Tuesday 5th
August
SHREWSBURY
Robyn
writes: I have had the absolute best day
today! As a great fan for many decades of the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters
(AKA Edith Pargeter) and the TV series made from them, I’d been wanting to see
Shrewsbury, where they are based, for years, and today I had my chance.
We had a
wonderful night’s sleep last night after such a huge travel day yesterday – in
fact, the alarm woke us at twenty past seven to go down for a half past seven
breakfast. This was in the Royalist Restaurant downstairs. We have never
breakfasted in such a place! Our table was next to two suits of armour, and the
décor included lots of antique helmets and weapons. The food was excellent,
too.
After breakfast, we got ourselves organised and dressed warmly. Although the sun was shining (mostly), Storm Floris had left the legacy of strong, cold, gusty winds, so we layered up. We headed out first to do some of the walk along the Severn River. Old Shrewsbury is mostly located in an ‘almost island’ in the Severn, which does a big loop around the old town centre. There’s a wide, flat walkway by the riverside that is very popular with locals for running, cycling and walking the dog in the mornings. We passed some of the local high schoolers out rowing, with their coach in an inflatable, yelling instructions through a megaphone! A little further along, we came to a glorious flower garden known locally as ‘The Dingle’.
As it was just after ten o’clock by now, I left Lex there to continue around the river path, and I found my way to the town’s museum, where I paid three pounds for their little booklet on Cadfael’s Shrewsbury – it has three Cadfael walks which take you to all the places mentioned in the books. Ellis Peters was a local, and a historian, so the places she writes about were all real. I set out first for Shrewsbury Abbey, which dates back to 1083. It was founded as a Benedictine monastery by Roger de Montgomery, whose effigy is in the abbey, very weathered by time. It grew to be one of the most important and influential monasteries in medieval Britain (until, of course, our old friend Thomas Cromwell came along and smashed things up.) Fortunately, about half of the abbey has survived, as it was also used as a parish church (as it still is today). Ellis Peter’s character Cadfael is a Benedictine monk, and the stories are set in the time of The Anarchy, the twenty years from 1135 when cousins Stephen and Matilda battled constantly in a civil war for the throne of England. It certainly made the stories come to life for me to see where they were situated – I may have to reread them all when I get home! One of the volunteers in the abbey knew Edith Pargeter, who used to worship there. They also had a collection of second hand Cadfael books and some of her Edith Pargeter books for sale, so I now have one of them to take with me on my travels.
I had a lovely time wandering around the abbey and the abbey foregate, before heading back over the bridge and into the old town again. I had morning tea in a café before heading next for St Mary’s church, which is also mentioned in the books. It’s not used as a church anymore, but it is maintained as a historic building. The stained-glass windows particularly are stunning, and many are medieval. Just wandering around Shrewsbury is lovely; around every turn you come across more wonderful, old buildings and some gorgeous shops.
My next stop was Shrewsbury Castle, which was also built by Roger de Montgomery. Those Norman overlords kept themselves busy. The original motte tower collapsed into the Severn due to erosion in the 1200s, and a lot of it was remodelled by Thomas Telford in the 1700s, but you can still see some of the Norman walls which survive. In 1138, the castle fell to King Stephen after a month-long siege, and he was so annoyed that the defenders had defied him, that he hanged 93 of them from the castle walls. There’s a long and bloody history here. The castle now is home to a museum showing the history of Shropshire’s military regiments, so that was interesting to see.
By now I’d been walking for hours, and my feet were getting rather sore, so I picked up a takeaway chicken burrito for a late lunch and brought it home to the Prince Rupert so I could have a nice rest. Lex joined me there soon after – he’d also been walking around the river walk and town all morning, so he had a nap.
Around three, I left him to sleep, and headed out again to explore a bit further along the castle walls. I also found St Chad’s church, half of which collapsed in 1788. This being England, they’ve left it there, though they did move its stained glass up to St Mary’s. I got back around 4.30, once more really glad to get my shoes off and put my feet up!
We had a quiet hour or two sorting photos, blog writing, reading etc, before heading out to look for tea. We found it at Ask Italian in the High Street (it’s in a gorgeous old Tudor building – photo was on last night’s blog), and had a lovely meal and wine/beer there. The sun was just going down as we strolled home. I still don’t have a mental map of Shrewsbury in my head (too many winding medieval lanes) but Lex’s sense of direction is pretty good here.
Tomorrow, sadly, we leave here, but we are heading for the north of Wales, which should be lovely.
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