[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.

South Shropshire had many ancient monuments, with Mitchells Fold on the Welsh border being the most notable, and there is evidence of Neolithic quarrying in the Apedale.

The area seems to have been settled by the Ordovices, an Iron Age tribe of people in the last millennium BC, and was a stronghold of the Celtic chieftain Caractacus (Caer Caradoc is said to be named after him).

Church Stretton was a centre of textile manufacture and Ludlow thrived on the malting trade, while the rest of the area was populated by smallholders.

The landscape is often rugged, with crags and rock outcrops very common, especially in the west and around the Clee Hills, and was for the most part gouged by glaciers during the ice age.

In addition to tourism, some light industry did exist in the district, in the Church Stretton and Ludlow areas, and in Burford, near Tenbury Wells.