A Good Perusal of Shrewsbury — Part I (5/29/25)

One big difference between Wrexham and Shrewsbury (besides the country of course) is that it is easy to find useful maps of Shrewsbury to help plan your visit. We used the map today to plan our walkabout to see the local sites.

It was an easy two hour walk as everything is very close, but it means lots of photos over what will be at least two posts. Technical issues with some photos, not currently understood by Bob or me, will determine whether a third post is completed or not.

The first stop was a Tribute to Local Heroes sculpture in a pocket park almost directly across from our hotel.

The first statue is a soldier, the second, the town crier, and the third, Sabrina, the goddess of the River Severn.

Next, we were off to see the impressive Castle Gate Library with a statue of Charles Darwin out front. The structure was originally Shrewsbury School, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. Charles Darwin, among many others, was educated here.

The building was completely renovated
and reopened as a library in 1983.

We attempted to find Laura’s Tower by the castle but went up the Castle Gate path by mistake. This didn’t get us to the Castle Grounds, but we did get a good view and saw the prison, which hadn’t been on the original plan.

The view of the square in front of the train station. I
like the colorful row of what appear to be thin buildings.

Shrewsbury Prison, built in 1793,
known as The Dana, after Reverend Edmund Dana.
It was decommissioned in 2013.

We then walked across the English Bridge (where our boat tour had ended yesterday) to reach the Abbey.

The Abbey, originally founded as a Benedictine Monastery in 1083 on the site of an existing Saxon Church.

The nave of the parish church with the roof and arches
reflecting the different periods of building.

We crossed back over the English Bridge on the other sign and saw this stone marker depicting the former geographical division between local parishes.