Alveley

Coordinates: 52°27′25″N 2°21′11″W / 52.457°N 2.353°W / 52.457; -2.353

Alveley is a village and civil parish in south east Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley on the east side of the River Severn. It has appeared in records dating back to AD50. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 2,098.

The current church (St. Mary's) is of Norman design, built in 1140 on the grounds of an earlier Saxon church (of which only a stone cross survives). It has a notable, although badly damaged, 14th Century mural of the Seven Deadly Sins.

In 1349 the Black Death is said to have killed 60% of the village population. A stone cross - The Buttercross - two miles outside the village dates back to the time of the Black Death when it was a place for food to be left for the village when it was quarantined.

Coal mining and Country Park

From 1937 to 1969 the village was an active coal mining community in conjunction with the neighbouring village of Highley across the River Severn. The first mineshaft was sunk in 1935 at Alveley Colliery, but production was possible for only thirty years and it closed leaving high unemployment and a ravaged landscape. An industrial estate was built immediately after the mine closure along with a proper landscape reclamation scheme in 1986 and the disused colliery and spoil tips were converted into the Severn Valley Country Park.