SHROPSHIRE

 

On my way to my regular haunt in Mid Wales, I travel through Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire...........and the beautiful county of Shropshire.

BISHOP'S CASTLE

CLEOBURY MORTIMER

IRONBRIDGE GORGE (COALBROOKDALE)

STOKESAY CASTLE

BISHOP'S CASTLE

This tiny little town, built on the side of a hill, has really only one main road, with a few side turnings. It does, however, have some interesting buildings.

Several of the houses are painted in bright colours. Apparently this was the first to be given the rainbow treatment.

House on Crutches Museum
A 16th century timber-framed house with a rich collection of exhibits depicting local history and rural life in South West Shropshire. This unusual and attractive building stands just to the left of the town hall, up a little cobbled alleyway

CLEOBURY MORTIMER

One of my favourite little towns is Cleobury Mortimer, with its church with an ever so slightly crooked spire. Nothing like Chesterfield, but definitely off kilter

IRONBRIDGE GORGE (COALBROOKDALE)

Described as 10 museums, 1 beautiful valley, the Ironbridge Gorge is a mass of surprises. From the lovely Iron Bridge itself, to the intriguing Blists Hill Living Museum, you don't have to go far to discover something new and exciting.

The correct name of the gorge is Coalbrookdale and it is often tagged as the birthplace of industry. Indeed, you can still see the blast furnace where, in 1709, Abraham Darby perfected the process of smelting iron using coke.

Coalbrookdale must have been an amazing sight at night - with the black soot thick in the air, and the heat from the furnace flames. Several artists tried to capture it, but for me, the most evocative is 'Coalbrookdale By Night' as portrayed by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg in 1801

I loved Blists Hill. You can go in the Bank and exchange your modern currency for old pennies, and then spend them in some of the historic shops. I bought bread straight out of the oven at the baker's shop. It was hot, fresh and delicious just on its' own, with no butter or anything on it.
I also bought proper sugar mice, and starting at the head, as I used to do as a child, ended up walking around with the string 'tail' hanging out of the side of my mouth - only to literally bump into a gentleman with a bit of string hanging out of his mouth too!

Below is a view of the iron bridge painted by William Williams in 1780. How little the scene has changed!

The beautiful Ironbridge that gave its name to the area. There is just so much to see here, you need at least two days to do it justice. The ironwork was cast in Abraham Darby's nearby works, and the bridge was assembled using carpentry joints, as this new-fangled technique of bridge building was not fully understood yet!

It is not surprising that Coalbrookdale became Great Britain's very first UNESCO World Heritage Site. It really was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and as such, completely changed the course of Human evolution

STOKESAY CASTLE

Stokesay Castle is quite simply the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England. Set in peaceful countryside near the Welsh border, the castle, timber-framed gatehouse and parish church form an unforgettably picturesque group. I went there on a beautiful September day, and the bright sunshine enhanced the warmth of the gatehouse.

The present Gatehouse was built in the 17th. century by Lord Craven. Nothing is known of the original one, which was probably built of stone.

It's funny, but most places I visit, you try to imagine what it would have been like to live there. With Stokesay, I found myself wandering around thinking, 'I'd have a long sideboard there, a big leather couch there................' I could actually imagine living there. It's an odd sort of place. To start with, you get to it through the churchyard next door. You walk through the gatehouse, and if you look to your left, you see a castle, but if you look to the right, what you see resembles a castle wall with a medieval house perched on top. Most odd...........

It was built mainly in the late 13th. century, by Laurence de Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant, attached to the lower two stories of the tower, built by the Say family.

(below) the hall to the right of the picture, and the South tower to the left.