1. Village
     Occupations  

2. Population

3. Housing

4. Visiting Buildwas
     Buildwas Abbey  

5. Bridge

6. See also

7. References

Buildwas is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the north bank of the River Severn at {{gbmapping|SJ641045}}. It lies on the B4380 road to Atcham. The Royal Mail postcodes begin TF6 and TF8.

Buildwas Primary Academy is situated on the Buildwas bank road. The school has been running since 1855, and has three classes and a nursery.

Buildwas has a nine-hole golf course which runs between the River Severn and Ironbridge Power Station. It is open to members of Buildwas Abbey Club.

Village

The village of Buildwas has been recognised since 1086 as the first reference to it was made in the Domesday Book. Buildwas was valued at £2.30 to the Lord St John Bishop of Chester in 1086. The land was valued at £2.30 due to the fact that the village was located on the River Severn and had woodland which was useful for agricultural and farming purposes. During this time period the village had a total population of nine households with them being divided into three for villagers, five for slaves and one for reeves. Due to this the village only had a total tax assessment of one geld unit which was very small. Buildwas had resources of 200 pigs and a mill which people relied on.^[2]

Occupations

The first census regarding occupational data for the village of Buildwas was taken in 1831 and gives a valuable insight into the village for this time period. The census showed that the biggest employability sector at this time was agricultural labourers, and there were 35 people employed in this field.^[3] The second biggest field was retail and handicrafts, which employed seven people in the village. There was one capitalist or professional person within the village and the remaining people were farmers and servants.^[3]

The 1881 census of the village gave a valuable insight into how the population had slowly increased and how the jobs had diversified. Agriculture was still the biggest employment sector with 41 people but other job fields had grown over the course of fifty years.^[3] There were fifteen females and eight males employed in domestic services and offices. There were twelve males employed in the extraction of mineral substances and three people who worked in transport and commerce. There were forty people in the survey who were classified as having an unknown occupation and three male workers in food and lodging.

Population

Population change in Buildwas has experienced a great deal of fluctuation since the first census of 1801 was taken. This is because the village had a small population of 258 to begin with in the first place meaning that any change is a lot more visible.^[3] In 1811 the population had declined to 226 people but then experienced a gradual increase to 240 people in 1821 and stayed at this level through to 1831. Over the next ten years the village had experienced a rapid population increase of 33 people in 1841 and in 1851 the population had increased again to 290 people. From 1851 to 1881 there had been a population decrease of eighteen people. During 1881 there was a national population change across the country with an overall decrease of 3% and this change of population was apparent in Buildwas as from 1881 to 1891 there was a population decrease of thirty one people. The population increased by thirty four people in 1901 and by 1911 the population had increased by thirty two people.

Housing

According to the 2001 Census, Buildwas had a total of 134 dwellings. Of these, 42 were categorised as being flats or apartments, 46 detached houses or bungalows, and 46 semi-detached or terraced houses.^[4] The average price of property which has been sold in Buildwas was valued at £218,114^[5] which was well above the national average of £161,558 in April 2012.^[6]

Visiting Buildwas

Buildwas Abbey

The preserved remains of a Cistercian abbey lie on the south bank of the River Severn. These include an unusually unaltered 12th-century church, a vaulted and tile-floored chapter house, and a re-opened crypt chapel.^[7] The abbey was built in 1135 and the main income for the abbey came from tolls charged on the adjacent bridge over the river. The site is now cared for by English Heritage.^[8]

Bridge

A brick and stone bridge crossed the Severn from medieval times to the 18th century; in floods of 1773 and 1795, it was irreparably damaged and finally swept away by severe flooding following an earthquake.^[9] After its destruction, Thomas Telford built an iron bridge, based on but lighter than The Iron Bridge, which survived subsequent floods intact until its replacement by steel lattice in 1905, which itself was replaced in 1992.^[10]

See also

• Listed buildings in Buildwas
• Ironbridge Gorge
• Buildwas Junction railway station
• Telford Steam Railway

References

• Ernest Henry Tourlet
• Ernest Henry Woollacott
• Ernest Henry Wreford
• Ernest Herbert Andrews
• Ernest Herman Buehl
• Ernest Hicke
• Ernest Hickinbottom
• Ernest Hicks
• Ernest Higa
• Ernest Higginbotham
• Ernest Higgins
• Ernest Hill
• Ernest Hill (disambiguation)
• Ernest Hinton
• Ernest H. Martin
• Ernest Hoar
• Ernest Hoare
• Ernest Hoben
• Ernest Holden
• Ernest Holt
• Ernest Hondros
• Ernest Hooten
• Ernest Horlick
• Ernest House
• Ernest House Sr.