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About Shropshire
Shropshire, maybe one of England's quiet counties but don't be deceived there's still plenty to see and do. Shropshire has over 90 places to visit - historic houses and castles with beautiful gardens, the famous Ironbridge, museums and family attractions.
Shropshire has many traditional market towns including gourmet Ludlow and the county town of Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury almost surrounded by the River Severn and birthplace of Charles Darwin, is a medieval delight of black and white buildings.
The Shropshire landscape reflects the fact that Shropshire is geologically unique and creates the special habitats that ensures that Shropshire wildlife is so diverse. All this adds up to making Shropshire great walking country.
So whether you're out and about on Shropshire Hills, by the Meres and Mosses or strolling along with the Shropshire Union and Llangollen Canals you can guarantee the Shropshire air will rejuvenate and restore you.
What makes Shropshire - Shropshire?
Shropshire "on the rocks"
The delightful scenery of our quiet County depends entirely on what lies beneath. For millions of years Shropshire was the setting for violent upheaval and, as the land mass slowly moved from south of the equator, the mineral rich Stiperstones and the escarpment of Wenlock Edge were created.
Shropshire is built on rocks from 11 out of the 13 known periods of geology - the smallest place in the world to boast so many.
The Meres and Mosses in the north of the county, the valleys of the Longmynd in the south and the Ironbridge Gorge in the east were carved out by glaciers during the ice age.
Wild about Shropshire
The miniature lakeland of Meres and Mosses around Ellesmere are a haven for wildlife and provide just one habitat for a County that has a rich and distinctive wildlife. otters and dormice, hares and bats, dragonflies and waterfowl and scores of flowering plants all call Shropshire home. The Shropshire Wildlife Trust has over 30 nature reserves to explore. Discover the variety of wildlife on English Nature's Mosses Trails around the north of the county.
Languid canals contrast with babbling trout streams but all are overshadowed by the majestic River Severn, as it meanders through the County, linking the towns of Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth with a patchwork of fields, wooded valleys and heather clad hills.
Ruined but unwrecked
"Where trumpets rang and men marched by, none passes but the dragonfly"
Mary Webb.
Shropshire has always lived in interesting times. A stormy past has left us with a littering of hillforts, castles and abbeys, which were put to the sword again and again.
You'll find about 25 hillforts - clear evidence of the Iron Age civilisation of around 600BC - built with deep ditches and ramparts to keep out the riff raff.
Offa's Dyke, built by King Offa in the 8th Century to keep the Welsh Princes at bay, is the longest archaeological monument in Britain.
What have the Romans ever done for us? Well they did build Viroconium, the 4th largest city in Roman Britain and Watling Street which connected us with Canterbury. This was indeed a jolly long walk.
We can boast 32 castles in all with Ludlow, Stokesay, Whittington and Clun being perhaps the finest. Ruined abbeys are reminders of our medieval spiritual past.
There are fine ecclesiastical buildings, from Shrewsbury Abbey to the tiny black and white Melverley Church on the banks of the River Vyrnwy. "In-Spire-ational" Shropshire.
Unspoilt, unrushed and tranquil
Secret histories in tiny hamlets and villiages, ancient churches and country inns serving proper beer. Market towns, local festivals and literary legends. Grand country houses in landscaped parklands. Shropshire is unspoilt, unrushed and tranquil.
