Wem

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Wem
Wem shown within Shropshire
Population	5,142
OS grid reference	SJ514289
District	North Shropshire
Shire county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHREWSBURY
Postcode district	SY4
Dialling code	01939
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
European Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	North Shropshire
List of places: UK • England • Shropshire

Coordinates: 52°51′20″N 2°43′16″W / 52.8555, -2.7211

For the West Edmonton Mall, see WEM.

Not to be confused with Weem.

Wem is a small market town in Shropshire, England.

1 North Shropshire Town
2 Sweet Peas
3 Facilities
4 Carnival Tradition
5 Famous Residents
6 References
7 External links

[edit] North Shropshire Town

It is the administrative centre of North Shropshire District Council which has its headquarters at Edinburgh House in the centre of Wem. The town has a railway station - Wem railway station on the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line.

Only nine miles south of the town is the county town of Shropshire, Shrewsbury.

The civil parish which constitutes the town is Wem Urban - see also Wem Rural.

[edit] Sweet Peas

Within the town the Sweet Pea was first born, under the name the Eckford Sweet Pea, after its inventor, nursery-man Henry Eckford. He first introduced a variety of the sweet pea in 1882, and set up in Wem in 1888, developing and producing many varieties. There is a road to signify the Eckford name, called Eckford Park (within Wem). Each year, the Eckford Sweet Pea Society of Wem hold a Sweet Pea Show. In Victorian times, the town was known as "Wem, where the sweet peas grow".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Facilities

Within the town there are also four churches. The best known of these churches is the main Anglican Church.

Wem is twinned with the town Fismes (pronounced /fiːmz/ or "feems"), in France, which also has its own road in Wem, called Fismes Way.

The River Roden flows to the south of the town. The Shropshire Way long distance waymarked path passes through Wem.

[edit] Carnival Tradition

Each year Wem holds a traditional town carnival on the first Saturday of September.

[edit] Famous Residents

Wem was the birthplace of actors Peter Vaughan and Peter Jones. Wem was also the childhood home of the essayist and critic, William Hazlitt, whose father was a Unitarian Minister in the town.