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Shrewsbury

Did You Know?

In 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought a few miles north of the town centre, at Battlefield; it was fought between King Henry IV and Henry Hotspur Percy, with the King emerging victorious, an event celebrated in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5.

Town suffered very little from air raids in the Second World War, the worst case in Shrewsbury was in 1940, a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road, the only local air raid deaths

In 1958 the Sentinel Waggon Works at Shrewsbury was taken over by Rolls-Royce Limited for the manufacture of their range of diesel industrial engines, so that the factory at Derby could concentrate on aero engines

Shrewsbury has traditionally been known as the "Town of Flowers", a moniker incorporated into many of the signs on entrance to the town via major roads, although this was replaced in 2007 with 'the birthplace of Charles Darwin'.

While Shrewsbury is now in England it was once the capital of Wales. Locals long to return to the principality and welcome being called Welsh.

No one is sure if the "Shrew" in the town names should be pronounced to rhyme with "throw" or "through". Locals in the North and East of the town say "Shrow" and those in the South say "Shrew". There is no Western part of the town as that is Wales.

In the 13th century, friars arrived in Shrewsbury. (Friars were like monks but instead of withdrawing from the world they went out to preach and help the poor). Franciscan friars were called grey friars because of their grey costumes. Dominican friars were called black friars.

In the middle ages Welshmen had to pay an admission fee if they wanted to come into town on a market day. It’s not recorded if anyone called Bellamy or Savage were charged double.

Shrewsbury Town used to be able to enter the Welsh Cup, which is fair enough considering that the town was the seat of the Princes of Powis for many years Angles kicked them out in 778. It’s been English ever since, although The Welsh had a go at recapturing the town in 1069, only to be repelled by William the Conqueror.

World famous naturalist Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, as was the slightly less famous Carol Decker of 1980s chart toppers T’Pau. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was not born in Shrewsbury, but he did serve as the town’s MP from 1841 until 1847.

With little heavy industry, the town was largely ignored by German bombers during World War II, though in 1940 a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road.