Coordinates: 52°42′14″N 2°28′52″W / 52.704°N 2.481°W / 52.704; -2.481
Hadley is a part of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England.
Hadley is about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Telford Town Centre, and is in the civil parish of Hadley and Leegomery (previously called simply "Hadley"). The population of the civil parish mentioned at the 2011 census was 14,166. It neighbours Wellington, a market town also part of Telford, and that town's two colleges of Telford College of Arts and Technology (TCAT) and New College (NC), all to the west of Hadley. Ketley is immediately to the south of Hadley.
Len Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, trade union leader, was born at Hadley in 1922. On 13 September 1919, Harry Patch, who became last surviving British combat soldier of World War I married at Hadley his first wife, Ada Billington, who died in 1976.
Shropshire (/ˈʃrɒpʃər/ or /ˈʃrɒpʃɪər/; alternatively Salop; abbreviated, in print only, Shrops; demonym Salopian /səˈloʊpjən/) is a county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Powys and Wrexham in Wales to the west and north-west, Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east and Herefordshire to the south. Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a separate unitary authority since 1998 but continues to be included in the ceremonial county.
The county's population and economy is centred on five towns: the county town of Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically important and is located close to the centre of the county;Telford, a new town in the east which was constructed around a number of older towns, most notably Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, which is today the most populous; and Oswestry in the north-west, Bridgnorth just to the south of Telford, and Ludlow in the south. The county has many market towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford and Market Drayton in the north-east of the county.
The Shropshire breed of domestic sheep originated from the hills of Shropshire, and North Staffordshire, England, during the 1840s. The breeders in the area used the local horned black-faced sheep and crossed them with a few breeds of white-faced sheep (Southdown, Cotswold, and Leicester). This produced a medium-sized polled (hornless) sheep that produced good wool and meat. In 1855 the first Shropshires were imported into the United States (Virginia). This breed is raised primarily for meat.
In 1859 the breed was officially recognized by the Royal Agricultural Society as being a distinct breed. The popularity of the Shropshire breed grew rapidly in England, and in 1882 Shropshire breeders founded the Shropshire Sheep Breeders' Association and Flock Book Society, the world's first such society for sheep. The same year the Society published the first Flock Book, a record of sheep bred and their breeders. The Society still survives, and still publishes a Flock Book annually.
Shropshire usually refers to the English county of Shropshire. It may also refer to: