is a town in
South Shropshire ,
Shropshire ,
England .
"Stretton" (as it's known by locals), is a small town hidden away in the Shropshire Hills and famous for its spring water and stunning views. The population is 4186, as measured by the 2001 census, and it is the only town, other than the district capital
Ludlow , with a population over 3000 in the South Shropshire district. The town has a station on the
Welsh Marches Railway Line , which runs through the valley. Trains can be caught to
Shrewsbury ,
Hereford ,
Manchester and
Cardiff , amongst other destinations.
People have lived in the Stretton gap for thousands of years, and an
Iron Age hillfort still overlooks the town, which is called "Stretton" from the Saxon name "town on the street" because a Roman Road,
Watling Street , runs through it (now the
A49 ).
The town is dominated by the huge
Long Mynd massif, which provides the town with both its views, and the water that the town's economy is based around. The water comes from an underground glacial lake, and is extracted from boreholes at various places on the Long Mynd, and the water bottling is the town's biggest employer.
Historically, the town was noted for its textiles, but the carding mill closed at the beginning of the 20th centuary, leaving only the name of the valley that the mill was in (
Cardingmill Valley , now the town's popular tourist area).
Other employers include a polymer laboratory on the east side of the town, and tourism which is a growth industry in the area and as a result the town is getting more media exposure than it used to (it was, for example recently mentioned in the infamous tabloid
The Sun ).
A notable feature of the town, is the large number of different churches.
Church Stretton was nicknamed "Little
Switzerland " during its growth as a spa town in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, both because of its mountainous terrain, and because the town is run like clockwork.
;Nearby towns and villages include:
;Christian Communities in Church Stretton:
