text: Over the years the borough asserted jurisdiction over the liberty of Wenlock.  The lands of the liberty included rural areas and a number of detached parts well outside the town, and this resulted in an unusual, geographically dispersed borough.  At its height, it was – by area – the largest borough in England outside London and encompassed several of the towns that now constitute Telford. The borough had unusual boundaries, covering Much Wenlock itself, but also Little Wenlock, Broseley and Ironbridge, a total area of .  In 1836 the borough was reformed as a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and lost some of its rural areas and detached parts.  The borough was further reduced in size in 1889, and was finally abolished in 1966.
  Later history
  11-year-old Alice Glaston from Little Wenlock was hanged together with two men in Much Wenlock on 13 April 1546, for an unknown crime. She is the youngest known girl legally executed in Great Britain, though 8- or 9-year-old John Dean was hanged for arson in 1629.
  Sir Thomas Wolryche, 1st Baronet (1598–1668) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for Wenlock between 1621 and 1625. He fought in the Royalist army in the English Civil War, serving as military governor of Bridgnorth.
  In 1714, the Manor of Much Wenlock was held by Viscount Gage, who sold it to the Williams-Wynn family.