Market Drayton is a market town in north Shropshire, close to the Welsh and Staffordshire border. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" and earlier simply as "Drayton".  In 1245 King Henry III granted a charter for a weekly Wednesday market, giving the town its current name. The market is still held every Wednesday.

Sites of interest in the town include several Neolithic standing stones, a bakery that started a fire that destroyed almost 70% of the town in 1651 and Audley's Cross, which marks the spot where Lord Audley was killed in battle in 1459.