Shropshire

Shropshire is England's largest inland county, covering an area of 1,347 square miles. To the west it borders Wales and to the south rural Herefordshire and Worcestershire. In the north is Cheshire and, to the east, Staffordshire and the West Midlands conurbation.

Towns and villages

Map of Shropshire

Towns

• 1 Shrewsbury – Shropshire's county town (population: 70,000) and the birthplace of Charles Darwin. Home to over 660 listed buildings including magnificent black and white examples.
• 2 Bishop's Castle – a traditional and very small old English town near the Welsh border
• 3 Bridgnorth – a town divided into low and high towns, described by Charles I as providing 'the finest view'
• 4 Church Stretton – Shropshire's "Little Switzerland"
• 5 Cleobury Mortimer – a small town in southeast Shropshire, between the Clee Hills and Wyre Forest
• 6 Clun – a tiny town in the southwest corner of the county, described by A.E. Housman as "the quietest place under the sun"
• 7 Ellesmere – in the heart of Shropshire's "meres and mosses" and home to 9 glacial meres (small lakes)
• 8 Ludlow – has an impressive castle and church, now the 'gastronomic capital' of the Midlands. Has a number of shops and markets specialising in food and drink.
• 9 Market Drayton – a market town on the Shropshire Union Canal and the home of gingerbread
• 10 Much Wenlock – birthplace of the modern Olympics
• 11 Newport – one of Shropshire's market towns
• 12 Oswestry – a market town near the Shropshire/Wales border
• 13 Shifnal – a town to the east of Telford, once an important staging post on the London to Holyhead road
• 14 Telford – the largest town (population: 130,000) and named after the engineer Thomas Telford
• 15 Wem – a small market town and home to the modern sweet pea
• 16 Whitchurch – market town on the Llangollen Canal

Villages

• 17 Whittington – a pretty little village near Oswestry and home to the impressive Whittington Castle situated in the heart of the village

Other destinations

• The Ironbridge Gorge Valley, home to the World's first Iron Bridge and home to the 10 Ironbridge Gorge Museums. The world's first iron bridge (oddly beautiful) spanning the River Severn. Birthplace of the industrial revolution, Ironbridge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Ironbridge Gorge Museums are nine award winning museums and sites that tell this momentous story.
• The Shropshire Hills with magnificent views of Shropshire and its neighbouring counties

Understand

Since 1998, Shropshire has been administratively divided into two areas; Telford and the Wrekin (described as a borough) covers about a sixth of the county (in the east) and the remainder is administered by Shropshire Council. However for most purposes it is still one county with the same media, press, emergency services, records service, etc.

Talk

The Shropshire Dialect of English is still spoken by many residents and dictionaries can be bought from some gift shops in the area.

Some parts of western Shropshire have a Welsh influence in their place names, and there are some Welsh speakers left in the county (particularly around Oswestry), though the vast majority of people living in Shropshire speak only English.

Get in

Shropshire is relatively easy to get to by road and rail.

The A49 (which runs from Lancashire to Herefordshire) runs through Shropshire from north to south, while the M54 and A5 run east to west and link in from the M6. The A5 and A49 converge at Shrewsbury.

Railways run into the country from six directions, all converging on Shrewsbury's railway station.

• The main line from the south, with trains running from Cardiff, has stops at Ludlow and Church Stretton.
• The main line from the east, with trains running from Birmingham and Wolverhampton, stops at Telford and Wellington.
• The main line from the northwest, with trains running from Holyhead and Chester, calls at Gobowen, the nearest station to Oswestry.
• The main line from the north, with trains running from Crewe and Manchester, calls at Whitchurch and Wem.
• The line from the west links the county with mid-Wales and the Cambrian coast; trains run to/from Welshpool and Aberystwyth.
• The line from the southwest is a minor route with infrequent trains to Swansea via a very rural part of Wales.

Those arriving by plane normally fly into Manchester Airport, Birmingham International and possibly John Lennon Airport, Liverpool. East Midlands Airport is also a possibility.

Get around

Shropshire is a predominantly rural area and sparsely populated. Car transport remains essential to take full advantage of the county, despite recent efforts to increase public transport usage.

It is possible to see most of the major sites by public transport. However, trains and buses can be infrequent.

Most towns in Shropshire have their own public transport and taxi service.

Seasonal shuttle buses give access to remote beauty spots in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the Long Mynd and Stiperstones (see Church Stretton).

See

With over 30 castles, there is plenty of history and heritage in Shropshire. If gardens are more your thing, then you won't be disappointed, as Shropshire has 20 national collections including English roses, clematis and tulips. Gardens include the Dorothy Clive Garden and the award winning Wollerton Old Hall Garden (both near Market Drayton), and Hawkstone Park and Follies near Shrewsbury.

Shropshire has over 90 other attractions to visit, including:

• Stokesay Castle. A very romantic and one of the oldest and best preserved 13th Century fortified manor house in England. North of Ludlow
• The Severn Valley Railway. One of Britain's most-visited heritage railways; historic steam and diesel trains chug through 16 miles of glorious countryside and restored stations. Shropshire has other steam train attractions.
• Wroxeter Roman City (Viroconium), near Shrewsbury. The fourth largest Roman city in Britain. Wroxeter was also the city of Camelot from the legend of King Arthur. You can follow the trail of King Arthur.
• The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford (Shifnal, Shropshire TF11 8UP). Aviation history brought to life, the largest collection of missiles in the country. Exciting displays of civil and military planes. Car parking available (charges apply). Home of the National Cold War Exhibition.
• Weston Park. Ancestral home of the Earls of Bradford. Lots of events, concerts and the occasional world summit. Near Shifnal
• Hawkstone Historic Park and Follies, near Market Drayton. Wooded land of grottos, caves, cliffs and follies. Filming location for The Chronicles of Narnia TV series.

Eat

Shropshire is an excellent place to find locally-grown produce at farmers' markets, delicatessens and small local shops. The county is home to a national winner of the retail cheese awards and a national finalist in the Taste of England awards.

Shropshire specialities include Shrewsbury biscuits, gingerbread, wimberry pie and fidget pie. Wimberries are small, hardy berries that grow near the ground on the moors, and their pie is obviously sweet and most commonly eaten after the August and September picking. Fidget pie is a savoury dish made with pork, bacon (or cured gammon), apples, cider, potatoes and onion, and is a deliciously-warming autumn or early winter meal. Local cheeses include Shropshire blue and Wrekin.

Traditional pubs and inns, tearooms and fine dining restaurants can all be found in Shropshire, though Ludlow is quite possibly the 'foodie capital' of the county (if not the whole region), with a fluctuating number of Michelin-starred and -listed restaurants, and many other specialist food shops and dining establishments.

Drink

There are traditional pubs, inns and microbreweries, and dozens of places where real ale can be sampled, including quite a few local tipples. The south Shropshire town of Bishop's Castle is home to two breweries, one of which (Three Tuns) has been continuously brewed since 1642. Other notable breweries are Hobsons of Cleobury Mortimer and Salopian of Shrewsbury. You should see a fair number of hopfields in the lowland and valley bottoms.

You can try Shropshire wine at Wroxeter Roman Vineyard, an historic site near Shrewsbury and one of the world's most northerly vineyards. It produces red, white and sparkling wines, and the named range includes Shropshire Gold, Wrekin Reserve and Wroxeter Medium. The vineyard also offers tours and tastings.

Cider is another popular drink at pubs, as it is throughout western England. There aren't as many cider producers as breweries, though there are a couple mainly concentrated in the south of the county, including Mahorall Farm near Ludlow.

Go next

• Cheshire
• Herefordshire
• Powys
• Staffordshire
• Worcestershire