Shropshire

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Shropshire is a county located in West Central england near the border with Wales and has a population of around 280,000 people. The county is located approximately half an hour west of the city of Birmingham and around 1 hour south of Liverpool and Manchester booth Birmingham and Manchester have international airports, Liverpool offers ferry links to both Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1 Towns
2 Attractions
- 2.1 Severn Valley Railway
3 Transport

Towns

The Shropshire area is made up of a variety of small to medium towns and villages mostly traditional English market towns surviving the test of time retaining much of their character even to today with many buildings centuries old still standing with the characteristic 16th century wooden black and white buildings of the Tudor period often standing next to stone built Medieval structure hundreds of years older such that in some of them it feels like you are walking through the History of England just walking down their streets.

Shrewsbury

The market house in Shrewsbury town square.

Shrewsbury located in the centre of the county is the county town founded in the 9th century it now has a population of around 70,000. The towns height in terms of national importance and wealth was during the 14th and 15th centuries giving rise to the many Medieval stone buildings which give the town much of it's character, the street plan of the town is almost untouched after this period although many buildings in the Tudor style were added in the 16th century the entire town centre has a very historic feel. Much of the importance of the town was as a market town mainly due to the trade in wool, main trading routes were a main road called Watling Street (A roman road from south wales through Shrewsbury, the midlands, Canterbury and on to London) and the River Severn which travels towards Bristol traveling through Worcester and Gloucester along it's route.

The town is also the birthplace of Charles Darwin the famous 19th century naturalist who created the theory of evolution in his work The Origin of Species he was born at Mount House in Shrewsbury which still stands today as does Shrewsbury School where he was educated which is now the town library.

Among many other interesting sights in Shrewsbury are the 11th century Shrewsbury Abbey, the 29 acre riverside park known as the Quarry sited on a former Quarry has nice views over the river Severn and nice views towards the town itself including a section of the town walls.

Ironbridge

The famous Iron Bridge

Ironbridge located in south Telford is the home of the famous Iron Bridge constructed in 1775 being completed in 1779 it was the first structural use of cast iron it spans a distance of 30.5 meters over the picturesque Ironbridge Gorge with a total length of 60 meters at 18 meters in height. The bridge is an imposing landmark of this industrial town, there are examples of much of the towns early industrial history which still remain and the town is located in an area with many museums devoted to the processes of the Industrial Revolution period. It is also where Abraham Darby I perfected the process of smelting iron which allowed iron to be produced much cheaper and sparked off a new era of metal construction, his grandson Abraham Darby III was the person who later oversaw the construction of the Iron Bridge.

The local area also hosts a good selection of local museums most of which are dedicated to the areas Victorian industrial heritage collectively called the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, among these includes a fully recreated Victorian town which also offers a variety of demonstrations of life in Victorian England, it is even possible to exchange modern money into Victorian era pre decimal currency which can be used in the shops in the area giving a real feeling experience of life in that period.

The Ironbridge Gorge in which it is sited is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Telford

Telford is a new town, initially designed in 1963 as Dawley New Town covering an area if 37km² Including Dawley, Wenlock, Oakengates, Wellington Rural District and Shifnal Rural District. Later this area was extended to incorporate the Ironbridge Gorge area expanding the area to 41 km² and renamed the town to it's current name of Telford after Thomas Telford during the 1960's and 1970's a large amount of investment was made into the growing new town which now houses a population of around 140,000 people.

The town hosts numerous attractions including a 10 screen cinema which is the largest number of screens in a Shropshire cinema, the next largest is in Shrewsbury with 8 screens, it is also the Telford Shopping Centre which contains over 160 stores including many of the well known international brands.

Attractions

Shropshire has attractions ranging from its historic market towns, country houses and castles, attractive open countryside, the Ironbridge gorge and a wroking heritage steam railway.

Severn Valley Railway

The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage steam railway which runs from Bridgenorth Shropshire through to Kidderminster over a 16 mile (26km) section of track using restored original steam engines, the line runs most of it's route through the picturesque Severn valley a nice view of the countryside even for those without interest in steam railways. The line itself once once formed part of the mainline Severn Valley Line from which the heritage railway takes it's name, the mainline service was closed in 1963 after 101 years of service.

For more information see their website which has information on their timetables, train stock, special events along with the railway's museum and various other information.

Transport

Rail

Shropshire has links with the rest of England via the Shrewsbury to Birmingham line giving access onwards to most of England especially the south or central areas of the country including places such as London, Bristol and Bath it also has lines running from Shrewsbury into South Wales to Newport and Cardiff, Mid Wales Aberystwyth passing through the attractive welsh hills countryside and several smaller traditional welsh towns along it's route. There is also rail links from Shrewsbury to Manchester which link onwards northern England including Liverpool, Leeds and York and onwards into Scotland Glasgow.

For local rail information timetables, fares or to book tickets this site should be helpful National Rail Enquiries (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/)

Airports

Shropshire itself does not have an international airport but is close to the international airports at Birmingham and Manchester both around 75 minutes away by rail.

Coach

The major coach links run from Telford and Shrewsbury operated by National Express Coaches, see their site [1] for details of timetables, prices and also to book tickets to travel.

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