Harley Village

Harley is a village, not much more than a hamlet actually, lying in eastern south Shropshire, a mile or so uphill from the western banks of the River Severn. It is in the Welsh Borderlands or Marches, around 15 miles from Wales at its nearest point.

The land hereabouts is dominated by two great topographical features. A few miles to the north-east lies the Wrekin, a hill - not quite a mountain - famous in Midlands folklore. It rises 400 metres from the rolling farmlands of the eastern boundary of Shropshire’s hill country.

Less than a mile to the south lies Wenlock Edge, beloved of A.E. Housman amongst many others. It is a limestone escarpment that indicates Harley’s earliest history as a sea bed! Much of the land in Harley is sand and gravel as befitting a one-time beach.

Click on the links below for more local information.

Harley - Overview:
According to the Saxons, the inhabitants of Harley were of the W[r]ocen saetna, people dependent on the Wrekin, referring back to the days when this land lay in the territory of the Cornovii whose tribal headquarters was in the hill-fort atop the Wrekin.

Historical Snippets:
In the year 1086 William The Conqueror’s agents visited Harley and made their notes for subsequent entry in The Domesday Book - so-called because it was as difficult to escape its reckoning as would be The Book of the Day of Judgement.

Memories of Harley:
Perhaps the memoires of Mrs Hilda Preece, one-time infant teacher and a long-time resident of Harley will convey the flavour of this village more vividly than these bare historical facts.

Design by www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk