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Home

Keep an eye on 'Breaking News', above, for important information

and a link to order one of the new recycling bins

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Meetings due soon:

The next meeting of Barrow Parish Council scheduled for 19th March 2024 at 6.30pm in Willey Village Hall.

 

Scheduled Meetings in 2023 will be

19th March 2024

21st May 2024

16th July 2024

17th September 2024

19th November 2024

If you wish to raise an issue with the Parish Council but would prefer not to attend please email the clerk with the information. 

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Contact :

Jayne Madeley is the Parish Clerk and can be contacted on 01746-785175 or by email to clerk@barrowparish.org.uk

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Allotments

For information about allotments, contact Jayne Madeley (above)

            or Councillor Anne Skinner 01952 882069, email a.skinner@barrowparish.org.uk

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Barrow Parish  is part of the Much Wenlock ward for Shropshire Council and the Ludlow constituency for National government. The Parish Council consists of five elected Councillors together with the Parish Clerk. The area covered by Barrow Parish Council is approximately eight square miles and has around six hundred voters. More than half of the residents of Barrow Parish live in Benthall mostly in Benthall Lane, The Bentlands,  Bridge Road and The Mines. There are many other small groups of dwellings which may be termed hamlets or communities; some are no more than four or five houses and many are spread along a lane or track. These include Shirlett, Marsh Cottages, Barrow, Arlescott, Posenhall, Caughley, Willey Furnace, The Dunge, The Honeypot, Willey Wharf, Linley Green, The Smithies, Willey Hall and Willey village.


Barrow's neighbours are varied and interesting. To the south are the parishes of Astley Abbotts and Morville; both very similar to Barrow and rural in character. To the west is Much Wenlock, an historic town that attracts many visitors. Immediately to the north runs the River Severn and the World Heritage Site of Ironbridge. Part of this site, Benthall Edge (which is designated, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest), falls within Barrow Parish. To the east and also on the Barrow side of the river, lies Barrow's nearest neighbour, Broseley. The two parishes are divided only by the small but very important green Benthall Valley that forms the boundary between Benthall and Broseley. Broseley has witnessed major expansion over the past half century, a trend continuing with many of its new inhabitants commuting to their employment in Telford, the West Midlands and beyond.


All homes are served with electricity, mainly overhead supply. Benthall has a gas supply and deep drainage but many homes in the Parish have no gas and operate a septic tank for the disposal of sewerage waste. Although Barrow has no village hall as such, there is Willey Village Hall, on the Willey Estate and  the Parish Council holds all of its Council Meetings there.  The Parish of Barrow is served by Doctors' surgeries in Much Wenlock and in Broseley. Both surgeries are within relatively easy reach for those with their own transport or near to the route of the limited bus service through Benthall. There is Dental Practice in Broseley and an Optician in Much Wenlock.  Broseley did have a cottage hospital which is now the Lady Forester Centre offering day time, full time and respite facilities for the elderly and disabled.


One of the most important features of Barrow Parish both for residents and for visitors is the beautiful countryside with its network of small lanes and jitties and approximately 50 miles of footpaths. Benthall Hall, a National Trust property, attracts visitors who radiate out from the Hall  to visit Benthall Church and also to walk the footpaths and lanes in the area. Large areas of the woodland are looked after by the Severn Gorge Countryside Trust which  is a registered charity and is the main land manager of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.


Barrow has a primary school; 'Barrow 1618 Church of England Primary Free School'  was opened in September 2012, under the Free School legislation and occupies the site of one of Shropshire’s oldest known schools, founded in 1618 for the local working boys of the area. There is now a modest bus service that connects Telford via Broseley through Benthall to Much Wenlock and return on weekdays and on Saturdays.  Only an estimated 25% of the population of Barrow live within easy reach of this bus service. The nearest railway station and the M54 motorway at Telford are some seven miles away. There are a few local authority owned houses in Barrow parish  but it is estimated that almost five-times as many dwellings are rented from private landlords, many part of the Willey Estate. Benthall, the largest concentration of housing in the Parish is made up almost entirely of owner occupied homes. A high proportion of  the older properties and some of the surrounding key landscape are part of a Conservation Area.