Oswestry#Military

File:St. Oswalds well Oswestry, Shropshire. Curing eye trouble. Wellcome M0002533.jpg

The name Oswestry is first attested in 1191, as {{lang|enm|Oswaldestroe}}. This Middle English name transparently derives from the Old English personal name {{lang|ang|Ōswald}} and the word {{lang|ang|trēow}} ('tree'). Thus the name seems once to have meant 'tree of a man called Ōswald'.A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of English Place Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), s.v. Oswestry {{ISBN|9780199609086}}. However, the traditional Welsh name for the town, {{lang|cy|Croesoswallt}} (first attested in 1254), means 'Oswald's cross', and 'cross' is a possible meaning of Old English {{lang|ang|trēow}}. Thus the town's name may have meant 'Oswald's cross' in both English and Welsh.{{cite book |first=B. G. |last=Charles |title=Non-Celtic Placenames in Wales |publisher=London Medieval Studies Monographs, 1 |date=1938 |page=xlvi}}

The Oswald mentioned is widely imagined to have been Oswald of Northumbria, who died at the Battle of Maserfield in 641/642. The location of the battle is debated among scholars, but for much of the twentieth century was assumed to be at Oswestry.Andrew Breeze, British Battles, 493-937 (London: Anthem Press, 2020), ch. 9 {{ISBN|9781785272257}}. However, A. D. Mills's Dictionary of English Place Names concluded that 'the traditional connection with St Oswald, 7th-century king of Northumbria, is uncertain'.

The name and the association with King Oswald have attracted more fanciful interpretations. According to legend, one of the dismembered Oswald's arms was carried to an ash tree by a raven. Miracles were subsequently attributed to the tree, and the legend has it that this was "Oswald's Tree", and gave its name to the town.{{cite news |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2015/10/07/the-man-who-gave-oswestry-its-name-oswald-film-to-feature-at-cannes/ |title=The man who gave Oswestry its name: Oswald film to feature at Cannes |date=7 October 2015 |newspaper=Shropshire Star |access-date=14 June 2021 }} A spring called 'Oswald's Well' is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree, though one historian has suggested that it was likely to have had sacred associations long before Oswald's time. The water from the well was believed to have healing properties, particularly for curing eye trouble.{{cite book |last1=Hope |first1=Robert Charles |title=The legendary lore of the holy wells of England: including rivers, lakes, fountains and springs |date=1893 |publisher=Elliot Stock |location=London |pages=143–145 |url=https://archive.org/stream/legendaryloreofh00hope#page/142/mode/2up/search/oswald |access-date=7 February 2018 }} Offa's Dyke runs near the well, to the west.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/offrev.htm |title=Ian Bapty review of Hill and Worthington, Offa's Dyke: History and Guide, 2003 |access-date=20 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181015/http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/offrev.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 }} This interpretation is supported by a passage in Fouke le Fitz Waryn (a 13th-century romance) which states that {{lang|enm|Oswaldestré}} was derived from {{lang|xno|Arbre Oswald}} (Oswald's tree), which in turn was changed from {{lang|xno|La Blanche Launde}} ({{langx|cy|y tir Gwyn}}), which belonged to a Briton called Meredus Fitz Beledyns ({{lang|cy|Maredudd ap Bleddyn|italic=no}}).{{cite book |date=1976 |isbn=0-631-17000-6 |publisher=Western Printing Services (Anglo-Norman text society) |title=Fouke le Fitz Waryn }}

There is an alternative view that Oswestry was named after Oswy, Oswald's brother, who fought a battle here against King Penda in 655 AD. Oswy became King of Northumbria after Oswald's death in 642 AD. The battle of 655 AD was fought near to a river called the Winwead, which it is believed, was the nearby River Vyrnwy. Welsh folklore has it that this battle was called the battle of {{lang|cy|Pengwern|italic=no}} and in it their leader {{lang|cy|Cynddylan|italic=no}} was also killed.{{cite web |url=http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kingdoms/midland.html |title=British Kingdoms of the Midlands |publisher=David Nash Ford's Early British Kingdoms |access-date=14 June 2021}}

The earliest known human settlement in Oswestry is Old Oswestry, one of the best-preserved Iron Age hill forts in Britain, with evidence of construction and occupation between 800{{nbsp}}BC and 43{{nbsp}}AD.{{cite web|title=History of Old Oswestry Hill Fort|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-oswestry-hill-fort/history/|publisher=English Heritage}} The site is known in Welsh as Caer Ogyrfan, meaning 'City of Gogyrfan', referring to the father of Guinevere in Arthurian legend.{{cite web|url=http://www.visitoruk.com/Oswestry/old-oswestry-hill-fort-C567-AT3337.html|title=Old Oswestry Hill Fort|publisher=Visitor UK|access-date=14 June 2021}}

The Battle of Maserfield is widely thought to have been fought at Oswestry in 641 or 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Penda of Mercia and Oswald of Northumbria. However, the location of the battle is debated among scholars.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the castle being built by Rainald, a Norman Sheriff of Shropshire: {{langnf|fr|L'oeuvre|The work}}.{{cite web|title=Gatehouse Gazetteer - Oswestry|url=http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3157.html|publisher=Gatehouse Gazetteer}}

Alan fitz Flaad (died c.1120), a Breton knight, was granted the feudal barony of OswestryBurke, Messrs., John and John Bernard, The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, and Their Descendants &c., volume 2, London, 1851, p. xl. by King Henry I who, soon after his accession, invited Alan to England with other Breton friends, and gave him forfeited lands in Norfolk and Shropshire, including some which had previously belonged to Ernulf de Hesdin (killed at Antioch while on crusade) and Robert of Bellême.Ritchie, R. L. Graeme, The Normans in Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, 1954, p.280-1

Alan's duties to the Crown included supervision of the Welsh border. He also founded Sporle Priory in Norfolk. He married Ada or Adeline, daughter of Ernulf de Hesdin.Round, J. H., Studies in Peerage, p.123Ritchie (1954) p.98n and 280-1 Their eldest son William FitzAlan was made High Sheriff of Shropshire by King Stephen in 1137. He married a niece of Robert of Gloucester.Ritchie (1954) p.281 Alan's younger son, Walter, travelled to Scotland in the train of King David I, Walter becoming the first hereditary Steward of Scotland and ancestor of the Stewart Royal family.{{cite journal |last1=Ewart |first1=G |last2=Pringle |first2=D |last3=Caldwell |first3=D |last4=Campbell |first4=E |author4-link=Ewan Campbell |last5=Driscoll |first5=S |last6=Forsyth |first6=K |author6-link=Katherine Forsyth |last7=Gallagher |first7=D |last8=Holden |first8=T |last9=Hunter |first9=F |last10=Sanderson |first10=D |last11=Thoms |first11=J |year=2004 |title=Dundonald Castle Excavations, 1986–93 |journal=Scottish Archaeological Journal |volume=26 |issue=1–2 |pages=i–x, 1–166 |issn=1471-5767 |eissn=1766-2028 |jstor=27917525}}

The town changed hands between the English and the Welsh a number of times during the Middle Ages and still retains some Welsh-language street and place names. In 1972, ITV broadcast a television report asking residents if they thought the town should be English or Welsh, with mixed responses.{{Cite news|url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/05/13/watch-43-years-on-should-oswestry-be-in-england-or-wales/ |title=Watch: 43 years on - should Oswestry be in England or Wales? |work=Shropshire Star |date=13 May 2015 |access-date=4 January 2020 }}

In 1149 the castle was captured by Madog ap Maredudd during 'The Anarchy', and it remained in Welsh hands until 1157. Occasionally in the 13th century it is referred to in official records as Blancmuster (1233) or Blancmostre (1272), meaning "White Minster".E. Ekwall, 'Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names', 4th ed., 1960 Later, Oswestry was attacked by the forces of Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr during the early years of his rebellion against the English King Henry IV in 1400; it became known as Pentrepoeth or "hot village" as it was burned and nearly totally destroyed by the Welsh. The castle was reduced to a pile of rocks during the English Civil War.{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MSA77&resourceID=1015|title=Oswestry Castle|publisher=Heritage Gateway| access-date=14 June 2021}}

The town is now the home of the Shropshire libraries' Welsh Collection.{{cite web |url=http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/shropshire/library.nsf/open/D55470EF515E450B80256CD300486C60 |title=Welsh Collection at Oswestry Library |author=Shropshire Council |author-link=Shropshire Council |access-date=3 March 2009 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:Oswestry - Historic buildings in town centre.jpg

In 1190 the town was granted the right to hold a market each Wednesday.{{cite web | url=http://www.shropshiretourism.info/attractiondetail.cfm?EstID=2842 | title=Oswestry Market | publisher=Shropshire Tourism}} The town built walls for protection, but these were torn down in the English Civil War by the Parliamentarians after they took the town from the Royalists after a brief siege on 22 June 1644, leaving only the Newgate Pillar visible today.{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MSA336&resourceID=1015|title=Oswestry town defences|publisher=Heritage Gateway| access-date=14 June 2021}}

After the foot and mouth outbreak in the late 1960s the animal market was moved out of the town centre. In the 1990s, a statue of a shepherd and sheep was installed in the market square as a memorial to the history of the market site.{{cite web|url=https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbwm015|title=The Borderland Farmer|publisher= Statues - Hither & Thither|access-date=14 June 2021}}

Park Hall, {{convert|1|mi|km|adj=on}} east of the town, was taken over by the Army during World War I in 1915 and used as a training camp and military hospital. On 26 December 1918 it burnt to the ground following an electrical fault. The ruined hall and camp remained derelict between the wars,{{cite web | title=Introduction to Park Hall | url=http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/roots/packages/war/war_h01.htm | author=Shropshire Routes to Roots | publisher=Shropshire County Library Service | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623221657/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/roots/packages/war/war_h01.htm | archive-date=23 June 2007 | df=dmy-all }} the camp hospital, however, was still in use; the Baschurch Convalescent and Surgical Home moved there in February 1921 and it became known as the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.{{cite web|title=Gazetteer of Sites: Park Hall Barracks, Oswestry (SJ3031)|url=http://shropshirehistory.com/military/camps.htm|publisher=Shropshire History}}

One of the main uses of the land from the 1920s was for motorcycle racing and it became quite a well-known circuit.

The camp was reactivated in July 1939 for Royal Artillery training and the Plotting Officers' School. Following World War II, Oswestry was a prominent military centre for Canadian troops, then for the British Royal Artillery, and finally a training centre for 15 to 17-year-old Infantry Junior Leaders. The camp closed in 1975. During the 1970s some local licensed wildfowlers discharged their shotguns at some passing ducks and were shot themselves by a young military guard, who had mistaken them for an attacking IRA force.

The area previously occupied by the Park Hall military camp is now mainly residential and agricultural land, with a small number of light industrial units. Park Hall Farm became a visitor attraction in 1998, it is home to the Museum of the Welsh Guards.{{cite web|title=The Welsh Guards Collection: The Official Welsh Guards Museum|url=http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/welshguards/|publisher=Welsh Guards|access-date=27 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604200539/http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/welshguards/|archive-date=4 June 2014|df=dmy-all}} The Park Hall Football Stadium (home of The New Saints FC) and The Venue is now closed.{{cite web|title=Park Hall Stadium|url=http://www.footballgroundguide.com/wales/the-new-saints/#Whats-Park-Avenue-Stadium-Like|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402141937/http://www.footballgroundguide.com/wales/the-new-saints/#Whats-Park-Avenue-Stadium-Like|archive-date=2015-04-02|publisher=New Saints FC}}

File:Old Oswestry profile.jpg

File:Late Victorian Guildhall in Oswestry (geograph 4172721).jpg]]

Old Oswestry, on the northern edge of the town, dominates the northern and eastern approaches. The 3,000-year-old settlement is one of the most spectacular and best preserved Iron Age hill forts in Britain, with evidence of construction and occupation between 800 BC and AD 43.

Other attractions in and around Oswestry include: {{lang|cy|Cae Glas|italics=no}} Park, Shelf Bank, Wilfred Owen Green, Saint Oswald's Well at Maserfield, Oswestry Castle, and the Cambrian Railway Museum located near the former railway station. Oswestry Guildhall, the meeting place of Oswestry Town Council, was completed in 1893.{{NHLE|desc=The Guildhall|num=1367321|date=14 June 2021}}

A story incorporating the names of all of the many pubs once open in Oswestry can be found hanging on a wall inside The Oak Inn on Church Street. There is a tapestry of forty Oswestry pub signs on display in Oswestry Guildhall on the Bailey Head. The Stonehouse Brewery opened in 2007, on the site of the former Weston Wharf railway station at Weston, in nearby Oswestry Rural; Stonehouse Brewery supplies many of the pubs with real ale.{{cite web|url=https://beertoday.co.uk/stonehouse-brewery-1120/|title= Stonehouse is back on the rails for a post-covid recovery|date=5 November 2020|publisher=Beer Today|access-date=14 June 2021}}

Brogyntyn Hall, which belonged to the Lords Harlech, lies just outside the town. Brogyntyn Park is five and a half acres of parkland occupying the southern slope of the Grade II listed Brogyntyn Estate. It was gifted to Oswestry Town Council by the fourth Lord Harlech, William Ormsby-Gore, in 1952.{{Cite web|title=Oswestry Town Council: Brogyntyn|url=https://www.oswestry-tc.gov.uk/council-services/parks-and-open-spaces/brogyntyn.html|access-date=2021-06-15|website=www.oswestry-tc.gov.uk}}

There is a range of arts related activities in the town.

File:Hermon Chapel 2013-09-21 15-48-04.jpg

• The Qube
• Oswestry Visitor & Exhibition Centre
• Willow Gallery
• The Oswestry Town Museum
• Cambrian Railways Museum
• Attfield Theatre{{cite web|url=http://www.attfieldtheatre.co.uk|title=Attfield Theatre – Welcome!|work=attfieldtheatre.co.uk|access-date=17 May 2015}}
• Fusion Arts organises arts and music activities for young people.{{cite web|url=http://www.fusionartsoswestry.co.uk|title=Fusion Arts Oswestry – Opening the Arts to Everyone|work=fusionartsoswestry.co.uk|access-date=17 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115424/http://www.fusionartsoswestry.co.uk/|archive-date=2 April 2015|df=dmy-all}}
• Kinokulture, a cinema (due to close by the end of April 2024){{cite web|url=http://www.kinokulture.org.uk|title=HOME – Oswestry's Community Cinema|work=kinokulture.org.uk|access-date=17 May 2015}}{{Cite web |date=2024-04-11 |title=Oswestry's Kinokulture cinema to permanently close |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1dq304w02o |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
• Hermon Chapel Arts Centre{{cite web| title=Hermon Chapel|url=http://www.hermonchapel.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410073035/http://www.hermonchapel.com/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=10 April 2016|access-date=29 April 2017}}
• Oswestry Choral Society, the Oswestry Recorded Music Society, and the Oswestry Ladies Choir has developed.{{cite web| title=Oswestry Ladies Choir|url=http://www.oswestryladieschoir.com|access-date= 12 November 2016}}
• OsRocks Choir
• Wilfred Owen Green[http://www.borderline-breaks.co.uk Wilfred Owen Green] Borderline Breaks {{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Borderland Visual Arts. A network of local artists which holds an annual Open Studios event{{Cite web |title=B V A {{!}} Borderland Visual Arts |url=https://www.borderlandvisualarts.com/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=www.borderlandvisualarts.com}}
• Borderlines Film Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk|title=Borderlines Film Festival|access-date=17 May 2015}}
• The Oswestry Food and Drink Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.oswestryfoodfestival.co.uk|title=Oswestry Food Festival|work=oswestryfoodfestival.co.uk|access-date=17 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216074334/http://www.oswestryfoodfestival.co.uk/|archive-date=16 February 2016}}
• Oswestry Balloon Carnival{{cite web|url=https://rove.me/to/england/oswestry-balloon-festival|title=Oswestry Balloon Festival|access-date=6 July 2018}}
• The Whittington International Chamber Music Festival{{cite web|title=Whittington International Chamber Music Festival|url=http://www.whittingtonmusicfestival.org.uk/|access-date=30 April 2017}}

There have been the following royal visits to Oswestry:

• HRH The Duke of Gloucester visited the town in 2011.{{cite web | url=https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2011/11/hrh-to-visit-the-new-oswestry-leisure-centre/ | title=HRH to visit the new Oswestry Leisure Centre | date=28 November 2011 }}
• HRH Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy visited the town in 2017.{{cite web | url=https://issuu.com/aselkirk/docs/oswestry_life_september_2017/50 | title=Oswestry Life September 2017 by DTS media Ltd - Issuu | date=24 August 2017 }}
• HRH The Princess Royal visited the town in 2021.{{Cite web |last=Lee-Birch |first=David |date=2021-10-14 |title=Oswestry company receives a Royal visit |url=https://www.oswestry.life/article/oswestry-company-receives-a-royal-visit/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Oswestry Life |language=en-GB}}
• HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh visited the town in 2023{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Sue |date=2023-03-28 |title=Duchess to give a royal seal of approval to new veterans' centre at orthopaedic hospital |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/oswestry/2023/03/28/duchess-to-give-a-royal-seal-of-approval-to-new-veterans-centre-at-specialist-hospital/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}

In the 2011 Census, 68.7% of the population of Shropshire stated that their religion was 'Christian'. The second largest group (22.8%) stated that they had 'no religion'.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/religioninenglandandwales2011/2012-12-11|title=Religion in England and Wales 2011 - Office for National Statistics|website=www.ons.gov.uk}}

File:Parish Church of St. Oswald (8688848815).jpg

There are a number of places of worship in Oswestry.

Oswestry is divided into two Church of England parishes, which are part of the Diocese of Lichfield: Holy Trinity, which encompasses Oswestry East and eastern part of Oswestry Rural; and St. Oswald, which encompasses Oswestry South, Oswestry West and the western part of Oswestry Rural. Each parish has its own parish church.

St Oswald's Church was first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book and a tithe document in Shrewsbury the same year.{{cite web|url=http://www.stoswaldsoswestry.org.uk/church-history/|title=St Oswald Church Oswestry – Church History|work=stoswaldsoswestry.org.uk|access-date=17 May 2015}} St Oswald's Church is Grade II* listed, having a tower dating from late 12th or early 13th century and later additions particularly in the 17th and 19th centuries.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-255518-church-of-st-oswald-oswestry-#.VreEPUBRSx0 |title=Church of St Oswald, Oswestry |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=7 February 2016}} There is a new window in the east nave, designed by stained glass artist Jane Gray{{cite news| title= Shropshire stained glass artist Jane Gray's life story | work= BBC Shropshire news,25 April 2011 | date= 25 April 2011 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-13146146 | publisher= BBC }} Retrieved 10 October 2011 in 2004.

In June 2022, it was announced that, from January 2023, oversight of traditional Catholics within the Anglican Church in the west of Province of Canterbury (formerly the Bishop of Ebbsfleet's area) would be taken by a new Bishop of Oswestry, suffragan to the Bishop of Lichfield.{{cite web |website=Diocese of Canterbury |title=Bishops of Maidstone, Ebbsfleet and Oswestry |url=https://canterburydiocese.org/our-life/news-events/news/bishops-of-maidstone-ebbsfleet-and-oswestry.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707135916/https://canterburydiocese.org/our-life/news-events/news/bishops-of-maidstone-ebbsfleet-and-oswestry.php |archive-date=7 July 2022 |access-date=3 August 2022 }} The Bishop of Oswestry serves the western 13 dioceses of the southern province (Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Oxford, Salisbury, Truro, and Worcester).{{cite web |last1=Beddowes |first1=Brian |title=Welcome |url=https://seeofoswestry.org.uk/ |website=The See of Oswestry |access-date=2 December 2022}}

The town of Oswestry and surrounding villages fall into the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Oswald, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. The single Catholic church is Our Lady and St Oswald's Catholic Church.[http://www.oswestry-caholics.org.uk]{{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} There is an associated primary school.{{cite web|url=http://www.osoprimary.co.uk|title=Home Page|work=osoprimary.co.uk|access-date=17 May 2015}}

There are two Methodist churches: the Horeb Church on Victoria Road and the Oswestry Methodist Church. Cornerstone Baptist Church is on the corner of Lower Brook Street and Roft Street in a modern 1970s building. Other Nonconformist churches include the Albert Road Evangelical Church, Hope Church, formerly {{langnf|cy|Carreg Llwyd Church|italic=unset|Grey Rock|links=no}}, founded in 1964, and the Cabin Lane Church, established by members of the Hope Church in 1991 following the eastern expansion of Oswestry.{{cite web|title=Cabin Lane Church – Who are we?|url=http://www.cabinlanechurch.org.uk/about/who-are-we|publisher=Cabin Lane Church|access-date=27 March 2015}}

File:Christ Church, Oswestry.jpg was a choirboy]]

Christ Church was opened by the Congregational Church in October 1972,{{cite web |last1=Stiles |first1=Charles |title=David Christopher Davies FGS : 1827 to 1885 |url=https://www.oswestrygenealogy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/David-C-DAVIES2.pdf |website=oswestrygenealogy.org.uk |publisher=Oswestry Family & Local History Group |access-date=29 October 2023}} but now shared by the United Reformed Church and the Presbyterian Church of Wales, was the home church of the composer Walford Davies, who sang in the choir.{{cite web | url= http://www.users.waitrose.com/~coxfamily/osxchnew.htm | title= Christ Church – Picture and Notes | access-date=31 December 2007}}Plaque on the wall of Christ Church, Oswestry, whose accompanying inscription includes "Born in 1869 in Willow Street, Oswestry, Walford Davies sang as a chorister in this church (where his father was organist) before moving to St George's, Windsor." There is a Welsh-speaking church, the {{lang|cy|Seion|italics=no}} Church, and the Holy Anglican Church, a Western Rite Anglican establishment. Coney Green has a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. The Religious Society of Friends also holds meetings in Oswestry. The Grade II* star Hermon Chapel, by chapel architect Thomas Thomas, was a Welsh-speaking Congregational church{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-477072-hermon-chapel-oswestry-#.Vrdni0BRSx0 |title=Hermon Chapel, Oswestry |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=7 February 2016}} and is now an arts and community centre.

A small Muslim community exists in the town. A plan to transform a 19th-century former Presbyterian church on Oswald Road into a permanent base for meetings and prayer services fell through in March 2013 due to cost.{{cite news|title=Muslim prayer centre plan for church dropped|work=Shropshire Star|date=5 April 2013|page=1}} New plans were submitted to Shropshire Council for approval in 2019, to convert the former Salvation Army citadel in King Street into an Islamic Prayer Centre. These plans were eventually approved by Shropshire Council.{{Cite web|url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/oswestry/2019/10/10/oswestry-muslim-centre-plan-gets-go-ahead/|title=Oswestry Muslim centre plan gets go-ahead|last=Morris|first=Andrew|website=www.shropshirestar.com|date=10 October 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-02-01}}

There is a small Orthodox Christian community in Oswestry, which has increased in size over years due to the town's growing Bulgarian community. There is no Orthodox church in Oswestry, however, so congregants have to travel to the Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Fathers of Nicaea, Shrewsbury, to worship. There used to be an Orthodox outreach at Holy Trinity Church for a few years, but a disagreement over the church layout brought this service to an end. Congregants also used to benefit from a Greek Orthodox priest at Weston Rhyn, who left the area in the 1990s.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

There is a very small Liberal Jewish community within Oswestry, who are served by the Welshpool Jewish Group, over {{convert|15|mi|km}} away.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/welshpool/index.htm |title=JCR-UK: Welshpool Jewish Group, Powys, Wales }} Oswestry's Jewish history is little known, but has had Jewish businesses and families since at least the 1850s. Located within Oswestry Cemetery is the grave of a child Holocaust refugee.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust in Oswestry provides elective orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal medical services.{{cite web | url=http://www.rjah.nhs.uk/AboutUs/OurHistory/tabid/65/Default.aspx | title=History of Oswestry Orthopedic Hospital | publisher=NHS | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929161827/http://www.rjah.nhs.uk/AboutUs/OurHistory/tabid/65/Default.aspx | archive-date=29 September 2007 | df=dmy-all }} The hospital is located towards Gobowen.

The hospital is now home to the UK's first orthopaedic outpatient centre for British Armed Forces veterans following a fund-raising appeal by the RJAH League of Friends in 2018.

There is a Health Centre on Thomas Savin Road, next to Shelf Bank and opposite the bus station. Within the Health Centre is the Oswestry Minor Injuries Unit, Cambrian Medical Centre and a range of services run by Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust. There are three other GP surgeries situated within the town, and numerous opticians, pharmacists and dentists.

Oswestry is home to the second oldest 'free' (which in this context means not linked to any ecclesiastical foundation) school in the country, Oswestry School, which was founded in 1407. (The oldest, Winchester College, was founded in 1382.){{cite web|title=History - Oswestry School|url=http://oswestryschool.org.uk/oswestry-school/history|website=oswestryschool.org.uk|access-date=10 August 2016}} Oswestry School's 15th century site, adjacent to St Oswald's Parish Church, is now a café restaurant. It used to house the Tourist Information Centre, now moved to Castle view.{{cite web|title=Welcome to Oswestry|url=http://www.oswestry.com/|website=oswestry.com|access-date=10 August 2016}}

There are four state primary schools in Oswestry: The Meadows Primary School, Cabin Lane; Woodside Primary School, Gittin Street; Holy Trinity C.E. Primary Academy & Nursery, Beech Grove and Middleton Road; and Our Lady & St. Oswald's Catholic Primary School, Upper Brook Street. There is also an independent co-educational preparatory school in Church Street, Bellan House, which is run by Oswestry School.

Secondary education is provided by both Oswestry School and the state secondary school with academy status: The Marches School, Morda Road.

Further education is provided by The Marches School's Sixth Form and the North Shropshire College which is situated in the town at Shrewsbury Road and at the Walford Campus near Baschurch.

Regional TV news is provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals can be received from either The Wrekin or Sutton Coldfield TV transmitters.{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/The_Wrekin|title=Full Freeview on the The[sic] Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=25 September 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Sutton_Coldfield|title=Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=25 September 2023}}

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Shropshire on 96.0 FM, Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire on 103.1 FM and Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire on 107.1 FM.

The Border Counties Advertizer and Shropshire Star are the town's local newspapers, the former printed weekly and the latter printed daily.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-wmids/border-counties-advertizer/|title=Border Counties Advertizer|date=24 April 2013|website=British Papers|accessdate=25 September 2023}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/ |title=Shropshire Star |access-date=25 September 2023}} The Oswestry Life Magazine is the town's monthly magazine publication.{{cite web|url=https://www.oswestry.life/}}

File:Oswestry - The former station and Cambrian Railways headquarters.jpg

Oswestry is at the junction of the A5 with the A483 and A495. The A5 continues from Shrewsbury to the north, passing the town, before turning west near Chirk and entering Wales.

Bus services are operated by Arriva Midlands, Arriva Wales and local independents Tanat Valley Coaches, Lakeside Coaches and Owen's Travelmaster. The town has regular bus routes that link nearby villages and towns including Wrexham, Welshpool, Newtown, Llanfyllin, Ellesmere and Shrewsbury. There is also a Dial-A-Ride minibus service which operates Mon-Fri and a direct bus route between Oswestry and Lake Vyrnwy every Wednesday, both operated by Oswestry Community Action, trading as the Qube.

On 9 November 2023, Oswestry was awarded Coach Friendly accreditation by the Conference for Passenger Transport ([https://www.cpt-uk.org/ CPT]) at a ceremony in the Guildhall on Bailey Head. The award followed an initiative by [https://www.oneoswestry.co.uk/bid-oswestry/ Oswestry Business Improvement District] (BID) to increase the frequency and regularity of coach visits to boost the footfall and income of local shops, cafes, businesses and organisations.

Gobowen railway station is {{convert|2|mi|km}} from the northern edge of Oswestry. It has direct services to Birmingham, Cardiff, Chester and North Wales.

The original station name board 'Gobowen for Oswestry' is permanently displayed on the station platform.

The Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal runs from Ellesmere to Llangollen, running {{convert|4.5|mi|0}} east of the town at Hindford and on through Chirk, {{convert|6|mi|0}} north. A navigable section of the partially restored Montgomery Canal, runs from Frankton Junction (connecting to the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal) to Newtown.{{cite web |url=http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/montgomery.htm |title=The Montgomery Canal |work=Canal Junction |last=Lewery |first=Tony |access-date=18 January 2008 }}

{{main|Oswestry railway station}}

The railway station, once on the main line of the Cambrian Railways, was closed in 1966 as a consequence of the Beeching cuts. Opened in 1840, the section from Whitchurch to Welshpool (Buttington Junction), via Ellesmere, Whittington, Oswestry and Llanymynech, closed on 18 January 1965, leaving only a short branch line from {{stnlnk|Gobowen}} to continue to serve Oswestry – but only until 7 November 1966. This former Great Western Railway (GWR) branch had once run into a separate GWR Oswestry terminus, but this has long since disappeared and the land redeveloped as a bus station and supermarket. Trains were re-routed into the main Cambrian station from 7 July 1924.

File:Oswestry railway station geograph-2510794-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

The main building of the Cambrian station is still a prominent landmark in the town centre: it once housed the headquarters of the Cambrian Railways company. After restoration, this building was reopened as the Cambrian Visitor Centre in June 2006 but closed on 11 January 2008. It later reopened, and has since evolved into the headquarters of the Cambrian Heritage Railways (CHR) and a small catering establishment known as "Buffers"; other parts of the building have been converted into retail and office units to contribute to the upkeep of the building.

A single railway track still runs through the station, once overgrown and rusting, it has been cleared and repaired and is the subject of an ambitious plan to reopen the line as a steam heritage railway between Oswestry and Llanyblodwel and Pant (to link with the restored Montgomery Canal – see above), and as a sustainable community transport rail link from Oswestry to the National Rail railway station at Gobowen.

By 2013, the main "up" platform at Oswestry station had been reconstructed and some new semaphore signalling installed. The branch-line track-bed from south of Gobowen to Llanyblodwel is now owned by Shropshire Council, who lease the land to CHR, a registered charity. Work is advancing in securing the transfer of the existing Transport & Works Act Order (TWAO) from Network Rail to CHR. The aim was for this transfer to be completed by 2014, and for the railway line between Gobowen and Oswestry to be fully re-instated and operational by 2017; however the legal process of the TWAO Unit administering a form of written debate between the proposer and objectors with a guided number of exchanges, was still ongoing in mid 2016. CHR purchase of the final section of the Oswestry to Gobowen railway branch line was completed in April 2016; nevertheless, other hurdles to becoming operational, such as permissions and finances to reinstate the level crossings on the main A5/A483 Trunk Roads, will also need to be overcome.

Immediately to the south of Oswestry Railway Station is the Cambrian Railways Museum; while a short distance to the north are the "listed" Works Bridge and the former Cambrian Railways works, which are now occupied by a variety of local commerce concerns and Oswestry's Community Health Centre and ambulance facility.

File:Beduoins day.jpg

From 2013, the town was represented in football by F.C. Oswestry Town, who were members of the North West Counties Football League Division One South, until folding in July 2020, citing Covid 19 as the reason {{cite web | url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/football/non-league/2020/07/09/fc-oswestry-towns-grand-plans-no-more-after-final-game/ | title=FC Oswestry Town's grand plans no more after final game | date=9 July 2020 }} The former local football club, Oswestry Town F.C., was one of the few English teams to compete in the League of Wales. It also won the Welsh Cup in 1884, 1901 and 1907.{{cite web|url=http://www.worldfootball.net/sieger/wal-welsh-cup/|title=Welsh Cup " Champions|work=worldfootball.net|access-date=17 May 2015}} The club was in financial difficulties in 2003 and merged with Total Network Solutions F.C. of Llansantffraid, a village {{convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} away on the Welsh side of the border. Following the takeover of the club's sponsor in 2006, the club was renamed as The New Saints. They moved to the redeveloped Park Hall Stadium on the outskirts of the town in September 2007. The New Saints or TNS is a full-time-professional football club that play in the Welsh Premier League, which they have won a record twelve times.

Oswestry Lions F.C. of the Shropshire County League also play at the ground.

{{main|Oswestry Race Course}}

From the 1700s to 1848, there was a popular racecourse outside the town. Known as {{langnf|cy|Cyrn-y-Bwch|italics=no|the Horns of the Buck|links=no}}, the site was chosen on this {{convert|1000|ft|adj=on}} high hilltop because of its location between the Kingdom of England and the Principality of Wales, and the aim was to bring together the local landowners and gentry of Wales and England. Remnants of the old grandstand and figure-of-eight racetrack can still be seen.Greyhound Derby [http://www.greyhoundderby.com/Oswestry%20Racecourse.html "Oswestry racecourse"]. Retrieved 14 August 2013.

Nowadays, Oswestry Race Course is common land, registered under the Commons Act 1899 and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, with a number of rights of way on the South Common including Offa's Dyke Path and Bridleway. Also designated as a publicly accessible open space and a Wildlife Site in the 1999 Local Plan, it is an area reserved for:

::quiet, informal leisure activities and recreation;

::the biological diversity of the matrix of heathland, sparse woodland, ponds and ditches; and

::the sustainable management and conservation of nature and wildlife.

The site provides extensive views across the surrounding landscape of England and Wales.

The {{lang|cy|Llanymynech|italics=no}} to Chirk Mill section of the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail crosses the common.{{cite web|url=http://www.hikeview.co.uk/OffasDyke/OffasDykePage.html |title=Hikeview Offa's Dyke Page |publisher=Hikeview.co.uk |access-date=9 September 2013}}

{{Further|Wilfred Owen Green}}

Oswestry is twinned with Combs-la-Ville, France, since 1980.{{cite web|title=Oswestry Twinning Association|url=http://oswestrytwinning.org.uk/|publisher=Oswestry Twinning Association|access-date=4 March 2018|date=2015}}

{{See also|Category:People from Oswestry|Category:People educated at Oswestry School}}

File:Wilfred Owen à l'Arrouaise.jpg]]

• Guto'r Glyn (c1412-c1493) Welsh bard, resident of the town as appears from poem, In Praise of Oswestry.{{cite book|editor-last=Lloyd|editor-first=D.M. |editor-last2=Lloyd |editor-first2=E.M. |title=A Book of Wales|year=1953|publisher=Collins |location=London |pages=95–97}} Anthology of prose and poetry, in which this is his only poem published.
• Shirley Brooks (1816–1874) journalist,{{cite DNB|wstitle=Brooks,_Charles_William_Shirley |volume=6 |short=x}} novelist{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Brooks,_Charles_William_Shirley |volume= 04 |short=x}} and editor of Punch, lived locally when training as a solicitor
• William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930) Oxford don,[https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/sep/01/archive-obituary-dr-wa-spooner Manchester Guardian, 1 September 1930, archived obituary]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. originated Spoonerism, educated at Oswestry School
• John Cadvan Davies (1846-1923), Wesleyan Minister and Archdruid of the Gorsedd under name of Cadvan, died at Oswestry{{Cite DWB|id=s-DAVI-CAD-1846|title=Davies. John Cadvan|access-date=10 April 2020}}
• Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869 in Oswestry – 1941) composer,{{Cite DWB|id=s2-DAVI-WAL-1869|title=DAVIES, Sir HENRY WALFORD|access-date=17 March 2018}} Master of the Queen's Music 1934 / 1941
• Wilfred Owen (1893 in Oswestry – 1918) poet[https://www.bl.uk/people/wilfred-owen Wilfred Owen at the British Library]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and soldier[http://www.wilfredowen.org.uk/wilfred-owen/biography Wilfred Owen Association]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. in the first World War
• Ivor Roberts-Jones (1913 in Oswestry – 1996) sculptor,[http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=6120 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. sculpted Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square
• Barbara Pym (1913 in Oswestry – 1980) novelist,[http://www.barbara-pym.org/biography.html The Barbara Pym Society based at St Hilda's College, Oxford] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226145621/http://www.barbara-pym.org/biography.html |date=26 February 2017 }}. Retrieved 17 March 2018. Booker Prize nominee 1977
• Michael Croft (1922 in Hengoed – 1986) actor,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0188485/ IMDb Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. schoolteacher and writer.
• Frank Bough (1933-2020) former television presenter,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0099271/ IMDb Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. went to school in Oswestry
• Ian Hunter (born 1939 in Oswestry) songwriter and lead singer[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/sep/03/mott-the-hoople-reunion The Guardian, 3 September 2009, Mott the Hoople, The dudes abide]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. of the English rock band Mott the Hoople 1969 / 1974
• Philip Llewellin (1940 in Oswestry – 2005) journalist and writer,[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/06/obituaries.readersobituaries The Guardian, 6 Oct 2005, Obituary, Phil Llewellin]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. went to Oswestry School
• Paul Jerricho (born 1948 in Oswestry) actor,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422056/ IMDb Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. educated at Oswestry School
• Peter Edwards (born 1955) BP Portrait Award-winning artist,[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp07914&role=art National Portrait Gallery, Peter Edwards]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. went to Oswestry School
• Jesse Armstrong (born 1970 in Oswestry) comedy writer,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1104036/ IMDb Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. best known for the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, the BBC political satire The Thick of It and the American satirical drama Succession.

File:Castlemaine.jpg, 1681]]

• Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine (1634–1705) courtier{{cite DNB|wstitle=Palmer,_Roger |volume= 43 |short=x}} and diplomat, died locally
• Owen Owen (1850–1920) teacher, headmaster and school inspector{{Cite DWB|id=s-OWEN-OWE-1850|title=OWEN, OWEN|access-date=17 March 2018}} in Wales
• Harold Whitfield (1886–1956) a British Army soldier and Victoria Cross recipient [https://web.archive.org/web/20050104212106/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/shropshi.htm Location of grave and VC medal (Shropshire)]. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
• Francis Humphrys (1879–1971) cricketer,[http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/15055.html ESPN cricinfo Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. colonial administrator and diplomat
• John Lloyd Williams (1894-unknown), World War I flying ace,{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Chief Constable[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3946021.stm BBC News Channel, 23 October, 2004, Secrets of jailed rebel exposed]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. of Cardiganshire
• Trevor Rees-Jones (born 1968) bodyguard of Diana, Princess of Wales[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/667486.stm BBC News, 6 March, 2000, Diana's bodyguard: What's the story?]. Retrieved 17 March 2018.

File:Thomas Bray painting.jpg]]

File:George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech, in 1917.jpg, 1917.]]

• William FitzAlan, Lord of Oswestry (1105–1160) nobleman{{cite DNB|wstitle=Fitzalan,_William |volume= 19 |short=x}} of Breton ancestry, landowner and Marcher lord
• John FitzAlan (1223-1267) (1223–1267) Marcher Lord{{cite DNB|wstitle=Fitzalan,_John_(1223-1267) |volume= 19 |short=x}} with lands in the Welsh Marches.
• David Holbache (c.1355 – c.1422) Welsh politician, MP for Shropshire,[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/holbache-david-1422 The History of Parliament Trust, HOLBACHE, David (d.c.1422), of Dudleston and Oswestry, Salop]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. founded Oswestry School[http://oswestryschool.org.uk/oswestry-school/history Introduction to the History of Oswestry School]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. in 1407.
• Robert Ussher, (1592–1642) Provost of Trinity College, Dublin{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ussher, Henry (1550?-1613) |volume= 58 |short=x}} and Bishop of Kildare, buried at Doddleston Chapel, near Oswestry
• Thomas Bray (c.1657–1730) clergyman{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Bray,_Thomas |volume= 04 |short=x}} and abolitionist, went to Oswestry School
• Elias Owen (1833-1899), Welsh cleric and antiquarian, was curate at Holy Trinity, Oswestry 1875 /1876{{cite web|last=Cholerton|first=Moira|title=Ordination |url=http://www.owen.cholerton.org/05_elias_06.php |work=Elias Owen (1833–1899) |access-date=1 December 2011}}
• Stanley Leighton (1837 – 1901) barrister, landowner,[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-stanley-leighton/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (L), Mr Stanley Leighton]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. artist, antiquarian and Conservative MP for Oswestry 1885 / 1901
• Francis Jayne (1845-1921), former Bishop of Chester, died in retirement at Oswestry.{{cite news|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000576/19210825/121/0006|work=Aberdeen Journal|title=The Right Rev. Francis John Jayne|date=25 August 1921|publisher=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}
• William Henry Fletcher (1851/1852-1926), Church of England clergyman, later Archdeacon of Wrexham, was Vicar of Oswestry 1888/1891.‘FLETCHER, Ven. William Henry’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U196448, accessed 12 Feb 2016]
• George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech (1855–1938), British soldier[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/hon-george-ormsby-gore/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (O), Hon. George Ormsby-Gore]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and Conservative MP for Oswestry 1901 / 1904
• William Griffith Thomas (1861 in Oswestry – 1924), Anglican cleric[http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/history/griffiththomas/iss_history_griffiththomas_intro.asp Church Society, William Henry Griffith Thomas (1861-1924)]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and scholar
• William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman (1864–1935) Home Secretary[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-william-bridgeman/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (B), Mr William Bridgeman]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 1922 / 1924 and Conservative MP for Oswestry 1906 / 1929
• Kate Williams Evans (1866-1961), suffragette, died in Oswestry
• Henria Leech Williams (1867–1911), suffragette
• Bertie Leighton (1875–1952), Army officer, landowner[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/major-bertie-leighton/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (L), Major Bertie Leighton]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and Conservative MP for Oswestry 1929 / 1945
• David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (1918–1985), diplomat[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-william-ormsby-gore-3/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (O), Mr William Ormsby-Gore]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and Conservative MP for Oswestry 1950 / 1961
• John Biffen (1930–2007) respectfully regarded[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-john-biffen/index.html HANSARD 1803–2005 → People (B), Mr John Biffen]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. Conservative MP for Oswestry 1961 / 1997
• George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock (born 1942 in Oswestry), former[http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-foulkes-of-cumnock/579 Parliament, Lords, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. Scottish Labour Co-operative MP, now life peer
• Warren Hawksley (1943–2018), Conservative politician, MP for The Wrekin, 1979-1987 and Halesowen and Stourbridge 1992-1997.
• Owen Paterson (born 1956), Conservative former politician, was MP for North Shropshire from 1997 until his resignation in 2021

File:Dame Stephanie Shirley - 2013.jpg, 2013]]

• Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818 in Oswestry – 1864), surveyor and architect,[http://www.shropshirehistory.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/theme:20070306160549 Oswestry Town Trail, Willow Street, Shropshire County Council]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. went to Oswestry School
• Thomas Savin (1826 in Llwynymaen – 1889 in Oswestry), railway engineer,{{cite web |url=https://steamindex.com/people/managers.htm#savin |title=Biographies of chairmen, managers & other senior railway officers |website=steamindex.com |access-date=17 March 2018 |at=Savin, Thomas }} buried Oswestry Cemetery
• Edward Weston (1850 in Oswestry – 1936) chemist,[http://www.westonmeter.org.uk/thecompany.html Weston, The Company and The Man]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. developed electroplating and the Weston cell in the USA
• Northcote W. Thomas (1868 in Oswestry - 1936) British anthropologist[http://maa.cam.ac.uk/northcotethomas/about.html Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Northcote W. Thomas and his collection]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and psychical researcher
• Katharine Lloyd-Williams (1896 in Oswestry – 1973) anaesthetist,[https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/lives-of-the-fellows/dr-katherine-georgina-lloyd-williams Royal College of Anaesthetists, Dr Katharine Georgina Lloyd-Williams]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. general practitioner and medical educator
• Gordon Jackson Rees (1918 in Oswestry – 2001) anesthesiologist[https://www.histansoc.org.uk/uploads/9/5/5/2/9552670/gjacksonrees.pdf Gordon Jackson Rees FRCA FRCP FRCPCH, Proceedings of the History of Anaesthesia Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508042221/http://www.histansoc.org.uk/uploads/9/5/5/2/9552670/gjacksonrees.pdf |date=8 May 2016 }}. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and a pioneer in pediatric anesthesia
• Dame Steve Shirley (born 1933) information technology pioneer,[https://www.ted.com/speakers/dame_stephanie_steve_shirley Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley at TED]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. businesswoman and philanthropist, Kindertransport child refugee, lived at Oswestry for six years and attended Oswestry Girls' High School.{{cite news|title=Dame Stephanie to return to Oswestry|work=Shropshire Star|date=1 April 2015|page=23}}Report by Sue Austin. She was about to attend Oswestry Literary Festival to promote her autobiography and said of her time, "In Oswestry I had six wonderful years of peace" after World War II.
• Sir Malcolm Walker (born 1946 in Yorkshire) Founded the supermarket chain Iceland in the town in 1970
• Per Lindstrand (born 1948) Swedish aeronautical engineer and pilot,[https://www.lindstrandtech.com/company/per-lindstrand/ Lindstrand Technologies Ltd. (UK company), Founder and Inspirer of....] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318183646/https://www.lindstrandtech.com/company/per-lindstrand/ |date=18 March 2018 }}. Retrieved 17 March 2018. founded Lindstrand Balloons in Oswestry
• Ian Robertson CMG (born 1958 in Oswestry) automotive executive,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26464825 BBC News, 7 March 2014, Geneva Motor Show: A Briton at the wheel of BMW]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. MD of Land Rover, now on the Board of BMW Group

File:Alan Ball (cropped).jpg, 2007]]

File:Ian Woosnam at Royal Troon cropped.jpg, 2009]]

• Alfred Payne (1849 in Oswestry – 1927) cricketer for the Marylebone Cricket Club
• Di Jones (1867 in Trefonen – 1902) Welsh international footballer, 340 club caps for Bolton Wanderers F.C. and Manchester City F.C.
• Maurice Parry (1877–1935) footballer, who played 240 games, mainly for Liverpool F.C. and 16 for Wales
• Charlie Morris (1880 in Oswestry – 1952) footballer, 277 club caps for Derby County F.C. & 27 for Wales
• George Wynn (1886 in Treflach – 1966) Welsh footballer, played over 200 games and 11 for Wales[http://www.footballandthefirstworldwar.org/george-wynn-3/ Football & the First World War website, George Wynn]. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
• Herbie Roberts (1905 in Oswestry – 1944) footballer,[https://www.arsenal.com/historic/players/herbie-roberts Arsenal.com, historic players, Herbie Roberts]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 297 club caps for Arsenal F.C.
• Jack Hughes (1912–1991), footballer, played over 260 games, most for Chesterfield F.C.
• George Antonio (1914-1997) - footballer, brought up in Oswestry from age three,{{cite book|last=Elderwick|first=David|title=50 Shropshire Celebrities Past and Present|year=1989|publisher=IMPRINT, Newtown, Powys|page=17}}He is incorrectly given as 'George Antonio Rowlands'. 203 club caps notably for Stoke City, later returned to manage Oswestry Town.
• Harry Cooke (1919 in Oswestry - 1992) footballer,{{cite web | title= Harry Cooke| first= Mike| last= Joyce

| url=http://www.allfootballers.com/| publisher=Since 1888| access-date=2009-07-03}} (registration & fee required) 228 club caps mostly for Luton Town

• Dick Sale (1919-1987), first-class cricketer, was headmaster of Oswestry School 1962-1966{{cite web |url=http://www.brentwoodschool.co.uk/what-s-changed.html |title=What's Changed |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308033355/http://www.brentwoodschool.co.uk/what-s-changed.html |archivedate=8 March 2008 |publisher=Brentwood School |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
• Harry Weetman (1920 in Oswestry - 1972) golfer
• Alan Ball, Sr (1924-1982) football player and publican; player-manager at Oswestry Town.{{cite news|title=Former Oswestry soccer boss dies|work=Shropshire Star (North Edition)|date=4 January 1982|page=1}} father of Alan Ball, Jr (1945-2007)
• Fred Morris (1929 in Oswestry – 1998) footballer,[http://www.lfchistory.net/Players/Player/Profile/384 Player profile, LFC history.net]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 350 club caps, mainly for Walsall F.C.
• Peter Wall (1944-2024) footballer, 350 club caps mainly for Crystal Palace.lived locally on retirement.{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Mike|title=Meadow Maestros & Misfits|year=2008|publisher=Janet Beasley, Shrewsbury|page=261|isbn=978-0-9548099-2-8}}
• Alan Ball, Jr (1945-2007) footballer, played 833 games, incl. 72 for England attended Oswestry Boys' High School; son of Alan Ball, Sr.{{cite news|title=Alan Ball, the lad from Oswestry|work=Shropshire Star|date=10 February 1965|page=10}}
• Andy Lloyd (1956 in Oswestry) England test cricketer[http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/16322.html ESPN cricinfo Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. and captain of Warwickshire CCC
• Carleton Leonard (born 1958), former footballer who played 298 games for Shrewsbury Town F.C.
• Ian Woosnam (born 1958 in Oswestry) Welsh professional golfer[http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=334 Ian Woosnam, Official World Golf Ranking website]. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
• Mike Galloway (born 1965), football coach and former player who played over 320 games and one for Scotland
• Carl Griffiths (born 1971 in Oswestry) retired footballer,[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=3098 SoccerBase Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 334 club caps beginning at Shrewsbury Town F.C.
• Darren Ryan (born 1972 in Oswestry) former footballer,[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=6959 SoccerBase Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. over 300 club caps; now trains youngsters at Wolves
• Paul Evans (born 1974 in Oswestry) retired footballer,[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=2374 SoccerBase Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 475 club caps beginning at Shrewsbury Town F.C.
• Boaz Myhill (born 1982) football goalkeeper,[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=26476 SoccerBase Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 381 club caps, mostly for Hull City F.C. and 19 for Wales
• Amy Hughes (born 1987) marathon runner,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-29359358 BBC News, 27 September 2014, Amy Hughes completes.....]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. now a local sports therapist
• Matt Done (born 1988 in Oswestry) footballer,[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=40834 SoccerBase Database]. Retrieved 17 March 2018. 512 club caps, now works at Port Vale F.C.

• Listed buildings in Oswestry
• Battle of Oswestry - Civil War

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Oswestry}}

{{Wikivoyage|Oswestry}}

• {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Oswestry |volume= 20 |short=x}}
• [http://www.oswestry-tc.gov.uk/ Oswestry Town Council]

{{Shropshire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Holy wells in England

Category:Market towns in Shropshire

Category:Towns of the Welsh Marches

Category:Towns in Shropshire

Category:Railway towns in England

Category:Civil parishes in Shropshire