[1] The constituency lay at the centre of Shropshire, a large inland county of England, bordering Wales.

Villages such as Bayston Hill, Ford, Dorrington, Condover, Minsterley, Pontesbury, Bomere Heath, Wroxeter and Atcham were included.

The main roads through the area were the A5 and A49, providing links to nearby Telford as well as North Wales and the cities of Birmingham and Manchester.

On 10 December 2001, following his demand for a parliamentary debate before military intervention in Afghanistan, the incumbent Labour member, Paul Marsden, left the government's benches to join the Liberal Democrats; he remained there until 5 April 2005, when he sought to show strong solidarity with Labour Stop the War MPs by returning to his old party, becoming the first politician to cross the floor twice since Winston Churchill.

Shrewsbury and Atcham was part of the Shropshire region for the purpose of reporting the results of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum; the region voted 56.9% in favour of leaving the European Union on a turnout of 77.5%.