Shropshire

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Ceremonial County in England
Region: West Midlands

§ This page provides an overview of an England's ceremonial county. Our website has 48 such county pages.

Overview ⁞ Shropshire is a largely rural and historic county on the border with Wales, known for its medieval market towns, castles, and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Key towns include Shrewsbury (the county town) and Telford, one of the UK’s largest new towns. The ceremonial county includes two unitary authorities: Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council, both operating independently but under the same ceremonial umbrella.

Is Shropshire a historic county? Yes—Shropshire is a historic county. Administratively, the ceremonial county contains two unitary authorities: Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Shropshire has 2 Local Authority Districts. The chart below shows how this compares with other counties in England.

Number of local authority districts in Shropshire and other counties
Number of local authority districts in Shropshire, compared with other counties
This county page, Shropshire, is a sub-page this region page: West Midlands. It zooms in to local authorities, administrative districts, and parliamentary constituencies in this county. We have this list page for easy browsing of all historic counties, ceremonial counties, and administrative counties: List of all counties in the UK.

Local Authorities in Shropshire

Shropshire, in England’s West Midlands region, has a unitary system of local government with Shropshire Council responsible for all local services including education, transport, planning, housing, and social care, following the abolition of the former district councils in 2009. In addition, the Borough of Telford and Wrekin operates as a separate unitary authority, independent of Shropshire Council, handling all local services for its area. Together, these councils govern a county known for the historic town of Shrewsbury, the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Telford, market towns such as Ludlow, Oswestry, and Bridgnorth, and extensive rural landscapes stretching across the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Districts in Shropshire

In the International Territorial Levels (ITLs) hierarchy, Shropshire is within one of ITLs Level 2 area, Shropshire and Staffordshire, that contains the following 4 ITLs Level 3 areas:

(ITL 1) West Midlands
(ITL 2) ⇒ Shropshire and Staffordshire
(ITL 3) ⇒⇒ Telford and Wrekin ⁞ Shropshire ⁞ Stoke-on-Trent ⁞ Staffordshire CC

Constituencies in Shropshire

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies, 59 of them are in the West Midlands region, 5 of them are in Shropshire.

Counties in West Midlands