Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is a market town that sits in a loop of the River Severn, and boasts around 660 listed buildings. It was likely founded in the eighth century to guard the river crossing on the road from Hereford to Chester and the Normans built a castle here in 1078. The abbey, just west of the centre, was built slightly later, in 1083, as a Benedictine Monastery, and has found fame (relatively) recently as the setting for the "Brother Cadfael" novels and TV series. In 1138, the relics of St Winifred were purchased by the abbot and moved to the abbey - an event that features in one of the novels - and it became a centre of pilgrimage. The round arches are the original Norman. The parts near the camera and also at the far end are newer. The font was made from an inverted Roman pillar. In 1800 it was decided a good road was needed between London and Holyhead to facilitate communications with Ireland, and Thomas Telford was appointed to build what we now know as the A5. This was the...
