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The Parish of Clee St Margaret is composed of Clee St. Margaret village and the two small additional areas of Cockshutford and Cold Weston, both of which were seats of denser inhabitation, particularly in the days of mining on the hill. The nearest towns are Ludlow, 8 miles to the south, and Craven Arms 11 miles to the west and Ditton Priors some 5 miles distant.
The Parish, lying as it does at the foot of the Brown Clee Hills, has only narrow communicating lanes.(Straker roads) relating to the tracks made by visiting animals to use the common for grazing each day. The two streams radiating from the hill meet to produce the 'longest ford in the County'. The Clee Brook winds its way joining other tributaries and forms the Pye Brook which flows to join the Corve river. The small but beautiful church built in the Saxon/Norman era serves the Parish well, still continuing the weekly Sunday services. Having recently joined the Ludlow Team, we share our minister with five other churches in the region. The village hall, built in 1998 with generous finances from the South Shropshire District Council on land kindly given by the Heighway and Stoves families, is a centre for social activities.
The charm of the different house architecture is evident to all visitors and the small enclosed fields remind us of the 'sheep folds' so important for the winter sheep protection in the past. Past census reports show the importance and value of agriculture as a form of employment and when the mining work finished in the early 1940's with the closure of the cracking plant, working practices had to change and so the number of inhabitants reduced considerably. Now, a third of working members travel to work, some for quite long distances.
The Parish of Clee St Margaret lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk will give more info.