March 1, 1980: The day Salop became Shropshire
When Shropshire was establishing a county council back in 1888, the decision was made to call it Salop County Council.
An old Times article noted: "There was no record of why the name Salop County Council was adopted" - and we can't work it out either.
A campaign in 1980, led by a retired army officer, to re-name Salop to Shropshire received overwhelming public support.
At the time, a poll of Shropshire Star readers showed 1,138 were in favour of 'Shropshire' as the county’s official name, while only 30 wanted to hang on to Salop.
By 1979, Colonel John Kenyon, a county councillor from West Felton, sick of watching Salop road signs go up, argued the history of the county was under threat.
