I visited a quiet Shropshire village with a surprising past and found a warm and friendly community
Cross Houses may be small, but its sense of community is anything but. From the village shop to the local pub, it’s a place where people know each other — and look out for each other.
The village of Cross Houses sits quietly along the A458 between Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock, and is the kind of place you can blink and miss if you’re not paying attention.
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There's a pub and a petrol station slash post office slash village shop that sells everything but the kitchen sink (although it might actually have a couple of those too).
At first glance, Cross Houses appears to be a cluster of housing estates built between the 1940s and the early 2000s. But tucked away among them is a surprising piece of history that hints at a far more interesting past.
In the late 18th century, the village was chosen to be the home of the Atcham Union Workhouse, and a large, three-storey H-shaped building was built just off the main road.
