Bayston Hill is a large village and civil parish in central Shropshire, England. It is south of the county town Shrewsbury and located on the main A49 road, the Shrewsbury to Hereford road. Occupied continuously since before the Middle Ages, the village had a population of 5,079 residents in 2,172 households in the 2011 census. Bayston Hill mainly serves as a dormitory village for nearby Shrewsbury. It has the largest population for a village in Shropshire and the 10th highest population of any Shropshire locality. The village has a larger than average retired population in comparison to many similar Shropshire villages, but lower than the national average. Bayston Hill has three public houses, two built churches (Church of England and Methodist), one primary school called Oakmeadow, and a public library. Lyth Hill lies to the south of the village. History Early history There is remaining evidence of both an ancient British Iron Age hillfort and a Roman settlement located on the village's high grounds. In the Middle Ages the heavily wooded Bayston Hill and Condover area was established as a Royal hunting forest. A busy rope works, complete with its own windmill built in 1835, existed on Lyth Hill in the 19th century, supplying the many mines, farms and barge owners across the district. Standing on the east side is the village's oldest archaeological site: a mounded Iron Age bivallate hill fort, relatively low lying for such a structure and oddly named with the Danish name of The Burgs, but probably was not called that until sometime between the 14th and 16th centuries. The village was surveyed for the Domesday Book during the year 1086, when it was called Begestan. William Pantulf, an Anglo-Norman nobleman, held land there. Buildings Great Lyth manor house was built in 1638 but had fallen into dereliction by 1948. In recent years it has been rescued and renovated. The present Lord of Wrentnall, Baron of Pulverbatch, is also the present Lord of Great Lyth. {Farrow, M. MA Cantab, Barony of Pulverbatch, Manors of Pulverbatch, Wrentnall, Great Lyth, Baron of Pulverbatch is R. SPRULES, 7 April 2003, copies at The British Library}. In 1785 the London architect George Steuart designed and built a brick mansion house, Lythwood Hall for the Blakeway family, which was accessed via a sweeping driveway through landscaped gardens to the west of the village. Steuart went on to build Attingham Hall for