Day 1
For the next two days we head back into England. Although cloudy again, we set off again through a small part of the Brecon Beacons National Park and got a little bit of sunshine on the way.
Our first stop for the day was the Welsh border town of Hay On Wye. It has become famous as the “Worlds First Book Town”. It became a haven for specialist and second hand books and the most iconis is the Richard Booth shop called the Old Fire Station which opened in 1962. By the 1970’s the town had become known as the “Town of Books” and since 1988 has held an annual literary festival which attracts some 80,000 people annually over 10 days in a town normally with a population of about 2,000.
Next stop was over the border in England and the town of Ludlow. It is a small medieval market town with a number of Tudor and Georgian buildings. Today was also market day in the main square so we wandered around the market and had lunch in “Bill’s Kitchen”. “Bill” is Bill Sewell who is an English food writer and restaraunter who started in London and moved to Hereford. During the pandemic he opened the Ludlow location as well and it seemed a popular place and the BLT was so fresh !
In the small town of Much Wenlock we visited the ruins of Wenlock Priory, another ruin thanks to Henry VIII, although much later part was converted to a manor which is still in use today. We also found that another claim to fame was resident Dr William Penny Brookes who was the inspiration for the modern Olympic Movement and founder of the Wenlock Olympian Society. It dates back to the mid 1800’s, as his campaign to get Physical Education on the school curriculum brought him into contact with Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In 1890, the young French aristocrat visited Much Wenlock and stayed with Dr Brookes at his lifelong home in Wilmore Street. The Society staged a games especially for the baron and, inspired by the event and his discussions with Brookes, Coubertin wrote: “If the Olympic Games that Modern Greece has not yet been able to revive still survives there today, it is due, not to a Greek, but to Dr W P Brookes” In recognition of its sporting heritage, the 2012 London Olympic Games named one of their mascots Wenlock!
Not far on we reached our destination, the town of Ironbridge Gorge. Not surprisingly, the town is the location of the world’s first iron bridge was erected over the River Severn in 1779. It is no longer used for traffic and in fact within 2 years of opening needed repair as it was already “moving” . What may be surprising is that in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution names like Thomas Telford and Isambard Kingdom Bruenel might come to mind as bridge builders however this was well before – built by Abraham Darby III.
We are staying at the Best Western Valley Hotel further along the river but not far from the bridge and an easy walk to it and the town. We walked down to see the bridge before heading back to the hotel for a drink in the garden. There was a group also staying at the hotel all obviously a “Triking” 3 wheel car club as the bottom end of the carpark had about a dozen of them and we had seen them driving up the street when we went for our walk. We then had dinner in the restaurant to end a nice day!
Day 2
The weather was again overcast but little rain was in the forecast. We started our day in the main town of Shropshire, Shrewsbury. It dates back to the Romans however its main “architectural feature” appears to be Tudor. The town has markets a few days a week and we started off in the Market Hall. We were early so some stall had yet to open but they included everything from cafes to fresh fruit, vegetable and meats, to flower stalls, gift stalls and many more.
Next stop was Attingham Park a National Trust stately home. We didn’t know much about it but after driving through the estate and reaching the carpark, the number of cars in the car park indicated it was pretty popular ! It is a Georgian mansion previously owned by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, the 8th Lord Berwick before being transferred to the National Trust in 1947. It is 1,600 hectares and has vast parkland and gardens, a still working walled garden and a huge deer park. The Trust has set up two floors showcasing the living arrangements of the time – the owners “Upstairs” elegant dining room, picture gallery and other well to do rooms and then the “Downstairs” exhibiting what life was like for the many servants.
Our final stop on the road today was Wroxeter Roman City. In the tiny village of Wroxeter was once a large Roman city known as Viriconium Cornoviorum, said to have been one of the largest cities in Roman Britain. It was re-discovered in 1859 with the main remains today being a high side wall of a bath house and other lower ruins of the bath house itself. Across the road is a reconstructed town house. The remainder of the city is still buried. It was a big enough site that we didn’t get over run by the 3 school groups also there !
We drove back to Ironbridge and walked up to the bridge again to have a closer look and visit the Toll House Museum on the other side of the river. We also stopped into the Museum of the Gorge which portrays the history of the gorge. It is right on the banks of the river and there are markers on the wall showing various flood levels over time. One in 1795 was enormous but 4 of the last 5 or 6 have been since 2020, 2023 being the only missed year. We had a snack at “Eley’s of Ironbridge but instead of one of the World Famous Hand Raised Pork Pies, we settled for a pasty and sausage roll.
For dinner we walked alsong to the Swan Hotel Smoke & Taphouse. We had a drink in the bar – with everyone fixated on the TV in every pub at the moment as the “Euro 2024” football is on at the moment – before eating dinner in dining room – American BBQ style food. The service was a bit slow, certainly by American standards – as they had a new chef. We enjoyed the view from our window table across the Severn river so we weren’t really worried.
