Ironbridge and ... November, Shropshire

Iron Bridge

Following on from the walk I did with the large party of people up The Wrekin at Wellington (previous post), the group leader abandoned plans to complete his original additional circular walk from Wellington. We were so late for lunch that the restaurant in Wellington had to let the tables go and consequently the group split into two for ease of accommodating so many people. As it looked like lunch was going to be finished by 2:30 - 3pm and dinner would be served at the usual time at The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury, it was suggested that we stayed with the people in the cars we travelled with for some free time. The driver (Cumbrian Farmer) was open to offers, while my friend (Scarborough Sandcastle manager) and myself discussed the possibility of visiting nearby Iron Bridge for the first time. The fourth person (Knutsford pickup) was familiar to Cumbrian Farmer and was keen not to walk too much further after the mornings expedition so it was an agreed plan. Due to the nature of the Iron Bridge historic site and the fact that the Architect didn't design an adjacent tourist car park :-) we had to park a little upstream by The River Severn next to the Tourist Information and Museum of the Gorge. Setting off from the car and a quick look in the T.I. , it seemed that Cumbrian Farmer and Knutsford pickup wanted to spend more time in the museum rather than walk any further. Unaware of this information and with 1 hour of daylight left, Scarborough Sandcastle manager and myself pressed on to view the site for the very first time.

So often in history, settlements and subsequent towns can find themselves placed next to a river for defensive or trading reasons but it doesn't take a genius to realise that the town of Ironbridge was created and developed as a result of The Iron Bridge. The worlds first cast iron bridge was built in 1779 / 80 spanning 100 ft (30m) by Abraham Darby III replacing a small ferry service the family operated. The Darby family were heavily involved with innovative manufacturing processes at the start of The Industrial Revolution and the bridge somehow became a symbol of that. It seemed a shrewd move that the builders continued with the construction of The Tontine Hotel (pictured above) directly facing the bridge. This accommodation allowed and enhanced visits from Engineers of bridges, Industrialists and early tourists to view this remarkable and unique structure.

After doing so many blog posts that include the works of Thomas Telford (Shrewsbury, Menai Bridge, Betws-y-Coed, Llangollen, Bala Lake and Tobermory), it would be nice to suggest that he was the designer of the bridge, but it was the inspiration to build a longer structure with half the weight further upstream at Buildwas. Unfortunately that bridge no longer survives due to the power of the River Severn as many local residents and Environmental Agency can testify to, as they dry out their homes regularly and plug another gap in the flood defences respectively.

Iron Bridge at night

Meanwhile back in the 21st century, after observing the bridge with my friend for a short period of time, it was a mystery as to whether the others were walking slowly towards us, injured or resting in the museum. The sandcastle manager decided to retrace his steps to investigate with the inspiration at the very least of a car window observation of the bridge for the others. It was unfortunate that I didn't have time to explore all the alleys of such a place as I had to remain visible to short term car parking restrictions, however I was rewarded with the inversely proportional reduction and illumination of light.

Darlingtons Ironbridge

What seemed to turn into an age and in the lower light, there wasn't much else to photograph in a 30 - 50 metre section of street other than a difficultly lit Christmas shop window and a ... errr ... pork pie wedding cake !! ....

Eleys Pork Pies, Ironbridge  http://www.eleysporkpies.co.uk/wedding-pork-pies/

War memorial. Ironbridge

Thoughts turned to November as this was Remembrance weekend (exactly one year ago) for those that gave their lives in military service.

War Memorial, Shrewsbury

The following morning the whole group were given the option of attending the wreath laying service at the Shrewsbury Quarry war Memorial.

Remembrance Day, Shrewsbury

Despite these occasions always being somber and respectful, the regiments of Shropshire and Shrewsbury seemed to make the event far greater than that.

On my wanderings around the town of Shrewsbury I stumbled across two pieces of artwork drawn at random on walls in unusual places ...

Lastly before I "dash off", November seems to have become a time when voluntary "Movember" men grow a specific part of facial hair to raise awareness and sponsorship for research into mens health. It also seems to signify my sparse activities on blogger :-) ....

" Movember man "

The Wrekin, Wellington, Shropshire.

The Wrekin is a hill (1335 ft / 407m) that overlooks Shropshire Plains and is probably a welcoming sight for the local people of Wellington and Shrewsbury arriving back by road to their home county from all parts of the east.

(( I had no idea what kind of photographical material that I would collect on this walk (part 2 of 3 Shropshire) and even though it's not a strong set, I think it's passable as a cloud fest !
I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of matching that with a shorter post where I don't have to think too much either for once in a while :-) ... I'm due a lazy post !!
I thought I'd experiment with something else a little bit different ... wonder if anyone will notice ! ))

It makes a nice change to go with the flow to see what happens as some of my solo trips can be ordered, complex but fun nonetheless. About ten days before this trip, I got an e-mail from the national organisation that I booked with to say that the hotel we were meant to be staying at (Buckatree Hall Hotel, Wellington) had been double booked. Fortunately though, alternative short notice accommodation was found at The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury (Flickr image from previous post).
The Lion Hotel was probably a better option than the country hotel as we could use the facilities of the town at various stages of the weekend. However, there is always a downside as the planned figure of eight walk starting from the original Hotel door had to be modified and shortened significantly.
The task of transporting thirty people by cars to the main Wellington car park seemed routine enough but not practical on a busy saturday morning. Eventually the group somehow managed to congregate outside Wellington Leisure centre but not before numerous visits to the toilet inside !!

We set off to conquer the hill having lost a lot of time, passing the infamous hotel on the way. I got a bit lost from the surroundings with some interesting and unusual conversations talking to people I hadn't met before. It seemed a shame that some people from London can count on half of a hand how many times they had travelled more than 100 miles north of their City ... a wedding being one of the excuses, I mean reasons !!
On nearing the summit, it was time to take a talking break from all of that and let the camera do the talking instead ...

The Gathering !  The Wrekin.

Due to the modified extension at the beginning of the walk and some of the party not being used to walking up hills, we reached the summit at the same time that lunch had been arranged at a Pub in town !!

Geologically, The Shropshire hills are mainly found in the south west of the county with the volcanic style rock structure of The Wrekin being the exception to the rule. A narrow band of hillside extends north eastwards into the Shropshire plains with The Wrekin at the head.

However if you find that information quite dull, you can always believe the other story :-)  ......

There was a giant called Gwendol Wrekin and he didn't like Shrewsbury to the point that he wanted to flood it and destroy the residents with a giant sized spade full of earth. On the way there, he met a cobbler going in the opposite direction with a huge sack of old repairable shoes. As there were no maps at the time, the giant wanted the cobbler to give him directions for Shrewsbury. The cobbler, fearing for his trade, informed him that it was a very long way and he had worn out all these shoes getting to this point. On hearing this, the giant gave up on the idea and dumped the earth on the ground and it was called The Wrekin. A smaller mound called Ercall Hill was formed as he scraped the mud off his boots.

The Iron Age Hill fort became the location for a World War II beacon to deter planes away from its elevated intrusion on the nearby Shropshire Plains.

Transmission lines, The Wrekin

The beacon remained operational until 1960 and was replaced by a telecommunications media mast that started broadcasting TV and radio in 1975 with a replacement upgraded structure in 2000.

It seemed appropriate that many people wanted to join in with the digital experience and broadcast the events of their day to all their friends :-)

Family photo, The Wrekin

Having read the Mountain Rescue reports in years gone by from more severe terrain, I was reminded that people may be affected by the altitude and have the possibility of not having clarity of mind to think normally :-)

All too soon, it was time to descend a different way for a very late lunch. Had I had my own space and transport, it would have been nice to drive somewhere for a profile of the hill. This is the best I could do given the circumstances.

It's been some time since I ended a post this way so that just leaves me with the image you've all guessed was coming ....

New Dog, Old Trigs ! The Wrekin

Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

As a result of a conversation with a blog friend on her site (cheriesplace), I have been inspired to do a three part series about Shropshire.

(September has been a busy month trying to balance my summer inactivity with the greenery in the back garden and friends wanting to go places as a group on returning from their July/August family / solo holidays.
I'm sure that you've guessed by now that I've a back log of material with this post proving that point. These images are taken over two visits in late 2012 where the weather was generally damp, wet and cold whilst the second in 2013 was quite the opposite.
Just for some biographical background to the post ... As a result of my friendship with certain people from Yorkshire with links to another northern organisation, a friend affiliated to the group from the second organisation thought it would be a good idea to arrange a weekend in his home town of Shrewsbury.
The following year a friend of mine more local to me, thought it would be a good idea to to attend a walking weekend with another national organisation. However due to a double booking of an out of town Hotel, the rearranged accommodation was in the centre of Shrewsbury ... an opportunity to update or add additional material.
In reality, there is no end to what I could depict here, so hopefully I've covered variety as it took far longer to publish due to altering some images to suit the text.)

Sun not being kind to The Welsh Bridge

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire which sits near to the Welsh Border and indeed was the scene of many English / Welsh battles. In a sense it was chosen as a settlement due to the natural defence of the River Severn meandering around most of the town.

The Welsh were finally defeated in 778 by King Offa of Mercia and upgrading to town status occurred soon after in 800 AD. The last unsuccessful assault in 1069 proved futile as William the Conquerer held the town and subsequently donated the town to Roger de Montgomery.

Shrewsbury Castle

Five years later in 1074 he built a castle to improve defences at the riverless north east corner of the town. The castle became a touch paper for internal English rebellions and battles until the Middle Ages, the most famous of which was immortalised in William Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1 Act 5.

Laura's Tower, Shrewsbury.

Thomas Telford the great Civil Engineer who left his mark on the county of Shropshire and beyond in later years can't be omitted from this post as he also got in on the act.  Telford had just arrived to the region as a young stonemason and started working for local MP Sir William Pulteney, the wealthiest man in Britain at the time. Pulteney who had previous famous building interests in Bath and Weymouth, gave Telford the task of restoring Shrewsbury Castle from a ruin to become his residence.
One of his other projects on site was the building of a summerhouse folly in 1790 at the high point of the castle grounds with extensive views over the east side of Shrewsbury and Shropshire. Laura's Tower might be what dreams are made of as a budding young stonemason builds a house for the daughter of the richest man in Britain ... no, you've just read into that :-)
It's rather poignant though that the Civil Engineers work now immediately overlooks the major railway junction to the south and the railway station built over 50 years later.

One of Sir Pulteney's most recent political predecessors was Robert Clive who was immortalised on a plinth in the square. In addition to his great oratory skills in politics, he was a Major General, an explorer and imperialist on his travels to India at a time when European nations were fighting for territory to gain supremacy in trade and power.

The Old Market Hall in the square built in 1596 dealt in Welsh Wool upstairs, Farmers corn downstairs and ... wet weather everywhere else !!

At least it's a great shelter nowadays where one can view woollen products from the modern age at a safe distance !

Night falls and it's not that I've waited for the rain to stop ......... have I been here for that long !!

It would be unfair not to show you the ... err ... modern 1960s Market Hall tower which is an imposing structure on the skyline. Local opinion still seems divided on it's place in the historic town, although this viewpoint in my opinion was my only photogenic capture of it. Partly because it tries and almost blends in to this street with the light.

One of the most surprising aspects of the towns history was the petition to Henry VIII for a grammar school. It was founded in 1552 and as a result of its success, was expanded by Queen Elizabeth in 1571, moved to purpose built facilities in 1630 and then relocated to a former workhouse and hospital next to the river in 1882. No doubt you guessed that rowing is one of the schools many activities.

Shrewsbury's business was steeped in the woollen trade and eventually became an important market town particularly as it was on the route from London to Ireland via Holyhead. The Lion Hotel was a typical coaching Inn where we were relocated to on my second visit.

The circular shaped church of St Chads was rebuilt on a new location following the collapse of a previous structure due to expansion attempts in the crypt. Interestingly it was Thomas Telford who advised the workers to stop the renovations just a short period before the collapse.

One of Shrewsbury's famous sons, Charles Darwin, was baptised here by his father although its not surprising what he ended up doing as he attended the more liberal unitarian church with his mother.

Quantum Leap, Shrewsbury

The town celebrated Darwins 200th birthday with a bizarre sculpture called Quantum Leap. Not the best viewpoint given the circumstances of crossing a 4 lane ring road around the outskirts of the town centre, whilst trying to keep track of where the complex walking tour was proceeding to next !!

Quarry bandstand, Shrewsbury

The Bandstand is situated in Quarry Park adjacent to St Chads church. The park incorporates gardens and a river walk area incorporates a popular river walk as the the River Severn curves around and encompasses the town. This large space is home to a variety of events including a top Horticultural show, river regattas and occasional pop concerts.

Riverside pub, Shrewsbury

Catching the light at one of the many Tudor buildings ... funnily enough yet another woollen seller loved by tourists ... The Edinburgh Woollen Mill !!

One of the things about being with a group of friends from different parts of the country is that I have been privileged to see towns and countryside that I wouldn't normally have chosen to visit. The downside of that is I have a small amount of time on my own with the camera ... to wait for people at a designated point when one needs contact lens solution, another needs the toilet and a third has to get a birthday card or something for a relative. haha. The meeting point that I didn't move from was a famous Chocolate shop about to get ready for their Christmas haul. It was a very busy pedestrianised shopping street and so it took me the full 15 minutes to get the correct balance of shop window art, tudor building and more importantly no-one walking in and out of my frame !!

Strangely enough I remembered where there was a post box for the birthday card !!

Awakening from sleep and opening the curtains at the Lion Hotel, the view from my bedroom window may not have been interesting although the view was extensive. It was more than just next doors chimney pot ... it was also the focus of the next post in the centre of the image !

It's nice to know that austere looking hotels from the past don't take themselves too seriously as I caught sight of a print on the wall on the way to breakfast .....