The Diocese of Hereford was formed in the late 7th century and the parish structure within it had probably been established by the time of the Norman Conquest.  What became the manor of Little Wenlock formed part of the estates of a monastery at Much Wenlock from before the Norman Conquest; and it seems likely that the newly established Wenlock Priory (about 1080) built a small church here in Little Wenlock in the 12th century.  Records from the following century suggest that the incumbent at Little Wenlock was a rector.   The parish has remained a rectory to this day, although clergy emolument changed in the 19th and early 20th centuries and it became a United Benefice with Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge in 1978.............. Following the closure of the Priory, the advowson (the right to appoint the rector), together with the manor of Little Wenlock, was sold by the Crown to James Leveson of Lilleshall in 1545 and bought from the Levesons by Sir Rowland Hayward, a former Lord Mayor of London, in 1590.  The manor was then sold to Francis Forester of Watling Street in 1623, but the advowson was not purchased by the Foresters until 1754.  A further article will trace the rectors of Little Wenlock from the time of the Reformation to the creation of the United Benefice in 1978.

                                                                                           Neil Clarke

Church Lane, Little Wenlock, Shropshire TF6 5AZ

For over 800 years a church building has stood on the site of the present-day St. Lawrence, for in the Forest Roll of 1180 there is a mention of Richard, Clerk of Parva Wenlock. The list of incumbents of the parish stretches back to middle of the 13th century.

A comprehensive guide to this church can be dowloaded below.