Whitchurch is a market town at the very north of the county.
Whitchurch is the oldest continually inhabitated town in Shropshire and there has been traces found of human activity in the area since the Neolithic. During Roman times there was a settlement in the area called Mediolanum. It is thought that St Alkmund, son of Alhred, King of Northumbria was buried in Whitchurch in 800CE, the parish church is dedicated to him.
By the time of the Domesday Book the settlement was known as Westune, or West Farmstead. Due to the location near the Welsh Marches, the town was in a strategic location and the Normans built a castle and a church from white Grinshill stone. The name Whitchurch is middle English for White Church.
Whitchurch became a town in the 14th century. Whitchurch became an important centre for Cheshire cheese production, with regular cheese fairs held in the town. The arrival of the Llangollen Canal in 1811 and the railways in 1858 helped the town gain good transport links.
