About our village

Boningale is a small village and rural parish on the extreme eastern edge of Shropshire, extending to just over a thousand acres. According to the 2021 electoral register, the population is 253, living in 121 residences. The parish is very peaceful and picturesque and is frequented by walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Much of the population works in Wolverhampton, nine miles to the east or in Telford, twelve miles to the west. Many retirees live in the locality, most being very active within the community.

 

The parish is bisected by the busy A464 Holyhead Road. Within the village centre, in the Conservation Area of Church Lane, there are some fine half-timbered houses close to the twelfth-century red sandstone St. Chad's Church, as well as two manor houses and two halls in the area. Much of the agricultural land was owned by The Crown Estate as it was a part of the Patshull Hall Estate before it was passed to the Crown in lieu of death duties. This has passed into private ownership recently. Patshull Hall, with its modern-day entrance in Boningale, Shropshire, actually sits in the county of Staffordshire.

 

With few new dwellings being built or reconverted, there is a serious lack of affordable housing within the parish. Local employment is available in a new small business park, offering nine individual suites, eight working farms, two substantial pub/restaurants, a large wholesale nursery business and one self-catering accommodation business.

 

The parish has several listed properties and monuments, mostly surrounding St. Chad's and Patshull Hall. Its most famous (or infamous!) son is Jonathan Wild, a notorious 17th/18th century underworld figure in London, born in Boningale around 1682/3. Our most famous visitor? This has to be Queen Victoria, who is documented as visiting Patshull Hall in the late 19th century. There is supposedly even a photograph showing the Queen arrive through the gates on Rushey Lane (now part of Shropshire Lodge) but the photo is illusive!

 

Parish councillors were pleased to welcome incoming residents to Patshull Gardens, a small development of barn conversions completed in 2018. 
 
As there are no retail shops, post office, doctors' surgery, pharmacy or civic amenities within the Boningale parish, residents have a five to seven minute drive into Albrighton to access these facilities. The larger village of Shifnal is a little further away, being around 12 minutes' distance by car.