Shropshire

Ceremonial county
	Shropshire within England
	Coordinates: 52°37′N 2°43′W / 52.617°N 2.717°WCoordinates: 52°37′N 2°43′W / 52.617°N 2.717°W
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Established	Ancient
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Members of Parliament	List of MPs
Police	West Mercia Police
Ceremonial county
Lord Lieutenant	Anna Turner JP
High Sheriff	Jane Trowbridge JP
Area	3,490 km2 (1,350 sq mi)
• Ranked	13th of 48
Population (2005 est.)	450,700
• Ranked	42nd of 48
Density	129/km2 (330/sq mi)
Ethnicity	Figures for Shropshire UA:; 93.8% White, British; 1.9% White, other; 1.5% S. Asian; 0.9% Mixed; 0.6% White, Irish; 0.6% Black
Unitary authorities
Councils	Shropshire Council; Telford and Wrekin Council
Districts
	; Districts of Shropshire; Unitary
Districts	Shropshire; Telford and Wrekin;

Shropshire, sometimes known as Salop and sometimes shortened to Shrops in print, is a ceremonial county of England. It has no cities and only a few large towns - Shrewsbury, Telford, Ludlow and Oswestry. It is a very rural county with many hills, forests, farms and rivers within its borders.

The county borders Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south and Powys and Wrexham County Borough, counties of Wales, to the west.

The county's county town is Shrewsbury, the birthplace of evolutionist Charles Darwin, however its largest town is Telford. Telford is known for its tourist attraction, Ironbridge Gorge. Ironbridge Gorge is the world's first iron structure. Shrewsbury is also the location of the Ditherington Flax Mill, also known as the Flaxmill Maltings, the world's the first iron-framed building. It is seen as the world's first skyscraper, described as "the grandfather of skyscrapers".

Places of interest

Places of interest in Shropshire include:

Shropshire Media

The Shropshire bulla or sun pendant
Mitchell's Fold prehistoric stone circle
Old Oswestry Hillfort (aerial image)
Ruins of Viroconium bath house, (location now known as Wroxeter). This was once the 4th largest city in Roman Britain.
Section of Offa's Dyke near the Shropshire town of Clun, constructed after the Saxon annexation of the area in the 8th century AD
The relics of St Alkmund were brought to Shrewsbury in the C10th, possibly by Æthelflæd, lady of the Mercians, daughter of Alfred the Great.
Ludlow Castle: one of the seats of the Council of the Marches, and a long-term focus of the court around successive Princes of Wales
The Flaxmill-Maltings, under restoration
Parts of Shropshire in the ancient Forest of Arden