approximate time to allow, the terrain and places for refreshment, and map used (Appendix A summarises some of this information in table form). While the guide uses OS Landranger maps (1:50,000), which are fine for the mountain sections, they are not as detailed as the OS 1:25,000 Explorer maps, so I would recommend that you take the following OS Explorer maps:
201 Knighton and Presteigne
203 Ludlow Tenbury Wells and Cleobury Mortimer
216 Welshpool and Montgomery
217 The Long Mynd and Wenlock Edge
218 The Wyre Forest and Kidderminster
240 Oswestry
241 Shrewsbury
242 Telford and Ironbridge
257 Crewe and Nantwich (if including the Whitchurch leg)
Also bear in mind the following:
The sections north of Shrewsbury are all relatively new. If you are using printed maps make sure they have data post 2018. If the copies of the maps you buy are older they may have either the wrong routes or, in the case of the north, no route at all.
The current 2018 Harvey Map of the Shropshire Way shows only the old southern sections of the route but they may well update it in the future so it’s worth checking.
GPX tracks
GPX tracks for the routes in this guidebook are available to download free at www.cicerone.co.uk/1008/GPX. A GPS device is an excellent aid to navigation, but you should also carry a map and compass and know how to use them. GPX files are provided in good faith, but neither the author nor the publisher accepts responsibility for their accuracy.
THE SHROPSHIRE WAY
Bury Ditches Iron Age fort (Stage 4)
STAGE 1
Shrewsbury to Bridges
| Start | Kingsland Bridge, Shrewsbury |
| Finish | Bridges Youth Hostel, Ratlinghope |
| Distance | 14¾ miles (23.8km) |
| Ascent | 535m |
| Descent | 330m |
| Time | 7hr |
| Terrain | Town streets, woodland and field paths, two ridge tracks |
| Map | OS Explorer 241 and 216 |
| Supplies | Shrewsbury, Bayston Hill |
Looking at the map the first day doesn’t promise much but, in reality, it offers many pleasant surprises in small packages. Shrewsbury is an historic delight and the way out, through the Rad Brook and Rae Brook valleys, gives walkers more greenery and beauty than they have the right to expect in the suburbs of a sizeable town. Then there’s Lyth Hill with its airy ridge, its blossoms and its wide panoramas.
The Shropshire Way begins to climb in earnest late in the day with the ascent of Wilderley Hill and it follows the course of the ancient Portway. By now the iconic Stiperstones tors have come into full view. The day is ended with a very pretty descent into the Golden Valley where the path weaves between grassy folds in the hills down to Ratlinghope.
SHREWSBURY
Although it might have been the site of Pengwern, an early capital of pre-Roman Powys, Shrewsbury, or Scrobbesbyrig as it was then known, was developed as a town in Saxon times, probably around the eighth century and under the rule of Mercia. Previously the largest settlement was the Roman town of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter) about 5 miles away, but Roman artefacts have been found in Shrewsbury proving that they would have had some form of settlement here. The town was strategically sited within a tight loop on the river.
Three years after the Norman Conquest of 1066, William I had a primitive timber castle built but this was burned down by Welsh invaders. Roger de Montgomery, a relative of William I, was made Earl of Shrewsbury and he built a more powerful castle on the mound where the current castle lies. The abbey was founded in 1083 as part of a Benedictine monastery and town walls were built in this period and Shrewsbury became the county town of Shropshire. The town fell to Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, in 1215 and it would be a Welsh frontier town for nearly 70 years. In 1283 Edward I, the scourge of the Welsh, had Dafydd ap Gruyffydd tried and found guilty of high treason at Shrewsbury. This last Welsh Prince of Wales was subsequently hung, drawn and quartered. Edward would make his son Prince of Wales thus ending the Welsh dynasty.
In 1403 Henry IV defeated Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur) at the Battle of Shrewsbury, which featured in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1. You can visit the site at Battlefield in the north-east part of the town.
In the Middle Ages Shrewsbury grew into a sizeable town, its wealth largely coming from the wool trade. Many of the beautiful half-timbered buildings that grace the town today were built in Tudor times. The town centre still retains its medieval street pattern with numerous narrow passages known as shuts. Henry VIII is said to have offered Shrewsbury cathedral city status, something that the townsfolk declined.
The public library sited beneath the castle was built in 1552 as Shrewsbury School. Pupils included the ‘hanging judge’ Judge Jeffreys and Charles Darwin. The school was moved to its present site at Kingsland in 1882.
The sandstone castle you see today was built in 1643 and further repaired with additions, including Laura’s Tower by Thomas Telford in 1780. Telford, who at this time was Surveyor of Public Works in Shropshire, oversaw the building of the original A5 London to Holyhead road, which crossed the English Bridge. Many of the monastic buildings of Shrewsbury Abbey were demolished in the process. The A5 now by-passes Shrewsbury.
The railways came to Shrewsbury in 1848. The station buildings were built from stone quarried at nearby Grinshill – you’ll see it later on the northern part of the ‘Way’. The classical mock-Tudor Victorian building has a fine castellated and pinnacled clocktower.
Today, Shrewsbury has over 650 listed historical buildings. As its industries declined, this rich heritage, along with its beautiful position on the River Severn loop, has enabled the town to flourish as a place of tourism and leisure.
Getting to Kingsland Bridge
Many Shropshire Wayfarers will be coming from the railway station so the description starts from here, and the route will take in
