Warwickshire, showing the location of the town. Click on the map for an enlargement

Shipston-on-Stour is a town in the Stratford-on-Avon district of southern Warwickshire, England. It is close to the borders with Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. The 2001 census recorded a population of 4,456 in the town.

The town is located on the River Stour, in the northern Cotswolds, and is a focal point for the surrounding rural area.

It is located on the A3400 road between Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford and was once an important stopping place for stagecoaches. Many former coaching inns remain in the town in the area of the High Street.

Etymologically, Shipston is derived from the Saxon "Scepwaeisctune" meaning "Sheep-wash-Town", and the town had for a long time a regionally important sheep market. Following a fall in the demand for local wool, the local economy was sustained thanks to the opening of a branch line in 1836, running from the horse-drawn Stratford and Moreton Tramway built ten years before linking Moreton-in-Marsh with Stratford. This line was upgraded to that of a modern railway in 1859.

Historically, Shipston was part of an enclave of Worcestershire, where it formed part of the Oswaldslow Hundred . In 1931 it was merged for official purposes into Warwickshire, and until 1974 was the centre of the Shipston-on-Stour Rural District .

It lies within the Diocese of Worcester, and the town's church of St. Edmund's was largely rebuilt in 1855, although retaining its 15th century tower.

External links

• Shipston-on-Stour Town Council