Wem

The area now known as Wem is believed to have been settled prior to the Roman Conquest of Britain, by the Cornovii, Celtic Iron Age settlers: there is an Iron Age hillfort at nearby Bury Walls occupied over into the Roman period, and the Roman Road from Uriconium to Deva Victrix ran close by to the east at Soulton.[5]

The 'Wem Hord', a collection of coins deposited in the post Roman period, was found in land in the Wem area in 2019.[6][7][8]

Tablet on Wem Town Hall making the 900 year festival for Domesday held in 1986

Weme was an Anglo-Saxon estate, which transitioned into a planned Norman castle-town established after the conquest, with motte-and-bailey castle, parish church and burgage plots.[9] The town is recorded in the Domesday Book[10] as consisting of four manors in the hundred of Hodnet.[11] The Domesday Book records that Wem was held by William Pantulf, First Lord of Wem, from Earl Roger, and comprised:

• Households: 4 villagers. 8 smallholders. 2 slaves.

• Land and resources: ploughland: 8 ploughlands. 1 lord's plough teams. 1 men's plough teams.
• Other resources: woodland 100 pigs.

with an annual value to lord: 2 pounds in 1086; up to 1 pound 7 shillings in 1066.

Site of Wem Castle Mound, seen from the church yard

The Norman town was probably enclosed by an earthwork, and there is a record from the lord's steward of repairs to the town's enclosure in 1410, in which year the town had been "totally burnt and wasted by the Welsh rebels".[9] There is some speculation that the town had walls by the 1400s, as Samuel Garbet recorded an annotation to Fabyan's Chronicle that Wem "was totally burnt to the ground, with its walls and castle" in the reign of Henry VI.[12]

Wem's main church is the Anglican Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

The supposed route of the walls or earthworks follows Noble Street, Wem Brook, the Roden and crossing the High Street between Leek Street and Chaple Street.

There were bars at the three entrances to the town, and a 1514 record exists of four men being employed to keep the bars on market days.[9]

There is some thought that a market was held from the days of Plantuf,[13] but King John certainly granted a charter in 1202.[2] Initially, the permission was for a Sunday market. This was subsequently revised, in 1351, to a Thursday: this followed a decree of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Islip in the reign of Edward III that Sunday markets were banned. Wem's market day remains Thursday to this day.[14]

The manor was held by some of the great baronial families: including the Earls of Arundel, and the Lords Dacre, Bradford and Barnard and, after the 14th century the lord of the manor was not resident.[9]

By 1561 the former castle enclosure was held at will by the Rector, John Dacre. Manor perquisites noted in 1589 show that there were two annual fairs where the lord took a toll on all goods worth above 12d. sold by strangers and tenants (but not burgagers) and the profits of the courts. In 1579 the lord's steward ruled that there should not be more than five alehouses in the township; however, unlicensed brewers were not prevented and were fined in number at each court leet.[9]

Lord Capel, who commanded a failed attempt to take Wem when it declared early for Parliament in the Civil War

The town was occupied by the Parliamentarians between 1642 and 1645 in the English Civil War, and a rampart was built around the town.

The town was the seat of the Shropshire Committee until the fall of Royalist Shrewsbury in 1645, and was subject to an attack by Lord Capel, in which the town held off the attackers. The defending force consisted of only 40 male Parliamentarians; but then the local women rallied round. The resulting battle remembered in this couplet:

The women of Wem and a few musketeers, Beat the Lord Capel and all his Cavaliers.[15]

A rampart was built around the town by the Parliamentarians during this conflict, little of it remains beyond a small section to the south east.[16]

Judge Jeffreys held the barony of Wem

Wem was the fiefdom of Judge Jeffreys (1645–1689), known as the "hanging judge" for his willingness to impose capital punishment on supporters of the Duke of Monmouth. His seat was Lowe Hall at The Lowe, Wem. In 1683 he was made Baron Jeffreys of Wem.

On 3 March 1677, a fire destroyed many of the wooden buildings in the town, the event came to be known as the "Great Fire of Wem".[2][17]

By 1740 a workhouse existed in Wem, by 1777 it could house 20 inmates.[18]

The Old Town Hall, while still the Town Hall, was used for sittings of the County Court.[19]

The farming in this period saw an emphasis on dairy and grains. Other specializations included linen cloth.[20]

The town was the childhood home of one of England's greatest essayists and critics, William Hazlitt (1778–1830). Hazlitt's father moved their family there when William was just a child. Hazlitt senior became the Unitarian Minister in the town[21] occupying a building on Noble Street that still stands. In 2008 the town held a 230th Anniversary Celebration of Hazlitt's Life and work for five days, hosted by author Edouard d'Araille who gave series of talks and conference about 'William of Wem'. William Hazlitt moved away from Wem in later life and ultimately died in London.

House in Wem where William Hazlitt and his father lived in the late eighteenth century

In the era of the stagecoach the town was served by two: 'The Hero' called at the Castle and the Union Stagecoach at the White Lion.[22]

Within the town the sweet pea was first commercially cultivated, under the variety named Eckford Sweet Pea, after its inventor, nursery-man Henry Eckford. He first introduced a variety of the sweet pea in 1882, and set up in Wem in 1888, developing and producing many more varieties.

There is a road to signify the Eckford name, called Eckford Park (within Wem). Each year, the Eckford Sweet Pea Society of Wem held a sweet pea festival until 2019 when the last festival was. In Victorian times, the town was known as "Wem, where the sweet peas grow".

The Entrance to the Arts and Crafts Old Library Building in Wem

Several public buildings built in the early 20th century used the Arts and Crafts style: the Morgan Library building, the old post office and the current town hall building are examples.

The War Memorial in Wem

Fifty-five men of Wem are recorded as having fallen serving their country in the First World War. The town's war memorial was dedicated in 1920.[23]

In 1940 Anna Essinger (1879–1960), a German Jewish educator, evacuated [24] her boarding school, Bunce Court School from Otterden, in Kent to Trench Hall, near Wem. She facilitated Kindertransport.[25]

The US created a storage facility at Aston Park estate on 14 December 1942. The facility was later converted to a prisoner of war camp, and was used for that purpose until 1948.[26]

Wem was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.[27]

In November 1995 the town hall suffered a catastrophic fire.[28] It reopened in after repair renewal and redesign in 2000.[29][30]

From 2002 to 2019 the Morgan Library building was leased to 'Mythstories', which styles itself as the world's first museum of storytelling.[31]

Wem is a Transition Town.[32]

The Millennium Green in Wem

There are recreation areas at the Wem Recreation Ground[41] and the Millennium Green (Wem Millenium Green being the smallest such green in the country).[42]

Wem Recreation ground

Sports clubs within the town include:

• Wem Town Football Club
• Wem Cricket Club[43]
• Wem Tennis Club
• Wem United Services Bowling Club
• Wem Bowling Club
• Wem Albion Bowling Club

Clubs and societies include:

• 

  Wem Amateur Dramatics Society Building: former Apostolic Chapel acquired by the society after 1995 town hall fire
  Wem Amateur Dramatics Society (established 1919)
• Sweetpea society
• Rotary Club of Wem and District
• Wem Sports and Social Club
• The Senior Club
• Wem & District Garden Club
• The United Services Club[44]
• Wem Jubilee Band (established 1977, with origins on the 1930s)[45]

Each year Wem holds a traditional town carnival which is held on the first Saturday of September, as well as the Sweet Pea Festival on the third weekend of July. Wem Vehicles of Interest Rally & Grand Parade also runs alongside the Sweet Pea Festival on the Sunday.[46]

A Wem 10km running race was instituted on 2019.[47]

There is a Wem Transport show annually in July.[48]

The town's railway station in 2020

The Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway was completed in 1858, and Wem was connected to national rail services from this time.[53]

The town has a small railway station located on the Welsh Marches Line. All services are operated by Transport for Wales. The majority of services that call at the station are between Shrewsbury and Crewe, however, some long-distance services to Manchester Piccadilly, Cardiff Central, Swansea, Carmarthen and Milford Haven also stop at the station during peak times.

The canal network came closest to Wem at Whixhall and Edstaston; the Ellesmere canal was closed to navigation by Act of Parliament in 1944.[54]

There is an airfield at Sleap.[55][56]

The town is served by the 511 bus route, operated by Arriva Midlands North, which runs between Shrewsbury and Whitchurch. Some services terminate in Wem and do not continue to Whitchurch.

The Adams School Building

In 1995 an amateur photographer photographed a blaze which destroyed Wem Town Hall; the photo appeared to show the ghostly figure of a young female in a window of the burning building, dressed in 'old-fashioned' clothes.

Although the photographer (who died in 2005) denied forgery, after his death it was suggested that the girl in his photo bore a 'striking similarity' with one in a postcard of the town from 1922.[61][62]