From town criers to charming boutiques, we know how lovely it is to visit Shipston-on-Stour, but did you know these quirky facts about the Cotswold town?
• The town has more than 60 independent shops including 4th generation shopkeepers.
• Shipston was once home to Karen Dotrice who played Jane Banks in Mary Poppins.
• Famous Shipston shoppers include Roger Moore, Kate Winslet and Ben Kingsley.
• Shipston local actor Joseph Mawle starred as Benjen Stark in Game of Thrones.
• “With a Little Help From My Friends” singer Joe Cocker regularly had his hair cut in Shipston.
• Nobel prize winner in Chemistry was Dorothy Hodgkin who lived in Shipston-on-Stour.
• Shipston resident Cecil Sandford was two-time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Isle of Man TT winner.
• Martin Austin Ruane known as Giant Haystacks (6ft 11” and 685lbs) wrestled at the Townsend Hall.
• In 1268 Henry III granted a charter giving Shipston the right to hold markets
• IMI Norgren, one of Shipston’s biggest employers, made a part for Thrust 2 which, driven by Richard Noble set a new world speed record for a jet-engineered car of 615 MPH (989 km.p.h) in 1981.
• In Tudor times, the hamlet of Barcheston on the outskirts of Shipston was England’s first manufacturing home for the weaving of magnificent woollen tapestries, known as the Sheldon Tapestries.
Enjoy Tracy Spiers’ travels to the Cotswolds town in ‘Shipston-on-Stour: For crying out loud’
