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Wem is a small market town in Shropshire, England. It is the administrative centre for the northern area committee of Shropshire Council, which has its headquarters at Edinburgh House in the centre of Wem.〔OS Explorer Map 241, Shrewsbury, Wem, Shawbury & Baschurch. ISBN 978-0-319-46276-8〕 Wem lies nine miles to the north of Shropshire's county town of Shrewsbury and sits on the rail line between that town and Crewe in Cheshire. Wem's civil parish is named Wem Urban. A separate one in the surrounding countryside is named Wem Rural. ==History== The name of the town is derived from the Saxon ''"Wamm"'', meaning a marsh, as marshy land exists in the area of the town. Over time, this was corrupted to form "Wem".〔 The area now known as Wem is believed to have been settled prior to the Roman Conquest of Britain, by the Cornovii, Celtic Iron Age settlers. The town is recorded in the Domesday Book as consisting of four manors. In 1202, Wem became a market town. The Domesday Book records that Wem was held by William Pantulf, First Lord of Wem, from Earl Roger. The town supported the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was subject to an attack by Lord Capel, in which the town held off the attackers. In 1677, a fire destroyed many of the wooden buildings in the town.〔 Within the town the sweet pea was first commercially cultivated, under the variety named 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 more 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 festival. In Victorian times, the town was known as "Wem, where the sweet peas grow". Brewing, initially a 'cottage industry', was carried out in Wem as early as 1700, when Richard Gough wrote of a contemporary in his ''History of Myddle'' a Latin aphorism he translated: ''Let slaves admire base things, but my friend still/My cup and can with Wem's stoute ale shall fill.''〔Gough's book was not published until the 19th century.〕 By 1900 a Shrewsbury and Wem Brewery Company traded on a widespread scale after acquiring the brewery in Noble Street previously run by Charles Henry Kynaston.〕 The company was taken over in turn by Greenall Whitley & Co Ltd but the brewery was closed in 1988. From 1986 to 1989 the brewery served as the shirt sponsor for Shrewsbury Town. 〔http://historicalkits.co.uk/Shrewsbury_Town/Shrewsbury_Town.htm〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wem」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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