 284 ecclesiastical parishes or districts. The county is in the Oxford circuit and assizes are held at Shrewsbury. It has one court of quarter ses sions and is divided into 18 petty sessional divisions. For pur poses of parliamentary representation there are four divisions, those of Ludlow, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and the Wrekin, each returning one member.
See Victoria County History, Shropshire; W. Pearson, Antiquities of Shropshire (1807) ; R. W. Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire (12 vols., 1853-60) ; C. H. Hartshorne, Salopia Antique (London, 1841) ; Fletcher, Religious Census of Shropshire in r676 (1891) ; W. W. Watts, Shropshire, The Geography of the County (Shrewsbury, 1919) ; Shrop shire Archaeological and Natural History Society (1877, etc.).