History

As its name suggests, Gallows Bank was once the site of public executions carried out under the authority of Ludlow’s local court. From 1627, powers existed under England’s “Bloody Code” to condemn individuals to death for a wide range of offences. In Ludlow, it is thought that those sentenced were hanged from a black poplar tree at the top of the bank. A local history of the town also refers to the presence of “a gibbet visible from many parts of the town.”

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While most of the surrounding fields were eventually developed for housing, Gallows Bank retained its open character and came to be increasingly valued as a public amenity. However, until almost the end of the twentieth century—by which time it was owned and managed by South Shropshire District Council—it had no special protected status. This changed in 1998 when, in response to proposals by the South Shropshire Housing Association to build housing on the land, a local action group succeeded in registering the area as common land.

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At this time the Millennium Commission and Natural England  combined efforts to allocate money from the National Lottery for the creation of Millennium Greens described  thus :

The Millennium Greens initiative set out to provide new areas of public open space close to people's homes that could be enjoyed permanently by the local community, in time to mark the start of the third millennium. They were to be breathing spaces - places for relaxation, play and enjoyment of nature and pleasant surroundings. They could be small or large, and in urban or rural locations. 

As a result of the determined efforts of local action groups, Ludlow was fortunate to secure two such spaces: one at Gallows Bank and the other on the site of the former swimming pool at Dinham. In both cases, formal responsibility for the sites passed to registered charities established for that purpose. The Gallows Bank Millennium Green Trust was registered in August 1998, and, to simplify day-to-day management, the Friends of Gallows Bank Trust was established in 1999 as an unincorporated voluntary organisation.

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In 2000, the local authority granted the Trust a 999-year lease of the land, and an opening ceremony for the Millennium Green took place on 2 December of that year. Formal ownership was transferred to the Official Custodian for Charities in July 2005.

For more than two decades, Trustees and Committee members have worked successfully to resolve the practical challenges of maintaining the Bank, keeping it accessible for the local community and visiting users alike.