Prehistory

Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton Farm, making it Britain's oldest place of worship.^[14] An Early Bronze Age urned burial was excavated at Crowmeole in 2015.^[15] An Iron Age double ring ditch has been excavated at Meole Brace. Amongst other finds, parts of an iron age sword and scabbard were recovered.^[16][17]

Roman and Post-Roman

At Meole Brace, an extensive roadside settlement along the line of the Roman military road connecting Viroconium Cornoviorum and Caersws was uncovered,^[18] with evidence of trading of amphorae and mortaria.^[19] A major discovery was the finding of the Shrewsbury Hoard of more than 9000 Roman coins in a field near the town in 2009.^[20][21]

Prior to the late 8th century, there is little in the way of reliable records. There is a tradition that the town was "founded in the 5th century, on occasion of the decay of the Roman Uriconium." The historian, John Wacher, suggests that Shrewsbury may have been refortified by refugees fleeing an outbreak of a plague in Viroconium around this time.^[22]

It is claimed that Pengwern, sometime capital of the Kingdom of Powis (itself established by the 440s), was at Shrewsbury.^[23] The first attested association of Pengwern with Shrewsbury is mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis in the 12th century. Alternative suggestions as to the location of Pengwern include Whittington Castle near Oswestry,^[24] and Berth, a hillfort near Baschurch. The Historia Divae Monacellae, composed in the 14th or 15th century, says that Brochwel Ysgithrog, the 6th-century king of Powis, had a palace at Shrewsbury that became the site of the foundation of St Chad.^[25]

Saxon

In late 8th century, it is claimed that Offa took the town for the Mercians in 778,^{[26][lower-alpha 1]} and he is associated by some sources with establishing the town's first church and dedicating it to St Chad.^[28] If so, then there may have been an ecclesiastical foundation in the town within a century of the death of Chad of Mercia.^[29]

By the beginning of the 10th century, Shrewsbury was home to three moneyers who had permission to operate a mint in the town, using dies supplied by the royal government.^[30][31]

Æthelflæd, 'Lady of the Mercians'

In 914,^{[32][lower-alpha 2]} Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great and known as the Lady of the Mercians, fortified Shrewsbury, along with Hereford and two other fortresses, at Scergeat (a currently unknown location) and Weardbyrig (thought to be Whitchurch,^[34] which would make sense given the strategic importance of the Roman Road link via the Via Devana). Viking raiders from the north were reaching as far south as Bridgnorth by 910.^[34]

In the early tenth century, the relics of St Alkmund were translated to the town from Derby, this was probably the work of Æthelflæd.^[35] (Later, after St Alkmund's Church became the property of Lilleshall Abbey in about 1145, the relics were retranslated back to Derby.)^[36]

Norman

Shrewsbury Castle, built at around 1074 by Roger de Montgomery

Roger de Montgomery was given the town as a gift from William the Conqueror and took the title of Earl of Shrewsbury. He built at Shrewsbury Castle in 1074,^[7] though archaeological excavations at the site of Shrewsbury castle in 2019 have indicated that the location may have been a fortified site in the time of the Saxons.^[37]

Shrewsbury Abbey, founded 1083

He also founded Shrewsbury Abbey as a Benedictine monastery in 1083.^[38]

The town's position just off Watling Street placed it within the Forest of Arden, a thickly wooded area, unpenetrated by Roman roads and somewhat dangerous in medieval times, so that travellers would pray at Coughton before entering.^[39]

In 1102, Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury was deposed and the title forfeited, as a consequence of him rebelling against Henry I and joining the Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1101. William Pantulf, Lord of Wem, assisted Henry in putting down the rebellion. To deal with the thickly wooded local forests, ideal for the concealment of archers, Pantulf brought in 6,000 foot soldiers to cut down trees and open up the roads.^[40][12] Henry subsequently took the government of the town into his own hands and in 1116 the nobility of England did homage to William Ætheling, Henry’s son, at Shrewsbury, and swore allegiance to his father.^[41] The early death of William Ætheling without issue led to the succession crisis, known in history as the Anarchy, and during this period, in 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the town's castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud^[42]

Part of the prologue of a life of St Winifred by Robert of Shrewsbury (Bodleian Mss. Laud c.94.)

In 1138 the relics of St Winifred were brought to Shrewsbury from Gwytheryn,^[43] following their purchase by the Abbot of Shrewsbury, the abbey being ready for consecration but having no relics prior to that time.^[44] The popularity of St Winifred grew in the 14th and 15th centuries and a new shrine for her relics was built in the late 1300s. Around this time the abbey illegally acquired the relics of St Beuno, uncle of St Winifred, by stealing them. As a result the abbey was fined but allowed to keep the relics^[45]

From 1155, during the reign of Henry II, there was a leper hospital dedicated to St Giles and associated with Shrewsbury Abbey. From the 1220s, there was also a general hospital dedicated to St John the Baptist.^[46]

In 1283, Edward I summoned a parliament in Shrewsbury, later adjourned to Acton Burnell,^[47] to try and condemn Dafydd ap Gruffydd, last of the native Princes of Wales, to execution by hanging, drawing and quartering within the town after Dafydd was captured, ending his rebellion against the king.^[48] It is thought this parliament met in the Abbey.^[28]

Middle Ages

Shrewsbury was devastated by the Black Death, which, records suggest, arrived in the spring of 1349.^[49] Examining the number of local church benefices falling vacant due to death, 1349 alone saw twice as many vacancies as the previous ten years combined, suggesting a high death toll in Shrewsbury.^[50]

"The Great Fire of Shrewsbury" took place in 1394: St Chad's church was consumed by an accidental fire, which spread to a great portion of the town, then chiefly consisting of timber houses with thatched roofs. The damage was so considerable that Richard II remitted the town's taxes for three years towards the repairs.^[28] In 1398, Richard summoned a Great Parliament in the town, which is believed to have met in the Abbey.^[28]

In 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought at Battlefield, a few miles north of the town centre, between King Henry IV and Henry Percy (Hotspur), with the king emerging victorious.^[51] Hotspur's body was taken by Thomas Neville, to Whitchurch, for burial. However, when rumours circulated that Percy was still alive, the king "had the corpse exhumed and displayed it, propped upright between two millstones, in the market place at Shrewsbury".^[52] That being done, Percy was subjected to posthumous execution.^[53]

The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais: Richard of Shrewsbury was born in the town, his older brother Edward was resident in the town and engaged in its government as Prince of Wales

One of the Princess in the Tower, Richard of Shrewsbury, was born in the town around 17 August 1473,^[54] the second son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. In 1480, Edward V, then Prince of Wales (and the other prince of the Princes in the Tower), was resident in Shrewsbury. On May 11, Edward V he confirmed the composition of the town's Mercer's Company, which had merged with the guilds of the Ironmongers and Goldsmiths. This fraternity were patrons of the Altar of St. Michael in St. Chad's Church and they kept a Mercers Hall on the site of the Sextry of Old St Chads.^[28]

The building Henry Tudor stayed in before the Battle of Bosworth

In 1485, ahead of the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor, while not yet king, marched his forces on a route that lay through Shrewsbury. He was initially denied access to the town, but on intervention by a member of the Stanley family he was admitted.^[55][56] Thomas Mytton, the Bailiff of the town, a supporter of Richard III, had vowed that the only way he would get through was "over his dead body". Thomas then lay down and allowed Henry to step over him, to free himself from his oath.^[57] Henry was accommodated in the building now known as Henry Tudor House on Wyle Cop.^[58]

In 1490, Henry VII, accompanied by his queen and his son, Prince Arthur, celebrated the feast of St. George in the town.^[28] The town is recorded as having entertained Henry again in 1496, with attendants lodged in the Sextry of Old St Chads;^[28] more generally it is said of Henry VII's relations with the town that:

The intercourse which had begun thus favourably was kept up in after years by Henry, who, with his queen and son, frequently visited this town, upon which occasions they were feasted by the Bailiffs in a most royal and hospitable manner.^[28]

Reformation

Shrewsbury's monastic institutions were disbanded with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Abbey was closed in 1540. Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury one of his 13 new bishoprics (serving Shropshire and Staffordshire) and hence a cathedral city, after the formation of the Church of England but the citizens of the town declined the offer, which is the point of origin of the term "Proud Salopians": the town leadership preferring to be the most senior town in the country and not the most junior city.^{[28][lower-alpha 3]}

As a consequence of the dissolution, the monastic hospitals were closed and the incomes from their endowments were transferred to secular owners. St Giles's leper hospital passed to the Prince family, who were succeeded by their descendants the Earls of Tankerville. St John the Baptist hospital passed to the Wood family and became almshouses.^[46] At this time the shrine and relics of St Winifred were destroyed.^[44]

Council of Wales and the Marches

Sir Rowland Hill

Sir Henry Sidney

Principal members of the Council of the Marches

The Council of Wales and the Marches was established during the 1470s by Edward IV with a headquarters in the town.^[59] Its buildings partly survive near the castle and were later adapted to be an episcopal palace,^[60] the council also met at Ludlow Castle. Members of this council included John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Sir Henry Sidney and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke.

Gate house of the council headquarters in the town

Its functions were interpreted widely. It was to hear all suits, civil and criminal, which were brought by individuals too poor to sue at common law; it was to try all cases of murder, felony, piracy, wrecking and such crimes as were likely to disturb the peace; it was to investigate charges of misgovernment by officials and the false verdicts of juries; it was to enforce the laws against livery and maintenance, to punish rumour mongers and adulterers, and to deal with disputes concerning enclosures, villein service and manorial questions; it heard appeals from the common law courts; and it was responsible for administering the legislation dealing with religion.^[61] According to historian John Davies, at its peak in the mid-16th Century, the Council:

represented a remarkable experiment in regional government. It administered the law cheaply and rapidly; it dealt with up to twenty cases a day and George Owen stated that the 'oppressed poor' flocked to it.^[62]

Dr John Caius

In 1551 there was a notable outbreak of sweating sickness in the town, which Dr John Caius was in the town to attend to at the command of the council.^[63] The following year, after his return to London, Caius published A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse. The president of the council was the dedicatee of the book and the dedicatory epistle explains his appointment. This text became the main source of knowledge of this disease, now understood to be influenza.^[64]

In 1581, Sir Henry Sidney, celebrated the feast of St. George, on April 23, in this town, with great splendour: a solemn procession went from the Council House to St. Chad’s Church, the choir of which was fitted up in imitation of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor with the stalls decorated with the arms of the Knights of the Garter; on the conclusion of divine service Sir Henry devoted the afternoon to feasting the burgesses.^[28]

Early Modern

Shrewsbury thrived throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, a period when the town was at the height of its commercial importance. This success was largely due to the town's location, which allowed it to control the Welsh wool trade, a major industry at the time, with the rest of Britain and Europe, with the River Severn and Watling Street acting as trading routes.^[65] This trade was dominated by the Shrewsbury Drapers Company for many years.^[66] As a result, a number of grand edifices, including the Ireland's Mansion (built 1575) and Draper's Hall (1658), were constructed.

It was in this period that Edward VI gave permission for the foundation of a free school, which was later to become Shrewsbury School.^[67]

Civil War

Prince Rupert

During the English Civil War, Shrewsbury was a Royalist stronghold, under the command of Sir Francis Ottley.^[68] In the autumn of 1642 Charles I had a temporary base in the town.^[69]

Prince Rupert established his headquarters in the town on 18 February 1644, being welcomed by Shrewsbury's aldermen. He was billeted in a building then the home of the family of Thomas Jones^[70] in the precincts of what is now the Prince Rupert Hotel.^[71] Shrewsbury only fell to Parliament forces after they were let in by a parliamentarian sympathiser at the St Mary's Water Gate (now also known as Traitor's Gate).^[72] After Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury in February 1645; in following with the ordnance of no quarter; a dozen Irish prisoners were selected to be killed after picking lots.^[73][74] This prompted Rupert to respond by executing Parliamentarian prisoners in Oswestry.^[75]

Georgian and Victorian

By the 18th century Shrewsbury had become an important market town and stopping point for stagecoaches travelling between London and Holyhead with passengers on their way to Ireland; this led to the establishment of a number of coaching inns, many of which, such as the Lion Hotel, are extant to this day.

The former Shire Hall (since demolished) and Old Market Hall, 1796

A town hall was built in the Market Place on the site of an ancient guildhall in 1730;^[76] it was demolished and a new combined guildhall and shirehall was erected on the site in 1837.^[77]

Local soldier and statesman Robert Clive served as the town's mayor in 1762 and was Shrewsbury's MP from 1762 until his death in 1774.^[78]

St Chad's Church collapsed in 1788 after attempts to expand the crypt compromised the structural integrity of the tower above. Now known as Old St Chad's, the remains of the church building and its churchyard are on the corner of Princess Street, College Hill and Belmont. A new St Chad's Church was built just four years after the collapse, but as a large neo-classical round church and in a different and more elevated location, at the top of Claremont Hill close to the Quarry.^[31]

In the Industrial Revolution the Shrewsbury Canal opened in 1797, initially connecting the town to Trench. By 1835 it had been linked up to the Shropshire Canal and thence to the rest of the canal network.^[79]

In the period directly after Napoleon's surrender after the Waterloo, the town's own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was sent to guard him in his exile on St Helena. A locket containing a lock of the emperor's hair, presented to an officer of the 53rd, remains to this day in the collections of the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum at Shrewsbury Castle.^[80]

Shrewsbury's Georgian prison

HM Prison Shrewsbury, when new in the Georgian period, was considered a national example of improved conditions and more enlightened penal policy. Times change and a 2005 report on prison population found that it was the most overcrowded in England and Wales, despite a major expansion in Victorian times.^[81] The prison, which was also known as the Dana because it was built near the site of the medieval Dana gaol, was closed in 2013 and then sold by the Ministry of Justice to private property developers in 2014.^[82]

In 1821, the county purchased a building in College Hill which was adapted to become the judge's lodgings, providing accommodation for the judges and their retinue during their attendance at the Assizes.^[28]

20th and 21st centuries

BT Telephone Exchange, Town Walls

The town suffered very little from air raids in the Second World War, the worst case was in 1940, when a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road, the only local air raid deaths.^[83] Therefore, many of its ancient buildings remain intact and there was little redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s. However, some historic buildings were demolished to make way for the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s, though the town was saved from a new inner ring road due to its challenging geography.^[84] A notable example of 1960s/70s construction in Shrewsbury was Telecom House on Smithfield Road, demolished in the 2000s.^[85]

Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened nuclear bunker, built for No 16 Group Royal Observer Corps Shrewsbury, who provided the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and would have sounded the four-minute warning alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Shrewsbury in the event of approaching radioactive fallout.^[86] The building was staffed by up to 120 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis. After the breakup of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands just inside Holywell Street near the Abbey as a lasting reminder of the Cold War, but is now converted and used as a veterinary practice.^[87]

The town was targeted by the IRA in 1992. One bomb was detonated at Shrewsbury Castle, causing severe damage to the regimental museum of the Shropshire Light Infantry,^[88] estimated to be in the region of £250,000 and many artefacts were lost. A second bomb, detonated in the Darwin Shopping Centre, was put out by the sprinkler system before any major damage was caused. Finally, a third bomb was discovered elsewhere in the town centre but failed to do any serious damage.^[89]

Flooding in Shrewsbury (2000)

From the late 1990s, the town experienced severe flooding problems from the Severn and Rea Brook. In the autumn of 2000 large swathes of the town were underwater, notably Frankwell, which flooded three times in six weeks.^[90] The Frankwell flood defences were completed in 2003, along with the new offices of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. More recently, such as in 2005 and 2007 but not 2020, flooding has been less severe and the defences have generally held back floodwaters from the town centre areas. However, the town car parks are often left to be flooded in the winter, which reduces trade in the town, most evidenced in the run up to Christmas in 2007.^[91]

Shrewsbury won the West Midlands Capital of Enterprise award in 2004.^[92] The town has two large expanding business parks, Shrewsbury Business Park by the A5 in the southeast and Battlefield Enterprise Park in the north. There are many residential developments currently under construction in the town to cater for the increasing numbers of people wishing to live in the town, which is a popular place to commute to Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham from.^[93]

In 2009 Shrewsbury Town Council was formed and the town's traditional coat of arms was returned to everyday use.^[94]

In 2021 the lost seal of the town, dating from 1425, was discovered.^[95]

Town Council

Until 2009, Shrewsbury was an unparished area with neither town or parish council. Instead, the mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham, based in the Guildhall in Dogpole,^[99] was also the mayor of the town. However, as part of wider changes to local government in Shropshire, the town was parished on 13 May 2008, with a single parish created covering the entire town and previously unparished area. At the time of creation, Shrewsbury was the second-most populous civil parish in England, though further creations of large town councils mean it is now the fourth. The area of the parish is 3,799 hectares (9,390 acres).

The town council first convened on 1 April 2009 and its chair is the mayor of Shrewsbury. For the interim period before the first elections, the existing county councillors who represented electoral divisions covering Shrewsbury were the town councillors. On 4 June 2009, the first election was held to the town council, with councillors elected from 17 single-member wards coterminous with Shropshire Council electoral divisions.

The political make-up of the town council, as of the 2021 local elections, sees Labour as the largest party with 7 seats, the Liberal Democrats with 6, the Conservatives with 2 and the Green Party with 2.

The town council was based at the Guildhall on Frankwell Quay, a facility which had originally been built in 2004 as the headquarters of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council; however the town council moved to Riggs Hall in 2017.^[100] Riggs Hall is one of the original buildings on the former site of Shrewsbury School on Castle Gates.^[101] Since 2023, the town council have their offices at Livesey House, on St. John's Hill and the council itself meets in the Shirehall.^[102]

Coat of arms

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the former Shrewsbury Borough Council and now of the Town Council, depicts three loggerheads (leopards), with the motto Floreat Salopia, a Latin phrase that can be translated to "May Shrewsbury Flourish".^[103][104] The coat of arms of the (now abolished) Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was Shrewsbury's shield with the addition of Atcham Bridge running above the leopards. The flag of Shropshire and other county crests, also uses the three loggerheads.

Affiliations

Shrewsbury was twinned with Zutphen, Netherlands from 1977^[105] until 2018.^[106] The Royal Navy submarine, HMS Talent, decommissioned in 2022, was affiliated with Shrewsbury.^[107]

Geology

The town lies to the west of Haughmond Hill, a site where Precambrian rocks, some of the oldest rocks in the county can be found,^[109] and the town itself is sited on an area of largely Carboniferous rocks.^[110] A fault, the Hodnet Fault, starts approximately at the town and runs north-east into the Stoke-on-Trent area.^[111]

Climate

The Quarry is often busy during spring and summer

The climate of Shrewsbury is similar to that of the rest of Shropshire, generally moderate.

Rainfall averages 76 to 100 cm (30 to 39 in), influenced by being in the rainshadow of the Cambrian Mountains from warm, moist frontal systems of the Atlantic Ocean, which bring generally light precipitation in autumn and spring.^[112] The nearest weather station is at Shawbury, about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north-east of Shrewsbury town centre. The local topography, being that of a low-lying plain surrounded by higher ground to the west, south and east gives the Shrewsbury area its own microclimate – the absolute maximum at Shawbury of 34.9 °C (94.8 °F) and absolute minimum of −25.2 °C (−13.4 °F) represents the largest temperature range of any individual weather station in the British Isles – although the maximum range of average temperatures tends to peak to the south-east of the Shrewsbury area, particularly in the south-east midlands, inland East Anglia and inland south-east England. In an average year, the warmest day is 28.4 °C (83.1 °F),^[113] giving a total of 8.9 days^[114] of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. The absolute maximum of 34.9 °C (94.8 °F)^[115] was recorded in August 1990.

Conversely, the coldest night of the year typically falls to −9.6 °C (14.7 °F)^[116] – in total 61.7 air frosts are recorded in an average year. The absolute minimum of −25.2 °C (−13.4 °F)^[117] was recorded in 1981.

Annual average rainfall averages around 650 millimetres (26 in), with over 1 millimetre (0.04 in) falling on 124 days of the year.

Literary and performance heritage

A surviving 1679 arbour, that of the Shoemakers Guild

Prior to the Reformation, there are accounts of major festivals in Kingsland:

In ancient times, while the Romish religion prevailed, all the companies united once a year in celebrating the day of Corpus Christi, with great pomp and splendour. At the reformation this ceremony was commuted for another, held on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday, which is still continued, though with less pomp and circumstance than formerly. The Companies form themselves into processions, headed severally by men on horseback in gaudy apparel, called kings, probably as representatives of the monarchs who granted their charters* They move in marshalled array to Kingsland, where they are met by the mayor and corporation and the day is spent in festivity.^[136]

The town's Quarry Park has been the site of cultural activity since before the Reformation: a bank there, cut in the form of an amphitheatre, was used by the friars of the adjacent convent, who performed the ancient religious mystery plays or miracle plays;^[28] this continued in the mid-16th century when the plays of Thomas Ashton's Shrewsbury School attracted royal attention.^[137] On several occasions the school put on pageants for the visiting Council of Wales and the Marches. In 1581, the Lord President, Sir Henry Sidney, leaving the town by barge, was greeted by several scholars on an island downstream of the castle dressed as green nymphs with willow branches tied to their heads reciting verses across the water.^[138]

Quarto edition of Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare set the last two acts of his play, Henry IV, Part 1, written around 1596, near the town.^[139] It has been suggested, placing reliance on a record of a performance by his company, the King's Men in the town between 1603 and 1605, and supposed familiarity with the landscape; that Shakespeare performed in the town and knew the area.^[140]

The playwright George Farquhar's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer is set in the town.^[141]

In the later Renaissance period, the land at Kingsland was devoted to elaborate performances, with grand arbours being built by the various town guilds.^[142] Some of the arbours survive, such as that for the Shoemakers Guild.^[143]

John Weaver's 1718 production of Orpheus and Eurydice

Known as the father of English ballet,^[144] as well as the originator of pantomime,^[145] John Weaver, developed his art in Shrewsbury. A second generation dancing master in the town,^[146] he also wrote on the philosophy, theology, statecraft and biology embedded in his era's understating of dance, which he located in a wider understanding of his culture as representing a component of Ptolemaic harmony and an earnest part of the statecraft of his time.^[147]

In modern popular culture

Pioneering early 18th-century travel writers, Daniel Defoe and Celia Fiennes, wrote about their visits to Shrewsbury in A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain^[148] and Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary^[149] respectively.

In the 19th century, Charles Dickens made three visits to the town. The first, in 1838, was while he was travelling to Wales. On this occasion he stayed at the Lion Hotel. In 1852 he again visited, this time as part of a theatrical tour, staging benefit performances to raise money for the Guild of Literature and Art. His final visit, in 1858, was as part of a nationwide reading tour. Once again he stayed at the Lion.^[150]

The town appears in the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters. The novels take Shrewsbury Abbey for their setting and have made medieval Shrewsbury familiar to a wide readership.^[151]

Shrewsbury was used as the setting for the 1984 television film A Christmas Carol, which filmed many of its interior and exterior shots in and around the town.^[150]

The Magnum Photos Evolution Explored exhibition in The Square

In early 2017, Shrewsbury BID, The Hive and GRAIN Photography Hub organised an outdoor Magnum Photos exhibition.^[152] Inspired by Shrewsbury's links to Charles Darwin, this exhibition considered the theme of evolution through the eyes of international photographers. The 10-week exhibition was free to the public and staged at St Mary's Churchyard and The Square.

In 2022, the BBC production of Great Expectations with Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy was filmed in the town.^[153] The same year, episodes of The Apprentice and Celebrity Hunted were filmed in Shrewsbury. The prison was used for the BBC TV series Time as well appearing in the ITV remake of The Ipcress File.^[154]

Contemporary performance

Theatre Severn is the town's main performing arts complex, it is situated in Frankwell next to the Welsh Bridge on the bank of the River Severn. The theatre includes two performance spaces, the 635 seat Main Auditorium and a smaller studio space, the Walker Theatre, which can accommodate 250 seating or 500 standing. The venue includes a full sized dance studio, function rooms and a restaurant.^[155] The new complex replaced the old theatre, the Music Hall, which has been refurbished and expanded in preparation for its current use as home to Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, opened 2014.^[156]

Railway

Shrewsbury railway station is served by Transport for Wales Rail and West Midlands Trains with trains running north to Chester, Manchester Piccadilly, Crewe and Wrexham General, south to Hereford and Cardiff Central, west to Aberystwyth and east to Birmingham International via Telford, Shifnal and Wolverhampton.^[222] Heart of Wales line trains also operate to Swansea.

The main railway station building of Shrewsbury General is built in a mock Tudor architectural style. The station is known as the 'Gateway to Wales'.^[223] it includes a clock tower, imitation Tudor chimneys and carved heads in the frames of every window and is Grade II listed.^[224] There is a small British Transport Police station within the building.

Shrewsbury Abbey was the terminus of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway, which connected Shrewsbury with Llanymynech. Shrewsbury West was the railway's other station in the town. The line and the stations closed in 1960.^[225] Abbey Foregate was built by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway and closed in 1912.^[226]

Bus

An Arriva park & ride bus at the Oxon site in November 2023

Bus services in the town are operated by Arriva Midlands and serve most parts of the town from Shrewsbury bus station, adjacent to the Darwin Shopping Centre and a short walk from the railway station. Arriva also operate county services both independent of and on behalf of Shropshire County Council. There are other bus companies operating around the Shrewsbury area, including Boultons of Shropshire, Minsterley Motors^[227] and Tanat Valley Coaches with the last operating services crossing from over the Welsh border from nearby towns including Llanfyllin, Montgomery, Newtown and Welshpool.^[228]

Shrewsbury has a park & ride bus scheme in operation with three car parks on the edge of town. The three car parks are at Harlescott (to the north, colour-coded brown), Oxon (to the west, colour-coded red) and Meole Brace (to the south, colour-coded green).^[229]

Road

A map of Shrewsbury showing suburbs, surrounding villages, rivers (blue), roads (red) and rail routes (green)

Shrewsbury has been an important centre for road traffic. In 1815, Thomas Telford designed a new coaching route from London to Holyhead in order to improve communications with Ireland. He routed the new road via Shrewsbury, which opened in 1830. The road is now the A5.^[230] The road connects the town north-west to Oswestry and east towards Telford, where it joins the M54. The A5 once ran through the town centre, until a bypass was built in the 1930s. Subsequently, in 1992, a 17-mile (27 km) dual carriageway was completed at a cost of £79 million to the south of the town and was made to form part of the A5 route. This dual carriageway was built further out of the town to act as a substantial link to Telford, as well as a bypass for the town.^[231]

The A49 goes to Shrewsbury, joining the A5 at the south of the town, coming from Ludlow and Leominster. At this point, the road merges with the A5 for 3 miles (4.8 km), before separating again to the east of the town. From there it runs north, passing Sundorne, then Battlefield, before heading out towards Whitchurch. At Battlefield, the A53 route begins and heads north-east towards Shawbury and Market Drayton, then onwards towards Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.

The A458 (Mallwyd-Quinton) runs through the town centre, entering in the west and leaving to the southeast. The A528 begins in the town centre and heads north, heading for Ellesmere. The A488 begins just west of the town centre in Frankwell and heads out to Bishop's Castle, Clun and Knighton crossing the border in the southwest of Shropshire.

Major roads within the town include the A5112, A5191 and A5064. The A5191 goes north–south via the town centre, while the A5112 runs north–south to the east of the town centre. The A5064 is a short, one mile (1.6 km) stretch of road to the southeast of the town centre, called "London Road". Additionally, the A5124, the most recent bypass, was completed in 1998 and runs across the northern edge of the town at Battlefield (connecting the A49/A53 to the A528), though it did exist before as Harlescott Lane (which has since become unclassified).

Construction of a major new artery, referred to as the North West Relief Road (NWRR), was granted central government funding in April 2019. Together with the existing A5 and A49 by-passes, the Battlefield Link Road (A5124) and the Oxon Link Road, this will result in the completion of the ring road around the outskirts of the town. Construction is expected to be completed by 2026.^[232] The NWRR will involve the construction of a new bridge over the River Severn, upstream from the town centre.^[233]

Cycling

Shrewsbury has a comprehensive network of on-road and traffic-free cycle routes.^[234] In 2008 the town was awarded Cycling Town status by Cycling England;^[235] as a result, it benefited from £1.8 million of grant funding from the Department for Transport between 2008 and 2011. The funding was used to make improvements to the cycle network in Shrewsbury and to provide cycle training, information and advice to people to help encourage them to cycle to school and work.^[236]

Independent sector

Shrewsbury is home to Shrewsbury School, a public school, on a large site in Kingsland, just south of the town centre overlooking the loop of the Severn. The school was located in the town centre between 1552 and 1882. The buildings it formerly occupied then are now occupied by the main county library on Castle Street.^[239] Opposite it on the other side of the river is Shrewsbury High School, an independent girls' day school.^[240]

Prestfelde School is an independent preparatory school, on London Road, close to the Lord Hill's Column. As part of the Woodard Schools group, it is affiliated to the largest group of Church of England schools in the country. Whilst originally a school for boys it started accepting girls between the ages of three and thirteen. The school is set in 30 acres (12 ha) of grounds on the outskirts of the town.^[241]

The town's other long-established boys' preparatory school is Kingsland Grange, on Old Roman Road in Kingsland. In 2007, it merged with the junior department of Shrewsbury Girls' High School, sharing the two sites with some classes remaining single sex, but others switching to a co-educational format.^[242]

State sector

The Main Grade II listed building of Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, built circa 1910

The majority of the town's pupils attend one of the several comprehensive schools. The Priory School, formerly a grammar school for girls;^[243] Meole Brace School, The Grange School, Sundorne School and Belvidere School. In 2016, The Grange and Sundorne schools were amalgamated to form Shrewsbury Academy. The school has two campuses; however, it is planned in the next few years for all pupils to move to the Corndon Crescent site of the former Sundorne School.^[244]

The Wakeman School, which was geographically the closest school to the town centre 'loop', next to the English Bridge, was previously the Shrewsbury Technical School and was attended by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen. It closed as part of reorganisation in July 2013.^[245] The site is now utilised by the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.^[246]

Further education is provided by Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, previously the Priory School for Boys,^[247] ranked 17th in the top 20 of sixth form colleges nationally by the Sunday Times newspaper in November 2012,^[248] and Shrewsbury College, which handles primarily vocational courses. In 2016, the two establishments were merged into the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.^[249]

University

University Centre Shrewsbury has been offering postgraduate courses since autumn 2014 and undergraduate courses from autumn 2015. It was established by the University of Chester and Shropshire Council. The main campus is located in the renovated Guildhall.^[250]

Community and charity projects

Many community projects in Shrewsbury are based in, or have been started by local churches, including the Isaiah 58 project, which is the primary work amongst homeless people in the town, whilst 'Churches Together in Shrewsbury' works to help homeless people through the Ark project.^[267][268]

Shrewsbury Food Bank, based at Barnabas Community Church Centre and part of 'Food Bank PLUS,' provides a wide range of social action initiatives including 'Money Advice' (a confidential, not for profit debt, benefits and financial help service) and Eclipse Child Bereavement, which works with local schools to help children who have experienced losses to overcome their situation. Also run by Barnabas are projects including '360 Journey to Work,' which help people gain skills in applying for jobs including basics like CV writing. 'Cage football' is an initiative that is lent out to local community groups, youth clubs and other churches.^[269]

Football

New Meadow stadium, home of Shrewsbury Town

The town has a claim on the emergence of the formally codified game of association football via Shrewsbury School which published a set of ten rules in about 1856, agreed with Eton, Harrow and Rugby schools and Cambridge University This predated the Football Association's initial rule book by seven years.^[270]

Shrewsbury is home to a professional football club, Shrewsbury Town. As of 2015, they compete in Football League One^[271] and since 2007 has played their home games at New Meadow – from 1910 to 2007 the club played at the Gay Meadow stadium. The town is also home to a semi-professional football club, Haughmond, who take their name from the nearby Haughmond Hill. They currently compete in the Midland Football League and play their home games at the Shrewsbury Sports Village, in Sundorne.^[272]

Rowing

An eight rowing on the Severn in Shrewsbury

The River Severn in the town is used for rowing by both the Pengwern Boat Club,^[273] founded in 1871 and using an ancient name for the town,^[274] and the Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club (RSSBC), founded in 1866.^[275][276] The Pengwern brick and timber club house was built in 1881 and is a Grade II listed building.^[274][277] The club house was expanded around 2013.^[278] More recently, the two clubs have been joined by students of Harper Adams University, University Centre Shrewsbury and crews from other local schools.

There is an annual rowing regatta in the town in May. It is one of the oldest events in the rowing calendar, having first been held in 1871.^[279][280] A head of the river race was run annually between 1936 and the 1990s.^[281]

Rugby

There is a local rugby club, Shrewsbury Rugby Club.^[282]

Motor sports

The local motorsports heritage includes the Loton Park Hillclimb and Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit near Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury Motocross Club has staged motocross events in the area for over 30 years.^[283]

Other sports

Shrewsbury Sports Village is a sports centre in the Sundorne district of the town, aimed at providing a wide range of sports facilities for townspeople.^[284] There are a number of golf facilities, including Meole Brace Municipal Golf Course, in the area. Shrewsbury holds its own annual Sprint Triathlon, which takes place each September at the West Midlands Country Showground, organised by SYTri (Shrewsbury Triathlon Club) which is affiliated to the British Triathlon Federation.^[285] A free weekly parkrun takes place in the Quarry.^[286]

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