text: The Domesday Book records the manor as 'Wenloch' and forming part of the hundred of Patton. It was already at this time a fairly large settlement, with 73 households. The abbey is also recorded in the book, separately. In the 11th century another religious house was built on the same site by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Countess Godiva his wife. In the 12th century this was replaced by a Cluniac priory, established by Roger de Montgomery after the Norman Conquest, the ruins of which can still be seen and which is now in the care of English Heritage.
  Early in the 12th century the hundred of Patton was merged with Culvestan to form the hundred of Munslow, but in 1198 Much Wenlock, together with the other manors held by Wenlock Priory, was transferred to the hundredal jurisdiction of the Liberty of Wenlock (also known as Wenlock Franchise).
  The Manor of Much Wenlock belonged to the Cluniac Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540 when it passed to the Lawley family, and then by marriage of Ursula Lawley to the Bertie family.
  Borough of Wenlock
  In 1468 Edward IV granted the men of Much Wenlock a charter forming the Borough of Wenlock, at the request of Sir John Wenlock, and "in consideration of the laudable services which the men of the town performed in assisting the king to gain possession of the crown."  The charter was confirmed in 1547 by Henry VIII after Wenlock Priory was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.   The charter was again confirmed in 1631 by Charles I.