Southwold to Covehithe Suffolk Circular walk 24.06.22

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On Friday the 24th June 2022 Mike and I drove just over 2 hours to Southwold in Suffolk and arrived at 0950 hours. We parked for free in Pier Avenue, donned our boots and walked down to the pier.

This walk is dependant upon tides and consultation of tide times is vital in order to negotiate the beach route.

You should consult the tide times as the tide does cut off access in front of the cliffs at Easton Bavents. The cliffs along this section are rapidly eroding and you should not attempt to walk at the foot of the cliffs either due to the risk of falls. There is also the possibility that Easton Broad may have been breached during winter storms making the beach impassable at this point in which case one can only return to Southwold. Allow a couple of hours either side of low tide and use a visual inspection before setting out.

We had a quick look at the pier, before we decided to start our walk.

The pier was built in 1900 as a landing stage for steamships that brought tourists from London Clacton and Great Yarmouth until the 1930s.It was 270 yards (250 m) in length and finished with a T-shaped end.

The ownership of the pier transferred from that of the Coast Development Company following its winding up in 1906, to The Amusement Equipment Company.

The landing stage of the pier was destroyed during a storm in 1934, with the T-shaped end being swept away. An addition to the pier of a concert hall and amusement arcade was made during 1937 at the shore end of the pier.

During the Second World War the pier had a section removed due to the fear of its use during an invasion. Further damage occurred from an impact with a mine. The pier was rebuilt after the war at a cost of £30000.

Further damage caused by storms in October 1955 and February 1979 left the length of the pier at 20 yards (18 m).

In 1960, a part of the pier pavilion was transformed into the Neptune Bar public house.

Parts of the pier were further restored during 1987 where additional work was carried out to both the theatre and function room. After the reconstruction the pier then reopened in December 1988.

The pier was bought by Chris Iredale in 1987 and he first spent five years turning the pavilion into a profit-making business. A major refurbishment program was started in 1999 in order to rebuild the pier. This was completed to a design by Brian Haward ARIBA AABC Architect of The Rope House Southwold and constructed by Nick Haward [Southwold] Limited in 2001 almost 100 years after it was first opened. In 2002 a new T-Shaped end was added, bringing the pier to a total length of 208 yards (190 m). This additional length now allows the pier to accommodate visits by Britain's only surviving sea-going steam passenger ship, the PS Waverley paddle steamer and its running mate the MV Balmoral.

The pier is home to several shops and attractions including traditional souvenir shops, cafés, restaurants and amusement arcades.

Before we set off down the beach, we stopped for the convenient toilets here, much needed after the drive up.

We pass the pretty brightly painted beach huts here. Some are available for daily rental.

We walk down onto the beach and clamber over a few boulders and down onto the sand, here on Sole Bay.

The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and largely unprepared for battle, and ended at a hard fought draw.

Both sides later claimed victory.

We are now walking below the cliffs of Easton Bavents.

The place-name Easton Bavents is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Estuna. It takes the form Eston Bavent in the Charter Rolls of 1330. The first part of the name means "eastern settlement". The Feudal Aids of 1316 show that the village was then held by Thomas de Bavent, Bavent being a place near Caen in Normandy.

Medieval Easton Bavents was a parish of some importance, granted a weekly market in the 14th century, with a three-day fair on the feast day of St Nicholas of Myra (6 December). Records show the parish church, dedicated to St Nicholas, was still in use in 1639, and a rector appointed as late as 1666. However, the cliff on which the village was built collapsed. The church itself seems to have sunk under the sea in the latter part of the 17th century. A chapel dedicated to St Margaret the Virgin also disappeared.

The Battle of Solebay in the Third Anglo-Dutch War took place in 1672 off the coast of Easton Bavents, which survived as a fishing village until the 19th century. The continuing erosion of the cliffs makes the area a popular, albeit hazardous area for fossil hunters, who approach it along the beach from Southwold.

The pace of erosion has averaged some 3 metres a year since 1945, although storms and high tides increase the rate. The last three terraced houses on the cliff edge were demolished in January 2020. Author Juliet Blaxland wrote a memoir about living in one of them. Called The Easternmost House, it was published in 2019 and nominated for the Wainwright Prize.

It really is such a joy to be out of the city and walking on the beach with the sun shining, the sound of the waves and the sea breeze in your hair. Back to work tomorrow, but for now I'll enjoy the freedom of an empty beautiful beach. Suffolk really do have some of the best beaches!

Up in the cliffs are many holes that are home to the many sand martins, diving in and out. A real joy to watch!

Further up the beach we reach Easton Broad.

Easton Broad is so close to the sea with only a beach separating its waters from the sea. A sluice has been constructed on the southern side to assist in managing the outfall. Once a sizeable broad , these days there is no more than a small pool, its side brimming with tall dense reedbeds. A century ago this was a vast body of water stretching up the coastline but erosion has taken its toll with some 1000ft of coast being taken by the sea in that time. On the north side of the Broad are the remains of trees scattered across the beach, these have succumbed to tidal erosion of Easton Wood that sits on the clifftops above. This is an ever changing scene and every visit provides a different beach landscape. For many years a sole tree stood upright in the tidal waters stripped of bark and an icon to the never relenting erosion.

A tree stump that resembles a seal we thought, what do you think?

Ahead in the distance is Covehithe the destination of this walk.

It was hot day and the lure of the sea was too strong, time for a dip in the sea.

The sea temperature was lovely, shame about the waves crashing over me .

As much as I'd love to have stayed in the sea longer, we had a walk to complete and I got dressed and walked back over the beach towards the path.

I ended up walking through a muddy patch near the broad in barefoot, feet now covered in sticky mud.

I sit on a log by the broad trying to scrape the sticky mud from my feet, its n good and I walk back over to the sea and wash the mud from my feet.

With the mud gone, I sit back on the log remove the sand and pull my socks and boots back on.

We walk on up the Covehithe Cliffs along a sandy path.

We are walking across Church Farm and stop to say hello to some friendly pigs.

We reach a road and turn right to walk to the church here at Covehithe. The google car was here takeing its photos of the area.

St Andrew's Church is a partly redundant Anglican church in the hamlet of Covehithe. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, Part of the church is in ruins and this is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands on a lane leading directly towards the sea, in an area of coast which has suffered significant ongoing erosion. The parish of Covehithe has been combined with neighbouring Benacre.

The oldest fabric in the original large medieval church dates from the 14th century, although most of it is from the 15th century. During the Civil War much of the stained glass was destroyed by the local iconoclast William Dowsing. By the later part of that century the large church was too expensive for the parishioners to maintain, and they were given permission in 1672 to remove the roof and to build a much smaller church within it. This small church is still in use, while the tower and the ruins of the old church are maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust.

Newer small church

The west end of the 17th-century church is built against the tower. Its fabric includes much material re-used from the older church, and some brick. Its roof is thatched. The windows have two lights separated by wooden mullions, and contain diamond-leaded windows. Both the north and the south doorways have been re-used. The east window dates from the 19th century. Inside the church is a 15th-century carved octagonal font. At the west end are 15th-century pews with poppyhead carving. The wooden pulpit contains some 17th-century carving. Under the tower arch are the royal arms of George III.

Medieval church

This is constructed in random flint rubble with stone dressings. Its plan consists of a nave, a chancel, north and south seven-bay aisles, a north sacristy, and a west tower. The tower is still intact and is in three principal stages, with buttresses and a battlemented parapet. On the south side of the middle stage is an ogee-headed opening. There are bell openings on each side of the top stage, but their tracery is missing. The wall of the south aisle is more complete than the north wall, and contains six intact window openings. The chancel projects one bay beyond the aisles, and contains tall window openings in its north and south wall, and a large east window opening. The buttresses at the east end are decorated with chequered flushwork, and contain canopied niches for statues. Some of the carved corbels for the chancel roof are still present.

A little known aspect of Covehithe is the location of a nuclear bunker. Its location is unknown know but there are a couple of references to it. It is stated there is a '1 historic nuclear hardened GPO cable bunker.

We leave the church behind and head off back down the road that is the official Suffolk Coast Path.

It is a bit of road walking now, not a busy road but there is enough traffic driving down to the church.

At the end of the road we reach the B1127 and we turn left and across the road is a old Hillman Imp for sale.

We walk on alongside the B1127 passing Church Farm.

Across the road is the church of St Lawrence's at South Cove.

The Church of England parish church of St Lawrence has a 12th-century nave with original doorways, and a tall 15th-century three-stage tower. The chancel is probably from the 14th century and was restored in 1877. The building was designated as Grade I listed in 1953. Today the parish is part of the Sole Bay benefice, a group of eight churches.

Almost opposite the church we take another track on our right and follow this along.

We follow the road along pass Frostenden Farm.

We reach Frostenden Corner where a house there has a wild flower meadow as their front garden, very nice.

We follow the path along that then goes through Spores Wood.

We continue to follow the Suffolk Coast Path and cross Reydon Grove Farm.

We are now walking along a country Lane towards Reydon.

We pass some Almshouses in Reydon.

Reydon's Alms houses, ‘The Rest' in Covert Road, were opened in 1908. With their distinctive gate houses, the appearance has changed little on the outside, but they have been greatly improved inside.

The benefactor was Andrew Matthews, a successful businessman with a main home in Willesden, and a house in Lorne Road Southwold. One unusual rule was that any resident displaying a certain photograph of his wife, Ellen, on her birthday, was given a 5 shilling reward!

These grade 2 listed buildings are still run by a charity for local older residents.

At the end of the road by the Reydon village sign we turn left onto the A1095 that leads us back into Southwold.

Southwold was mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) as a fishing port, and after the "capricious River Blyth withdrew from Dunwich in 1328, bringing trade to Southwold in the 15th century", it received its town charter from Henry VII in 1489. The grant of the charter is marked by the annual Trinity Fair, when it is read out by the Town Clerk. Over following centuries, however, a shingle bar built up across the harbour mouth, preventing the town from becoming a major Early Modern port: "The shingle at Southwold Harbour, the mouth of the Blyth, is ever shifting," William Whittaker observed in 1887.

Southwold was the home of a number of Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, notably a party of 18 assembled under Rev. Young, which travelled in the Mary Ann in 1637. Richard Ibrook, born in Southwold and a former bailiff of the town, emigrated to Hingham, Massachusetts, along with Rev. Peter Hobart, son of Edmund Hobart of Hingham, Norfolk. Rev. Hobart had been an assistant vicar of St Edmund's Church, Southwold, after graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge. Hobart married in America Rebecca Ibrook, daughter of his fellow Puritan Richard Ibrook. The migrants to Hingham were led by Robert Peck, vicar of St Andrew's Church in Hingham and a native of Beccles.

We visit the Adnams Brewery shop, realising we're not gonna be able to carry all this beer, we buy one each to drink on the beach and will return with the car.

A fire in 1659 devastated most of the town, creating spaces that were never built on again. Today this "series of varied and very delightful village greens" and the restriction of expansion by the surrounding marshes, have preserved the town's tidy appearance.

On the green just above the beach, descriptively named Gun Hill, six 18-pounder cannon commemorate the Battle of Sole Bay, fought in 1672 between English and French fleets on one side and the Dutch (under Michiel de Ruyter) on the other. The battle was bloody but indecisive and many bodies were washed ashore. Southwold Museum has a collection of mementos of the event. These cannon were captured from the Scots at Culloden and given to the town by the Duke of Cumberland, who had landed at Southwold in October 1745 having been recalled from Europe to deal with the Jacobite threat. In World War II they were prudently removed, reputedly buried for safety, and returned to their former position after hostilities.

On 15 May 1943, low-flying German fighter-bombers attacked the town and killed eleven people.

Southwold Lighthouse is a lighthouse operated by Trinity House in the centre of Southwold in Suffolk, England. It stands on the North Sea coast, acting as a warning light for shipping passing along the east coast and as a guide for vessels navigating to Southwold harbour.

The lighthouse, which is a prominent local landmark, was commissioned in 1890, and was automated and electrified in 1938. It survived a fire in its original oil-fired lamp just six days after commissioning and today operates a 180-watt main navigation lamp. This lamp has a range of 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi).

The lighthouse is 31 metres (102 ft) tall, standing 37 metres (121 ft) above sea level. It is built of brick and painted white, and has 113 steps around a spiral staircase. Two keeper's cottages were built next to the lighthouse rather than living quarters being made in the lighthouse itself.

We walk pass Adnams Brewery and the air is filled with the amazing smell of malt as there is obviously a mash going on right now. I stand next to the vents breathing in the sweet smell of malt.

Beer has been brewed on the same site in Southwold for at least 670 years.

The earliest record of beer being brewed here, is from 1345. "Ale wife" Johanna de Corby and 17 others were charged by the manorial court for serving illegal measures. There's none of that business today.

1880 - Tally Ho was first brewed in this year and is still brewed today. 

We walk back around the town on the hunt for a chip shop.

We buy some chips from The Little Fish and Chip shop and head off down to the beach.

Don't get much better than this Chips and a Adnams Dry Hopped lager on the beach. Chips were amazing as was the beer. Had to keep a close eye on the interested seagulls eyeing up our chips. Or maybe they have developed a taste of Adnams beer, either way they were having neither!

We walked back to the car and drove back to the Adnams Shop to buy some beer parking outside St Edmund King and Martyr Church.

The parish church of Southwold is dedicated to St Edmund, and is considered to be one of Suffolk's finest. It lies under one continuous roof, and was built over about 60 years from the 1430s to the 1490s; it replaced a smaller 13th-century church that was destroyed by fire. The earlier church dated from the time when Southwold was a small fishing hamlet adjacent to the larger Reydon. By the 15th century Southwold was an important town in its own right, and the church was rebuilt to match its power and wealth.

After a wonderful 12.5 mile walk we head off back home.

Carding Mill Valley Reservoir walk Shropshire 06.06.22

On 6th June 2022 Mel and I stopped off at Carding Mill Valley  at Church Stretton on our way back from Shrewsbury. Initially we only planned to have a quick look as Mel doesn't really do walking. 

A look on the information board and Mel was happy to walk the short walk up to the reservoir.

 

Carding Mill Valley is run by the National Trust and is just outside Church Stretton in Shropshire. With 10 miles of tracks and bridleways, it is the ideal place for serious hikers. Shorter walks with some accessible paths make it ideal for families as well. It has breathtaking landscape, wild ponies wandering the hillside, a small reservoir that welcomes wild swimmers and a café.

We walk a short stretch us a gentle hill up to the Reservoir, in an area known as New Hollow Pool, named after two early mill pools.

We climb the reservoir's retaining bank and cross the stile into the enclosure.

Would be nice to have a swim here, but not today.

We return back the way we came after a very short walk, just over  a mile and a half.

This is an amazing area and I have plans to return to walk the Long Mynd and then the Stiperstones the next day. Hopefully this will happen soon.

Shrewsbury,Shropshire River Walk 6th June 2022

As part of Mel and I weekend away in Ludlow Shropshire we drove to Shrewsbury to have a look about. Its somewhere we've always seen on signs on our way to North Wales and wanted to see it for ourselves.

We parked up in the Julian Friars Car Park and walked out onto Beeches Lane and the onto the A5191 and then onto Wyle Cop.

The town centre has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and is where he spent 27 years of his life.

9 miles (14 km) east of the Welsh border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution centres, such as Battlefield Enterprise Park, on the outskirts.

Up on out right we could see St Alkmunds Church, sitting behind the St Julians Centre.

At the very heart of the historic and beautiful town of Shrewsbury stands the church of St Alkmund, which celebrated its 1,100th anniversary in 2012. St. Alkmund’s was founded by Aethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, daughter of Alfred the Great and one of the great women of the Saxon age. Hemmed in by medieval markets, mansions and bustling, narrow lanes, the church has long been an island of tranquillity and prayer at the centre of the town.

We continue on along High Street.

The town was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys, known to the ancient Britons as Pengwern, signifying "the alder hill"; and in Old English as Scrobbesburh (dative Scrobbesbyrig), which may mean either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place in the bushes" (or "shrubs", the modern derivate).This name gradually evolved in three directions, into Sciropscire, which became Shropshire; into Sloppesberie, which became Salop / Salopia (an alternative name for both town and county), and into Schrosberie, which eventually became the town's name, Shrewsbury. Its later Welsh name Amwythig means "fortified place"

Over the ages, the geographically important town has been the site of many conflicts, particularly between the English and Welsh. The Angles, under King Offa of Mercia, took possession in 778.

Nearby is the village of Wroxeter, 5 miles (8 km) to the south-east. This was once the site of Viroconium, the fourth largest cantonal capital in Roman Britain. As Caer Guricon it is a possible alternative for the Dark Age seat of the Kingdom of Powys. The importance of the Shrewsbury area in the Roman era was underlined with the discovery of the Shrewsbury Hoard in 2009.

We reach the beautiful 16th Century Square with the Old Market Hall at its centre is formed on three sides by gorgeous high-end boutiques and restaurants as well as the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery.

Built in 1596, the Market Hall intended to impress with materials, style and scale. It had two storeys; the large upper room was originally used by the Shrewsbury drapers or dealers in cloth to sell Welsh wool and the lower floor was used by farmers to sell corn.

We walk through to Market Street back onto the A5191 and then down Mardol.

We stop in the Shrewsbury Hotel (A JD Wetherspoon pub) for breakfast.

We cross the A458 road after breakfast and walk along the river to see the Quantum Leap,which is a sculpture situated next to the River Severn in Shrewsbury. It was created to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of evolutionist Charles Darwin, who was born in the town in 1809. The sculpture was unveiled on 8 October 2009 by Randal Keynes, a great-great-grandson of Darwin

Quantum Leap Sculpture.

We walk back up the river to the Welsh Bridge.

he Welsh Bridge is a masonry arch viaduct in the town of Shrewsbury, which crosses the River Severn. It connects Frankwell with the town centre. It is a Grade II listed building.

The bridge was designed and built from 1793 to 1795 by John Tilley and John Carline (whose namesake father was a mason on the English Bridge), who had built Montford Bridge for Thomas Telford. It replaced the medieval St George's Bridge. Four of the arches span 43 feet 4 inches, while the fifth and central arch is 46 feet 2 inches. The bridge is 30 feet wide, and built from Grinshill sandstone. In total it is 266 feet long. It was completed in 1795 at a cost of £8,000.

On the south end of the bridge, on the junction with Victoria Avenue, one of the parapets of the bridge has the words "Commit No Nuisance" chiselled into the stone. This is an archaic injunction not to urinate in public.

We are now walking along the river through a park known as The Quarry.

The Quarry is Shrewsbury's beautiful, 29-acre parkland, encircled by the majestic loop of the river Severn. The Quarry has been Shrewsbury's most important site for recreation since the 16th Century.

At the heart of the Quarry lies the Dingle, a floral masterpiece cultivated by world renowned gardener Percy Thrower, who served as Parks Superintendent for 28 years. Its a delightful sunken garden landscaped with alpine borders, brilliant bedding plants, shrubbery and charming water features.

In the distance we could see St Chads Church.

St Chad's Church occupies a prominent position in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire. The current church building was built in 1792, and with its distinctive round shape and high tower it is a well-known landmark in the town. It faces The Quarry area of parkland, which slopes down to the River Severn.

We walk beneath the Port Hill Suspension bridge as we follow the river around.

It connects Porthill with the Quarry and the town centre. Next to it on the Porthill side is the Boathouse public house and Becks Field - both Quarry Park and Becks Field are extensive open green spaces largely preserved from building by their propensity to flood. Porthill Bridge experiences significant vibration, even when few people are crossing it - and has done since it was installed. Local pedestrians mostly accept this eccentricity as part of the bridge's charm.

A ferry operated here until the bridge was built in 1922 by David Rowell & Co. One of the posts to which the cable was attached is still visible on the north bank of the river just a few metres west of the crossing. The bridge was opened on 18 January 1923. £2,000 of the bridge's total £2,600 cost was paid for by the Shropshire Horticultural Society.

We walked on with a huge pike kept leaping from the river and crashing back down as followed the river.

We reached the English Bridge.

The English Bridge is a masonry arch viaduct, crossing the River Severn. The present bridge is a 1926 rebuilding and widening (re-using the original masonry) of John Gwynn's design, completed in 1774. A bridge is known to have stood at this spot since at least Norman times. Historically, it was known as the "Stone Bridge". It is a Grade II listed building.

The original Norman bridge consisted of five arches and a timber causeway. A large tower stood on the East bank, housing a gate and a drawbridge. The bridge also supported several shops and houses. Building work on Gwynn's replacement bridge started on 29 June 1769, and comprised seven semicircular arches, 400 feet (120 m) long. This bridge cost £16,000. The 55-foot (17 m) span central arch was built high, to provide headroom to watercraft, but this resulted in steep approaches.

As a result, a new design was put forward in 1921 by Arthur W. Ward, the Borough Surveyor. This lowered all the arches, converting the central one into a segmental arch, reducing the height of the roadway by 5 feet (1.5 m). The new bridge was to be 50 feet (15 m) wide, more than twice as wide as Gwynn's structure (of 23 and a half feet width). It cost £86,000 and was formally opened on 26 October 1927 by Queen Mary, although it had been completed the previous year. Ward's bridge reused the old masonry, each stone carefully numbered, as well as a quantity of new stonework. Concrete was used to 'saddle' the arches and in the foundations.

The bridge is one of two bridges carrying the main east-west route over the Severn as it loops around Shrewsbury; the Welsh Bridge is its counterpart on the other side of the town. Despite the names, both bridges are in England, but the Welsh Bridge is on the side closer to Wales.

Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1815 and connecting London to the main sea-crossing to Ireland, used the English Bridge to cross the Severn here. The road's modern successor, the A5, now bypasses Shrewsbury and the bridge's main role today is to connect the centre of Shrewsbury with the Belle Vue and Abbey Foregate areas of the town.

We continue to walk on and pass under the bridge that carries the railway over the River Severn.

Just after the bridge we take some steps that lead us up to Shrewsbury Prison.

The prison was decommissioned in March 2013, but is now open to the public.

The former prison site, on Howard Street, adjacent to Shrewsbury railway station, is near the site of the Dana Gaol, a medieval prison. The name The Dana is still often used for the prison, as well as being the name of the road to one side of the prison and the pedestrian route that runs from near the front of the prison into the town centre via a footbridge over the station.

The Victorian prison that you see today sits on top of the original Georgian prison, the remains of which are still accessible underneath the current buildings.

A bust of prison reformer John Howard is above the main entrance to the prison. The street leading up to the prison from the main road is also named after him.

We cross the tracks and over to Shrewsbury Castle.

Shrewsbury Castle is a red sandstone castle.

A castle was ordered on the site by William I c. 1067 - a very early date - but it was greatly extended under Roger de Montgomery circa 1070 as a base for operations into Wales, an administrative centre and as a defensive fortification for the town, which was otherwise protected by the loop of the river. Town walls, of which little now remains, were later added to the defences, as a response to Welsh raids and radiated out from the castle and surrounded the town; the area known as Town Walls still has a small section of them and a single tower, known as Town Walls Tower, which is in the care of the National Trust). In 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud during the period known as The Anarchy.

The castle was briefly held by Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, in 1215. Parts of the original medieval structure remain largely incorporating the inner bailey of the castle; the outer bailey, which extended into the town, has long ago vanished under the encroachment of later shops and other buildings. Having fallen into decay after c. 1300 (at the end of the Welsh wars) the castle became a domestic residence during the reign of Elizabeth I and passed to the ownership of the town council c.1600. The castle was extensively repaired in 1643 during the Civil War and was briefly besieged by Parliamentary forces from Wem before its surrender. It was acquired by Sir Francis Newport in 1663. Further repairs were carried out by Thomas Telford on behalf of Sir William Pulteney, M.P. for Shrewsbury, after 1780 to the designs of the architect Robert Adam.

The Shropshire Horticultural Society purchased the castle from a private owner, then Lord Barnard, and gave it to the town in 1924 and it became the location of Shrewsbury's Borough Council chambers for over 50 years. The castle was internally restructured to become the home of the Shropshire Regimental Museum when it moved from Copthorne Barracks and other local sites in 1985. The museum was attacked by the IRA on 25 August 1992 and extensive damage to the collection and to some of the Castle resulted. The museum was officially re-opened by Princess Alexandra on 2 May 1995. In 2019 it was rebranded as the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

In 2019 and 2020 an archaeology project by Shropshire Council and the University of Chester undertook excavations in the castle. Work in 2019 found the remains of the original ditch surrounding the motte of c.1067, along with a range of medieval pottery and two arrow heads or crossbow-bolt heads. Excavations in 2020 failed to locate St Michael's chapel, but did recover evidence of 'high-status feasting', including the bones of a pike and possibly a swan.

I pass Shrewsbury Town Council and Library building on Castle Gates.

Shrewsbury Library is housed in a Grade I listed building situated on Castle Gates near Shrewsbury Castle. The site was the home of Shrewsbury School from 1550 until 1882. The buildings were handed over to the town in 1882 and a free library and museum were opened by the Corporation of Shrewsbury utilizing the building in 1885. The library was moved temporarily to Raven Meadows in 1976 while the site on Castle Gates underwent extensive restorations. The library was re-opened in 1983 by Princess Margaret.

Above the main entrance are two statues bearing the inscriptions "Philomathes" and "Polumathes". These represent students, one coming to learn and the other a learned scholar on leaving. The inscription below is from Isocrates and reads "If you are a lover of learning, you will become learned".

We walk up Pride Hill and back through the Old Market Hall.

We walk back the way we came and arrive back at our car, what a lovely place Shrewsbury is!