Shropshire

Places to visit, attractions, heritage and things of interest in Shropshire, in the English Midlands.

The Stone Circle at Mitchell’s Fold

Mitchells Fold Stone Circle, image

Mitchell’s Fold Stone Circle is one of those places you think you should have arrived at much sooner than you do. “We must have passed it.  Maybe I should turn round”.  Surely, supernatural forces were at work, discombobulating me as I (unsuccessfully) navigated the car along narrow border lanes between England and Wales.  In fact,

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Viroconium, Roman City

Viroconium

The small Shropshire village of Wroxeter is the only surviving settlement of what was once the fourth largest Roman city in Britain: Viroconium, or Uriconium, more fully expressed as Viroconium Cornoviorum.  The Very Keen Reader will want to know what the three largest Roman cities in Britain were and these seem to have been Londinium

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Stokesay Castle

Stokesay Castle, Shropshire - the Stuart gatehouse and south tower.

Lovely little Stokesay Castle isn’t really a castle at all; certainly, no self-respecting potential besieger would take it as a serious hindrance.  Described by English Heritage as “the finest and best-preserved fortified medieval manor house in England”, Stokesay actually looks like someone has taken a grand old barn and added interesting bits to it, one

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Blists Hill

Blists Hill Victorian town, Shropshire Canal

Blists Hill is great fun, an open air museum near Ironbridge, Shropshire. Travel back in time…not far, just a little over a century or so. Once you’ve worked through the modern visitor centre and negotiated your way past kids playfully chucking ice creams around outside the café, you’ll find yourself transported back to 1900 –

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Why 467 pubs are called the Royal Oak

Boscobel House, Shropshire

What might be called ‘the Royal Oak Incident’ took place when the future King Charles II hid in an oak tree after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.  This was a real event, which might have had a very different outcome, and is a fascinating story.  You can visit the spot where it happened, Boscobel

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Ironbridge – cradle of industrialisation?

Ironbridge, Shropshire

You should visit Ironbridge.  Advertised as ‘the birthplace of the industrial revolution’ (not technically true), there’s heaps to see – but it’s also very pleasant to simply wander round the attractive town, take in the atmosphere, indulge in a modest amount of retail therapy and have a tasty pork pie from one of the shops

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A bit about the West Midlands

Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.

Including the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. Just to confuse the unwary, the English West Midlands is a region that also includes a county called the West Midlands.  The West Midlands (county) is largely urban and includes Britain’s second city, Birmingham – so it’s in the West Midlands twice.  Don’t

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