Villages in the borough included Morda, St Martin's, Whittington, Gobowen, Pant, Trefonen and Ruyton XI Towns.

[2] The district and its council were abolished on 1 April 2009 when the new Shropshire unitary authority was established, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England.

[3] The town of Oswestry was an ancient borough, governed under the terms of various charters dating back to at least 1398.

By the mid-twentieth century some municipal boroughs were considered too small to efficiently provide all the services expected of them, and so the government introduced the concept of rural boroughs under the Local Government Act 1958.

[8] The first elections to the enlarged council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974.