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The village of '''Cound is Halt''' was situated approximately halfway between [[Berrington and Cressage]] and [[Berrington]], on the banks seven miles south of the River SevernShrewsbury. Cound Halt opened on 4 August 1934, It was one of a number of halts opened by the GWR in the 1930s in a bid to attract more local custom. It consisted of a simple wooden platform with a small wooden shelterto the Severn Valley Branch, although it was electrically lit.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Mitchell & Smith (2007)]] figs. 106-108probablu used more by fishermen that the local residents.</ref>

==Cound==The approach civil parish of Cound<ref group="note">Locally pronounced to rhyme with 'Spooned'</ref> is centred around 6&frac12; miles south east of Shrewsbury, approximately half way between [[Cressage]] and [[Berrington]] and around two miles from each. It consists of four small communities. The two largest, Cound, and Upper Cound, are shown on the extract from the 1965 Ordnance Survey 1inch map below. Coundarbour is nearby, although not named on the map, while Cound Moor is some distance to the halt south.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cound Cound – Wikipedia]</ref> The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870 gave the population of the parish as 908, although that included the chapelry of Cressage which would have accounted for at least a third of that number.<ref>[https://www.parishmouse.co.uk/shropshire/cound-shropshire-family-history-guide/ www.parishmouse.co.uk]</ref>  <gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">OS_Cound_1965.jpg|OS one inch map of 1965</gallery> Berrington, Cound and Cressage all lie close to the old turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Much Wenlock, now the A458. The River Severn follows a meandering course at a distance of up to a mile from the road, briefly converging with it at Coundlane, around half a mile east of Cound village. Where they converge, the Cound Lodge Inn, now renamed the Riverside Inn, was built in the early 18th century. By 1745 it was an alehouse serving turnpike traffic on the road as well as boatmen on the river, which in those days was a busy waterway with a wharf at that location. A ferry also crossed the river at Coundlane. ==Cound Halt==[[File:Cound_Halt_Postcard.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Postcard of Cound Halt]]The road originally ran between the inn and the river, but at some time before the Severn Valley Branch was built it was diverted onto its present alignment to the south of the building, after which time the former back of the house (south) became the front entrance. When the Severn Valley Branch was built, it closely followed the line of the road between Shrewsbury and Cressage, passing between the inn and the river where the road had originally been. There was no station to serve Cound, presumably due to the proximity of the nearby Berrington and Cressage stations and the relatively small populations of the nearby settlements.  By the 1930s passenger numbers on the Branch were already falling as road transport grew, and the GWR opened a number of halts in an attempt to attract more local custom. Cound Halt opened on 4 August 1934. It consisted of a sign giving simple wooden platform with a small wooden shelter, although it was electrically lit.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Mitchell & Smith (2007)]] figs. 106-108.</ref> The postcard shows a view of Cound Halt looking south (towards Cressage and Ironbridge), with the River Seven to the left. The main road is out of sight but passes behind the Cound Lodge Inn in the background. The foot crossing at the far end of the halt led down to the river and ferry. The nature of the unstaffed halts meant that no tickets were sold and therefore no information on passenger numbers was produced. While the new halts at Burlish, Northwood and Jackfield were reasonably close to centres of population, the case for fishermena halt at Cound was probably the most marginal. At the entrance to the path leading from the main road to Cound Halt, and a small sign read "''GWR. To Cound Halt''". Below it a larger notice advised that the Cound Lodge Inn owned the fishing rights with permits available for 2/-. It is probable likely that more fishermen than local inhabitants made use of the halt.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Mitchell & Smith (2007)]] fig. 107.</ref> Nevertheless it remained open until passenger services ended in 1963; the picture from the [[Sellick Collection]] above shows a DMU at the halt in that year.  <gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">File:Riverside Inn, Cound - geograph.org.uk - 151189.jpg|The Riverside Inn seen from the main road. The approach to the Halt passed this side of the Inn.</gallery>

*1961 The one inch map showing Cound Halt with Cressage station approximately 1extract above gives a good approximation of the position of the halt on the bend in the river, in what became the beer gardens of the Inn after closure of the raiway.4 miles No detailed maps of the area after construction of the halt are available, although this 25 inch OS map extract below was produced in 1927, only a few years before the halt was built. Earlier OS maps show the position of the ferry at two other locations a little further to the south east. <gallerymode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">File: OS_Cound_1961OS_Coundlane_1927.jpg | 1961The Coundlane area in 1927

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