March 1, 1980: The day Salop became Shropshire

A campaign in 1980, led by a retired army officer, to re-name Salop to Shropshire received overwhelming public support.

At the time, a poll of Shropshire Star readers showed 1,138 were in favour of 'Shropshire' as the county’s official name, while only 30 wanted to hang on to Salop.

By 1979, Colonel John Kenyon, a county councillor from West Felton, sick of watching Salop road signs go up, argued the history of the county was under threat.

He said: "We Shropshire men and women are in danger of losing our county's true identity.

"This is being done by the hasty whim of a bureaucratic machine which has in no way taken into account the traditions, history, and wishes of the people of Shropshire."

Reportedly, another reason why Salop was unfavourable, was a fear of being laughed at by the French.

If you add the letter 'E' and make it Salope, it becomes the French word for a rather derogatory term for a promiscuous woman.

Those against the switch-up mainly argued the cost of changing things like the signs and stationery could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

But a report by the county council pointed out that many of the county's signs, buses, and libraries already bore the name Shropshire.

And, on March 1, 1980, an overwhelming majority of 48 to five councillors voted to officially bid farewell to Salop.

The name change came into effect a few weeks later, on April 1, 1980.

Afterwards, Councillor Kenyon said: "The people of the county have won what I consider to be a victory over the insensitive hand of Whitehall."

Salop County Council was based at Shrewsbury's old Shirehall, which stood on The Square until the new Modernist building opened in 1967.

Demolition of old Shirehall took place in 1971 to make way for a new retail and commercial centre, Princess House.