Wednesday 18 May 2011

My World - Bishop's Castle.





A few miles from Valley's End lies undisturbed  and peaceful the small, friendly town of Bishop's Castle with fewer than 2000 inhabitants, probably including cats and dogs. 

In the early medieval period a number of 'planned' towns were established in South Shropshire, based around Norman strongholds and earlier settlements or religious sites. Bishop's Castle is a good example of this development: its settlement pattern, laid down around 1280, remains remarkably intact to the present day.

Today this sleepy little town has neither castle - except for a few ruins - nor bishops, although it once had both. The Saxon lord Egwin Shakehead sold the land to the Bishops of Hereford who promptly built themselves a castle, hence the name of the 'modern' town.




The pace of the town is as unhurried now as it has ever been, the very steep High Street originally lead from the castle in the upper town to the church at the bottom end. It has a variety of small family-run shops and dwellings, with  many interesting facades, ranging in age and period from a medieval half-timbered cottage with dormer windows, through Elizabethan dwellings, also black and white, to handsome Georgian houses in mellow brick as well as solid Victorian buildings.




The House On Crutches, now the Town Museum





Yarborough House, stuffed to the rafters with second hand books, old vinyl records and CDs.
It also has a coffee shop where you can study your purchases and possibly decide to buy a few more of each. Jock, the owner is an excellent wood turner, I have one of his huge plates crafted from elm wood.





The people of Bishop's Castle have a whacky sense of humour. Many houses have 'interestingly' painted facades, like the spotty one next door to the fish and chip shop.





Another of the fashionable attractions of Bishop's Castle is a shrine for 'real ale' enthusiasts, the Three Tuns Inn and Brewery at the very top end of the town on Salop Street, a pub with an unpretentious frontage but with its own brewery next door.

The Three Tuns Brewery produces excellent ales, the 'Cleric's Cure' among them which is served in the pub, together with a few hearty dishes from the menu.

The Three Tuns' brewing licence was first issued in 1642. Part of the present brewery is of 17th Century origin, which would make it the oldest working brewery in Britain.









This is just one small town nestling in the South Shropshire Hills.
I'm enjoying this series, it gives me an opportunity to appreciate the peaceful rural world I live in. It is so easy to become blind to the beauties surrounding us on our home ground, my thanks to the people at
That's My World who gave me the idea to look again more closely.


36 comments:

  1. That one building is so... orange! And the polka dots? Who wouldn't love this neighborhood? Friko, you are so fortunate to have this place to grace your surroundings. Seriously. Really. I LOVE it.

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  2. I'm totally enthralled! Amazing this little town still stands untouched by natures fury. Apparently you are very blessed with perfect elements. love, Love, LOVE this entry. I need your world.
    BlessYourHeart

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  3. looks like a pretty cool place to explore and i love that kind of pace..would not mind seeing the ruins either...

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  4. friko what a little world within the eowlrd. i love english towns and villages for the many detailed reasons you share here! chief among them would be the three tuns!! steven

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  5. I love this. those little villages and towns seem like home to me.

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  6. What a charming place -- old and new and very much itself!

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  7. Great concept for a series. I am loving your tours. A little on the envious side. Everything is so modern here and just a touch of history left.
    QMM

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  8. What a beautiful world it is, too, Friko. I would love to visit this delightful little town.
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  9. What an enchanting little town. I find it hard to believe it is real, it's almost too perfect!

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  10. What a charming town with a charming history! Amazing how old it is with layer-by-layer architecture of the centuries! Our oldest cities can't be much more than 300 years old.
    What treasures did you find in Yarborough House? Ah, and then getting to sit down and peruse them! Heaven! xxox

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  11. We'd all be in great shape if we could walk up and down that High Street a couple of times a day.
    What a beautiful world you live in, Friko!

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  12. It's a lovely town, and lucky you are to live there --

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  13. Hello:
    We have so many happy memories of visiting Bishop's Castle when on a 'jolly' from our days in Herefordshire. It is, as you show, a delightful little town where the pace of life remains unhurried and there is still time for people to know one another.

    And, of course, the surrounding countryside is wonderful.

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  14. That was such a delightful tour, Friko! I wish I could take my American friend for a sightseeing walk over there! And I love the name of Mr. Egwin Shakehead! Schüttkopp, in Plattdeutsch, haha. Yes, please show us more, also of the castles` ruins!

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  15. Sweet little town, I like the bookshop best.
    My first time visiting your blog...found you through MWT. I was the 4th commenter, and you were right, there were only 4 comments there! Strange..
    Rosie

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  16. I’m so fascinated by this small charming town guided by your fabulous photos and your words. I’d like to stroll around in person when possible, but I must be content even through pictures.

    I’ve never been to Britain, but I love the landscape of British rural areas, like the scenes depicted in the film “The Remains of the Day” or “Shadowlands” and so on. I explored this blog and couldn’t move from the post “A Walk in Muted Colors” for a while. You’re so blessed to be able to live there. Thank you for sharing.

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  17. Isn't it funny how documenting something that seems to everyday helps to bring out the beauty and the magic? That's one of the things I love best about writing.

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  18. I echo Queenmother's sentiments.
    I love that from the [narrow, narrow, tiny] street you can see open fields. No suburbs!
    The sidewalks! I would need to walk alone or with a very very thin companion.
    Overall, so OLD. And still standing.

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  19. Thanks for that Friko - it is a quaint little town but a good place to spend an hour or so.

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  20. I say we have a meet-up in Bishop's Castle. What say you? And we'll sit around the Three Tuns a good long while.

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  21. The High Street looks very like the incredibly steep street up to the cathedral in Lincoln .I had to stop in the middle for a coffee there and would certainly totter in for one in Bishop's Castle .
    I love days out in little towns like this .

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  22. Thank you for the tour of a lovely historic spot. I will definitely leave my car at home next time.

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  23. Oh my goodness. Now you've done it. Whetted my appeiite for more. Love the history, love the moderns who inhabit the town. Wonder how they get out of their parking spaces. Want to have tea and cakes at the cafe. Someday, you must do a special blog on Jock the woodturner. Also, explain what 'tun' means, I have seen it several places. Dianne

    PS, I would be spotty if I lived next to a fish and chip shop.

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  24. This is such a delightful stroll through the little town of Bishop's Castle; with so much charm I wonder why it isn't a tourist attraction. I want to visit the House on Crutches, and maybe then spend a rainy afternoon in the book shop.

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  25. I did not read the dozens of comments from you increasingly large fan club, but I am in the middle of watching reruns of Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie and Doc Martin, etc. and I just love these villages. I probably Romanticise the hell out of them, but they just oooze charm. I guess I am on an Anglophile addiction trip these days.

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  26. Yet more compelling evidence from you that you live in a very precious part of the world. May it remain so, and thank you for giving us this wonderful tour.

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  27. sehr interessant, ich habe nie auch nur annähernd eine solche Stadt, die so klein und friedlich scheint, gesehen. England scheint wirklich seinen eigenen einzigartigen Stil entwickelt zu haben...!
    Dir liebe Grüsse
    Renée

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  28. Vielen DANK! Ein wunderbarer Stadtrundgang, da bin ich sehr gerne mitgegangen!
    Liebe Grüße, Petra

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  29. The little town of Castle doesn’t have a palace but it certainly has a great deal of charm enhanced by its hilly nature. Its fascinating buildings seem untouched by time. The house on crutches makes me wonder how the elderly and those who use canes or are in wheelchairs get around in this pretty place.

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  30. Distinctive, charming piece.

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  31. Friko, I continue my tour of your recent posts and find these views of Bishop's Castle. My immediate reaction is ... I want to move there tomorrow!

    Well, my practical nature set in just after that initial reaction. Must do some reseach. Is it possible to actually live in a place with such history, charm, architecture and surrounding natural beauty. Well, of course, some folks obviously do. But is that inn full, so to speak?

    You know by now that I do save up your posts until I have time to properly appreciate them. And with this post and the more recent ones I've read tonight, may I say that your writing and outlook and introspection all provide treasure every time I visit.

    xo

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  32. Delightful! Shropshire folk must be fit, walking up and down all those steep hills:-)

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  33. Looks a great place to wander around- lovely views

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