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Shipton is a small village in Shropshire. It figures prominently in the history of Samuel More Family of Mayflower pilgrims fame.
St James Paris Church[]
The church is well worth a visit. It is a beautiful, peaceful place and full of historical interest. The church was originally a chapel attached to the Priory at Much Wenlock. There is a deed that mentions the parish in 1110; the chancel arch is 12th century and a blocked north door, a blocked window on the south of the nave and a plain font bowl may be of the same age. The Crown took over the church when Much Wenlock Priory was dissolved in 1540. A series of lords of the manor owned the tithes and patronage of the church until it passed in the early 1570s to John Lutwyche, youngest son of a local landowner, and the man who was responsible for the building of neighbouring Shipton Hall. John Lutwyche rebuilt the chancel of the church in 1589 – look out for his commemorative plaque and for his east window patriotically depicting the arms of Queen Elizabeth I, newly victorious over the Spanish Armada. Among other features to look out for are the memorial plaque to Lawrence and Anne Ludlowe and their seventeen children - Lawrence lived at the Morehouse in the early 1500s; the blocked doorway high on the left hand side of the nave, next to the chancel, which indicates the position of Shipton’s pre-Reformation rood loft; the tablet erected in 1995 by the American Mayflower Society to the four children of the More family who were sent to America on the Mayflower in 1620, in disgrace because of a family scandal, and the tombs and monuments to the Myttons, John Lutwyche’s heirs - John himself died heavily in debt and left Shipton to his nephew Edward on condition that Edward paid off his debts.
References[]
- Shipton Shropshire Genealogy Records Search - FamilySearch.org
- Church of St James Shipton - British Listed Buildings.