Outer Shrewsbury

From Canarfan, we started the sloe march homewards to Southampton, The night in Pwelli was eventful to say the least. I was feeling really ill, and we ended up getting some tablets in the local Asda and having a small dinner and an early night. I felt so ill that i slept nonstop through the night, bust unfortunately, the place where we were staying was above a bar and was very noisy, and it kept James awake most of the night. To make matters worse, he started to feel ill the next day as well. Thats the problem with road trips, when you feel ill, its nearly impossible to spend the day trying to sleep it off, due to the fact you are always on the move. Often, a lot of things can be cured or sorted out by a day of rest, but as we were on the road with only a limited amount of time left, we had to keep going.

We spent the day on the outskirts of Shrewsbury on the way to Birmingham. While we didn't have enough time to venture into Shrewsbury itself, but I'm sure we will return and visit it properly one day. We went to three places, Wrexeter Roman city, Haugmond Abbey and Wenlock Priory.

We had seen a few traces of our Roman heritage during our trip, from the remains of Hadrians wall, to the Roman town at Maryport, so you can imagine my excitement when we spotted signs for the Wrexeter Roman city.

But alas, it was a disappointment. I feel terrible saying that, any part of our history and heritage, no matter how small or large is precious and should be preserved in every way that is possible, but when I compare our Roman heritage to many other countries, our's is usually very lacking, over priced and woefully preserved. We cannot help that, we have only been carrying out conservation works to prolong and stabilise our monuments for the last one hundred years ago, as a pose to sacking them for economic gain and for building supplies like our ancestors did. The site at Wrexeter was small, and aside from a few small walls, not much was. A redeeming factor was the reconstructed villa that was there, which really helped you to visualise how the Roman city would have looked. But all in all, it wasn't really worth visiting.

                                                              (Excuse James's hand!)

                           Some of the other visitors were less impressed than we were!

The real jewel outside of Shrewsbury is Haughmond Abbey. A graceful sweeping ruin, full of character, intricate carvings, beautiful details and with such a imposing sillouette, it was impossible not to fall in love with it. It was free to enter, and without a collection box for donations which was a shame. It was a little hard to find, we missed the entrance room because the sign was partially covered by vegetation, so we had to double back on ourselves to enter, and the access road was the most potholed road in the whole of the UK. But don't be put off, this was one of the most majestic ruined religious buildings in the whole of England. Stone carvings of religious figures still lined the walls, doorways with intricate details delight you, and the area is set in it's own land, pretty much free from modern intervention.And, the site is perfect for picnic too. Enjoy your visit!

 These are just some of the stunning carvings, centuries old and still in great condition.

It's well worth visiting if you are in the area. Also worth visiting is Wenlock Priory. While larger and certainly more impressive size wise when compared to Haughmond abbey, it was also a lot more crowded, and was a popular tourist spot. At Haughmond abbey, we were the only ones there aside from another couple who left while we were there. Wenlock was packed, but its also notable for it's glazed tiles and its topiary tree's too.

I think there is nothing more glorious in the world than exploring and discovering a ruined building. It has so much history, so many stories and so much life in them. And they give you such an appreciation of them, and of how much history and of just how many buildings and monuments of importance we still have here in the United Kingdom.

Next up, we start heading home via Birmingham.