Take a look at our preferred links to our beautiful town of Shrewsbury. Be amazed at it's cultural history and offerings. Click on the link(s) to arrive at the sites.
The opening home page of www.visitshrewsbury.com:
SHREWSBURY
Shrewsbury has been called 'England's finest Tudor town' with good reason, black and white properties are everywhere and with over 660 listed buildings (quite a list) all linked by ancient shuts or passageways.
On the Border of Wales and England and surrounded almost entirely by the River Severn, Shrewsbury has been protected from the ravages of modern life.
Throughout the year, there is plenty to see and do in Shrewsbury. If you pop into town for a bit of shopping Shrewsbury has the big High Street names, as well as plenty of independent shops - so it’s easy to find something that bit different. And if it's entertainment you are looking for, visit our online events list. Check the How to Get to Shrewsbury pages for details of the Shrewsbury Park & Ride Service.
Perhaps you would simply like to wander around Shrewsbury town centre – there is plenty to see. Charles Darwin, perhaps the town's greatest son, would still recognise much of modern Shrewsbury. His statue stands outside the library, erected by proud townsfolk in 1894 - even though at that time he was still considered a dangerous atheist.
Whatever the merits of that particular debate, the opposing point of view is well represented in our many beautiful churches (St. Chad's, a revolutionary design when it was built in 1792, is a major venue in our Darwin festival); and, of course, by Shrewsbury Abbey. This was one of the great monasteries, founded in 1083, and home to the (fictional) Brother Cadfael.
Its imposing Norman church survives - despite the attentions of our famous local engineer Thomas Telford, who, in a pre-Darwinian moment of madness, decided to run a major road through the west wing separating the pulpit from the main building. The pulpit still stands in splendid isolation on the other side of the road.
SHREWSBURY
| |
  Shrewsbury shown within the United Kingdom | |
| Population | 70,560 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Shrewsbury and Atcham |
| Shire county | Shropshire |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHREWSBURY |
| Postcode district | SY1, SY2, SY3 |
| Dialling code | 01743 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Shrewsbury and Atcham |
| European Parliament | West Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • Shropshire | |
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is home to 70,560[2] inhabitants, and is the primary settlement of the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, which has a population of 95,850.[3]
Shrewsbury is a historic market town with the town centre having a largely unaltered medieval street plan. The town centre features over 660[4] historic listed buildings, including several timber framed examples 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.[5] The town hosts one of the oldest and largest horticultural events in the country, Shrewsbury Flower Show, and is well known for its floral displays, having won various awards in recent years[6][7], including Britain in Bloom in 2006.[8]
Today, lying 9 miles east of the Welsh border, Shrewsbury serves as a commercial and cultural centre for the ceremonial county and a large area of mid-Wales. There are some light industry and distribution centres, such as Battlefield Enterprise Park, located mainly on the outskirts. The A5 and A49 trunk roads cross here, as do a number of railway lines at Shrewsbury railway station.
Shrewsbury's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon Scrobbesburh (dative Scrobbesbyrig) = "fort in the scrub-land region" or "Scrobb's fort". Its Welsh name Amwythig means "fortified place".
Shrewsbury is popularly known as a medieval town, having been founded c.800 and it was during the "late Middle Ages" (14th/15th Centuries) in which the town was at its height in terms of national importance and wealth. This was mainly due to the wool trade, a major industry at the time, with the rest of Britain and Europe, especially with the River Severn and Watling Street as trading routes. It is believed that Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury a cathedral city after the formation of the Church of England, but the citizens of the town declined the offer.
