A Brief Political & Economic History of Maesbury

The first written reference we have of Maesbury is the Domesday Book, 1086, but it is clear that it was around for a very long time before that.

Domesday called it 'Meresberie'. In Anglo-Saxon 'Mer' = 'border' and 'berie'= 'a fortified settlement'. So Maesbury was a fortified settlement on the Welsh border, which must date back to the time when Wat's Dyke was the border, the early 8th century or possibly still much earlier. Wat's Dyke was the forerunner of Offa's Dyke and extended from the Dee Estuary to Maesbury. But there could well have been a Celtic Romano-British settlement on the same site, as the surrounding marshlands would have made it easier to defend than most other lowland areas. That would give about 2,000 years of continuous human habitation.

The Ancient Capital of the Borderlands

The Saxon Hundreds were introduced in the 10th century and Maesbury became the principle settlement of the Hundred of Mersete (= people of the border country) which was similar to the eastern half of modern-day Oswestry Borough, stretching from Weston Rhyn to Melverley. There was no Oswestry in Domesday and the Book says of Maesbury that Mersete 'belongs to this Manor' - it was the meeting place of the 'hundred-men'. Maesbury was the only fortified settlement in the area, and the only one with a church - very much the ancient capital of the borderlands.

The border had moved a little further west when Offa's Dyke was built in the late 8th century, but by Domesday it was almost back to Maesbury again. The dividing line then appears to have been between the hills on the Welsh side and the flat land around Maesbury on the English side. The difference in predominantly English and Welsh place-names is still very evident today: 'ton' indicates a Saxon settlement and the Maesbury area includes Aston, Middleton, Wooton, Woolston and Morton - and lies between 60-100 metres above sea level. The western part of the modern Oswestry Rural Parish has a distinctly Welsh character, with the Welsh language still being spoken in some parts, and this is hill country rising from 100 to 400 metres above the sea.

By 1086 the Normans had built their new castle just north of Maesbury, and had started building a church nearby. They had a habit of demolishing Saxon churches, usually rebuilding on the same site, but Maesbury's church just vanished as it would have been a symbol of authority. The Norman castle and church gradually expanded in a town which, by the 13th century, became known as Oswestry.

Maesbury shrank to just a few cottages and farms, though by 1407 it had a mill then, probably around the 16th or 17th centuries, another mill at Ball. Otherwise all was quiet for 700 years. Until the canal arrived.

Where Wat's Dyke meets the Montgomery Canal

In 1795 the Llanymynech branch of the Ellesmere canal came through between Maesbury and the marshland known as Maesbury Marsh. The junction with the lane to Oswestry soon expanded into the major inland port for the area, rather like the developments around modern motrway junctions. A village grew up around the bridge, taking its name from Maesbury Marsh, one of only a very few English villages built as a direct result of a canal.

The wharf is still there, now used by British Waterways for servicing pleasure boats, along with the Navigation Inn, the old bone works, the wharfinger's (harbour master's) house, and many old cottages and houses. A new, and much bigger mill, was built next to the canal around 1800 and corn was added to the coal, timber, limestone, bricks, and other materials arriving at the wharf. The canal is now known as the Montgomery and is gradually being restored along its full length, making Maesbury a natural focus for canal tourism.

Local Government reforms of 1835 introduced a group of 16 Townships to the Oswestry district. One of these was Maesbury Township comprising the old village, the newer and bigger Maesbury Marsh, plus the small hamlets of Ball, Newbridge and Gwernybrenin. Along with Oswestry Town, the smaller neighbouring townships were Aston (= anglo-saxon for 'east settlement' - in this case east of Maesbury), Caenynion, Crickheath, Hisland, Llanforda, Middleton, Morton, Pentregaer, Rhydycroesau, Sweeney, Treferclawdd, Treflach, Trefonen, Weston Cotton and Wooton.

The 20th Century - to the edge of extinction

The railways replaced the canals during the 19th century and the boomtown era of Maesbury Marsh came to an end. However the canal-side mill at Maesbury Hall continued to flourish and was converted to steam power in 1890. It was the major employer in the area during the early 20th century, but then gradually faded in importance until it was finally destroyed by fire in 1971.

In 1894, After 60 years of local government for Maesbury, the townships were swept away. Some of those around Oswestry came under Oswestry Town Council, the others were merged into Oswestry Rural Parish. This is a very large area of up to a dozen villages with little in common, and was clearly just a matter of administrative convenience, ignoring social and cultural links.

The unusual nature of the Rural Parish required it to be divided into wards, one of these being the Maesbury with Aston Ward, comprising the former Townships of Maesbury, Aston, Hisland, Middleton, Weston Cotton and Wooton. The area covered by the ward does make sense as a wider community. It is the flat plains of England, described in detail in the Domesday Book, most of the rest of the Rural Parish is in the ex-Welsh hill country, which Domesday mentioned only very briefly, and which has a very different history and traditions.

The merger within this sprawling parish added to a significant loss of identity for the once proud Maesbury. By the late 20th century it was suffering the fate of so many English villages in becoming just a dormitory for the nearby town. The canal was little more than a dried-out ditch; the village shop had gone; soon followed by the Post Office; two pubs had long gone and the other two were struggling; and the school looked like it was about to run out of children. 800 years after the Normans destroyed Maesbury church a small corrugated 'tin tabernacle' was finally built in 1906, but by the end of the century that too was struggling to survive.

The Dawn of a New Era

The new millennium saw the dawning of a third golden age for Maesbury - the canal was coming back. The Aston locks had been restored in 1997 but had to remain closed for a few years while wildlife issues were resolved. Then in April 2003 the first canal boats travelled through Maesbury after a gap of about 80 years. The next section should open in 2006 and eventually it will be reconnected all the way down to Welshpool and Newtown in mid Wales.

The impact of this has been extraordinary. The once struggling Navigation Inn, next to the canal bridge, is now a smart restaurant and bistro, as well as a local pub again. Part of the old Maesbury Hall Mill, is now the base for Maesbury Marine Services, building and maintaining canal boats. A barn conversion is now home to 'Body and Face' beauty treatment centre. And in June 2006 we will buck the national trend by opening a brand new Post Office, complete with a community shop, cafe and accommodation for ramblers. A camp site, for tents only, is planned, supplementing two B&Bs already here; the Wat's Dyke Way long distance footpath will reconnect Maesbury with its ancient heritage; and the village road is likely to be used to connect the national and regional cycle networks. Even the school is attracting parents from Oswestry as well as those in the village, thanks to excellent Ofsted reports, and is now full again.

All of this progress has been enthusiastically supported by the Maesbury Community Action Group, founded in 2003 and already successful in reducing the speed limit on the village road. The lively meetings are well attended - Maesbury is on the way back from the brink.

Maesbury's first golden age was as the ancient capital of the borderlands; the second was as the major inland canal port for the area - the third will clearly be based on leisure and tourism. Almost miraculously the area escaped the worst development disasters of the 20th century and so much of historic and environmental importance still survives in our unspoilt Anglo-Saxon landscape.

There is no doubt that Maesbury is regaining its importance in the economic and political life of the borderlands, and it now needs its own Parish Council to promote the area and to ensure that it provides the best for both visitors and residents throughout the 21st century.