in 1086, is recorded in the Domesday Book within the hundred of Alnodestreu. The initial part of the entry states: Robert, son of Theobald, holds of Earl Roger Iteshale. Earl Morcar held it." This entry records that possession was lost by the Saxon Earl Morcar when he rebelled against the Norman conquerors. The church of St Andrew has a Norman chancel and was almost certainly built on the site of an earlier church. It was a collegiate church or minster with a chapter of priests ministering to the needs of congregations in outlying settlements. St Andrew's lost its collegiate status when it was given to Shrewsbury Abbey c. 1087. Plantagenet period In 1245 Walter de Dunstanville, the Crusader and lord of the manor, applied to King Henry III for, and was granted, a market charter for the town. Walter then laid out a broad market street that is Broadway, Bradford Street, Market Place and Park Street for the markets. This area to the east of the stream was known as Shifnal and gradually this name superseded Idsall as the town's name. Just outside of Shifnal are the Caynton Caves, a system carved into the sandstone. Local legend has them made by followers of the Knights Templar 700 years ago, although Historic England – the government body responsible for historic monuments - believes the caves were probably excavated in the late 18th or early 19th Century. Tudor and Stuart times Shifnal had something of an early industrial revolution during the late 16th century with the construction of a charcoal fired blast furnace near to the Manor House. A fire swept through the town on 7 July 1591, setting alight the roof of the church. The fire is thought to have been started by a maidservant's candle that accidentally set fire to some hanging flax. The fire devastated many, if not all, of the buildings east of the Wesley Brook. The church and the timber-framed Old Idsall House at its foot to the east (a listed building), are said to be the only two buildings to have survived the fire that destroyed the rest of the settlement. This is now commemorated by a blue plaque fixed to the wall of the house. After the fire, Elizabeth I sent money to help rebuild the town. A wall memorial tablet inside St Andrew's Church is for Mary Yates – known locally as Nanny Murphy