My family originated from Coton Hill according to early 19thC Census info. Does anybody know what it would ahve been like then. Also wondered if there were any big country houses as both my great-great grandfather and his father-in-law were gardeners.

There's a book sold in Shrewsbury book shops called "Beyond the Bridges" (or something like that) which is a history of Shrewsbury's older suburbs, such as Coton Hill. Worth a look if you can get it.

A few snippets from Beyond the Bridges about Coton Hill...

"The suburbs along the roads to Baschurch and Ellesmere are the least extensive of those on the radial routes out of Shrewsbury..."

"There was no planned medieval settlement in the area but there was an inheritance of ancient settlement, the timber-framed buildings of Coton Hill, site in the late middle ages of the mansion of the Mytton family. The timber-framed cottages, Nos 20-22 Coton Hill, were probably outbuildings of the mansion, while No 19 is a timber-framed 16th century house. In the mid 18th century only Benbow House stood between the Bagley Brook and Coton Hill."

"Coton Hill proper is a mixture of small cottages, ancient and modern, the oldest (Nos 12, 14) of one and a half storeys. "

"Opposite the Woodman is a range of three storey early 19th century houses (Nos 35-40)..."

"Berwick Road is lined with substantial houses principally of the 19th century. On the wastern side in 1832 there were houses on five of nine plots laid out beyond the Woodman... Coton Manor, replaced by flats in the 1960s, had terraced gardens whose scale can be appreciated from Pig Trough. Aglionby, approached by a drive from Berwick Road, a three-bay house with a porch supported by massive pillars, was designed as a family home by the Scots railway engineer David Wyllie. Its principal rooms had marble chimneypieces."

Coton Hill today is a mish-mash, but there are still a lot of 19th century buildings, both grand and humble. There were large houses who may well have employed gardeners.

There is (or used to be) a farm called Coton Grange Farm, which from the early 1800's through to the end of the century was occupied by the Swain family - John and then son William. About 40 acres of arable land mainly to barley as they are referred to as Maltsters in the records.