Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury ( , ) is a large market town and the county town of Shropshire, England. The town is situated on the River Severn, north-west of London, and the 2011 census recorded a population of 71,715.
The town centre has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and is where he spent 27 years of his life.
 east of the Welsh border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution centres, such as Battlefield Enterprise Park, on the outskirts. The A5 and A49 trunk roads come together as the town's by-pass and five railway lines meet at Shrewsbury railway station.
History.
Early history.
The town was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys, known to the ancient Britons as Pengwern, signifying "the alder hill"; and in Old English as ' (dative '), which may mean either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place in the bushes" (or “shrubs”, the modern derivate). This name gradually evolved in three directions, into ', which became "Shropshire"; into ', which became ' / ' (an alternative name for both town and county), and into ', which eventually became the town's name, Shrewsbury. Its later Welsh name ' means "fortified place".
Over the ages, the geographically important town has been the site of many conflicts, particularly between the English and Welsh. The Angles, under King Offa of Mercia, took possession in 778.
Nearby is the village of Wroxeter, to the south-east. This was once the site of , the fourth largest cantonal capital in Roman Britain. As Caer Guricon it is a possible alternative for the Dark Age seat of the Kingdom of Powys. The importance of the Shrewsbury area in the Roman era was underlined with the discovery of the Shrewsbury Hoard in 2009.
Medieval.
Shrewsbury's known history commences in the Early Middle Ages, having been founded c. 800 AD. It is believed that Anglo-Saxon Shrewsbury was most probably a settlement fortified through the use of earthworks comprising a ditch and rampart, which were then shored up with a wooden stockade. There is evidence to show that by the beginning of the 900s, Shrewsbury was home to a mint.
Roger de Montgomery was given the town as a gift from William, and built Shrewsbury Castle in 1074, taking the title of Earl. He founded Shrewsbury Abbey as a Benedictine monastery in 1083. The 3rd Earl, Robert of Bellême, was deposed in 1102 and the title forfeited, in consequence of rebelling against Henry I and joining the Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1101. In 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud during the period known as the Anarchy.
From 1155, during the reign of Henry II, there was a leper hospital dedicated to St Giles and associated with Shrewsbury Abbey. From the 1220s, there was also a general hospital dedicated to St John the Baptist.
It was in the late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries) when the town was at its height of commercial importance. This success was mainly due to wool production, a major industry at the time, and the wool trade with the rest of Britain and Europe, with the River Severn and Watling Street acting as trading routes. The Shrewsbury Drapers Company dominated the trade in Welsh wool for many years.
In the midst of its commercial success, Shrewsbury was devastated by the Black Death, which records suggest arrived in the spring of 1349. Examining the number of local church benefices falling vacant due to death, 1349 alone saw twice as many vacancies as the previous ten years combined, suggesting a high death toll in Shrewsbury.
In 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought a few miles north of the town centre, at Battlefield; it was fought between King Henry IV and Henry Hotspur Percy, with the King emerging victorious, an event celebrated in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5.
Early modern.
Shrewsbury's monastic gathering was disbanded with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and as such the Abbey was closed in 1540. However, it is believed that Henry VIII thereafter intended to make Shrewsbury a cathedral city after the formation of the Church of England, but the citizens of the town declined the offer. Despite this, Shrewsbury thrived throughout the 16th and 17th centuries; largely due to the town's fortuitous location, which allowed it to control the Welsh wool trade. As a result, a number of grand edifices, including the Ireland's Mansion (built 1575) and Draper's Hall (1658), were constructed. It was also in this period that Edward VI gave permission for the foundation of a free school, which was later to become Shrewsbury School.
The monastic hospitals, and incomes from their endowments, were transferred to secular owners. St Giles leper hospital passed to the Prince family, later Earls of Tankerville. St John the Baptist hospital passed to the Wood family, and became almshouses.
During the English Civil War, the town was a Royalist stronghold and only fell to Parliament forces after they were let in by a parliamentarian sympathiser at the St Mary's Water Gate (now also known as Traitor's Gate). After Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury in February 1645; in following with the ordnance of no quarter; a dozen Irish prisoners were selected to be killed after picking lots. This prompted Prince Rupert to respond by executing Parliamentarian prisoners in Oswestry.
Shrewsbury Unitarian Church was founded in 1662. By the 18th century Shrewsbury had become an important market town and stop off for stagecoaches travelling between London and Holyhead on their way to Ireland; this led to the establishment of a number of coaching inns, many of which, such as the Lion Hotel, are extant to this day.
A town hall was built in the Market Place on the site of an ancient guildhall in 1730; it was demolished and a new combined guildhall and shirehall was erected on the site in 1837.
Local soldier and statesman Robert Clive was Shrewsbury's MP from 1762 until his death in 1774; Clive also served once as the town's mayor in 1762.
St Chad's Church collapsed in 1788 after attempts to expand the crypt compromised the structural integrity of the tower above. Now known as Old St Chad's, the remains of the church building and its churchyard are on the corner of Princess Street, College Hill and Belmont. A new St Chad's Church was built just four years after the collapse, but as a large neo-classical round church and in a different and more elevated location, at the top of Claremont Hill close to The Quarry.
In the period directly after Napoleon's surrender after Waterloo (18 June 1815), the town's own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was sent to guard him in his exile on St Helena. A locket containing a lock of the emperor's hair (presented to an officer of the 53rd) remains to this day in the collections of the Shropshire Regimental Museum at Shrewsbury Castle.
Late modern.
Shrewsbury has played a part in Western intellectual history, by being the town where the naturalist Charles Darwin was born and brought up. The town is home to the Ditherington Flax Mill, the world's first iron-framed building, which is commonly regarded as "the grandfather of the skyscraper". Its importance was officially recognised in the 1950s, resulting in it becoming a Grade I listed building. Shrewsbury in the Industrial Revolution was on the Shrewsbury Canal, which linked it with the Shropshire Canal and the rest of the canal network of Great Britain.
The town suffered very little from the bombing runs in the Second World War that did damage to many English locations. The worst case in Shrewsbury was in 1940, a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road, the only local air raid deaths. Therefore, many of its ancient buildings remain intact and there was little redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s, which arguably destroyed the character of many historic towns in the UK. However, some historic buildings were demolished to make way for the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s, though the town was saved from a new 'inner ring road' due to its challenging geography. A notable example of 1960s/70s construction in Shrewsbury was Telecom House on Smithfield Road - demolished in the 2000s.
The town was targeted by the IRA in 1992. One bomb detonated within the grounds of Shrewsbury Castle causing severe damage to the regimental museum of the Shropshire Light Infantry. The damage caused was estimated to be in the region of £250,000 and many irreplaceable artefacts were lost. A second bomb detonated in the Darwin Shopping Centre but was put out by the sprinkler system before any major damage was caused. Finally, a third bomb was discovered elsewhere in the town centre but failed to do any damage.
From the late 1990s, the town experienced severe flooding problems from the Severn and Rea Brook. In the autumn of 2000 large swathes of the town were underwater, notably Frankwell, which flooded three times in six weeks. The Frankwell flood defences were completed in 2003, along with the new offices of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. More recently, such as in 2005 and 2007 but not 2020, flooding has been less severe, and the defences have generally held back floodwaters from the town centre areas. However, the town car parks are often left to be flooded in the winter, which reduces trade in the town, most evidenced in the run up to Christmas in 2007.
Shrewsbury won the "West Midlands Capital of Enterprise" award in 2004. The town has two large expanding business parks, Shrewsbury Business Park by the A5 in the southeast and Battlefield Enterprise Park in the north. There are many residential developments currently under construction in the town to cater for the increasing numbers of people wishing to live in the town, which is a popular place to commute to Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham from.
A 2005 report on prison population found that HM Prison Shrewsbury was the most overcrowded in England and Wales. The prison, which was also known as the Dana, was closed in 2013 and then sold by the Ministry of Justice to private property developers in 2014.
In 2009 Shrewsbury Town Council was formed and the town's traditional coat of arms was returned to everyday use.
Geography.
Shrewsbury is about west of Telford, west of Birmingham and the West Midlands Conurbation, and about north-west of the capital, London. More locally, the town is to the east of Welshpool, with Bridgnorth and Kidderminster to the south-east. The border with Wales is to the west. The town centre is partially built on a hill whose elevation is, at its highest, above sea level. The longest river in the UK, the River Severn, flows through the town, forming a meander around its centre. The town is subject to flooding from the river.
The town is near Haughmond Hill, a site where Precambrian rocks, some of the oldest rocks in the county can be found, and the town itself is sited on an area of largely Carboniferous rocks. A fault, the Hodnet Fault, starts approximately at the town, and runs as far as Market Drayton.
Suburbs.
There are a number of suburbs and surrounding villages. The River Severn separates the western, southern and eastern suburbs from the town centre and northern suburbs. An example of a large neighbouring village that has effectively become part of the suburban area is Bayston Hill, which grew considerably in the latter half of the 20th century and is now separated from the Meole Brace suburb by only a few fields and the A5 by-pass. It remains, however, a separate entity to the town, with its own parish council, etc. Bayston Hill lies south of the town centre of Shrewsbury and on the A49 and near to the A5. The smaller village of Battlefield, north of the town, is considered a suburb of Shrewsbury. It is covered by the parish of Shrewsbury.
Climate.
The climate of Shrewsbury is similar to that of the rest of Shropshire, generally moderate. Rainfall averages , influenced by being in the rainshadow of the Cambrian Mountains from warm, moist frontal systems of the Atlantic Ocean, which bring generally light precipitation in autumn and spring. The nearest weather station is at Shawbury, about north-east of Shrewsbury town centre. The local topography, being that of a low-lying plain surrounded by higher ground to the west, south and east gives the Shrewsbury area its own microclimate – the absolute maximum at Shawbury of and absolute minimum of represents the largest temperature range of any individual weather station in the British Isles – although the maximum range of average temperatures tends to peak to the south east of the Shrewsbury area, particularly in the south east midlands, inland East Anglia and inland south east England.
In an average year, the warmest day is , giving a total of 8.9 days of or above. The absolute maximum of was recorded in August 1990.
Conversely, the coldest night of the year typically falls to – in total 61.7 air frosts are recorded in an average year. The absolute minimum of was recorded in 1981.
Annual average rainfall averages around 650 mm, with over 1 mm falling on 124 days of the year.
Government.
The Borough of Shrewsbury's first Charter was granted by King Henry I allowing the collection of rents. King Richard I granted another early charter in 1189 and from that time the town's regional importance and influence increased, as well as its autonomy from the county of Shropshire. Further charters were granted in 1199 (King John), 1495 (Henry VII), 1638 (Charles I) and 1685 (James II). In 1974 a charter from the Queen incorporated the Borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, under the auspices of which the town remained until 2009.
Shrewsbury is the administrative centre for the new Shropshire Council, the unitary authority covering most of Shropshire (but excluding the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, a separate unitary authority area). Shropshire Council have their headquarters at the Shirehall, on Abbey Foregate.
Shrewsbury is in the Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency and is the only large settlement in the constituency. At the most recent general election, in 2019, Daniel Kawczynski of the Conservative Party was elected with a majority of 11,217. Previous MPs for Shrewsbury have included 19th century Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
Shrewsbury has been twinned with Zutphen, Netherlands since 1977. The Royal Navy submarine HMS Talent is affiliated with Shrewsbury and the town also served as the administrative headquarters of the British Army's regional 143 (West Midlands) Brigade whose administrative HQ was based at Copthorne Barracks, until 2014.
Town Council.
Shrewsbury was until 2009 an unparished area and had no town or parish council(s). Instead, the Mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham, based at the Guildhall in Dogpole, was also the mayor of the town. However, as part of wider changes to local governance in Shropshire, the town was parished on 13 May 2008, with a single parish created covering the entire town and previously unparished area. Shrewsbury is the second most populous civil parish in England (only Weston-super-Mare has a greater population) with a population of approximately 72,000. The area of the parish is .
The town council, which is the parish council, first convened on 1 April 2009, and its chair is the Mayor of Shrewsbury. For the interim period before the first elections, the existing county councillors who represented electoral divisions covering Shrewsbury were the town councillors. On 4 June 2009, the first election was held to the town council, with councillors elected from 17 single-member wards coterminous with Shropshire Council electoral divisions.
The political make-up of the town council, as of the 2017 local elections, sees Labour as the largest party with 7 seats, the Conservatives on 6, the Liberal Democrats on 3 and the Green Party with 1. The Mayor of Shrewsbury for 2018–19 is Peter Nutting.
The town council was based at the Guildhall on Frankwell Quay, a facility which had originally been built in 2004 as the headquarters of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council; however the town council moved to Riggs Hall in 2017. Riggs Hall is one of the original buildings on the former site of Shrewsbury School on Castle Gates (to the rear of the town's main library).
Coat of arms.
The coat of arms of the former Shrewsbury Borough Council, and now the Town Council, depicts three loggerheads (leopards), with the motto "Floreat Salopia", a Latin phrase that can be translated to "May Shrewsbury Flourish". The coat of arms of the (now abolished) Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was Shrewsbury's shield with the addition of Atcham Bridge running above the leopards. Shrewsbury Town F.C. historically used the leopard, but from 1986 till 1992 had a Celtic shrew and from 2007 to 2015 had a badge depicting a lion rather than a leopard. A new leopard badge embedded in a circular shape returned for 2015–16 season. The flag of Shropshire, and other county crests etc., also uses the three loggerheads.
Demography.
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of the town of Shrewsbury was 67,126. The same census put the population of the wider (and now abolished) borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham at 95,850. In 1981 the population of the town was 57,731 and in 1991 the population of the town was 64,219. Shrewsbury is Shropshire's second largest town, after Telford.
The 2001 census indicates that the population of the town consists of 51.1% females, and 48.9% males, which echoes the trend of Shrewsbury and Atcham borough, and that of Shropshire as a whole. According to the same census, the ethnic composition of the town is largely white, at 98.5% of the total population. The next largest ethnic group is mixed race, at 0.5% of the town's population. 0.4% of the population is Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi, and 0.1% of the population is South Asian or British Asian. A further 0.1% is Black, Caribbean or African.
Historical population.
The population figures below are for the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, which existed only between 1974 and 2009, and covered a much wider area than the town.
In 2011, the town of Shrewsbury had a population of 71,715. 93.9% of the population were classed as White British, compared with 95.4% for the surrounding district.
Economy.
Throughout the Medieval period, Shrewsbury was a centre for the wool trade, and used its position on the River Severn to transport goods across England via the canal system. Unlike many other towns in this period, Shrewsbury never became a centre for heavy industry. By the early 1900s, the town became focused on transport services and the general service and professional sector, owing to its position on the A5 road, part of the strategic route to North Wales. In 1958 the Sentinel Waggon Works at Shrewsbury was taken over by Rolls-Royce Limited for the manufacture of their range of diesel industrial engines, so that the factory at Derby could concentrate on aero engines. The factory which manufactured steam and later diesel locomotives had come on the market in 1956.
The town is the location of the town and county councils, and a number of retail complexes, both in and out of the town centre, and these provide significant employment. Shrewsbury is well known for being home to a high number of independent businesses, including shops, cafes and restaurants. Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury is said to have the 'longest uninterrupted row of independent shops'. Four in five jobs in the town are in the service industry. Within this sector, the largest employers are the administration and distribution sectors, which includes retail, food and accommodation.
Shrewsbury is home to four shopping centres. The Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres house many high street retailers such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, Topshop and Primark. Riverside provides further retail accommodation for stores including Wilko. A plan to redevelop Riverside and integrate a new development with the Darwin and Pride Hill centres was granted planning permission in April 2012. The project is dubbed "New Riverside". The Parade Shopping Centre is a fourth centre exclusively housing independent retailers. There are two retail warehouse clusters: at Meole Brace Retail Park to the south, and at Sundorne Retail Park to the north. Major supermarkets in the town are the Tesco Extra at Harlescott, Morrisons on Whitchurch Road, Asda on Old Potts Way, and Sainsbury's at Meole Brace.
The visitor economy of Shrewsbury and Atcham was worth about £115 million in 2001, with about 2,500 people employed directly in the visitor industry and 3,400 indirectly. There were about 3.1 million visitors – both day visitors and staying visitors – to the borough in 2001, with 88% being day visitors and 12% being staying visitors; staying visitors accounted for 42% of spending. Shrewsbury's position of being the only sizable town for a large area, especially to the west in Mid-Wales, allows it to attract a large retail base beyond that of its resident population. This is not only evident in the retail sector, but also in the healthcare sector, where the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has the only A&E department westwards until Aberystwyth, about away.
Businesses in Shrewsbury voted in favour of a Business Improvement District in late 2013 and Shrewsbury BID started operating in April 2014. Shrewsbury BID delivers on a five-year business plan of projects, which include major destination marketing campaigns, significant cost savings for businesses and strategic work ensuring the best possible town centre environment in which business can flourish. The company is governed by a board of directors and employs three staff full-time.
Although a less prominent brewing centre than at Burton-on-Trent, beer made in Shrewsbury was celebrated as early as about 1400 when the bard Iolo Goch praised the supply of "Crwg Amwythig" dispensed at the Sycharth palace of Owain Glyndŵr. In 1900 there were eight breweries in the town, chief among them being Southam's and Trouncer's, which also had their own maltings and owned many local public houses, as well as five other maltsters, but the conventional brewing industry gradually closed after takeovers in the 1960s, and the last maltings, at Ditherington, in 1986. A real ale brewery, The Salopian Brewery, was established in the town in 1995. It was based in the Old Dairy on Mytton Oak Road before relocating in 2014 to Hadnall a few miles north of the town.
In terms of social and economic deprivation, according to the Overall Index of Multiple Deprivation of 2004, one Super Output Area (SOA) in the town is in the bottom 15% of all areas nationally. This area is in the ward of Harlescott. A further four SOAs fall into the bottom 30% nationally, these being in the wards of Monkmoor, Sundorne, Battlefield and Heathgates and Meole Brace. The most affluent areas of the town are generally to the south and west, around the grounds of Shrewsbury School, and the Copthorne area.
Architecture.
Landmarks.
The historic town centre still retains its medieval street pattern and many narrow passages. Some of the passages, especially those that pass through buildings from one street to the next, are called "shuts" (the word deriving from "to shoot through" from one street to another). Many specialist shops, traditional pubs and local restaurants can be found in the hidden corners, squares and lanes of Shrewsbury. Many of the street names have remained unchanged for centuries and there are some more unusual names, such as Longden Coleham, Dogpole, Mardol, Frankwell, Roushill, Grope Lane, Gullet Passage, Murivance, the Dana, Portobello, Bear Steps, Shoplatch and Bellstone.
The public library, in the pre-1882 Shrewsbury School building, is on Castle Street. Above the are two statues bearing the Greek inscriptions ""Philomathes" and "Polymathes"". These portray the virtues "Lover of learning" and "Much learning" to convey the lesson that it is good to gain knowledge through a love of learning.
In the centre of the town lies The Quarry. This 29 acre (120,000 m²) riverside park attracts thousands of people throughout the year and is enjoyed as a place of recreation. Shrewsbury has traditionally been known as the "Town of Flowers", a moniker incorporated into many of the signs on entrance to the town via major roads, although this was replaced in 2007 with 'the birthplace of Charles Darwin'.
The British Army's Light Infantry has been associated with Shrewsbury since the 17th century when the first regiments were formed and many more regiments have been raised at Shrewsbury before being deployed all over the world from the American Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, after several major reorganisations, the Light Infantry now forms part of the regiment known simply as the Rifles. Shrewsbury's Copthorne Barracks, spiritual home of the Light Division, ultimately housed the Headquarters of the British Army's 143 (West Midlands) Brigade before it moved in 2014, while that of the 5th Division disbanded in April 2012 as part of the reorganisation of the Army's Support Command.
Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened nuclear bunker, built for No 16 Group Royal Observer Corps Shrewsbury, who provided the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and would have sounded the four-minute warning alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Shrewsbury in the event of approaching radioactive fallout. The building was manned by up to 120 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis and wore a Royal Air Force style uniform. After the breakup of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands just inside Holywell Street near the Abbey as a lasting reminder of the Cold War, but is now converted and used as a veterinary practice.
The tourist information centre is situated in the Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery in what used to be the old Music Hall theatre in The Square. The three main museums are Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, Shrewsbury Castle (which houses the Shropshire Regimental Museum) and the Coleham Pumping Station. There are various private galleries and art shops around the town, including the Gateway Education and Arts Centre. Another notable feature of the town is Lord Hill's Column, the largest free-standing Doric column in the world.
The Quantum Leap is an abstract sculpture unveiled in the town centre in 2009 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Shrewsbury biologist Charles Darwin.
Bridges.
Shrewsbury, being almost entirely encircled by the River Severn, has nine bridges across the river and many that cross the Rea Brook.
Working downstream from Frankwell Bridge, a modern pedestrian footbridge spans the River Severn between Frankwell and the town centre. Welsh Bridge was built in the 1790s to replace the ancient St George's Bridge. Further along from the Welsh Bridge is the Porthill Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge running between The Quarry and Porthill, built in 1922. The next bridge along the river is Kingsland Bridge, a privately owned toll bridge, and the subsequent bridge is the Greyfriars Bridge, a pedestrian bridge between Coleham and the town centre. Following the Greyfriars Bridge is the English Bridge, historically called "Stone Bridge", which was rebuilt in the 1920s. Beyond it is the railway station, which is partly built over the river. After the station is Castle Walk Footbridge, another modern pedestrian footbridge. The last bridge to cross the river within the Shrewsbury bypass area is called Telford Way, which has separate lanes for vehicles (A5112), bicycles and pedestrians. A. E. Housman wrote of the area this verse, which mentions the bridges of the town:
Religious sites.
There are many churches in Shrewsbury, including Shrewsbury Abbey, founded by Roger de Montgomery in 1083. Shrewsbury Greek Orthodox Church, a former Anglican church building, is off Sutton Road to the south. Shrewsbury is home to the Roman Catholic Shrewsbury Cathedral, by the Town Walls, as well as two other parishes in Harlescott and Monkmoor, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. One of the , facing St Alkmund's Church, was the site of John Wesley's first preaching in Shrewsbury; a records the date as 16 March 1761. According to legend, the spire of St Alkmund's Church was damaged by the Devil in 1553, and climbed four times by a drunken steeplejack in 1621.
There are several Anglican churches in Shrewsbury. Methodists, Baptists and the United Reformed Church are also represented, alongside newer church groups including Elim Pentecostal and two Newfrontiers, which are:
 Shrewsbury Evangelical Church meets in the former Anglican parish church of St Julian at the Wyle Cop end of Fish Street. Shrewsbury's first non-Christian place of worship, a Muslim centre, was approved in 2013.
Many community projects in Shrewsbury are based in, or have been started by local churches, including the Isaiah 58 project, which is the primary work amongst homeless people in the town, whilst 'Churches Together in Shrewsbury' works to help homeless people through the Ark project. Shrewsbury Food Bank, based at Barnabas Community Church Centre and part of 'Food Bank PLUS,' provides debt relief for local people, as well as a wide range of social action initiatives including 'Money Advice' (a confidential, not for profit debt, benefits and financial help service) and Eclipse Child Bereavement, which works with local schools to help children who have experienced losses to overcome their situation. Also run by Barnabas are projects including '360 Journey to Work,' which help people gain skills in applying for jobs and basics like CV writing, and 'Cage football,' an initiative that is lent out to local community groups, youth clubs and other churches.
Notable Salopians.
There have been a number of notable Salopians, and people otherwise associated with the town of Shrewsbury, including Charles Darwin, the biologist and evolutionary theorist. Darwin, who is one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century, who was born in Shrewsbury on 12 February 1809 at the Mount House, baptised at St Chad's Church and educated at Shrewsbury School. He spent his formative years in the town, the towns river and proximity to the countryside inspired his interest in the natural world and the abundance of ice-age boulders within the town sparked his interest in geology. When he was a teenager, he worked with his father at the Royal Salop Infirmary, which is now the Parade Shopping Centre. After leaving the town, Darwin frequently returned and stayed at the Lion Hotel on Wyle Cop.
Shrewsbury has been home to many contributors to literature. Before the First World War, the poet Wilfred Owen lived in the town, and there is a memorial to Owen at Shrewsbury Abbey. Classicist Mary Beard was educated in Shrewsbury and her father was a prominent Shrewsbury architect. In the early years of the 18th century, the Irish dramatist George Farquhar resided in the town while acting as a recruiting officer for the Army. He drew on this experience in writing the comedy "The Recruiting Officer". The romantic novelist Mary Webb lived in and around Shrewsbury and was buried there upon her death. Other actors with associations with the town include Nick Hancock, presenter of "They Think It's All Over", who, like Palin, was educated at Shrewsbury School. Actor Jason Bateman's mother was born in Shrewsbury. Comedian George Robey lived in the town, near Lord Hill's Column, before and during the Second World War.
People with political associations have connections with the town. Leo Blair, the father of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, was a resident of the town. Former residents have included Michael Heseltine, a Conservative politician who was educated at Shrewsbury School, and Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, who was once Britain's richest man, and was MP for Shrewsbury. He lived in apartments at Shrewsbury Castle. Robert Clive was MP for Shrewsbury, and also the mayor.
Ian Hunter (or Ian Patterson), the lead singer of the 1970s pop group Mott the Hoople, was a resident of 23a Swan Hill in the town centre, and wrote a song of the same name. Lange, a DJ and dance music producer, who was born in Shrewsbury. The 1980s pop group "T'Pau" was formed in the town and the band's vocalist Carol Decker was born and educated in the town, along with other members of the band. Notable music historian Charles Burney was born and educated in the town.
Sporting Salopians include footballers Danny Guthrie of Newcastle United and Shrewsbury Town youth academy graduates and England goalkeeper Joe Hart and Wales midfielder David Edwards. Sheffield Wednesday and Scotland striker Steven Fletcher was born in the town, where his serviceman father was stationed. Four FA Cup Final winning players who took part in the first decade of the Cup's history were born in or lived in Shrewsbury: John Hawley Edwards, Henry Wace and John Wylie, of the Wanderers and Clopton Lloyd-Jones of Clapham Rovers.
Sandy Lyle, a professional golfer, was born in the town.
Neville Cardus spent some of his formative years as assistant cricket coach at Shrewsbury School.
Other notable people of the town include; comic book artist Charlie Adlard was born in Shrewsbury and is most known for illustrating "The Walking Dead;" Robert Cadman, a performer and steeplejack, who is buried in the town, at St Mary's Church; Simon Gosling, a visual effects designer was born in the town, and was resident there until 1994; John Gwynn, an 18th-century architect, who designed the English Bridge and the bridge at Atcham was born in the town; Percy Thrower, the gardener and broadcaster lived in Shrewsbury, where he set up the garden centre near Meole Brace and just down the road from the football club. It is currently the home of renowned singer Steve Winwood, with his family.
Flight Lieutenant Eric Lock DSO, DFC and Bar was born in nearby Bayston Hill and was educated at Prestfelde public school on London Road. Lock became internationally recognised as a high scoring fighter ace of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War with 26 victories before his death in combat at the age of 21. He was the RAF's most successful British-born pilot in the Battle of Britain. One Victoria Cross recipient is known to have lived in Shrewsbury; Arthur Herbert Procter, who was decorated in 1916 during World War I and retired from his later full-time clergy ministry in 1964 to briefly live at Mytton Oak Road, Copthorne, before relocating to Sheffield.
The forerunner of "Private Eye" was a school magazine edited by Richard Ingrams, Willie Rushton, Christopher Booker and Paul Foot at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s. Michael Palin, the writer, actor and comedian; John Peel, the tastemaker and radio DJ also attended Shrewsbury School. Cambridge academic Stephen Jolly attended prep school in the Belmont area of the town in the mid-1960s.
Culture.
Museums and entertainment.
Shrewsbury has a busy spring and summer events season, which includes music, art, food and sport.
The town is home to the 'longest running flower show in the world'. The annual Shrewsbury Flower Show is a two-day event, which takes place in mid-August, has been running for more than 125 years. The event attracts around 100,000 visitors each year and offers a multitude of events, exhibitions and gardens, with a fireworks display at the end of each day.
The Shrewsbury Folk Festival has been held in Shrewsbury since 2006. Held annually over the August bank holiday, the event is very popular, with people travelling from across the UK to attend.
Other events held in Shrewsbury's busy spring and summer of events include the Cartoon Festival, Shrewsbury Bookfest, Shrewsbury Regatta, Cycle Grand Prix, Shrewsbury Carnival, Food Festival, Dragon Boat Race and the Coracle World Championships. Since 2017, Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival has been held over the third weekend of July in multiple venues across town & featuring acts previewing material prior to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Shrewsbury celebrates the intrinsic links to Darwin with an annual Darwin Festival in February. The two and a half week multi-media event celebrates the town as the 'Origin of Independent Thinking' with activities including lectures, dance performances and live music.
The Old Market Hall cinema opened in 2004 in the prominent Tudor market hall positioned in The Square. The independent cinema features daily screens of films from around the world along with a cafe and bar.
Theatre Severn is the town's main performing arts complex, it is situated in Frankwell next to the Welsh Bridge on the bank of the River Severn. The theatre includes two performance spaces, the 635 seat Main Auditorium and a smaller studio space, the Walker Theatre which can accommodate 250 seating or 500 standing. The venue includes a full sized dance studio, function rooms and a restaurant. The new complex replaced the old theatre, the Music Hall, which itself has been refurbished and expanded in preparation for its current use as home to Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (opened 2014).
Further museums in the town include the acclaimed Shropshire Regimental Museum, based at Shrewsbury Castle, and the restored 19th century steam-powered Coleham Pumping Station, which opens for tours on specific days each year. Nearby National Trust properties include Attingham Park, former home of the Noel-Hill family, Barons of Berwick, and the last remaining Town Walls Tower which dates from the 14th century.
There are some very old public houses, which have been continuously open, such as the Golden Cross in Princess Street, the Dun Cow in Abbey Foregate, and the King's Head in Mardol. The Golden Cross is reputed to be the oldest licensed public house in Shrewsbury and records show that it was used as an inn as far back as 1428. Its original name was the Sextry, because it was originally the sacristy of Old St Chad's Church.
In the arts.
Famous literary figures who have lived in or visited the town include (in the 17th century) Daniel Defoe, Celia Fiennes, the Shrewsbury School-educated Arthur Mainwaring and Ambrose Phillips and playwright George Farquhar whose 1706 play 'The Recruiting Officer' was set in the town.
The town appears in the "Brother Cadfael" novels by Ellis Peters (pen name of Edith Pargeter). The novels take Shrewsbury Abbey for their setting, with Shrewsbury and other places in Shropshire portrayed regularly, and have made Medieval Shrewsbury familiar to a wide worldwide readership.
Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the likes of John Wesley, Thomas de Quincey and Benjamin Disraeli the latter of which was MP for Shrewsbury 1841–47, would visit the town. Charles Dickens once visited to present a series of lectures at the Music Hall, staying at the Lion Hotel. However, in this period the town's most prolific literary figure and famous son was born – Charles Darwin. Darwin was educated at Shrewsbury School and later, with the development of his 1859 work "On the Origin of Species" became the pre-eminent naturalist of the 19th century. Although Darwin's work was both revolutionary and highly controversial at the time, his teachings and beliefs have become ever more globalised and he is today widely recognised as the father of the modern theory of evolution.
In his 1910 novel, "Howards End", E. M. Forster makes a brief reference to "astonishing Shrewsbury", an impression he received after having visited the town in the early 20th century. In the same century, Shrewsbury became famous for its poets. The Great War poet Wilfred Owen was a resident. Mary Webb, the novelist, much loved the town and referred to it many a time in her works under the guise of "Silverton".
In film, Shrewsbury was used as the setting for the popular 1984 film, "A Christmas Carol", which filmed many of its interior and exterior shots in and around the town. The gravestone prop of Ebenezer Scrooge (played by George C. Scott) that was used in the movie is still present in the graveyard of St Chad's Church.
In early 2017, Shrewsbury BID, The Hive and GRAIN Photography Hub organised an outdoor Magnum Photos exhibition. Inspired by Shrewsbury's links to Charles Darwin, this exhibition showcased the theme of evolution through the eyes of international photographers. The 10-week exhibition was free to the public and staged at St Mary's Churchyard and The Square.
Media.
Two newspapers are published for Shrewsbury – the local edition of the county's "Shropshire Star" and the more traditional "Shrewsbury Chronicle", which is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the country, having produced its first edition in 1772. There are three radio stations that specifically serve either the Shrewsbury area or encompass it as part of a Shropshire-wide broadcast. They are: Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country;, BBC Radio Shropshire, which is based in Shrewsbury; and, as of September 2006, The Severn, which broadcasts from the Shropshire Star building in Telford.
In 2009 an online independent media company launched covering Shrewsbury and Shropshire. "shropshirelive.com",
Food.
Shrewsbury is well known in culinary circles for being the namesake of a classic English dessert. Shrewsbury cakes (or biscuits) are typically crisp and brittle creations that may incorporate fruit. They can be small in size for serving several at a time, or large for serving as a dessert in their own right. Traditionally Shrewsbury cakes have a distinct hint of lemon.
The playwright William Congreve mentioned Shrewsbury cakes in his play "The Way of the World" in 1700 as a simile (Witwoud – "Why, brother Wilfull of Salop, you may be as short as a Shrewsbury cake, if you please. But I tell you 'tis not modish to know relations in town"). The recipe is also included in several early cookbooks including "The Compleat Cook of 1658". A final reference to the cakes can be seen to this day as the subject of a plaque affixed to a building close to Shrewsbury's town library by the junction of Castle Street and School Gardens. The aforementioned plaque marks the spot where the Shrewsbury Cake's recipe is said to have been pioneered in 1760 by Mr Pailin; a further quote, drawn from Richard Harris Barham's "Ingoldby Legends", reads:
Shrewsbury is the origin of the most popular Simnel cake recipe. Different towns had their own recipes and shapes of the Simnel cake. Bury, Devizes and Shrewsbury produced large numbers to their own recipes, but it is the Shrewsbury version that became most well known. Shrewsbury had a large cheese market in Victorian times.
Education.
Shrewsbury is home to Shrewsbury School, a public school, on a large site ("Kingsland") just south of the town centre overlooking the loop of the Severn. The school was once in the town centre, in the buildings that are now the main county library on Castle Street. Opposite it on the other side of the river is Shrewsbury High School, an independent girls' day school.
The long established Prestfelde School is an independent preparatory school, on London Road, close to the Lord Hill column. As part of the Woodard Schools group, it is affiliated to the largest group of Church of England schools in the country. Whilst originally a school for boys only it diversified and, in the late 1990s, started accepting girls between the ages of three and thirteen. The school is set in of grounds on the outskirts of the town. The town's other long-established boys' preparatory school, Kingsland Grange (on Old Roman Road in Kingsland), in 2007 merged with the junior department of Shrewsbury Girls' High School, sharing the two sites with some classes remaining all-boys or all-girls, but others switching to a co-ed format.
Adcote School is an independent day and boarding school for girls, northwest of Shrewsbury. The school was founded in 1907 and is set in a Grade I listed country house built in 1879 for Rebecca Darby – a great niece of Abraham Darby and a member of the iron-master family who built Ironbridge.
However, the majority of the town's pupils attend one of the seven comprehensive schools. The Priory School, formerly a grammar school for girls; Meole Brace School currently carries the status of Science College; The Grange School the status of Arts College; Sundorne School the status of Sports College and Belvidere School has the status of Technology College.
In 2016, The Grange and Sundorne officially merged to form Shrewsbury Academy. The school has two campuses however it is planned in the next few years for all pupils to move to the Corndon Crescent site, formerly Sundorne. In the future, a new building will be constructed in Shrewsbury to house Shrewsbury Academy.
The Wakeman School, which was geographically the closest school to the town centre 'loop', next to the English Bridge, was previously called Shrewsbury Technical School, and was attended by the notable First World War poet Wilfred Owen. It closed as part of reorganisation in July 2013. Additionally, two other establishments outside town serve town students – The Corbet School to the north at Baschurch; and Mary Webb School, in the village of Pontesbury to the south-west.
Post-16 education is handled by Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, previously the Priory School for Boys recently ranked 17th in the top 20 of sixth form colleges nationally by the Sunday Times newspaper and Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology, which handles primarily vocational courses.
During the Commonwealth which followed the execution of Charles I, a local man, Richard Baxter, a puritan minister suggested the establishment of a university for Wales at Shrewsbury and thought he could obtain the support of Cromwell and Parliament for the scheme. In the end the scheme came to nothing and it was not until the 2000s that higher education institutions were established in the town: University Centre Shrewsbury has been offering postgraduate courses since autumn 2014 and undergraduate students are being welcomed to the institution from autumn 2015. Established by the University of Chester and Shropshire Council, the University Centre is focused on high-quality teaching and research, fostering entrepreneurship, contributing to the community and, ultimately, making a global impact.
Transport.
Shrewsbury is the county's public transport hub; it has road and rail links to the rest of the county and country.
Railway.
Lines.
Five railway lines connect the town to most corners of Shropshire and the region. Shrewsbury railway station is served by Transport for Wales Rail and West Midlands Trains with trains running north to , , and , south to and , west to , and east to via , and . Heart of Wales line trains also operate to .
Services.
In May 1998, Virgin Trains West Coast introduced a service from Shrewsbury to London Euston; it was withdrawn in 2000. On 28 April 2008, open access operator Wrexham & Shropshire commenced services from Wrexham General to , restoring the county's direct rail link to the capital; previously, Shropshire had been one of only two mainland English counties without a dedicated service to the capital, the other being Rutland. However, the service ceased on 28 January 2011. Virgin Trains reintroduced a service to London Euston in December 2014.
Shrewsbury General.
The main railway station building of includes a clock tower, imitation Tudor chimneys and carved heads in the frames of every window. There is a small British Transport Police station within the building.
Bus.
Bus services in the town are operated by Arriva Midlands and serve most parts of the town from Shrewsbury bus station, adjacent to the Darwin Shopping Centre, and a short walk from the railway station. Arriva also operate county services both independent of and on behalf of Shropshire County Council. There are other bus companies operating around the Shrewsbury area, including Boulton's of Shropshire, Minsterley Motors and Tanat Valley Coaches with the last operating services crossing from over the Welsh border from nearby towns including Llanfyllin, Montgomery, Newtown and Welshpool.
Shrewsbury has a park & ride bus scheme in operation and three car parks on the edge of town are used by many who want to travel into the town centre. The three car parks are at Harlescott (to the north, colour-coded blue), Oxon (to the west, colour-coded pink) and Meole Brace (to the south, colour-coded green). It is proposed that a fourth one be built to the east of the town, at either Emstrey or Preston.
Road.
Shrewsbury has been an important centre for road traffic. In 1815, Thomas Telford designed a new coaching route from London to Holyhead in order to improve communications with Ireland. He routed the new road via Shrewsbury, which opened in 1830. The road is now the A5. The road connects the town northwest to Oswestry, and east towards Telford, where it joins the M54. The A5 once ran through the town centre, until a bypass was built in the 1930s. Subsequently, in 1992, a 17-mile (27 km) dual carriageway was completed at a cost of £79 million to the south of the town and was made to form part of the A5 route. This dual carriageway was built further out of the town to act as a substantial link to Telford, as well as a bypass for the town.
The A49 also goes to Shrewsbury, joining the A5 at the south of the town, coming from Ludlow and Leominster. At this point, the road merges with the A5 for , before separating again to the east of the town. From there it runs north, passing Sundorne, then Battlefield, before heading out towards Whitchurch. At Battlefield, the A53 route begins and heads north-east towards Shawbury and Market Drayton, then onwards towards Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.
The A458 (Welshpool-Bridgnorth) runs through the town centre, entering in the west and leaving to the southeast. The A528 begins in the town centre and heads north, heading for Ellesmere. The A488 begins just west of the town centre in Frankwell and heads out to Bishop's Castle, Clun and Knighton crossing the border in the southwest of Shropshire.
Major roads within the town include the A5112, A5191 and A5064. The A5191 goes north-south via the town centre, while the A5112 runs north-south to the east of the town centre. The A5064 is a short, one mile (1.6 km) stretch of road to the southeast of the town centre, called "London Road". Additionally, the A5124, the most recent bypass, was completed in 1998, and runs across the northern edge of the town at Battlefield (connecting the A49/A53 to the A528), though it did exist before as Harlescott Lane (which has since become unclassified).
Construction of a major new artery referred to as the North West Relief Road (NWRR) was granted central government funding in April 2019. Together with the existing A5 and A49 by-passes, the Battlefield Link Road (A5124) and the Oxon Link Road (construction expected to be completed by 2021), this will result in the completion of the ring road around the outskirts of the town. The NWRR will involve the construction of a new bridge over the River Severn, upstream from the town centre.
Cycling.
Shrewsbury has a comprehensive network of on-road and traffic-free cycle routes. In 2008 the town was awarded Cycling Town status by Cycling England; as a result, it benefited from £1.8 million of grant funding from the Department for Transport between 2008 and 2011. The funding was used to make improvements to the cycle network in Shrewsbury, and to provide cycle training, information and advice to people to help encourage them to cycle to school and work.
Sport.
Shrewsbury is home to a professional football club, Shrewsbury Town Football Club. The team currently competes in the third tier of English football, Football League One and since 2007 has played their home games at New Meadow – from 1910 to 2007 the club played at the Gay Meadow stadium. Shrewsbury Town's achievements include winning the Welsh Cup six times, a record for an English club, a 10-year run in the old Second Division now known as The Championship from 1979 until 1989, a Third Division Championship in 1979, a Division 3 Championship and victory in the Conference National Playoff Final 2004. The town is home to a semi-professional football club, Haughmond, who take their name from the nearby Haughmond Hill. The team currently compete in the Midland Football League and play their home games at Shrewsbury Sports Village, in the Sundorne area of the town.
There is a local rugby club, Shrewsbury Rugby Club.
The River Severn in the town is used for rowing by both Pengwern Boat Club and the Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club (RSSBC). More recently these have been joined by rowing students of Harper Adams University, University Centre Shrewsbury and some crews from other local schools. There in an annual rowing regatta in the town in May.
Shrewsbury Sports Village is a sports centre in the Sundorne district of the town, aimed at providing a wide range of sports facilities for townspeople. There are a number of motorsports and golf facilities (including Meole Brace Municipal Golf Course) in the area. The local motorsports heritage includes the Loton Park Hillclimb and Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit near Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury Motocross Club has staged motocross events in the area for over 30 years.
Shrewsbury holds its own annual Sprint Triathlon which takes place each September at the West Midlands Country Showground and organised by SYTri(Shrewsbury Triathlon Club) and permitted by the British Triathlon Federation.
A free weekly parkrun takes place in the centre of Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury has also seen activity in the physical discipline, Parkour.
Twin town.
Shrewsbury has no twin towns. Until 2018 Shrewsbury was twinned with Zutphen, Netherlands, a move inspired by the fact Sir Philip Sidney, an alumnus of Shrewsbury School, was fatally wounded there in 1586. The association was ended in late 2018 when the municipal council of Zutphen chose to review all of its global twinning arrangements due to budgetary constraints.
At the end of the Second World War Shrewsbury's then Mayor, Harry Steward, who was made in 1946 an honorary citizen of Zutphen in return, launched an appeal for second-hand tools, clothes, bedding and other materials towards the town's post-war reconstruction after Nazi German occupation and war damage.
A potential twinning of Shrewsbury with Bayreuth, Germany, was under discussion in 2009.


North Kent Line

The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main Line.
The section from Charlton to Dartford is also referred to as the "Woolwich Line" in the context of Southeastern Metro services.
History.
Construction.
The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway (SER) was able to connect its system to London at London Bridge. In 1846 the SER purchased the Thames and Medway Canal tunnel near Higham and laid railway tracks through it; in 1847 trains were working through from the Strood terminus, on the River Medway to Gravesend. From 30 July 1849 the line was extended, via Blackheath, to a junction with the London and Greenwich Railway at North Kent East Junction, near Deptford, and through trains were now able to operate.
Electrification.
The line is electrified (750 V DC third rail). Electrification was initially to Dartford (6 June 1926) and was extended to Gillingham by World War Two.
Former services.
Between 1999 and 2002, there were semi-fast trains running from Plumstead to London Victoria briefly resuming a 1980s service pattern. This service was for the Millennium Dome; the service called at, Woolwich Arsenal, Charlton, Blackheath, Lewisham, Peckham Rye then non-stop to London Victoria. There was also an early morning semi-fast service to London Blackfriars from Dartford in the 1980s.
In 2003, there were plans to run a Plumstead to Clapham Junction service across South London, but it never came to fruition.
Route.
The line diverges from the Southeastern Main Line at Lewisham Vale junction at the country end of St John's station at the edge of Inner London, and runs as far as Rochester Bridge junction beside the River Medway by the north coast of historic mid-Kent.
Services.
The North Kent Line is a high-frequency line, with all stations in the London area being served by at least 4 trains per hour, with Lewisham having 14tph.
London Charing Cross to 2tph, calling at Waterloo East, fast to Lewisham (for Docklands Light Railway), Blackheath, Charlton, Woolwich Dockyard, Woolwich Arsenal (for the Docklands Light Railway), , Abbey Wood (Future interchange with Crossrail) Belvedere, Slade Green and Dartford.
London Cannon Street to all stations via Greenwich 4tph, of which 2tph continue back to Cannon Street via Bexleyheath and Lewisham on the Bexleyheath line and 2tph to Cannon Street via Sidcup and Hither Green on the Dartford Loop Line.
 to 2tph, Semi Fast calling all stations to West Hampstead Thameslink, St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, London Blackfriars, London Bridge, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Charlton, Woolwich Dockyard, Woolwich Arsenal, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Slade Green, Dartford, Greenhithe, and all stations to Rainham.
Service patterns.
, the service pattern is:
Off-peak & Saturday:
Sunday:
Peak hour frequencies vary, with services from the Bexleyheath and Dartford loop lines also running to and from stations to Gillingham.
Future.
Abbey Wood station has been rebuilt to become the eastern terminus of Crossrail. However, a possible extension of Crossrail to Gravesend has been safeguarded.
Stations.
Train services working the Line today take the following route; the first ten miles (16 km) passes through many tunnels, included on the list:
The North Kent Line connects with the LCDR Chatham Main Line at Rochester Bridge Junction, about 200 m beyond Strood station. It totals some 30 miles (48 km) in length.


Allington Chord


Monmouth Railway

The Monmouth Railway, also known as the Monmouth Tramroad, was a horse-drawn plateway of 3 ft 6in gauge. It ran for about from Howler's Slade, east of Coleford, in Gloucestershire and Monmouth; there were two branches from other mineral sites. It was intended to bring mineral products of the Forest of Dean to Monmouth, and to the works alongside the River Wye.
It was opened from 1812 and for some time was the only railway at Monmouth. From 1853 technologically superior edge railways were built serving the area, and the Monmouth Railway declined and became dormant. It finally closed in the 1870s. It was purchased by the Coleford Railway, which used part of its alignment to build its line from Monmouth to Coleford, which opened in 1883.
Some fragments of bridge structures and a short tunnel survive at present, and part of the route can be surmised from aerial photographs.
Background.
The Forest of Dean had long been a productive source of minerals, but the difficult terrain and the poor quality of the road network made transportation to market expensive. Coal deposits were located at Howler's Slade, near Cannop Hill east of Coleford, and there were numerous other coal pits, iron ore deposits and stone quarries in the area. Primitive tramroads had been made in many locations in the Forest for short distance transport, generally reserved to the exclusive use of the mine operators.
Monmouth was five miles west of the Forest of Dean, but the poor transport facilities kept the price of coal in the town high. In 1802 a 2-ton wagon load cost upwards of 28 shillings. 10 wagons and carts and 300 horses and mules were constantly in use bringing coal to the town in 1802.
In 1807 and again in 1808 a railway or tramroad connection was proposed, and at the end of 1808 a wagon ferry at Redbrook was suggested.
In September 1809 an engineer, Astley Bowdler, presented plans for a railway; his estimate for the construction was £20,384, including land acquisition.
In the Forest of Dean special rights of mineral extraction were reserved for Free Miners, but this had the effect of preventing large scale investment by external companies. However in 1808 David Mushet, a Scottish metallurgist, became involved. Thomas Halford was the owner of ironworks at Whitecliff, and he brought Mushet in to improve the quality of the iron produced there.
The improved quality stimulated demand for local iron ore and coal, and emphasised the poor quality of the transport facilities locally, and Mushet was involved in the promotion of the railway as an aid to the efficiency of the metal industry.
In 1821, Monmouth had a population of some 4,200 and, apart from being an important centre for a large country district, had several iron-foundries and paper-mills within a few miles.
The Monmouth Railway authorised.
On 24 May 1810 a public tramroad, the "Monmouth Railway", was authorised by Parliament; its capital was £22,000 with borrowing powers of £6,000. The line was to be a "railway or tramroad" from Howler Slade to the May Hill district of Monmouth, on the east side of the River Wye, across from the central part of the town. The line was to run near Coleford, Newland and Redbrook to reach Monmouth. An extension was authorised to reach the Nag's Head Inn in the town centre near Dixon Gate; this would cross the Wye Bridge at Monmouth, or alternatively reach the town by "passing the river itself by a boat". Several branches were authorised; as well as short connections to mines and quarries close to the proposed main line, there was a longer southward branch from Broadwell Lane End to Darkhill, and northward to New Thatch pit. In addition there was to be another crossing of the River Wye at Newland to Pool Dee in Penallt parish. This last, and the river crossing in Monmouth, were not built.
The line was to be a toll road, in which the track was provided by the company, and common carriers could run their horse-drawn vehicles on it for a toll charge. The tolls were laid down in the Act, and 6d per mile was chargeable "for every Carriage conveying passengers". This is one of the earliest authorising Acts in which passenger conveyance is identified, although there is no evidence that passengers were carried on a regular basis. It was built as a plateway, in which horse-drawn wagons with plain wheels ran on L-section flanged cast-iron rails; the track gauge was 3 ft 6in. There was a self-acting incline at Poolway, near Coleford, and another on a branch line, descending to the river bank at Redbrook. As the dominant traffic was minerals coming down from the hills, loaded wagons descending could haul empty wagons going up.
Horse operation required as far as possible a steady downward gradient (except at the inclines), while smooth curvature was unimportant. Major earthworks were avoided as far as possible, although a short tunnel was built near Newland. Following contours, the line made some considerable loops and diversions in order to maintain the gentle downgrade.
The order of construction was stipulated in the Act; first the connection between the pits within the Forest was to be completed. Then the connection to Wyesham, near Monmouth was to be made. Finally the extension to May Hill, in effect the Monmouth terminal, could be built.
The principal freight to be carried to Monmouth was coal, clay and lime, although tinworks were also connected.
Opening.
The opening day for the first part of the line, the Forest section, was 17 August 1812:
On Monday last 17th August, the Rail-road from the Forest of Dean to Monmouth was opened. A great number of waggons, laden with coal, lime, paving-stone, and other productions of the forest, followed a procession of thousands of people, accompanied by flags and a band of music. A numerous company afterwards met at the Beaufort Arms Inn, where a most excellent dinner was provided on the occasion.
Some references quote an opening date of 1816 or 1817; this may refer to the opening of certain branches, although the eastern branch, to Howler's Slade, did not open until 1852. "The Eastern Branch was clearly intended to be the main stem in the Forest, for Howler's Slade was the only place in the Forest named in the estimate. There is little doubt, however, that such a line was not built for 40 years..."
The facility to transport heavy materials encouraged local production, and in 1818 Mushet developed Darkhill Ironworks, which became a large operation. The southward branch of the Monmouth Railway penetrated as far as Darkhill.
Operation.
Little is recorded about the operation of the Monmouth Railway. As a horse-operated plateway, and with two self-acting inclines on the line, it was overtaken by technological progress as edge railways came to be commonplace. The prospectus for the South Wales Railway issued in 1844 showed that the future included long distance locomotive-operated railways. The South Wales Railway was opened in stages from 1850.
After 1850, the usual load on the Howler's Slade—Monmouth line consisted of six wagons, drawn by six horses, under the control of four men. On downhill stretches drags, or shoes chained to the frame, were used to sledge the wheels.
There was a two-way traffic in a variety of goods, including bricks. Coleford had a population of about 1,800. A directory of 1830 mentioned that coals were brought from the Forest to Monmouth 'by means of a railroad, and sold at reasonable prices', and the line was used largely for minerals and heavy products.
The terminal at May Hill served the town of Monmouth, but minerals destined for the main part of the town had to be carted across the Wye Bridge. The descent to the riverside at Redbrook was intended to reach the tinworks there, but there was a wharf for traffic destined for river transport.
Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway.
Coleford was the most important industrial centre in the Forest of Dean, (the "capital" of the Forest, although strictly speaking just outside its boundary) and on 20 August 1853 the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway was authorised, with the intention of conveying iron ore to the ironworks of South Wales. Coleford would be reached by taking over the Monmouth Railway and converting it to locomotive operation.
The sale of the portion of the Monmouth Railway between Coleford and Monmouth, took place on 4 February 1853, for £11,060. For the time being the Monmouth Railway management continued to operate the line.
The CMU&PR opened its line from Little Mill, near Pontypool to Usk on 2 June 1856, and onward to Monmouth Troy station on 12 October 1857. Troy station was on the south side of the town and a mile from the May Hill terminal of the Monmouth Railway. It reached Troy on 12 October 1857.
The CMU&PR still wished to reach Coleford, but the cost of conversion of the Monmouth Railway was for some time beyond its means, and a gap remained across the River Wye at Monmouth. The gap did nothing to encourage through traffic between the two systems, and as a horse-drawn toll plateway, the Monmouth Railway was already technologically obsolescent. Edge railways were carrying the mineral products to market, although it was not until 1872 that the Severn and Wye Railway reached Coleford and served the Darkhill ironworks.
The CMU&PR saw that its only chance of becoming profitable was securing the transport of iron ore from the Forest ore, and this would not happen while the two systems, the former Monmouth Railway and the CMU&PR main line were disconnected. It was decided in September 1858 to extend the CMU&PR over the River Wye and down the valley for about two miles to Redbrook, and to make a transfer point there. Thus a considerable viaduct over the Wye at Monmouth would be undertaken. At a board meeting in December 1858, the decision was taken to provide wrought-iron tramway plates on the Monmouth Railway section, adequate for locomotives. Joseph Firbank was the contractor selected to build the bridge, and in January 1860 the board resolved that they would convert the tramroad to an edge railway, and flatten the worst of the curves for locomotive operation.
In November 1860 the decision was taken to convert the tramroad to a railway as far as Cherry Orchard, near Newland. In February 1861 the viaduct was reported to have been completed and the extension across the Wye to an interchange point at Wyesham was opened on 1 July 1861. The Monmouth Railway line was at a higher level and minerals were tipped down into CPMU&R wagons. It is doubtful if any serious work was done to improve the tramroad as, in August 1863, it was resolved to return 'the tramplates at Monmouth' to the suppliers.
On 1 July 1861 the CMU&PR was leased by the West Midland Railway. The WMR needed to bring together an uncoordinated group of lines, and any expenditure at Coleford was a very low priority. On 24 February 1866 the section of the Monmouth Railway under the control of the former CMU&PR was legally transferred.
In fact the West Midland Railway, and its successor the Great Western Railway which absorbed it in 1863, took little interest in the Monmouth Railway, and the Monmouth company continued to do what was necessary to sustain operation on its line until late 1871, at which point the GWR had some difficulty in regaining legal possession of it.
Coleford Railway.
Numerous railways had been constructed around the Forest but Coleford still relied on the tramroad of the Monmouth Railway.
In 1872 the GWR sponsored a local company, which sought powers for the construction of a single line from the CMU&PR at Wyesham to Coleford, with extensions to Corse Hill, and a terminus near Flour Mill colliery via Drybrook. The plans were prepared by Edward Wilson, and his estimate came to £83,169, including £3,800 for enlarging Newland tunnel. The Severn and Wye Railway opposed this in Parliament, and introduced its own bill for reconstructing the Milkwall tramroad and extending it to Coleford from Parkend. The Monmouth Railway Company also opposed the bill and refused to entertain a proposed interchange at Coleford, in the hope of forcing the newcomer to purchase its tramroad east of there.
Giving evidence in Parliament concerning the Coleford Railway Bill, a man called Lückes said that his company sent considerable quantities of coal from iron mines near Coleford, but had to cart it by road to Monmouth because "the GWR have let the tramway get into such a bad state".
The Coleford Railway Co. was incorporated by Act of 18 July 1872'
on 1 November 1876 the connecting Wye Valley Railway was opened, from the Wyesham terminus of the CMU & p line southward to Wye Valley Jen on the South Wales line, some 13 miles. Monmouth had been provided with railway access from the north on 4 August 1873, by the opening of the Ross & Monmouth Railway, worked by the GWR.
Darkhill was by now served by the Coleford branch of the Severn and Wye Railway, opened in 1875.
The Coleford Railway opened on 1 September 1883, from a junction with the Wye Valley Railway at Wyesham. Both the Coleford Railway and the Wye Valley Railway were worked by the Great Western Railway.
Ross and Monmouth Railway.
The Ross and Monmouth Railway opened on 4 August 1873, entering Monmouth from the north to a terminus at May Hill. This was not immediately adjacent to the Monmouth Railway's terminal, and there is no evidence that direct exchange facilities were established. The company was continuing the line to Troy station to connect with the Pontypool line, but there was a delay in completing the bridge over the River Wye: the connecting link was opened on 1 May 1874.
A further line was built, connecting Monmouth: the Wye Valley Railway ran southward from Monmouth Troy station to Chepstow through the lower Wye Valley; it opened on 1 November 1876 after a lengthy construction period, which was due to the difficulty of raising capital.
End of the Monmouth Railway.
The Monmouth tramroad was in poor shape by 1872 and it is doubtful if any significant traffic passed thereafter. On 27 March 1874, the directors agreed to accept £1,000 from the Coleford Railway for the tramroad east of Coleford, but the price had dropped to £900 by 14 January 1876, when a special general meeting was held to seal the contract of sale. After this meeting the company took no further action, and by 1880 the track had been removed by the GWR.
Route.
The main line ran from Howler's Slade, east of Coleford, through Broadwell, then down the Poolway incline and through the town of Coleford. The railway then led west down the valley past Whitecliff Ironworks and through a tunnel above Newland.
At Redbrook the main line made a sharp turn to the north, gradually descending the hillside parallel to the River Wye. The terminus was at May Hill, near Monmouth Bridge.
There was a branch at Redbrook: a steep incline led down to the village, providing access to the two tinplate works there. Branches from Broadwell led north to the New Found Out coal mine, and south to the Darkhill Ironworks.
Remnants.
Much of the tramroad was obliterated when the later railway was built, but a number of remnants can be found. The Redbrook Incline Bridge over the B4231 road at Redbrook (SO537102) is now protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Near Coleford, the stone abutments of a former wooden bridge exist either side of a minor road at SO563101. A section of the original tramroad tunnel remains on private land near Newland. The body of a carriage, known as the "Littleworth Coach", believed to have been built for the Monmouth Railway in 1848, is preserved at Buckfastleigh on the South Devon Railway.
Further reading.
A Pritchard, "Historical Notes on the Railways of S E Monmouthshire", Oakwood Press, Usk, 1962,


Echills Wood Railway

The Echills Wood Railway is a gauge railway in Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire, England.
The railway was founded in 1972, based in the Royal Agricultural Showground in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, where it operated until 2005.
At Easter 2006 the railway reopened at its new home, Kingsbury Water Park as a short out and back run. One year later the initial circuit of approximately was opened to the public, and the line was officially declared open by Pete Waterman on 14 July 2007, with a cavalcade of 36 locomotives.
By Easter 2010, the railway had completed another kilometre of trackwork in the form of a double track extension to Far Leys on the other side of the park, traversing through a twin bore, 70 yard tunnel en route. This extension was formally opened, again by Pete Waterman, on 15 May 2010.
Between 22 and 29 September 2010 the railway hosted the AGM of the 7 in Gauge Society, with nearly 100 locomotives visiting and operating over the course of the week, including a marathon 40 trains on the circuit at once during 24 September.
The line runs a mixture of (both club and privately owned) Standard Gauge Scale and Narrow Gauge Steam, Diesel, Petrol and Electric locomotives.
A feature of the railway is its gnome village, a collection of garden gnomes donated by the public. The gnome village was vandalised in September 2016, when several of the ornaments were damaged. The incident prompted members of the public to donate replacements following an appeal by railway members. Local newspaper, the "Tamworth Herald" also backed the appeal. The attraction was destroyed for a second time by vandals in April 2017.


Glazebrook East Junction