In 2000, as part of an M.A. course in Birmingham University, I made a study of place-names in Shropshire ending in "-ford". The resulting dissertation has now been edited and presented in this booklet. It describes the 64 place visited with place-names ending in -ford and discusses their relevance to the road system and the settlement pattern. Since the relation of these place-names to the Roman roads in Shropshire is an important part of the study, a summary of what is known about Roman Roads in Shropshire is also included.

A gazetteer of the many fine Shropshire country houses, which covers the architecture, the owners' family history, and the social and economic circumstances that affected them.

Contains a brief history of names of geographical locations using Roman and Latin names in England and Wales, the Keltic element and how it influenced the naming of places in England and Wales, the English, Scandinavian and Norman elements, phonetic notes in the alphabet and its mutations in English place names, list of the chief place names in England and Wales with explanations.

A bibliography of publications on place-names from 1920 to 1989.

The Records of Early English Drama volumes make available historical transcripts that provide evidence of early English drama, music, ceremonial, dance, and other forms of communal public entertainment in Britain before 1642, together with the necessary interpretive introductions and notes to explicate the materials for the reader. Shropshire, in two volumes, is the eleventh publication in the series. In the introduction Alan Somerset surveys the social and economic history of each major borough and provides a commentary on the major issues raised in the documents. He discusses travelling performers routes, the places they performed, and the remarkable public exhibitions of high-wire artists, camels, bears, and giants. The records for this county are rich and varied, providing new detail about local playing and festivities. From Shrewsbury for example, comes the complete documentation of a unique, semi-circular outdoor amphitheatre. The documents reveal much - from robbery and riots - to the sometimes acrimonious disputes that show the growing Puritan opposition to sports, which attempted to combat an equally stubborn affection for traditional customs. These records are an invaluable addition to the scholarship of early drama, establishing as they do part of the total context of the great drama of Shakespeare, his predecessors, and his contemporaries.