As you stroll the spaghetti tangle of narrow streets and alleyways of Shrewsbury, England, you might very well be struck with the sense that you are witnessing history unfold anew with every step. Maybe that’s what the producers of the
As you stroll the spaghetti tangle of narrow streets and alleyways of Shrewsbury, England, you might very well be struck with the sense that you are witnessing history unfold anew with every step.
Maybe that’s what the producers of the George C. Scott version of “A Christmas Carol” (1994) had in mind when they decided on the town as its main filming location.
With its medieval street plan and engaging mix of areas, the historic market town offers one sensory delight after another, including an 11th century cathedral, a majestic castle overlooking the River Severn and 500-year-old timber-framed buildings that are still in use.
Throw in a town center filled with elegant eating establishments and tasteful shops refreshingly free of tourist schlock, and you have a largely unspoiled gem a scant 10 miles from the Welsh border.
I had visited back in 1999 when I brought my Kaua‘i Community College chorus to sing at the now-defunct Shrewsbury Music Festival, and I always knew I would return. My wife hadn’t been able to make the trip back then, and since we both wanted to visit England this summer but were reluctant to brave the crowds of London during the Queen’s Jubilee Celebration, we decided to stay far from cities in general and focus on this relaxed and friendly town of 100,000 in Shropshire, a county in the northeast corner of the country.
Founded around the year 800 A.D. in a horseshoe bend of the River Severn, the town’s original Saxon name was Scrobbesbyrig, or “fort of the scrub land.” Centuries later, and before Wales was incorporated into the United Kingdom, Shrewsbury became an important trading center for Welsh wool, as well as a fortified redoubt against any Welsh chieftains who might have had designs on the town for their own. And who could blame them for their multiple attempts over the centuries? The town truly epitomizes the line about England’s “green and pleasant land” from the William Blake poem, “Jerusalem.”
Getting there
We flew into Edinburgh thinking we could squeeze in a glorious summer day in the majestic Scottish capital before heading south on a three-hour train journey. Big mistake. Not only was the city cold, rainy and socked in with fog, the streets of the entire downtown area have been torn to shreds to make way for a tramway, which is still years away from completion. More convenient cities to fly into from the U.S. are Manchester and Birmingham, which are only an hour’s train ride away from Shrewsbury. Once you arrive in town, most accommodations are only a short taxi ride away.
Checking in
Accommodations are abundant and range from five-star establishments like the Grove Farm (talk about a touch of home!) and the Draper’s Hall, to simple bed and breakfasts, such as the Abbey Court Lodge where we stayed. Although our room was modest and the breakfast something less than gourmet, the proprietress was as friendly as everyone else in town, and her little inn was only a five-minute walk from the 11th century Shrewsbury Abbey. Almost as important, my adopted pub, The Brick, was just across the street and offered good food, a wide assortment of beers and ales and a friendly welcome to all from Mike and Gillian Bould, the husband and wife who operate it.
Sightseeing
Probably the best thing to do after checking in is to drop off the bags, lace on the sensible shoes and start wandering. With excellent signage and helpful locals, there is virtually no chance of getting lost, at least not for long. The aforementioned Shrewsbury Abbey, which topped our list of attractions, is within striking distance of any hotel or B&B in town. Dating back almost a thousand years, the church is the site of the fictional “Cadfael” mystery series featured some years back on PBS. We stepped in on a Sunday afternoon and were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the choir’s weekly concert. With the abbey’s hauntingly echoing acoustics, the ethereal strains of the medieval and Renaissance choral music transported us to a dimension beyond time and space.
Proceeding into the town proper, we wended our way along Wyle Cop, the main thoroughfare leading into the town center, which is dominated by the Elizabethan-era Market Square and Old Market Hall. Built of red sandstone from surrounding quarries in 1596, the imposing-looking Hall was actually prefabricated and erected in a mere three months. The upper room was used by merchants who dealt in Welsh wool, while the lower level was a corn market. The Market Square just outside is still used today for weekly open-air sales of arts and crafts, antiques, and quality local foods from farms in the surrounding area.
Thankfully, there are no exhaust-belching tourist buses in Shrewsbury, but a 90-minute walking tour begins at the Rowley House, a charming centuries-old mansion converted into a museum, which houses a collection of fine art, period costumes and displays about Shrewsbury’s history. One of the stops on the walking tour was St. Chad’s Church, which was used for the graveyard scene of the “Christmas Carol” movie and still has a gravestone inscribed with the name “Ebenezer Scrooge.”
A must-see on any trip to the town is Shrewsbury Castle, the echoing halls of which seem to exhale the soft vapors of its thousand-year history. Guarding against any Welsh incursions from across the river, the massive castle walls seem impregnable to modern armaments, let alone arrows and catapulted stones. The Shropshire Regimental Museum inside offers a fascinating look at one of England’s most storied military units. Directly across the street from the Castle is the palatial Shrewsbury Public Library where patrons and visitors are greeted by the life-size bronze statue of the town’s most famous son, Charles Darwin.
For those disinclined to walk, a boat tour on the River Severn originates at Victoria Pier, just down the road from the Market Hall. Highlights include enchanting views of historic buildings and botanical gardens on either bank of the river. Once back on dry land, you can re-explore some of the lush and scenic walkways along the riverbanks, such as the botanical garden known as the Dingle. With a moderate climate and abundant rainfall which makes for a colorful profusion of flowers in the spring and summer months, Shrewsbury is often called the “town of flowers” in the local media, and the Dingle is its showcase. Bring a lunch and just allow your mind to uncoil for an hour or two. As with most public places in England, there is an unspoken cultural premium placed on not disturbing others, so you’ll rarely have to worry about anyone’s loud music or unleashed dogs running wild.
One of the great charms of Shrewsbury is the sense that the beauty of the place was created for the enjoyment of its residents, as opposed to for the purpose of attracting tourism. We felt privileged and lucky to have shared in this beauty if only for a short while.
∫ Greg Shepherd is an associate professor of music at Kaua‘i Community College. His memoir, ‘A Straight Road with Ninety-Nine Curves,’ will be published in 2013 by Stone Bridge Press of Berkeley, Calif. He can be reached at shep@hawaii.edu.