2022 has marked a special milestone for one of Shrewsbury’s leading family run businesses as Morris & Company celebrates 100 years incorporation as a Limited Company.

Back in 1922, the entrepreneurial young Morris brothers completed their brand-new offices at the head of the Welsh Bridge where the business was to be nurtured and grown by the family over five generations. Today the Queen Anne style building proudly bears its 1922 incorporation in the unique stained glass window which features centre stage in the office’s reception.

The building remains at the heart of the company having been extended back in 2008 to allow the Company to grow and flow into the new space. The wrap-round extension replicated the original design and the ornate, carved swing entrance doors, originally destined for the RMS Titanic’s sister ship The HMHS Britannic, were brought out of storage to match those sitting at the main entrance. These doors had been bought by James Kent Morris from a Birkenhead shipyard at the turn of the century.

The Morris company story first began in 1869 when its pioneering forefather, James Kent Morris, had taken a modest grocery shop and candle works in Frankwell. From those beginnings, the Company has grown through a combination of investment and diversification with the family remaining at the heart of the business throughout its 153-year history.

New Horizons

2022 sees brothers Robin (above right) and Chris Morris, great, great grandsons of James Kent Morris, leading the progressive Company into the future. To mark the Company’s incorporation anniversary, the well known Morris brand identity is undergoing a subtle update to reflect the innovative businesses it represents today.

Recently the Company sold its Wolverhampton based Site Machinery business and its assets to key customer John F Hunt – one of the country’s leading power generation operations. Property remains the backbone of the business – Estates, Developments and Construction – and this fifth generation are committed to building partnerships and properties across the commercial and industrial, housing, education and healthcare sectors.

The Company’s new holiday property rental business, Marrington Escapes, is enjoying success with a growing audience of holidaymakers. Based within the rural South Shropshire countryside, Marrington Escapes offers farmhouses and barns renovated by the Company with luxurious interiors and facilities. Its most recent release, Marrington Hall, is a spectacular late 16th century timber framed, Grade 2 listed country house.