Atcham
Atcham falls with the Shrewsbury area of rural Shropshire. At the centre of the village is the church os St. Eata's. It sits picturesquely on the eastern bank of River Severn overlooking the impressive bridges that cross it.
The church is one of the most historically significant in Shropshire. Ordericus Vitalis was a monk who wrote a history of the Normans and in 1075 he was baptised in this church. Part of the present church would have been standing at the time. The nave of the church is Anglo-Saxon and may date from the seventh or eigth century AD. The walls are built from stone recycled from the nearby Roman city at Wroxeter. A large, original pre-Conquest window still survives intact. The tower dates to about 1200, while the chancel is believed to have been erected sometime in the thirteenth century.
St Eata was a Northumbrian monk who was Abbot of Hexham and Bishop of Lindisfarne. He died in 685. The churchs dedication to the saint may imply a personal visit but regardless of the truth of this the church is still one of the earliest surviving buildings in Shropshire.
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