Shrewsbury#Sport

The name comes from Old English {{lang|ang|Scrobbesburh}} (dative {{lang|ang|Scrobbesbyrig}}), meaning either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place of the scrubland". The surrounding county was known as {{lang|ang|Scrobbesbyrigscir}} or simply {{lang|ang|Scrobscir}}, a name that later became Shropshire. The Normans, who had trouble pronouncing the initial consonant cluster, referred to the town as Salopesberie and the county as Salopescira, hence the abbreviation Salop.{{cite book|last=Ekwall|first=Eilert|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names|date=1947|edition=3rd|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=400 f.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.184064/page/n446}}{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names|date=2010|editor-last=Watts|editor-first=Victor|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-16855-7|pages=548 f.|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgediction0000unse_y6u4/page/548}}

The town's name can be pronounced as either {{IPAc-en|audio=en-uk-shrewsbury-rp.ogg|ˈ|ʃ|r|oʊ|z|b|ər|i}} ({{respell|SHROHZ|bər|ee}}) or {{IPAc-en|audio=en-uk-shrewsbury.ogg|ˈ|ʃ|r|uː|z|b|ər|i}} ({{respell|SHROOZ|bər|ee}}), the correct pronunciation being a matter of longstanding debate.{{cite news |url= https://www.shropshirestar.com/pictures/2008/02/06/shroosbury-v-shrowsbury/|title='Shroosbury' v 'Shrowsbury' |publisher= MNA Media |date= 6 February 2008 |newspaper=Shropshire Star |access-date=6 March 2013 |location=Shrewsbury |page=1}}{{cite web |title=Shrowsbury or Shroosbury - the results are in |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/06/27/shrowsbury-or-shroosbury-the-results-are-in/ |publisher=Shopshire Star |access-date=25 December 2022 |date=27 June 2015}}

{{main|History of Shrewsbury}}

Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton Farm, making it Britain's oldest place of worship.{{Cite web |date=18 May 2017 |title=Shropshire church found to be UK's oldest sacred site still in use |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/18/shropshire-church-found-uks-oldest-sacred-site/ |publisher=The Telegraph}} An Early Bronze Age urned burial was excavated at Crowmeole in 2015.{{Cite journal |last1=Bradley |first1=R. |last2=Evans |first2=J. |last3=Quinn |first3=P. |date=2019 |title=An Early Bronze Age Urned Burial from Crowmeole, Shrewsbury, Shropshire |url=https://shropshirearchaeologyhistory.org/publications/transactions-2/ |journal=Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=94 |pages=77–96}} An Iron Age double ring ditch has been excavated at Meole Brace. Amongst other finds, parts of an iron age sword and scabbard were recovered.{{Cite web |title=Library |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1130009&recordType=GreyLitSeries |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=archaeologydataservice.ac.uk |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Bain |first=Kate |title=A Late Iron Age and Early Romano-British Enclosure at Meole Brace, Shrewsbury |url=https://www.academia.edu/6100814 |journal=Transactions of the Shropshire Historical and Archaeological Society}}

At Meole Brace, an extensive roadside settlement along the line of the Roman military road connecting Viroconium Cornoviorum and Caersws was uncovered,{{cite web |last1=Bain |first1=Kate |title=Meole Brace, Shrewsbury Archaeological Investigations 2005-6 Post-Excavation Assessment |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-502-1/dissemination/pdf/birmingh2-49879_1.pdf |website=Archaeology Data Service|date=March 2007 |access-date=1 September 2023}} with evidence of trading of amphorae and mortaria.{{Cite web |title=ASPROM: Wroxeter and its hinterland, by R. H. White |url=http://www.asprom.org/resources/Wroxeter/WroxeterRHW.html |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.asprom.org}} A major discovery was the finding of the Shrewsbury Hoard of more than 9000 Roman coins in a field near the town in 2009.{{Cite web |last=Pett |first=Daniel |date=2009-09-07 |title=Recent discovery of a Roman Coin Hoard in the Shrewsbury Area |url=http://finds.org.uk/blogs/centralunit/2009/09/07/recent-discovery-of-a-roman-coin-hoard-in-the-shrewsbury-area/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306021611/http://finds.org.uk/blogs/centralunit/2009/09/07/recent-discovery-of-a-roman-coin-hoard-in-the-shrewsbury-area/ |archive-date=2012-03-06 |access-date=2010-07-09 |publisher=Portable Antiquities Scheme}}{{Cite web |last=Reavill |first=Peter |date=2011-10-25 |title=Inquest into largest coin hoard from Shropshire |url=https://finds.org.uk/news/story/220 |access-date=2017-02-12 |publisher=Portable Antiquities Scheme}}

It is claimed that Pengwern, sometime capital of the Kingdom of Powis (itself established by the 440s), was at Shrewsbury,{{Cite web |date=2023-11-12 |title=Shrewsbury {{!}} England, Map, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Shrewsbury-England |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} and it has been said in Parliament that the town was founded by the late 600s,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury And Atcham Borough Council Bill Hl - Hansard - UK Parliament |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1982-02-25/debates/466a9a79-407f-46db-9466-3f55a3862f62/ShrewsburyAndAtchamBoroughCouncilBillHl?highlight=unprecedented |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=hansard.parliament.uk |language=en}} the basis for this likely the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's account of the 584 battle at Fethanleag, where Ceawlin defeated the Britons and captured numerous settlements including possibly Uriconium, which sets the historical context for the first likely textual mention of Shrewsbury in the poetry of the British prince Llywarch Hen, who mourned the destruction of Uriconium. Llywarch Hen's presence at the court of Prince Cynddylan at Pengwern, understood as the British name for Shrewsbury, implies the town's existence during this period.{{Cite book |last=Auden |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/shrewsburyhistor00audeuoft/page/n23/mode/2up |title=Shrewsbury, a historical and topographical account of the town |date=1905 |publisher=London : Methuen |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}} There is consistent tradition that the town was "founded in the 5th century, on occasion of the decay of the Roman Uriconium." Historian John Wacher suggests that Shrewsbury may have been refortified by refugees fleeing an outbreak of a plague in Viroconium around this time.{{cite book |last1=Wacher |first1=John |title=The Towns of Roman Britain |date=1976 |publisher=BookClub Associates |location=London |page=374}} Context for the nature of early Medieval period life in the wider district can be found in archaeological evidence on the nearby Attingham estate, where two rare 25m-long Anglo-Saxon timber halls dating to around 650 AD have been discovered, highlighting a significant and well-resourced Anglo-Saxon community in the region.{{Cite web |last=Neal |first=Toby |date=2018-02-07 |title=Rare Saxon hall find at Attingham excites the experts |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2018/02/08/rare-saxon-hall-find-excites-the-experts/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}

The first attested association of Pengwern with Shrewsbury is mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis in the 12th century. Alternative suggestions as to the location of Pengwern include Whittington Castle near Oswestry,{{cite web|title=Whittington Castle|url=http://www.castlewales.com/whittng.html|publisher=Castle Wales}} and Berth, a hillfort near Baschurch. The Historia Divae Monacellae, composed in the 14th or 15th century, says that Brochwel Ysgithrog, the 6th-century king of Powis, had a palace at Shrewsbury that became the site of the foundation of St Chad.{{Cite web|title=History of St Monacella, in Montgomeryshire collections relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders. {{!}} Vol. 82 {{!}} 1994 {{!}} Welsh Journals - The National Library of Wales|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1264487/1271085/44#?xywh=-3913%2C51%2C10843%2C4527|access-date=2023-08-06 |website=journals.library.wales |language=en}}File:Æthelflæd as depicted in the cartulary of Abingdon Abbey.png, 'Lady of the Mercians']]

In the late 8th century, it is said that Offa took the town for the Mercians in 778,{{Cite book |last=Shipley |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZOSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18 |title=Secret Shrewsbury |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1445678450}}{{efn|the Annales Cambriae merely refers to "The devastation of the South Britons by Offa." in that year.{{cite web |last1=Ingram |first1=James |title=Annales Cambrae |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_of_Wales_A#cite_ref-17 |website=Wikisource |access-date=27 August 2023}}}} and he is associated by some sources with establishing the town's first church and dedicating it to St Chad. If so, then there may have been an ecclesiastical foundation in the town within a century of the death of Chad of Mercia.{{Cite web |title=A History of the County of Shropshire {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol2 |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}

Shrewsbury remained part of the Mercian kingdom until its incorporation into the larger realm of England under Egbert in the first half of the ninth century. During the subsequent Saxon period, historical records of the town are scarce.{{Cite book |last=Auden |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/shrewsburyhistor00audeuoft/page/n27/mode/2up |title=Shrewsbury, a historical and topographical account of the town |date=1905 |publisher=London : Methuen |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}

Early in the tenth century Athelstan made a law to secure uniformity of coinage throughout his dominion, and this enactment specified the number of moneyers in the principal towns. Shrewsbury possessed one such moneyer,{{Cite book |last=Auden |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/shrewsburyhistor00audeuoft/page/n27/mode/2up |title=Shrewsbury, a historical and topographical account of the town |date=1905 |publisher=London : Methuen |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}} proving that while it reached a certain point of importance it did not rank among towns of the first class (this number was later raised to three in the reign of Edward the Confessor; and all through the period from Athelstan to Henry III, the Shrewsbury mint was busy).{{cite book |last=Shipley |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZOSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18 |title=Secret Shrewsbury |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1445678450}}{{Cite web |last=Lambert |first=Tim |title=Saxon and Medieval Shrewsbury |url=http://www.localhistories.org/shrewsbury.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315203401/http://www.localhistories.org/shrewsbury.html |archive-date=15 March 2012 |website=A Short History of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England |publisher=A World History Encyclopaedia |df=dmy-all}}

Viking raiders from the north were reaching as far south as Bridgnorth by 910, and in 914,{{sfnm|1a1=Costambeys|1y=2004a|2a1=Stenton|2y=1971|2pp=325–327}}{{efn|Tim Clarkson's biography has a detailed discussion of Æthelflæd' burhs.{{sfn|Clarkson|2018}} }} Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great and known as the Lady of the Mercians, fortified Shrewsbury, along with Hereford and two other fortresses, at Scergeat (a currently unknown location) and Weardbyrig (thought to be Whitchurch,{{Cite book |last=Matthew Blake and Andrew Sargent |title='For the Protection of all the People': Æthelflæd and her Burhs in Northwest Mercia |publisher=Keele University |year=2018}} which would make sense given the strategic importance of the Roman Road link via the Via Devana). Recent excavations at Shrewsbury Castle, funded by the Castle Studies Trust, revealed a massive defensive ditch surrounding the Norman motte and evidence of fortified presence on the castle site, predating the Norman invasion.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-07 |title=Nigel Baker – Castle Studies Trust Blog |url=https://castlestudiestrust.org/blog/author/nigel-baker/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |language=en-GB}}

File:St Alkmund sarcophagus .jpg, almost certainly made as a shrine for the body of St. Alkmund soon after he was killed in AD 800. Pilgrims would have worshipped at it. The relics were in Shrewsbury from the early 900s CE about 1145.]]

Some time before 918,{{Cite journal |last=Bowen |first=James |date=2015 |title=Review of 'Victoria County History: Shropshire VI Shrewsbury' |url=https://doi.org/10.14296/rih/2014/1754 |journal=Reviews in History |doi=10.14296/rih/2014/1754 |issn=1749-8155|doi-access=free }} the relics of St Alkmund were translated to Shrewsbury and back to Shropshire from Derby, this was probably the work of Æthelflæd.{{cite book |last=Meijns |first=Brigitte |title=England and the Continent in the Tenth Century |publisher=Brepols |year=2010 |isbn=9782503532080 |editor1-last=Rollason |editor1-first=David |location=Turnhout, Belgium |page=476 |chapter=The Policy on Relic Translations of Baldwin II of Flanders (879–918), Edward of Wessex (899–924), and Æthelflæd of Mercia (d.924): A Key to Anglo-Flemish Relations |author-link=Brigitte Meijns |editor2-last=Leyser |editor2-first=Conrad |editor3-last=Williams |editor3-first=Hannah}} This return to Shropshire move followed Alkmund's initial burial in Shropshire after his death in 800.{{Cite web |title=BBC - Derby - Faith - St Alkmund: Patron Saint of Derby |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2006/05/25/stalkmund_feature.shtml |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}

Later, King Edgar (957–75) established a colligate church{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury And Atcham Borough Council Bill Hl - Hansard - UK Parliament |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1982-02-25/debates/466a9a79-407f-46db-9466-3f55a3862f62/ShrewsburyAndAtchamBoroughCouncilBillHl?highlight=unprecedented |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=hansard.parliament.uk |language=en}} with a dean and 10 prebendaries at St Alkmund's Church, it was a Royal peculiar, and subsequently, it became the property of Lilleshall Abbey in about 1145, the relics were retranslated back to Derby.Saint Alkmund, His Life, Murder and Cults, Derek & Marion Taulbut, 1998

Following Æthelflæd's fortification of Shrewsbury, the town largely avoided the devastating wave of the Danish invasions that impacted other parts of England. This immunity, which extended across Shropshire, is notable despite evidence of Danish ships on the River Severn (suggested by the name Danesford near Bridgnorth) and a recorded Danish defeat at Buttington (near Welshpool) in 894. The protection of the region is mainly attributed to Æthelred, the ealdorman of Mercia appointed by Alfred, and Æthelflæd herself. Subsequently, during the tenth century, Shrewsbury appears to have experienced a period of relative stability.{{Cite book |last=Auden |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/shrewsburyhistor00audeuoft/page/n29/mode/2up |title=Shrewsbury, a historical and topographical account of the town |date=1905 |publisher=London : Methuen |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}

File:The Shropshire Regimental museum at Shrewsbury Castle - geograph.org.uk - 4129824.jpg, built at around 1074 by Roger de Montgomery]]

Roger de Montgomery was given the town as a gift from William the Conqueror and took the title of Earl of Shrewsbury. He built at Shrewsbury Castle at around 1074,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Castle and Shropshire Regimental Museum {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/shrewsbury-castle-shropshire-regimental-museum |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614144348/https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/shrewsbury-castle-shropshire-regimental-museum |url-status=dead }} though there is evidence the location may have been a fortified site in the time of the Anglo-Saxons.{{Cite web |date=2019-11-27 |title=Anglo-Saxon pottery identified from Shrewsbury Castle dig |url=https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2019/11/anglo-saxon-pottery/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Shropshire Council Newsroom |language=en-GB}} This construction work destroyed 51 properties, and it is thought much of this hard labour was forced on local workers.{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Six Ticks |title=Shrewsbury's Favourite Lifestyle Magazine {{!}} My Shrewsbury |url=https://www.myshrewsbury.co.uk/index.php/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.myshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

File:Shrewsbury Abbey Exterior, Shropshire, UK - Diliff.jpg

He also founded Shrewsbury Abbey as a Benedictine monastery in 1083.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Abbey {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/shrewsbury-abbey |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

The town's position just off Watling Street placed it within the Forest of Arden, a thickly wooded area, unpenetrated by Roman roads and somewhat dangerous in medieval times, so that travellers would pray at Coughton before entering.{{Cite web |date=2012-02-08 |title=Forest of Arden |url=http://hearteng.110mb.com/arden.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208130648/http://hearteng.110mb.com/arden.htm |archive-date=8 February 2012 |access-date=2023-07-08}}

In 1102, Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury was deposed and the title forfeited, as a consequence of him rebelling against Henry I and joining the Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1101. William Pantulf, Lord of Wem, assisted Henry in putting down the rebellion. To deal with the thickly wooded local forests, ideal for the concealment of archers, Pantulf brought in 6,000 foot soldiers to cut down trees and open up the roads.{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=Iris |title=The Story of Wem |publisher=Wildings of Shrewsbury |year=1952 |pages=23–25}}{{Cite web |title=Imperial Gazetteer entry for Shrewsbury |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=934570&word=NULL |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022153342/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=934570&word=NULL |archive-date=22 October 2012 |access-date=4 March 2008 |website=Visions of Britain |df=dmy-all}} Henry subsequently took the government of the town into his own hands and in 1116 the nobility of England did homage to William Ætheling, Henry’s son, at Shrewsbury, and swore allegiance to his father.{{Cite web |title=The Stranger in Shrewsbury, by Thomas Howell |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62274/62274-h/62274-h.htm |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=www.gutenberg.org}} The early death of William Ætheling without issue led to the succession crisis, known in history as the Anarchy, and during this period, in 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the town's castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Castle|url=http://www.castlewales.com/shrwsbry.html |access-date=8 June 2018 |publisher=Castle Wales}}

File:Prologue_life_of_St_Winifred.png (Bodleian Mss. Laud c.94.)]]

In 1138, the relics of St Winifred were brought to Shrewsbury from Gwytheryn,{{Cite web |last=Parsons |first=David |date=2016-09-19 |title=St Winifrede at Shrewsbury Cathedral – Seintiau |url=https://saints.wales/st-winifrede-at-shrewsbury-cathedral/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |language=en-US}} following their purchase by the Abbot of Shrewsbury, the abbey being ready for consecration but having no relics prior to that time.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-02 |title=Saint Winefride (Gwenffrewi) |url=https://www.shrewsburyorthodox.com/local-saints/saint-winefride-gwenffrewi/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Church of the 318 Holy Fathers}} The popularity of St Winifred grew in the 14th and 15th centuries and a new shrine for her relics was built in the late 1300s. Around this time the abbey illegally acquired the relics of St Beuno, uncle of St Winifred, by stealing them. As a result the abbey was fined but allowed to keep the relics.{{Cite web |last=greencanticle.com |title=Green Canticle » St. Beuno |url=https://greencanticle.com/tag/st-beuno/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=greencanticle.com}}

From 1155, during the reign of Henry II, there was a leper hospital dedicated to St Giles and associated with Shrewsbury Abbey. From the 1220s, there was also a general hospital dedicated to St John the Baptist.{{Cite web |title=Hospitals: Shrewsbury Pages 105-108 A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 2. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1973. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol2/pp105-108 |access-date=13 July 2020 |website=British History Online}}

In January 1234, Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of Wales and Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke burned down the town and laid siege to its castle.https://magnacarta800th.com/history-of-the-magna-carta/battles/restoring-royal-authority/. Retrieved 25 January 2024.

File:Edward I - Westminster Abbey Sedilia.jpg

In 1283, Edward I (whose military campaigns in Wales frequently brought him to Shropshire) summoned a parliament in Shrewsbury, later adjourned to Acton Burnell,{{Cite web |title=Acton Burnell Castle |url=http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/visitor_guide/acton_burnell_castle_guide.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130164935/http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/visitor_guide/acton_burnell_castle_guide.shtml |archive-date=30 November 2007 |access-date=28 November 2007 |publisher=Virtual Shropshire}} to try and condemn Dafydd ap Gruffydd, last of the native Princes of Wales, to execution by hanging, drawing and quartering within the town after Dafydd was captured, ending his rebellion against the king.{{cite DWB| id=s-DAFY-APG-1283 |title=Dafydd ap Gruffydd (David III, died 1283), prince of Gwynedd |first= Thomas Jones|last=Pierce |date=1959}} It is thought this parliament met in the Abbey.{{Cite web |last=Leighton |first=W. A. (William Allport) |date=1850 |title=A guide, descriptive and historical, through the Town of Shrewsbury |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62688/62688-h/62688-h.htm |access-date=2023-07-08 |language=en}} {{PD-notice}} This is often considered to be the first Parliament at which commoners were represented.{{Cite web |title=History of Acton Burnell Castle |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/acton-burnell-castle/history/ |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=English Heritage}}

Shrewsbury was devastated by the Black Death, which, records suggest, arrived in the spring of 1349.{{Cite book |last=Shipley |first=John |title=The A-Z of Curious Shropshire : Strange Stories of Mysteries, Crimes and Eccentrics. |date=2017 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=9780750983174 |quote="The Black Death arrives in Shropshire around the spring of 1349...."}} Examining the number of local church benefices falling vacant due to death, 1349 alone saw twice as many vacancies as the previous ten years combined, suggesting a high death toll in Shrewsbury.{{Cite book |last=Gasquet |first=Francis A. |url=https://archive.org/details/blackdeathof1908gasq |title=The Black Death of 1348 and 1349 |date=1908 |publisher=George Bell & Sons |isbn=9781331933663 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackdeathof1908gasq/page/166 166]–167}}

"The Great Fire of Shrewsbury" took place in 1394: St Chad's church was consumed by an accidental fire, which spread to a great portion of the town, then chiefly consisting of timber houses with thatched roofs. The damage was so considerable that Richard II remitted the town's taxes for three years towards the repairs.

File:The Westminster Portrait of Richard II of England (1390s).jpg also summoned a parliament in the town]] In 1398, Richard II summoned a Great Parliament in the town, which is believed to have met in the Abbey, dubbed the "Revenge Parliament," this Parliament originally met in Westminster but was prorogued to Shrewsbury{{Cite web |title=Virtual Treasury |url=https://virtualtreasury.ie/archive-fever/in-search-of-the-mortimers |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Virtual Treasury |language=en}} (he publicly proclaimed it an act of affection for the people of Shropshire) and was a turning point in Richard II's reign,{{Cite journal |last=EDWARDS |first=J. G. |date=1925 |title=The Parliamentary Committee of 1398 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/xl.clix.321 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=XL |issue=CLIX |pages=321–333 |doi=10.1093/ehr/xl.clix.321 |issn=0013-8266}} and sowed the seeds of his eventual downfall.{{Citation |last=Griffiths |first=John |title=S. R. Gardiner, a Student's History of England from the Earliest Times to 1885 (London: Longmans and Co., 1892), pp. 952–955. |date=2021-09-27 |work=Empire and Popular Culture |pages=176–178 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351024822-18 |access-date=2025-02-23 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-02482-2}} This national drama played out against a backdrop of local controversy, as Shrewsbury itself grappled with its own internal power struggles and grievances against its ruling elite.{{Citation |last=Given-Wilson |first=Chris |title=Introduction |date=2013-01-01 |work=Chronicles of the Revolution, 1397–1400 |pages=1–52 |url=https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526112859/9781526112859.00011.xml |access-date=2025-02-23 |publisher=Manchester University Press |language=en-US |isbn=978-1-5261-1285-9}}

In 1403, the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought at Battlefield, a few miles north of the town centre, between King Henry IV and Henry Percy (Hotspur), with the king emerging victorious.{{Cite web |title=Battle of Shrewsbury – Henry VI at Shrewsbury |url=http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars14011600/p/Shrewsbury.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504094134/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars14011600/p/Shrewsbury.htm |archive-date=4 May 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=About.com |df=dmy-all}} Hotspur's body was taken by Thomas Neville, to Whitchurch, for burial. However, when rumours circulated that Percy was still alive, the king "had the corpse exhumed and displayed it, propped upright between two millstones, in the market place at Shrewsbury".{{Harvnb|Walker|2004}}. That being done, Percy was subjected to posthumous execution.{{Cite book |title = The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday|last = Cokayne|first = George Edward |publisher = St. Catherine Press|location = London|year = 1936|volume = IX|page=714}}

File:The Princes in the Tower by John Everett Millais (1878).png]]

One of the Princes in the Tower, Richard of Shrewsbury, was born in the town around 17 August 1473,{{Cite web |title=Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York |url=https://www.warsoftheroses.com/people/richard-of-shrewsbury-duke-of-york/ |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=Wars of the Roses |language=en-GB}} the second son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. In 1480, Edward V, then Prince of Wales (and the other prince of the Princes in the Tower), was resident in Shrewsbury. On 11 May Edward V confirmed the composition of the town's Mercer's Company, which had merged with the guilds of the Ironmongers and Goldsmiths. This fraternity were patrons of the Altar of St Michael in St Chad's Church and they kept a Mercers Hall on the site of the Sextry of Old St Chads.File:71, 72 & 73, Wyle Cop 3.JPG]]

In 1485, ahead of the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor, while not yet king, marched his forces on a route that lay through Shrewsbury. He was initially denied access to the town, but on intervention by a member of the Stanley family he was admitted.{{Cite web |title=The Battle of Bosworth Field |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/The-Battle-of-Bosworth-Field/ |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Historic UK |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2015-04-13 |title=The Road to Bosworth by Sarah Bryson - The Tudor Society |url=https://www.tudorsociety.com/the-road-to-bosworth-by-sarah-bryson/ |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.tudorsociety.com |language=en-gb}} Thomas Mytton, the Bailiff of the town, a supporter of Richard III, had vowed that the only way he would get through was "over his dead body". Thomas then lay down and allowed Henry to step over him, to free himself from his oath.{{Cite news |date=30 May 2022 |title=Sunrise on Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury, looking as if very little has changed over the centuries. |url=https://www.shropshireandbeyond.com/blog/timeless-scene-on-historic-wyle-cop |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Shropshire and Beyond |language=en-GB}} Henry was accommodated in the building now known as Henry Tudor House on Wyle Cop.{{Cite web |title=Home - Discover Henry Tudor House A Restaurant, Bar & Events Space |url=https://henrytudorhouse.com/ |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Henry Tudor House}}

In 1490, Henry VII, accompanied by his queen and his son, Prince Arthur, celebrated the feast of St George in the town. The town is recorded as having entertained Henry again in 1496, with attendants lodged in the Sextry of Old St Chads; more generally it is said of Henry VII's relations with the town that:

The intercourse which had begun thus favourably was kept up in after years by Henry, who, with his queen and son, frequently visited this town, upon which occasions they were feasted by the Bailiffs in a most royal and hospitable manner.

Shrewsbury's monastic institutions were disbanded with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Abbey was closed in 1540. Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury one of his 13 new bishoprics (serving Shropshire and Staffordshire) and hence a cathedral city, after the formation of the Church of England but the citizens of the town declined the offer, which is the point of origin of the term "Proud Salopians": the town leadership preferring to be the most senior town in the country and not the most junior city.{{efn|This story is also attributed to Charles I}}

As a consequence of the dissolution, the monastic hospitals were closed and the incomes from their endowments were transferred to secular owners. St Giles's leper hospital passed to the Prince family, who were succeeded by their descendants the Earls of Tankerville. St John the Baptist hospital passed to the Wood family and became almshouses. At this time the shrine and relics of St Winifred were destroyed.

{{multiple image

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{{main|Council of Wales and the Marches}}

The Council of Wales and the Marches was established during the 1470s by Edward IV with a headquarters in the town.{{Cite web |title=Council in the Marches of Wales |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810104658259 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |doi= }} Its buildings partly survive near the castle and were later adapted to be an episcopal palace,{{Cite web |title=THE OLD COUNCIL HOUSE, Shrewsbury - 1270996 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270996 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}} the council also met at Ludlow Castle.

Members of this council included John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Sir Henry Sidney, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Sir Rowland Hill, publisher of the Geneva Bible and potential inspiration for a hero in Shakespeare's As You Like It.{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Sue |date=2024-01-29 |title=Shakespeare's links with Shropshire unveiled - when and where you can hear about them |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/north-shropshire/wem/2024/01/29/london-lecture-comes-to-shropshire-as-links-between-shakespeare-and-the-county-are-unveiled/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}

File:Council House & Gateway 02.JPG

Its functions were interpreted widely. It was to hear all suits, civil and criminal, which were brought by individuals too poor to sue at common law; it was to try all cases of murder, felony, piracy, wrecking and such crimes as were likely to disturb the peace; it was to investigate charges of misgovernment by officials and the false verdicts of juries; it was to enforce the laws against livery and maintenance, to punish rumour mongers and adulterers, and to deal with disputes concerning enclosures, villein service and manorial questions; it heard appeals from the common law courts; and it was responsible for administering the legislation dealing with religion.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/history/wjec_unit_5/the_council_of_Wales_and_the_marches.doc|title=Domain Registered at Safenames|website=www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk}} According to historian John Davies, at its peak in the mid-16th century, the Council:

represented a remarkable experiment in regional government. It administered the law cheaply and rapidly; it dealt with up to twenty cases a day and George Owen stated that the 'oppressed poor' flocked to it.John Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1993, {{ISBN|0-14-028475-3}}

File:John Caius G&C.jpg

In 1551, there was a notable outbreak of sweating sickness in the town, which Dr John Caius was in the town to attend to at the command of the council.{{Cite web |title=The Sweating Sickness: A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate or Sweatyng Sicknesse, by John Caius et al. {{!}} The Online Books Page |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp85998 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu}} The following year, after his return to London, Caius published A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse. The president of the council was the dedicatee of the book and the dedicatory epistle explains his appointment. This text became the main source of knowledge of this disease, now understood to be influenza.{{Cite web |title=John Caius {{!}} British physician {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Caius |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

In 1581, Sir Henry Sidney, celebrated the feast of St George, on 23 April, in this town, with great splendour: a solemn procession went from the Council House to St Chad’s Church, the choir of which was fitted up in imitation of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle with the stalls decorated with the arms of the Knights of the Garter; on the conclusion of divine service Sir Henry devoted the afternoon to feasting the burgesses.

Shrewsbury thrived throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, a period when the town was at the height of its commercial importance. This success was largely due to the town's location, which allowed it to control the Welsh wool trade, a major industry at the time, with the rest of Britain and Europe, with the River Severn and Watling Street acting as trading routes.{{Cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Jean |date=March 1955 |title=Reviewed Work: The Shrewsbury Drapers and the Welsh Wool Trade in the XVI and XVII Centuries. by T. C. Mendenhall |department=Review |journal=The Economic Journal |publisher=Wiley |volume=65 |pages=147–149 |doi=10.2307/2227468 |jstor=2227468 |number=257}} This trade was dominated by the Shrewsbury Drapers Company for many years.{{Citation |title=History of Shrewsbury Drapers |url=http://shrewsburydrapers.org.uk/about/history |df=dmy-all |access-date=2 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325094439/http://shrewsburydrapers.org.uk/about/history |url-status=live |publisher=Shrewsbury Drapers |archive-date=25 March 2016}} As a result, a number of grand edifices, including the Ireland's Mansion (built 1575) and Draper's Hall (1658), were constructed.

It was in this period that Edward VI gave permission for the foundation of a free school, which was later to become Shrewsbury School.{{Cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=George William |url=http://archive.org/details/annalsofshrewsbu00fishrich |title=Annals of Shrewsbury School |last2=Hill |first2=John Spencer |date=1899 |publisher=London : Methuen |others=University of California Libraries}} Later, William Camden, in his Britannia (begun 1577), remarked of the town that "Shrewsbury is inhabited both by Welsh and English, who speak each other's language; and among other things greatly to their praise is the grammar school founded by them, the best filled in all England, whose flourishing state is owing to provision made by its head master, the excellent and worthy Thomas Ashton", the school's first head master.{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 2|page=684}} Article on Thomas Ashton by Martin E. Speight.

File:Gerrit van Honthorst (c.1590-1592-1656) - Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619–1682), Count Palatine, Later Duke of Cumberland - 493057 - National Trust.jpg]]

{{main|Shropshire in the English Civil War}}

During the English Civil War, Shrewsbury was a Royalist stronghold, under the command of Sir Francis Ottley.{{Cite ODNB|id=20940|title=Ottley, Sir Francis|first=Wright |last=Stephen}} In the autumn of 1642 Charles I had a temporary base in the town.{{Cite web |title=English Civil War Battle of Edgehill |url=https://www.britishbattles.com/english-civil-war/the-battle-of-edgehill/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=www.britishbattles.com}}

Prince Rupert established his headquarters in the town on 18 February 1644, being welcomed by Shrewsbury's aldermen. He was billeted in a building then the home of the family of Thomas Jones{{Cite web |title=JONES, Thomas I (1614-92), of Shrewsbury, Salop and Cerreghwfa, Mont. | History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/jones-thomas-i-1614-92 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}} in the precincts of what is now the Prince Rupert Hotel.{{Cite web |title=A stroll into the history of Shrewsbury |url=https://www.shropshireandbeyond.com/blog/a-stroll-into-the-history-of-shrewsbury |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Shropshire and Beyond |language=en-GB}}

Shrewsbury only fell to Parliament forces after they were let in by a parliamentarian sympathiser at the St Mary's Water Gate (now also known as Traitor's Gate).{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury Medieval gateway visible again after facelift |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2016/03/26/shrewsbury-medieval-gateway-visible-again-after-facelift/ |website=Shropshire Star |date=26 March 2016 |access-date=30 August 2023}} After Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury in February 1645; in following with the ordnance of no quarter; a dozen Irish prisoners were selected to be killed after picking lots.{{harvnb|Carlton|1994|p=262}}.{{Cite news |date=29 January 2015 |title=Shrewsbury, the house at the Castle Gates and the hanged Irish mercenaries |publisher=Gwendda |url=http://www.witchphotographer.com/shop/shrewsbury/shrewsbury-the-house-at-the-castle-gates-and-the-hanged-irish-mercenaries/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125084047/http://www.witchphotographer.com/shop/shrewsbury/shrewsbury-the-house-at-the-castle-gates-and-the-hanged-irish-mercenaries/ |archive-date=25 November 2016 |df=dmy-all}} This prompted Rupert to respond by executing Parliamentarian prisoners in Oswestry.{{Cite book |last=Royle |first=Trevor |title=Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660 |publisher=Abacus |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-349-11564-1 |edition=2006 |page=277}}

By the 18th century, Shrewsbury had become an important market town and stopping point for stagecoaches travelling between London and Holyhead with passengers on their way to Ireland; this led to the establishment of a number of coaching inns, many of which, such as the Lion Hotel, are extant to this day.

File:Town Hall Shrewsbury and the Old Market House, 1796.jpg

A town hall was built in the Market Place on the site of an ancient guildhall in 1730;{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Samuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-CzYeAyoIYC&pg=PT37 |title=A Topographical Dictionary of England: With Historical and Statistical Descriptions |publisher=S. Lewis & Co. |year=1833}} it was demolished and a new combined guildhall and shirehall was erected on the site in 1837.{{Cite book |last=Pidgeon |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/memorialsshrews00pidggoog |title=Memorials of Shrewsbury: being a concise description of the town and its environs |year=1837 |page=[https://archive.org/details/memorialsshrews00pidggoog/page/n146 116] |quote=Old Shire Hall Shrewsbury Robert Smirke 1837.}}

Local soldier and statesman Robert Clive served as the town's mayor in 1762 and was Shrewsbury's MP from 1762 until his death in 1774.{{Cite web |title=Former Mayors of Shrewsbury 1638 to present |url=http://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/live/welcome.asp?id=714 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129042744/http://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/live/welcome.asp?id=714 |archive-date=29 November 2014 |access-date=19 November 2014 |publisher=Shrewsbury Town Council}}

St Chad's Church collapsed in 1788 after attempts to expand the crypt compromised the structural integrity of the tower above. Now known as Old St Chad's, the remains of the church building and its churchyard are on the corner of Princess Street, College Hill and Belmont. A new St Chad's Church was built just four years after the collapse, but as a large neo-classical round church and in a different and more elevated location, at the top of Claremont Hill close to the Quarry.

In the Industrial Revolution the Shrewsbury Canal opened in 1797, initially connecting the town to Trench. By 1835 it had been linked up to the Shropshire Canal and thence to the rest of the canal network.{{Cite web |title=Thomas Telford in Shropshire |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/telford/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531093521/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/telford/ |archive-date=31 May 2009 |access-date=4 March 2008 |publisher=BBC Shropshire |df=dmy-all}}

In the period directly after Napoleon's surrender after the Battle of Waterloo, the town's own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was sent to guard him in his exile on St Helena. A locket containing a lock of the emperor's hair, presented to an officer of the 53rd, remains to this day in the collections of the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum at Shrewsbury Castle.{{Cite web |date=7 January 2013 |title=Kings Shropshire Light Infantry |url=http://www.dlisouthshields.org.uk/kings_shropshire_light_infantry.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508064451/http://www.dlisouthshields.org.uk/kings_shropshire_light_infantry.php |archive-date=8 May 2012 |publisher=Durham Light Infantry Association, South Shields |df=dmy-all}}

File:Shrewsbury Prison 1796.png

HM Prison Shrewsbury, when new in the Georgian period, was considered a national example of improved conditions and more enlightened penal policy. Times change and a 2005 report on prison population found that it was the most overcrowded in England and Wales, despite a major expansion in Victorian times.{{Cite news |date=27 July 2005 |title=Jail most overcrowded in country |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/shropshire/4722157.stm |access-date=16 January 2008}} The prison, which was also known as the Dana because it was built near the site of the medieval Dana gaol, was closed in 2013 and then sold by the Ministry of Justice to private property developers in 2014.[http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/11/20/shrewsburys-dana-prison-to-become-homes-and-offices/ Shropshire Star] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201021314/http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/11/20/shrewsburys-dana-prison-to-become-homes-and-offices/ |date=1 February 2015 }} Sold: Shrewsbury's Dana prison to become homes and offices (20 November 2014)

In 1821, the county purchased a building in College Hill which was adapted to become the judge's lodgings, providing accommodation for the judges and their retinue during their attendance at the Assizes.

File:BT Building - geograph.org.uk - 142496.jpg

The town suffered very little from air raids in the Second World War; the worst case was in 1940, when a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road, the only local air raid deaths.{{Cite book |last=Simcox |first=Kenneth |title=A Town at War, Shrewsbury 1939–45 |publisher=Shropshire Libraries |year=1983 |isbn=0-903802-25-2 |page=14}} Therefore, many of its ancient buildings remain intact and there was little redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s. However, some historic buildings were demolished to make way for the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s, though the town was saved from a new inner ring road due to its challenging geography.{{Cite book |last=Rowley |first=Trevor |url=https://archive.org/details/englishlandscape0000rowl |title=The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century |publisher=A&C Black |year=2006 |isbn=9781852853884 |page=[https://archive.org/details/englishlandscape0000rowl/page/149 149] |quote=shrewsbury england redevelopment architecture 1960s 1970s. |access-date=13 April 2008 |url-access=registration |df=dmy-all}} A notable example of 1960s/70s construction in Shrewsbury was Telecom House on Smithfield Road, demolished in the 2000s.{{Cite web |title=Smithfield Cattle Market, Shrewsbury |url=http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCS_MSA17987/ |access-date=14 July 2020 |publisher=Discovering Shropshire's History |archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714182714/http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCS_MSA17987/ |url-status=dead }}

Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened nuclear bunker, built for No 16 Group Royal Observer Corps Shrewsbury, who provided the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and would have sounded the four-minute warning alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Shrewsbury in the event of approaching radioactive fallout.{{Cite web |title=UKWMO Group Controls |url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/group_hq.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025003958/http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/group_hq.html |archive-date=25 October 2007 |access-date=17 March 2008 |publisher=Subbrit.org.uk |df=dmy-all}} The building was staffed by up to 120 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis. After the breakup of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands just inside Holywell Street near the Abbey as a lasting reminder of the Cold War, but is now converted and used as a veterinary practice.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury ROC Group HQ – Subterranea Britannica |url=https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/shrewsbury-roc-group-hq/ |website=www.subbrit.org.uk}}

The town was targeted by the IRA in 1992. One bomb was detonated at Shrewsbury Castle, causing severe damage to the regimental museum of the Shropshire Light Infantry,{{Cite news |last=Kirby |first=Terry |date=26 August 1992 |title=Firebomb attack at army museum linked to IRA |work=The Independent}} estimated to be in the region of £250,000 and many artefacts were lost. A second bomb, detonated in the Darwin Shopping Centre, was put out by the sprinkler system before any major damage was caused. Finally, a third bomb was discovered elsewhere in the town centre but failed to do any serious damage.{{Cite web |title=Shropshire bombing |url=http://shropshirehistory.com/disasters/bomb.htm |access-date=19 June 2019 |website=Shropshire History |archive-date=19 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619043436/http://shropshirehistory.com/disasters/bomb.htm |url-status=dead }}

File:Shrewsbury Abbey from the west - geograph.org.uk - 56158.jpg

From the late 1990s, the town experienced severe flooding problems from the Severn and Rea Brook. In the autumn of 2000 large swathes of the town were underwater, notably Frankwell, which flooded three times in six weeks.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury flood alleviation scheme |url=http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/midlands/567079/567090/893833/894284/202790/?lang=_e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110011902/http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/midlands/567079/567090/893833/894284/202790/?lang=_e |archive-date=10 January 2007 |access-date=24 February 2008 |publisher=Environment Agency}} The Frankwell flood defences were completed in 2003, along with the new offices of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. More recently, such as in 2005 and 2007 but not 2020, flooding has been less severe and the defences have generally held back floodwaters from the town centre areas. However, the town car parks are often left to be flooded in the winter, which reduces trade in the town, most evidenced in the run up to Christmas in 2007.{{Cite news |date=10 December 2007 |title=Flood watch continues on Severn |publisher=BBC Shropshire News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/7135099.stm |url-status=live |access-date=24 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213155630/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/7135099.stm |archive-date=13 December 2007 |df=dmy-all}}

Shrewsbury won the West Midlands Capital of Enterprise award in 2004.{{Cite web |title=Advantage WM |url=http://www.advantagewm.co.uk/news-media-events/news/2006/01/enterprise-capital-search-now-underway.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621060912/http://www.advantagewm.co.uk/news-media-events/news/2006/01/enterprise-capital-search-now-underway.aspx |archive-date=21 June 2008 |access-date=18 September 2007}} The town has two large expanding business parks, Shrewsbury Business Park by the A5 in the southeast and Battlefield Enterprise Park in the north. There are many residential developments currently under construction in the town to cater for the increasing numbers of people wishing to live in the town, which is a popular place to commute to Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham from.{{Cite web |title=Travel – A day on the Shrewsbury-Birmingham line |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2006/07/13/commuter_blog_feature.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127042516/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2006/07/13/commuter_blog_feature.shtml |archive-date=27 January 2007 |access-date=13 April 2008 |website=BBC Shropshire |df=dmy-all}}

In 2009 Shrewsbury Town Council was formed and the town's traditional coat of arms was returned to everyday use.{{Cite web |title=Case study on the experience of newly established local (parish and town) councils |url=https://www.nalc.gov.uk/library/our-work/create-a-council-resources/1367-shrewsbury-town-council-shropshire/file |access-date=14 July 2020 |publisher=National Association of Local Councils}}

In 2021 the lost seal of the town, dating from 1425, was discovered.{{Cite journal |title=Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum Phthiotic Thebes. Christian bronze seal. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1874-6772_seg_a43_308 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum|date=2016 |doi=10.1163/1874-6772_seg_a43_308 }}

The Borough of Shrewsbury's first charter was granted by Henry I allowing the collection of rents. Richard I granted another early charter in 1189. Further charters were granted in 1199 John, 1495, Henry VII, 1638, Charles I and 1685, James II. In 1974 a charter from Elizabeth II incorporated the Borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, under the auspices of which the town remained until 2009.{{Cite web |title=Establishment of Shrewsbury Town Council |url=http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/council/committees/council/2007-09-24/town%2Bcouncil%2Breport.doc |access-date=4 April 2008 |publisher=Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Shrewsbury is the administrative centre for the Shropshire Council, the unitary authority formed in 2009 and covering most of Shropshire (but excluding the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, a separate unitary authority area). Shropshire Council have their headquarters at the Shirehall, on Abbey Foregate.{{Cite web |title=Shropshire County Council Home Page |url=http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511221925/http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/ |archive-date=11 May 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=Shropshire County Council |df=dmy-all}}

Shrewsbury is in the Shrewsbury constituency and is the only large settlement in the constituency. At the most recent general election, in 2024, Julia Buckley of the Labour Party was elected with a majority of 11,355.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001473 |title=Shrewsbury - General election results 2024 |publisher=BBC News|language=en-gb |access-date=5 July 2024}} The 19th-century Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, was MP for Shrewsbury.{{Cite web |title=Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/dizzy.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214233216/http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/dizzy.html |archive-date=14 February 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=VictorianWeb.org |df=dmy-all}}

{{Main|Shrewsbury Town Council}}

Until 2009, Shrewsbury was an unparished area with neither town or parish council. Instead, the mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham, based in the Guildhall in Dogpole,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ot-vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA578 |title=The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1978 |isbn=978-1349815111}} was also the mayor of the town. However, as part of wider changes to local government in Shropshire, the town was parished on 13 May 2008, with a single parish created covering the entire town and previously unparished area. At the time of creation, Shrewsbury was the second-most populous civil parish in England, though further creations of large town councils mean it is now the fourth. The area of the parish is {{convert|3799|ha|acre}}.

The town council first convened on 1 April 2009 and its chair is the mayor of Shrewsbury. For the interim period before the first elections, the existing county councillors who represented electoral divisions covering Shrewsbury were the town councillors. On 4 June 2009, the first election was held to the town council, with councillors elected from 17 single-member wards coterminous with Shropshire Council electoral divisions.

The political make-up of the town council, as of the 2021 local elections, sees Labour as the largest party with 7 seats, the Liberal Democrats with 6, the Conservatives with 2 and the Green Party with 2.

The town council was based at the Guildhall on Frankwell Quay, a facility which had originally been built in 2004 as the headquarters of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council; however the town council moved to Riggs Hall in 2017.{{Cite web |title=Contact us {{!}} Shrewsbury Town Council |url=http://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/contact-us |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk |language=en}} Riggs Hall is one of the original buildings on the former site of Shrewsbury School on Castle Gates.{{Cite web |title=Riggs Hall Riggs Hall, to rear of Library |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1246750 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324084105/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1246750 |archive-date=24 March 2017 |access-date=25 July 2017 |publisher=Historic England |df=dmy-all}} Since 2023, the town council have their offices at Livesey House, on St John's Hill and the council itself meets in the Shirehall.[https://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/meetings/full-council-12/ Shrewsbury Town Council] (accessed 29 May 2023)

File:Coat of arms of Shrewsbury.png

The coat of arms of the former Shrewsbury Borough Council and now of the Town Council, depicts three loggerheads (leopards), with the motto Floreat Salopia, a Latin phrase that can be translated to "May Shrewsbury Flourish".{{Cite web |title=Origins of the name of Shrewsbury |url=http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/council/civictradition/shrewsburyname.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222315/http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/council/civictradition/shrewsburyname.htm |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=17 January 2008 |website=Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council |df=dmy-all}}{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/salop.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120060932/http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/salop.html |archive-date=20 November 2007 |access-date=5 April 2008 |publisher=civicheraldry.co.uk |df=dmy-all}} The coat of arms of the (now abolished) Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was Shrewsbury's shield with the addition of Atcham Bridge running above the leopards. The flag of Shropshire, and other county crests, also uses the three loggerheads.

Shrewsbury was twinned with Zutphen, Netherlands from 1977{{Cite web |title=Culture and Arts – Zutphen on the Ijsel |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/culture/2002/08/zutphen.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041215211836/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/culture/2002/08/zutphen.shtml |archive-date=15 December 2004 |access-date=18 September 2007 |publisher=BBC Shropshire |df=dmy-all}} until 2018.{{Cite news |last= Todman|first=Lucy |date=14 November 2018 |title=Historic link with Shrewsbury's twin town is axed |work=Shropshire Star |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2018/11/13/twin-ties-severed-after-40-years/ |access-date=11 April 2020}} The Royal Navy submarine, {{HMS|Talent|S92|6}}, decommissioned in 2022, was affiliated with Shrewsbury.{{cite web |last1=Humprhries |first1=Hilary |title=HMS Talent Returns Freedom Rights to Shrewsbury |url=https://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/hms-talent-returns-freedom-rights-to-shrewsbury/ |website=Shrewsbury Town Council |access-date=23 April 2023 |date=27 October 2022}}

File:English Bridge Shrewsbury - panoramio - PJMarriott.jpg

Shrewsbury is about {{convert|14|mi|km}} west of Telford, {{convert|43|mi|km}} west of Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation and about {{convert|153|mi|km}} north-west of the capital, London. More locally, the town is to the east of Welshpool, with Bridgnorth and Kidderminster to the south-east. The border with Wales is {{convert|9|mi}} to the west.

The town centre is partially built on a hill whose elevation is, at its highest, {{convert|246|ft|m}} above sea level. The longest river in the United Kingdom, the River Severn, flows through the town, forming a meander around its centre. The Rea Brook is a small river that has its confluence with the Severn at Shrewsbury, just upstream from the English Bridge, and much of the Rea Brook Valley within the town is a country park and local nature reserve, encompassing {{convert|36|ha|acre}}.[https://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/assets/rea-brook-valley-local-nature-reserve/ Shrewsbury Town Council] Rea Brook Valley Local Nature Reserve The town is subject to flooding from these rivers.

{{Clear}}

The town lies to the west of Haughmond Hill, a site where Precambrian rocks, some of the oldest rocks in the county can be found,{{Cite web |title=Haughmond Hill |url=http://www.shropshiregeology.org.uk/shropgeol/haughmond/haughmondmain.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009002424/http://www.shropshiregeology.org.uk/shropgeol/haughmond/haughmondmain.html |archive-date=9 October 2007 |access-date=2 January 2008 |website=Shropshire Geology |df=dmy-all}} and the town itself is sited on an area of largely Carboniferous rocks.{{Cite web |title=Shropshire's Geological Trail |url=http://www.shropshirerocks.org/shropshiregeologicaltrail |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119145001/http://www.shropshirerocks.org/shropshiregeologicaltrail |archive-date=19 November 2008 |access-date=2 January 2008 |website=Shropshire Rocks!}} A fault, the Hodnet Fault, starts approximately at the town and runs north-east into the Stoke-on-Trent area.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=N J P |last2=Kirby |first2=G A |last3=Pharoah |first3=TC |title=Structure and evolution of the south-west Pennine Basin and adjacent area |url=https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/Memoirs/docs/B06160.html |website=British Geographical Society |access-date=30 August 2023}}

File:Shrewsbury Food Festival Crowds.jpg is often busy during spring and summer.]]

The climate of Shrewsbury is similar to that of the rest of Shropshire, generally moderate.

Rainfall averages {{convert|76|to|100|cm|in|abbr=on}}, influenced by being in the rainshadow of the Cambrian Mountains from warm, moist frontal systems of the Atlantic Ocean, which bring generally light precipitation in autumn and spring.{{Cite web |title=Shropshire |url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781530177/Shrewsbury.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718233554/https://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781530177/Shrewsbury.html |archive-date=18 July 2008 |access-date=24 February 2008 |publisher=MSN Encarta}} The nearest weather station is at Shawbury, about {{convert|6.5|mi}} north-east of Shrewsbury town centre. The local topography, being that of a low-lying plain surrounded by higher ground to the west, south and east gives the Shrewsbury area its own microclimate – the absolute maximum at Shawbury of {{convert|34.9|°C|°F|abbr=on}} and absolute minimum of {{convert|-25.2|°C|°F|abbr=on}} represents the largest temperature range of any individual weather station in the British Isles – although the maximum range of average temperatures tends to peak to the south-east of the Shrewsbury area, particularly in the south-east midlands, inland East Anglia and inland south-east England. In an average year, the warmest day is {{convert|28.4|°C|°F|abbr=on}},{{Cite web |title=1971-00 average warmest day |url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TXx&stationid=1633 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611101444/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TXx&stationid=1633 |archive-date=11 June 2012 |access-date=3 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}} giving a total of 8.9 days{{Cite web |title=1971-00 >25c days average |url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=SU&stationid=1633 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611101450/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=SU&stationid=1633 |archive-date=11 June 2012 |access-date=3 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}} of {{convert|25.1|°C|°F|abbr=on}} or above. The absolute maximum of {{convert|34.9|°C|°F|abbr=on}}{{Cite web |title=1990 Maximum |url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=14&year=1990&indexid=TXx&stationid=1633 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611101455/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=14&year=1990&indexid=TXx&stationid=1633 |archive-date=11 June 2012 |access-date=3 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}} was recorded in August 1990.

Conversely, the coldest night of the year typically falls to {{convert|-9.6|°C|°F|abbr=on}}{{Cite web |title=1971-00 average coldest day |url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TNn&stationid=1633 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611101501/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TNn&stationid=1633 |archive-date=11 June 2012 |access-date=3 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}} – in total 61.7 air frosts are recorded in an average year. The absolute minimum of {{convert|-25.2|°C|°F|abbr=on}}{{Cite web |title=1981 December |url=http://www.torro.org.uk/site/lowtempsyear.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119082325/http://www.torro.org.uk/site/lowtempsyear.php |archive-date=19 January 2011 |access-date=3 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}} was recorded in 1981.

Annual average rainfall averages around {{convert|650|mm}}, with over {{convert|1|mm|2}} falling on 124 days of the year.

{{Shawbury weatherbox}}

In 2021, the town of Shrewsbury had a population of 76,782. This represents an increase of 0.69% since 2011. The ethnic distribution was as follows: White – 72,975; Asian – 1755; Black – 348; Arab – 122; Mixed – 1,267; Other – 308.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/westmidlands/admin/shropshire/E04011358__shrewsbury/ |website=City Population |access-date=28 August 2023}}

Religious affiliations were as follows: Christian – 52.7%; Muslim – 0.5%; Sikh – 0.5%; Buddhist – 0.3%; Hindu – 0.2%; Jewish – 0.1%; Other – 0.1%; No religion – 39.1%; No answer – 6.4%.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury Census 2021 |url=https://www.plumplot.co.uk/Shrewsbury-census-2021.html#:~:text=96.9%25%20people%20are%20white%2C%201.3,%25%20households%20have%203%2B%20cars. |website=Plumpot |access-date=1 September 2023}}

File:Pride Hill Shrewsbury_2016.jpg

Throughout the medieval period, Shrewsbury was a centre for the wool trade,{{Cite web |title=The Shrewsbury Drapers Guild |url=http://www.shrewsburydrapers.org.uk/guild |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120121522/http://www.shrewsburydrapers.org.uk/guild |archive-date=20 November 2008 |access-date=4 April 2008 |website=shrewsburydrapers.org.uk |df=dmy-all}} and later used its position on the River Severn to transport goods across England via the canal system.

Unlike many other towns in this period, Shrewsbury never became a major centre for heavy industry. Though, in 1915, the Sentinel Waggon Works at Shrewsbury was opened for the building of steam rail and road locomotives. Later it converted to the production of diesel locomotives before being taken over, in 1958, by Rolls-Royce Limited for the manufacture of their range of diesel industrial engines, so that the Derby facility could concentrate on aero engines.{{Cite book |last=Robotham |first=William Arthur |title=Silver Ghosts and Silver Dawn |publisher=Constable |year=1970 |location=London |pages=160, 161}}

By the early 1900s, the town became focused on transport services and the general service and professional sector, owing to its position on the A5, part of the strategic route to North Wales.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury, Shropshire Industry Statistics |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_IND&data_cube=N_OCC_ORD1921&u_id=10023750&c_id=10001043&add=Y |access-date=9 March 2008 |publisher=A Vision of Britain}}

The town is the location of both town and county councils and a number of retail complexes, both in and out of the town centre. These provide significant employment. Shrewsbury is home to a high number of independent businesses, including shops, cafes and restaurants. Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury is said to have the 'longest uninterrupted row of independent shops'.{{Cite web |title=Wyle Cop {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/local-area/wyle-cop |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} Four in five jobs in the town are in the service industry. Within this sector, the largest employers are the administration and distribution sectors, which includes retail, food and accommodation.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Town |url=http://www.safetypartnership.org.uk/v2/downloads/4.2%20ShrewsburyTown.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217115152/http://www.safetypartnership.org.uk/v2/downloads/4.2%20ShrewsburyTown.pdf |archive-date=17 December 2008 |access-date=17 January 2008 |website=Safety Partnership}}

File:The Parade Shopping Centre, St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury - geograph.org.uk - 117039.jpg is housed in the former premises of the Royal Salop Infirmary.]]

Shrewsbury has two shopping centres. The Darwin shopping centre houses many high street retailers such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, JD Sports and Primark.{{Cite web |title=Darwin and Pride Hill Shopping Centres {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/local-area/darwin-pride-hill-shopping-centres |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} The Parade Shopping Centre is a second centre exclusively housing independent retailers.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} There are two retail warehouse clusters: at Meole Brace Retail Park to the south and at Sundorne Retail Park to the north. Major supermarkets in the town are the Tesco Extra at Harlescott, Morrisons on Whitchurch Road, Asda on Old Potts Way and Sainsbury's at Meole Brace.

File:High Street, Shrewsbury.JPG

The visitor economy of Shrewsbury and Atcham was worth about £115 million in 2001, with about 2,500 people employed directly in the visitor industry and 3,400 indirectly. There were about 3.1 million visitors – both day visitors and staying visitors – to the borough in 2001, with 88% being day visitors and 12% being staying visitors; staying visitors accounted for 42% of spending.{{Cite web |title=A Visitor Economy Strategy and Action Plan for Shrewsbury & Atcham |url=http://shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/business/towncentreissues/execsummary+for+publication.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927090441/http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/business/towncentreissues/execsummary+for+publication.doc |archive-date=27 September 2006 |access-date=21 March 2008 |website=Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council |df=dmy-all}} Shrewsbury's position of being the only sizeable town for a large area, especially to the west in Mid-Wales, allows it to attract a large retail base beyond that of its resident population. This is not only evident in the retail sector, but also in the healthcare sector, where the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has the only A&E department westwards until Aberystwyth, about {{convert|75|mi}} away.{{Cite news |date=10 July 2006 |title=Hospital's cash plans are delayed |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/5165812.stm |url-status=live |access-date=23 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060713214820/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/5165812.stm |archive-date=13 July 2006 |df=dmy-all}}

Businesses in Shrewsbury voted in favour of a Business Improvement District in late 2013 and Shrewsbury BID started operating in April 2014. Shrewsbury BID delivers on a five-year business plan of projects, which include major destination marketing campaigns, significant cost savings for businesses and strategic work ensuring the best possible town centre environment in which business can flourish. The company is governed by a board of directors and employed three staff full-time in 2017.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury BID |url=http://www.shrewsburybid.co.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509123407/http://www.shrewsburybid.co.uk/ |archive-date=9 May 2017 |df=dmy-all}}

In terms of social and economic deprivation, according to the Overall Index of Multiple Deprivation of 2004, one Super Output Area (SOA) in the town is in the bottom 15% of all areas nationally. This area is in the ward of Harlescott.{{Cite web |title=Index of multiple deprivation – overall results |url=http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/factsfigures.nsf/open/EB9BEA10E543F61780256ED7003B0ACC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121121618/http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/factsfigures.nsf/open/EB9BEA10E543F61780256ED7003B0ACC |archive-date=21 November 2008 |access-date=17 January 2008 |website=Shropshire County Council |df=dmy-all}} A further four SOAs fall into the bottom 30% nationally, these being in the wards of Monkmoor, Sundorne, Battlefield and Heathgates and Meole Brace. The most affluent areas of the town are generally to the south and west, around the grounds of Shrewsbury School and the Copthorne area.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

File:Shoe makers arbour Shrewsbury.jpg

Prior to the Reformation, there are accounts of major festivals in Kingsland:

In ancient times, while the Romish religion prevailed, all the companies united once a year in celebrating the day of Corpus Christi, with great pomp and splendour. At the reformation this ceremony was commuted for another, held on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday, which is still continued, though with less pomp and circumstance than formerly. The Companies form themselves into processions, headed severally by men on horseback in gaudy apparel, called kings, probably as representatives of the monarchs who granted their charters* They move in marshalled array to Kingsland, where they are met by the mayor and corporation and the day is spent in festivity.{{Cite book |last=Nightingale |first=J. |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/The_Beauties_of_England_and_Wales%2C_or%2C_Delineations%2C_topographical%2C_historical%2C_and_descriptive%2C_of_each_county_%28IA_beautiesofenglan1301brit%29.pdf |title=The Beauties of England and Wales, or, Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive, of each county |year=1819 |volume=13 |location=London}}

The town's Quarry Park has been the site of cultural activity since before the Reformation: a bank there, cut in the form of an amphitheatre, was used by the friars of the adjacent convent, who performed the ancient religious mystery plays or miracle plays; this continued in the mid-16th century when the plays of Thomas Ashton's Shrewsbury School attracted royal attention.{{Cite web |title=Ashton Road – Shrewsbury Local History |url=https://shrewsburylocalhistory.org.uk/street-names/ashton-road |access-date=2023-07-08 |language=en-US}} On several occasions the school put on pageants for the visiting Council of Wales and the Marches. In 1581, the Lord President, Sir Henry Sidney, leaving the town by barge, was greeted by several scholars on an island downstream of the castle dressed as green nymphs with willow branches tied to their heads reciting verses across the water.{{Cite book |last=Champion, Bill. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32893450 |title=Everyday life in Tudor Shrewsbury |date=1994 |publisher=Shropshire Books |isbn=0-903802-60-0 |location=[Shropshire] |pages=40 |oclc=32893450}}

File:Henry IV, Part 1 Quarto 3.pdf

William Shakespeare set the last two acts of his play, Henry IV, Part 1, written around 1596, near the town.{{Cite book |last1=Dunton-Downer |first1=Leslie |title=Essential Shakespeare |last2=Riding |first2=Alan |date=2004 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-1-4093-4625-8 |edition=2014 |location=London |pages=116–122}} It has been suggested, placing reliance on a record of a performance by his company, the King's Men in the town between 1603 and 1605, and supposed familiarity with the landscape; that Shakespeare performed in the town and knew the area.{{Cite web |date=15 April 2016 |title=When Shakespeare played Shrewsbury: Evidence points to Bard's appearance in county town |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2016/04/15/when-shakespeare-played-shrewsbury-evidence-points-to-bards-appearance-in-county-town/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}} Edward I's 13th centaury engagement with the town, and the execution of Welsh Prince Dafydd ap Gruffydd, was dramatized in George Peele's Elizabethan play 'The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First' (c.1592).{{Cite book |last=Peele |first=George |url=http://elizabethandrama.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Edward-I-Script.pdf |title=The famous chronicle of King Edward the First. 1593 |date=1593 |others=Internet Archive}}

The playwright George Farquhar's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer is set in the town.{{Cite web |date=16 September 2008 |title=Shrewsbury |url=http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/shrewsbu.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110202743/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/shrewsbu.htm |archive-date=10 November 2012 |website=Literary Heritage West Midlands |publisher=Shropshire Council |df=dmy-all}}

In the later Renaissance period, the land at Kingsland was devoted to elaborate performances, with grand arbours being built by the various town guilds.{{Cite web |title=Shoemakers' Arbour in The Dingle, Shrewsbury - 1270557 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270557 |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}} Some of the arbours survive, such as that for the Shoemakers Guild.{{Cite web |title=Shoemakers' Arbour in The Dingle, Shrewsbury - 1270557 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270557 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}

File:John Weaver Orpheus and Eurydice 1718.jpg

Known as the father of English ballet,{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Six Ticks |title=Dance Festival in Celebration of 'Father of English Ballet' John Weaver |url=https://www.myshrewsbury.co.uk/blog/dance-festival-in-celebration-of-father-of-english-ballet-john-weaver/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.myshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} as well as the originator of pantomime,{{Cite web |title=John Weaver |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803121502615 |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en}} John Weaver, developed his art in Shrewsbury. A second generation dancing master in the town,{{Cite book |title=Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 60 |publisher=Smith, Elder and Co., London |year=1885–1900 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Sidney |page=91}}Article by William George Dimock Fletcher. he also wrote on the philosophy, theology, statecraft and biology embedded in his era's understating of dance, which he located in a wider understanding of his culture as representing a component of Ptolemaic harmony and an earnest part of the statecraft of his time.{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Nancy |date=November 2001 |title=John Weaver and the Origins of English Pantomime: A Neoclassical Theory and Practice for Uniting Dance and Theatre |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/abs/john-weaver-and-the-origins-of-english-pantomime-a-neoclassical-theory-and-practice-for-uniting-dance-and-theatre/51E38DC25AE95FF38B5890A6A2668B27 |journal=Theatre Survey |language=en |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=191–214 |doi=10.1017/S0040557401000102 |issn=1475-4533 |s2cid=143360948}}

Pioneering early 18th-century travel writers Daniel Defoe and Celia Fiennes wrote about their visits to Shrewsbury in A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain{{cite web |title=Roads of East Shropshire Through Time |url=https://www.amberley-books.com/roads-of-east-shropshire-through-time.html |website=Amberley publishing |access-date=6 August 2023}} and Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary{{cite web |last1=Fiennes |first1=Celia |title=Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/travellers/Fiennes/26 |website=Vision of Britain |access-date=6 August 2023}} respectively.

In the 19th century, Charles Dickens made three visits to the town. The first, in 1838, was while he was travelling to Wales. On this occasion he stayed at the Lion Hotel. In 1852 he again visited, this time as part of a theatrical tour, staging benefit performances to raise money for the Guild of Literature and Art. His final visit, in 1858, was as part of a nationwide reading tour. Once again he stayed at the Lion.{{cite web |title=Charles Dickens and Shrewsbury |url=https://www.thecircumlocutionoffice.com/trail/shrewsbury/ |website=The circumlocution office |date=29 December 2015 |access-date=6 August 2023}}

The town appears in the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters. The novels take Shrewsbury Abbey for their setting and have made medieval Shrewsbury familiar to a wide readership.{{Cite web |title=Brother Cadfael |url=http://user.chollian.net/~beringar/e-cad.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215072718/http://user.chollian.net/~beringar/e-cad.htm |archive-date=15 December 2007 |access-date=23 February 2008 |website=user.chollian.net/~beringar}}

Shrewsbury was used as the setting for the 1984 television film A Christmas Carol, which filmed many of its interior and exterior shots in and around the town.

File:Evolution Explored Shrewsbury.jpg

In early 2017, Shrewsbury BID, The Hive and GRAIN Photography Hub organised an outdoor Magnum Photos exhibition.{{Cite web |title=Evolution Explored {{!}} A Magnum Photos Exhibition |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/evolution-explored |df=dmy-all |access-date=14 June 2018 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614144325/https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/evolution-explored |url-status=dead }} Inspired by Shrewsbury's links to Charles Darwin, this exhibition considered the theme of evolution through the eyes of international photographers. The 10-week exhibition was free to the public and staged at St Mary's Churchyard and The Square.

In 2022, the BBC production of Great Expectations with Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy was filmed in the town.{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Lauren |date=24 May 2022 |title=Filming of Great Expectations under way in Shrewsbury starring Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2022/05/24/filming-of-great-expectations-under-way-in-shrewsbury-starring-olivia-coleman-and-tom-hardy/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}} The same year, episodes of The Apprentice and Celebrity Hunted were filmed in Shrewsbury. The prison was used for the BBC TV series Time as well appearing in the ITV remake of The Ipcress File.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury in TV and Film |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/blog/shrewsbury-in-tv-and-film |website=Original Shrewsbury |access-date=31 August 2023}}

Theatre Severn is the town's main performing arts complex, it is situated in Frankwell next to the Welsh Bridge on the bank of the River Severn. The theatre includes two performance spaces, the 635 seat Main Auditorium and a smaller studio space, the Walker Theatre, which can accommodate 250 seating or 500 standing. The venue includes a full sized dance studio, function rooms and a restaurant.{{Cite web |title=Theatre Severn {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/theatre-severn |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} The new complex replaced the old theatre, the Music Hall, which has been refurbished and expanded in preparation for its current use as home to Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, opened 2014.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/shrewsbury-museum-art-gallery |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

The following royal visits have been made to Shrewsbury in modern times:

• The Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria visited in 1832.
• The Duke of Cambridge visited in 1886 when he inspected the Shropshire Yeomanry on the racecourse.{{cite book|last=Gladstone|first=E.W.|year=1953|title=The Shropshire Yeomanry 1795-1945, the History of a Volunteer Cavalry Regiment|publisher=The Whitethorn Press, Manchester|pages=111-114}}
• Princess Louise, visited in 1898.{{Cite web |title=PRINCESS- LOUISE AT SHREWSBURY. '-{{!}}1898-01-20{{!}}Evening Express - Welsh Newspapers |url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3273211/3273215/79/lorne |access-date=2020-03-26 |website=newspapers.library.wales |language=en}}
• The Duke of Teck (later Marquess of Cambridge) visited the town in 1911.{{Cite web |last=Shrewsbury School |title=Moments in our History |url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/wiki/moments-in-our-history}}
• George V visited the town in 1914.{{Cite web |title=Watch The King's Visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, Shrewsbury |url=https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-kings-visit-to-the-royal-agricultural-show-shrewsbury-1914-online |access-date=2020-03-26 |website=BFI Player |language=en}}
• In 1925 Princess Helena Victoria visited the town.
• 1925 saw a shopping visit to Shrewsbury by Queen Mary who arrived in Yorton.
• The future Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, visited in 1932.{{Cite web |date=2013-11-15 |title=20th Century Royal Visitors to Shrewsbury |url=https://volunteeringshropshiresheritage.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/20th-century-royal-visitors-to-shrewsbury/ |access-date=2020-03-26 |website=volunteeringshropshiresheritage |language=en}}
• In 1929 the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Sultan of Muscat made visits to Shrewsbury.
• Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1952.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/zV4JtRuek8U Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200520091818/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4JtRuek8U&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |title=Video of the Visit of HM The Queen in 1952 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4JtRuek8U |website=British Movietone| date=21 July 2015 }}{{cbignore}}
• Elizabeth II and Prince Philip returned in 1967 to open Shirehall.
• As Princess Elizabeth, Elizabeth also visited in 1949.{{cite web | url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/blog/queen-elizabeth-in-shrewsbury | title=Queen Elizabeth in Shrewsbury }}
• Charles, Prince of Wales, opened a new hospital building for the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 1978.{{Cite web |last=Andrews |first=Mark |date=2018-11-14 |title=Charles at 70: We remember prince's visits to Shropshire and Mid Wales |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2018/11/14/charles-at-70-we-remember-princes-visits-to-shropshire/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}
• In 1981 The Prince of Wales returned
• Princess Margaret came in 1984, while officially visiting a restored library in the town.
• Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother came in the 1990s.{{Cite web |date=2012-05-09 |title=The Queen's visit to Shrewsbury in 1952 |url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/queens-visit-shrewsbury-1952 |access-date=2020-03-26 |website=Shrewsbury School |language=en |archive-date=23 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123152324/https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/queens-visit-shrewsbury-1952 |url-status=dead }}
• Charles, Prince of Wales visited in 2001.{{Cite web |last=Andrews |first=Mark |date=14 November 2018 |title=Charles at 70: We remember prince's visits to Shropshire and Mid Wales |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2018/11/14/charles-at-70-we-remember-princes-visits-to-shropshire/ |access-date=2020-03-26 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}
• Anne, Princess Royal visited Shrewsbury in 2011.{{Cite web |date=2011-02-16 |title=Princess Royal to visit Shrewsbury |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/02/16/137072/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}
• Princess Alexandra visited in 2022.{{Cite web |last=Howe |first=Megan |date=2022-07-30 |title=Princess Alexandra visits Shrewsbury for regiment's freedom parade |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2022/07/30/princess-alexandra-visits-shrewsbury-for-regiments-freedom-parade/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}
• Queen Camilla visited in 2024.{{Cite web |last=Tooley |first=David |date=2024-03-27 |title=Watch: Queen Camilla arrives in Shrewsbury town centre as part of visit to county town |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2024/03/27/in-pictures-queen-camilla-arrives-in-shrewsbury-town-centre-as-part-of-visit-to-county-town/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}

File:Shrewsbury Flower Show 2013.jpg

The town is home to the 'longest running flower show in the world'. The annual Shrewsbury Flower Show is a two-day event, which takes place in mid-August, has been running for more than 125 years.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Flower Show {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/events/shrewsbury-flower-show |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} The event attracts around 100,000 visitors each year and offers a multitude of events, exhibitions and gardens, with a fireworks display at the end of each day.

File:Musicians at Shrewsbury Folk Festival.jpg is held at the West Mid Showground.]]

The Shrewsbury Folk Festival has been held in Shrewsbury since 2006. Held annually over the August bank holiday, the event is very popular, with people travelling from across the UK to attend.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Folk Festival {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/events/shrewsbury-folk-festival |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

The Shrewsbury Arts Trail is focused on showcasing contemporary art and includes sculptures, exhibitions, workshops and events. 2024' theme is "Time" and features work by renowned artists alongside local artists.{{Cite web |title=Home {{!}} Shrewsbury Arts Trail |url=https://www.shrewsburyartstrail.com/ |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=Shrewsbury Arts Trai |language=en}}

The town celebrates its links to Darwin with an annual Darwin Festival in February. The two and a half week multi-media event celebrates the town as the 'Origin of Independent Thinking' with activities including lectures, dance performances and live music.{{cite web |title=Darwin Shrewsbury Festival |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/events/darwin-shrewsbury-festival |website=Original Shrewsbury |access-date=27 August 2023}}

File:Art_Exhibition_in_Shrewsbury_Museum_and_Art_Gallery,_image_includes_Jacob_Chandler's_illustrations_of_the_Dancing_Figures_in_'As_You_Like_It'.jpg

Other events held in spring and summer include the Shrewsbury Bookfest, Shrewsbury Regatta, Cycle Grand Prix, Shrewsbury Carnival, Food Festival, Dragon Boat Race and the Coracle World Championships.{{Cite web |title=Events in Shrewsbury |url=http://www.originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/events |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509054917/http://www.originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/events |archive-date=9 May 2017 |access-date=24 May 2017 |df=dmy-all}} Since 2016, Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival has been held over the third weekend of July in multiple venues across town.{{cite web |title=About |url=https://sicfest.co.uk/sample-page/ |website=Scifest |access-date=11 August 2023}}

Comics Salopia (formerly the Cartoon Festival) was a large biannual festival of the comics arts, attracting over a quarter of a million visitors. In format and scope it aimed to emulate on a smaller scale, the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. In June 2023, It was announced that after making substantial losses in 2022, it would not be continued.{{cite news |title=British comics festival Comics Salopia calls it a day |url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/british-comics-festival-comics-salopia-calls-it-a-day/ |newspaper=The Beat |date=20 June 2023 |access-date=11 August 2023 |last1=Simons |first1=Dean }}

File:The Music Hall, Shrewsbury 01.jpg]]

The Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery is in the town square, occupying the former music hall and the 13th-century Vaughan's mansion and is part of Shropshire Museums.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery |url=https://www.shropshiremuseums.org.uk/smag/ |website=Shropshire Museums |access-date=9 July 2023 |archive-date=30 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530165944/https://www.shropshiremuseums.org.uk/smag/ |url-status=dead }}

The Old Market Hall cinema opened in 2004 in the prominent Tudor market hall positioned in The Square. The independent cinema features daily screens of films from around the world along with a cafe and bar.{{Cite web |title=Old Market Hall {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/old-market-hall |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

Further museums in the town include the Shropshire Regimental Museum, renamed in 2019 as Soldiers of Shropshire Museum,{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/about-us/ |access-date=5 July 2021 |publisher=Soldiers of Shropshire |archive-date=11 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711140540/https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/about-us/ |url-status=dead }} based at Shrewsbury Castle, and the restored 19th-century steam-powered Coleham Pumping Station,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Museums |url=http://www.shrewsburymuseums.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060503032147/http://www.shrewsburymuseums.com/ |archive-date=3 May 2006 |access-date=18 September 2007 |publisher=Shrewsbury Museum Service |df=dmy-all}} which opens for tours on specific days each year.

There are various private galleries and art shops around the town, including the Gateway Education and Arts Centre.{{Cite web |title=The Gateway {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/gateway |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}

The National Trust owns the last remaining Town Walls Tower which dates from the 14th century. It is now available to rent as a one bedroom holiday cottage.{{Cite web |title=Attingham Park Estate: Town Walls |url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/attingham-park-estate-town-walls-tower/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807082002/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/attingham-park-estate-town-walls-tower/ |archive-date=7 August 2013 |publisher=National Trust |df=dmy-all}}

File:Cross watercolor.jpg

The town has some very old public houses and coaching inns:

• The Golden Cross is reputed to be the oldest licensed public house in Shrewsbury and records show that it was used as an inn as far back as 1428; its original name was the Sextry, because it began as the sacristy of Old St Chad's Church.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury's oldest pub |url=http://www.goldencrosshotel.co.uk/alternate.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302165416/http://www.goldencrosshotel.co.uk/alternate.html |archive-date=2 March 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=GoldenCrossHotel.co.uk |df=dmy-all}}
• The King's Head in Mardol contains a 14th-century wall painting,{{Cite web |title=The King's Head |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/business-directory/kings-head |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=Original Shrewsbury |language=en-GB}} and its timbers have been dated to {{circa}}1404.{{Cite web |title=The King's Head, Shrewsbury, Shropshire {{!}} Educational Images {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/the-kings-head-shrewsbury-7834 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}
• The Dun Cow in Abbey Foregate dates to the 16th century.{{Cite web |title=The Dun Cow Public House, Shrewsbury - 1246447 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1246447 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}

Two newspapers are published for Shrewsbury – the local edition of the county's Shropshire Star and the more traditional Shrewsbury Chronicle, which is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the country, having produced its first edition in 1772.{{cite news |title=The Shrewsbury Chronicle, 1772-1922 |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/16th-december-1922/26/the-shrewsbury-chronicle-1772-1922 |accessdate=23 October 2018 |work=The Spectator |date=19 December 1922 |quote=We congratulate that good old country paper, the Shrewsbury Chronicle, on completing its hundred and fiftieth year. It is a few weeks younger than the Morning Post, having first appeared on November 28rd,1772, as the Shrewsbury Chronicle; or, Wood's British Commercial Pamphlet. Thomas Wood,- the publisher, had had experience of a Birmingham weekly before he went to Shrewsbury.}} The forerunner of Private Eye was a school magazine edited by Richard Ingrams, Willie Rushton, Christopher Booker and Paul Foot at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s.{{Cite web |title=From Private Eye to Public Nose |url=http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=264 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314003620/http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=264 |archive-date=14 March 2009 |access-date=26 April 2010 |website=Shrewsbury School website |df=dmy-all}}

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Wrekin TV transmitter.{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/The_Wrekin|title=Full Freeview on the The[sic] Wrekin (Telford and Wrekin, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=25 September 2023}}

There are three radio stations that specifically serve either the Shrewsbury area or encompass it as part of a Shropshire-wide broadcast. They are Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire;{{Cite web |title=Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country |url=http://www.freeradio.co.uk/shropshire/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821115903/http://www.freeradio.co.uk/shropshire/ |archive-date=21 August 2012 |access-date=27 March 2012 |df=dmy-all}} BBC Radio Shropshire, which is based in Shrewsbury;{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio Shropshire |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/local_radio/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106132306/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/local_radio/ |archive-date=6 January 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}} and, as of September 2020, Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, which previously broadcast from the Shropshire Star building in Telford.{{Cite web |title=106.5 & 107.1 The Severn |url=http://www.thesevern.co.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103191301/http://www.thesevern.co.uk/ |archive-date=3 January 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}}

In 2009 an online independent media company, Shropshire Live, launched covering Shrewsbury and Shropshire.{{Cite web |title=shropshirelive.com |url=http://www.shropshirelive.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108032944/http://www.shropshirelive.com/ |archive-date=8 January 2011 |df=dmy-all}}

Shrewsbury cakes (or biscuits) are typically crisp and brittle creations that may incorporate fruit. They can be small in size for serving several at a time, or large for serving as a dessert in their own right. Traditionally they have a distinct hint of lemon.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Biscuits {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/shrewsbury-biscuits |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} The playwright William Congreve mentioned Shrewsbury cakes in his play The Way of the World in 1700 as a simile{{Cite web |last=Congreve |first=William |year=1700 |title=The Way of the World |url=http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Way-of-the-World2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604061522/http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Way-of-the-World2.html |archive-date=4 June 2010 |access-date=21 June 2009 |publisher=Full Books |df=dmy-all}} (Witwoud – "Why, brother Wilfull of Salop, you may be as short as a Shrewsbury cake, if you please. But I tell you 'tis not modish to know relations in town"). The recipe is also included in several early cookbooks including The Compleat Cook of 1658.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Cake Recipes |url=http://www.theoldecookerybook.com/~theopden/wiki/index.php/Shrewsbury_cake_recipes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20081231150504/http://www.theoldecookerybook.com/~theopden/wiki/index.php/Shrewsbury_cake_recipes |archive-date=31 December 2008 |access-date=21 June 2009 |website=The Olde Cookery Book |df=dmy-all}} A final reference to the cakes can be seen to this day as the subject of a plaque affixed to a building close to Shrewsbury's town library by the junction of Castle Street and School Gardens. The aforementioned plaque marks the spot where the Shrewsbury Cake's recipe is said to have been pioneered in 1760 by Mr Pailin; a further quote, drawn from Richard Harris Barham's Ingoldby Legends, reads:

{{cquote|

Oh! Pailin. Prince of Cake Compounders

The mouth liquifies at the very name.

}}

Shrewsbury is the origin of a popular Simnel cake recipe. Different towns had their own recipes and shapes of the Simnel cake. Bury, Devizes and Shrewsbury produced large numbers to their own recipes, but it is the Bury version that became most well known.{{cite web |title=Bury Simnel Cake |url=https://www.foodsofengland.info/burysimnelcake.html |website=Foods of England |access-date=21 April 2025}}

The town is alleged to be the origin of Shrewsbury sauce, made from Worcester sauce, red wine and mustard, thickened with flour, which is typically served with lamb. Only known from the 1960s when it appeared in the J. Salmon County Series Cookbooks.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury Sauce |url=https://www.foodsofengland.info/shrewsburysauce.html |website=Foods of England |access-date=21 April 2025}}

File:DSC00406 (cropped).jpg]]

Beer brewed in Shrewsbury was celebrated as early as about 1400 when the bard Iolo Goch praised the supply of "Crwg Amwythig" dispensed at the Sycharth palace of Owain Glyndŵr.{{Cite book |last=Pidgeon |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/memorialsshrews01pidggoog |title=Memorials of Shrewsbury |publisher=J. H. Leake |year=1851 |page=[https://archive.org/details/memorialsshrews01pidggoog/page/n282 261]}} In 1900 there were eight breweries in the town, chief among them being Southam's and Trouncer's, which had their own maltings and owned many local public houses, as well as five other maltsters,{{Cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Shropshire |publisher=Kelly's |year=1900 |pages=333, 391}} but the conventional brewing industry gradually closed after takeovers in the 1960s. The last maltings, at Ditherington, closed in 1987.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings Story (see Creating a Master Plan for the future) |url=http://www.flaxmill-maltings.co.uk/shrewsbury-flaxmill-maltings-story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222082023/http://www.flaxmill-maltings.co.uk/shrewsbury-flaxmill-maltings-story |archive-date=22 December 2018 |access-date=21 December 2018 |website=Friends of the Flaxmill-Maltings}} Completed in 1797, these maltings, known as the Ditherington Flax Mill from its original purpose, was the world's first iron-framed building and commonly regarded as "the grandfather of the skyscraper". Its importance was recognised in the 1950s, resulting in it becoming a Grade I listed building.W. G. Rimmer, 'Castle Foregate Flax Mill, Shrewsbury' Transactions of Shropshire Archaeological Society LVI (1957–60), 49ff.{{Cite web |title='Father of the skyscraper' rescued for the nation |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.4839 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116041015/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.4839 |archive-date=16 January 2009 |publisher=English Heritage}} After the biggest heritage project ever undertaken by Historic England, the building was restored and opened as a museum in 2022.{{Cite news |last=Batten |first=Rhiannon |date=2022-10-20 |title=Steam trains, shipwrecks and Peter Pan's garden: 10 great UK family days out for half-term and autumn |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/oct/20/steam-trains-shipwrecks-and-peter-pans-garden-10-great-uk-family-days-out-for-half-term-and-autumn |access-date=2023-07-23 |issn=0261-3077}}

A real ale brewery, The Salopian Brewery, was established in the town in 1995.{{Cite web |title=Salopian Brewing Company Ltd |url=http://www.quaffale.org.uk/php/brewery/489 |access-date=9 December 2017 |publisher=www.quaffale.org.uk}} It was based in the Old Dairy on Mytton Oak Road before relocating in 2014 to Hadnall a few miles north of the town.{{Cite web |title=:: Welcome to Salopian Breweries |url=http://www.salopianbrewery.co.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002002932/http://www.salopianbrewery.co.uk/ |archive-date=2 October 2017 |access-date=9 December 2017 |publisher=Salopian Brewery |df=dmy-all}}

File:Fish Street, Shrewsbury - geograph.org.uk - 4492536.jpg

The historic town centre still retains its medieval street pattern and many narrow passages. Some of the passages, especially those that pass through buildings from one street to the next, are called "shuts" (the word deriving from "to shoot through" from one street to another).Scott-Davies, Allan; Sears, R.S., Shuts and Passages of Shrewsbury, Shropshire Books, June 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-903802-34-5}} Many specialist shops, traditional pubs and local restaurants can be found in the hidden corners, squares and lanes of Shrewsbury.

Many of the street names have remained unchanged for centuries and there are some more unusual names, such as Longden Coleham, Dogpole, Mardol, Frankwell, Roushill, Grope Lane, Gullet Passage, Murivance, the Dana, Portobello, Bear Steps, Shoplatch and Bellstone.{{Cite web |title=Shropshire Information |url=http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Tourism/shrinfo.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202102909/http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Tourism/shrinfo.htm |archive-date=2 February 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=FatBadgers.co.uk |df=dmy-all}}

The public library, in the pre-1882 Shrewsbury School building,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury School history |url=http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=124 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314003503/http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=124 |archive-date=14 March 2009 |access-date=11 May 2009 |website=shrewsbury.org.uk |df=dmy-all}} is on Castle Street. Above the main entrance are two statues bearing the Greek inscriptions "Philomathes" and "Polymathes". These portray the virtues "Lover of learning" and "Much learning" to convey the lesson that it is good to gain knowledge through a love of learning.{{Cite web|title=Shrewsbury - Philomath and Polymath|url=https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbwm011|access-date=2020-07-16|website=statues.vanderkrogt.net}}

In the centre of the town lies The Quarry. This {{convert|29|acre|ha}}{{Cite web |title=The Quarry Park {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/quarry-park |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} riverside park attracts thousands of people throughout the year and is enjoyed as a place of recreation. Shrewsbury has traditionally been known as the "Town of Flowers", a slogan 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".

File:Shrewsbury Column.jpg]]

The British Army's Light Infantry has been associated with Shrewsbury since the 17th century when the first regiments were formed and many more regiments have been raised at Shrewsbury before being deployed all over the world from the American Revolutionary War to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, after several major reorganisations, the Light Infantry now forms part of the regiment known simply as the Rifles. Shrewsbury's Copthorne Barracks, spiritual home of the Light Division, ultimately housed the Headquarters of the British Army's 143 (West Midlands) Brigade before it moved in 2014, while that of the 5th Division disbanded in April 2012 as part of the reorganisation of the Army's Support Command.{{Cite web |title=The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry (53rd and 85th foot) |url=http://www.army.mod.uk/lightinfantry/history_traditions/county_regiments/ksli.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060728214305/http://www.army.mod.uk/lightinfantry/history_traditions/county_regiments/ksli.htm |archive-date=28 July 2006 |access-date=4 March 2008 |publisher=Army.mod.uk}}

Another notable feature of the town is Lord Hill's Column, sited outside the Shirehall. At {{convert|133|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}} it is the tallest Doric column in England.{{Cite web |title=About The Column |url=https://friendsoflordhillscolumn.co.uk/about/ |access-date=15 February 2022 |website=Friends of Lord Hill's Column}} It was erected as a monument to Rowland Hill commander of II Corps at Waterloo and the man who led the charge against the Imperial Guard towards the end of the battle.{{Cite web |title=Photo Gallery |url=http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/leisure/gallery/default.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107040530/http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/leisure/gallery/default.htm |archive-date=7 November 2007 |access-date=2 January 2008 |website=Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council |df=dmy-all}}

The Quantum Leap is an abstract sculpture unveiled in the town centre in 2009 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Shrewsbury biologist Charles Darwin.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8103000/8103529.stm|title=Shrewsbury's Quantum Leap built|date=2009-06-22|accessdate=2009-10-21|publisher=BBC News}}

Shrewsbury's town centre is almost entirely encircled by the River Severn and there are nine bridges across the river. In addition, there are several that cross the Rea Brook. Working downstream, they are in order:

• Frankwell Bridge, a modern pedestrian footbridge which spans the River Severn between Frankwell and the town centre.

{{multiple image

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| caption1 = The medieval St George's Bridge, {{circa|1776}}

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• The Welsh Bridge, which was built in 1793-95 to replace the medieval St George's Bridge; featured in Thomas Pennant's A Tour through Wales published in 1781. The old bridge was sketched by J. M. W. Turner in 1794 as the basis for a later water colour painting.{{Cite web |last=Tate |title='Shrewsbury: The Old Welsh Bridge', Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1794 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shrewsbury-the-old-welsh-bridge-d00330 |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}
• Further along from the Welsh Bridge is the Porthill Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge running between the Quarry and Porthill, built in 1922.{{Cite news |date=13 July 2012 |title=Article of the bridge reopening in 2012 from local newspaper. |work=Shropshire Star |url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/07/13/repaired-shrewsbury-bridge-open-for-business/ |access-date=4 May 2014}}{{Cite news |date=20 June 2012 |title=BBC News article of the bridge reopening |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-18518275 |access-date=4 May 2014}}

File:Kingsland BridgeCB.jpg, the town's only toll bridge]]

• The next bridge along the river is Kingsland Bridge, a privately owned toll bridge.
• The subsequent bridge is the Greyfriars Bridge, a pedestrian bridge between Coleham and the town centre.

File:English Bridge Shrewsbury.jpg]]

• Following the Greyfriars Bridge is the English Bridge, historically called Stone Bridge, which was rebuilt in the 1920s. The bridge was also sketched by Turner.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury: The Town seen from the River with the New English Bridge in the Foreground |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shrewsbury-the-town-seen-from-the-river-with-the-new-english-bridge-in-the-d00331 |website=Tate Gallery |access-date=26 September 2023}}
• Beyond it is the railway station, which is partly built over the river.
• After the station is Castle Walk Footbridge, another modern pedestrian footbridge.{{Cite web |title=A Short History of Shrewsbury |url=http://www.localhistories.org/shrewsbury.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219123422/http://www.localhistories.org/shrewsbury.html |archive-date=19 February 2008 |access-date=3 February 2008 |website=localhistories.org |df=dmy-all}}{{Cite web |title=Severn Bridges {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/severn-bridges |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614171604/https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/severn-bridges |archive-date=14 June 2018 |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}}
• The last bridge to cross the river within the Shrewsbury bypass area is the A5112 Telford Way, which has separate lanes for vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.

A. E. Housman wrote of the area in A Shropshire Lad, which mentions the bridges of the town in part XXVIII: The Welsh Marches.{{Cite web |title=Complete Housman |url=http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~martinh/poems/complete_housman.html#ASLxxviii |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113204350/http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~martinh/poems/complete_housman.html |archive-date=13 January 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=greenend.org.uk/~martinh |df=dmy-all}}

{{cquote|

High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam

Islanded in Severn stream;

The bridges from the steepled crest,

Cross the water east and west.

}}

File:Shrewsbury station.JPG

Shrewsbury railway station is served by two train operating companies:

• Transport for Wales Rail operates services running north to {{stnlink|Wrexham General}}, {{stnlink|Crewe}}, {{stnlink|Chester}} and {{rws|Manchester Piccadilly}}; southbound trains go to {{stnlink|Hereford}}, {{stnlink|Cardiff Central}} and {{stnlink|Swansea}}; and westbound to {{stnlink|Aberystwyth}}{{Cite web |title=Timetables |work=Transport for Wales |date=10 December 2023 |access-date=14 April 2024 |url= https://tfw.wales/service-status/timetables |quote=}}
• West Midlands Trains run services to {{stnlink|Birmingham New Street}}, via Telford and {{stnlink|Wolverhampton}}{{Cite web |title=Train timetables and schedules |work=West Midlands Railway |date=10 December 2023 |access-date=14 April 2024 |url= https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/travel-information/journey-planning/timetables |quote=}}

The main railway station building was built in a mock Tudor architectural style; it includes a clock tower, imitation Tudor chimneys and carved heads in the frames of every window and is Grade II listed.{{NHLE|grade=II|desc=Shrewsbury Station|num=1246546|date=13 May 1969}} There is a small British Transport Police station within the building. The station is known as the Gateway to Wales.{{Cite web |title=Travel Information {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=http://www.originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/travel-information |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522160008/http://www.originalshrewsbury.co.uk/see-do/travel-information |archive-date=22 May 2017 |df=dmy-all}}

{{rws|Shrewsbury Abbey}} was the terminus of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway, which connected Shrewsbury with Llanymynech. {{rws|Shrewsbury West}} was the railway's other station in the town. The line and the stations closed in 1960.{{cite book |first=Eric S. |last=Tonks |title=The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway |publisher=The Industrial Society |orig-date=1949 |date=1972 |isbn=9780901096098 |pages=11–12}} {{rws|Abbey Foregate}} was built by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway and closed in 1912.{{cite book|author=R.V.J. Butt |title= The Directory of Railway Stations |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd.|page=11 |year=1995}} {{ISBN|1-85260-508-1}}

File:The quick way into Shrewsbury (geograph 7641484) (cropped).jpg bus at the Oxon site in November 2023]]

Bus services in the town are operated primarily by Arriva Midlands; routes are centred around Shrewsbury bus station, adjacent to the Darwin Shopping Centre, and is a short walk from the railway station. Arriva also operate county services both independently and on behalf of Shropshire Council. Key routes connect the town with Telford, Market Drayton and Newport.{{Cite web |title=Coach & Bus Services |work=Bus Times |date=2024 |access-date=14 April 2024 |url= https://bustimes.org/localities/shrewsbury |quote=}}

There are other bus companies operating around the Shrewsbury area, including Boultons of Shropshire, Minsterley Motors{{cite web |title=Bus Routes And Timetables |url=https://www.minsterleymotors.co.uk/BusRoutesAndTimetables.php |website=Minsterley Motors |access-date=27 August 2023}} and Tanat Valley Coaches with the latter operating services across the Welsh border from nearby towns including Llanfyllin and Montgomery.{{cite web |title=Public services |url=https://www.tanat.co.uk/public-services |website=Tanat Valley Coaches |access-date=27 August 2023}}

Shrewsbury has a park & ride bus scheme in operation, with three car parks on the edge of town; these are at Harlescott (to the north, colour-coded blue), Oxon (to the west, colour-coded pink) and Meole Brace (to the south, colour-coded green).{{cite web |title=Park and Ride |url=https://shropshire.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Minimalist/index.html?appid=91f42605da964c8dabfcdecee4083d7c¢er=349163,312650,27700&level=4 |website=Shropshire Council |access-date=27 August 2023}}

File:ShrewsburyMap.jpg

Shrewsbury has been an important centre for road traffic. In 1815, Thomas Telford designed a new coaching route from London to Holyhead in order to improve communications with Ireland. He routed the new road via Shrewsbury, which opened in 1830. The road is now the A5.{{Cite book |last1=M. G. Lay |url=https://archive.org/details/waysofworldhisto00laym |title=Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them |last2=James E. Vance, Jr. |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-813-52691-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/waysofworldhisto00laym/page/109 109] |url-access=registration}} The road connects the town north-west to Oswestry and east towards Telford, where it joins the M54. The A5 once ran through the town centre, until a bypass was built in the 1930s. Subsequently, in 1992, a {{convert|17|mi|km|adj=on}} dual carriageway was completed at a cost of £79 million to the south of the town and was made to form part of the A5 route. This dual carriageway was built further out of the town to act as a substantial link to Telford, as well as a bypass for the town.{{Cite web |title=Pre-Motorway New Roads |url=http://newroads.speedlimit.org.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218232557/http://newroads.speedlimit.org.uk/ |archive-date=18 February 2008 |access-date=23 February 2008 |website=speedlimit.org.uk |df=dmy-all}}

The A49 goes to Shrewsbury, joining the A5 at the south of the town, coming from Ludlow and Leominster. At this point, the road merges with the A5 for {{convert|3|mi}}, before separating again to the east of the town. From there it runs north, passing Sundorne, then Battlefield, before heading out towards Whitchurch. At Battlefield, the A53 route begins and heads north-east towards Shawbury and Market Drayton, then onwards towards Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.

The A458 (Mallwyd-Quinton) runs through the town centre, entering in the west and leaving to the south-east. The A528 begins in the town centre and heads north, heading for Ellesmere. The A488 begins just west of the town centre in Frankwell and heads out to Bishop's Castle, Clun and Knighton crossing the border in the southwest of Shropshire.

Major roads within the town include the A5112, A5191 and A5064. The A5191 goes north–south via the town centre, while the A5112 runs north–south to the east of the town centre. The A5064 is a short, {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} stretch of road to the south-east of the town centre, called London Road. Additionally, the A5124, the most recent bypass, was completed in 1998 and runs across the northern edge of the town at Battlefield (connecting the A49/A53 to the A528), though it did exist before as Harlescott Lane (which has since become unclassified).

Construction of a major new artery, referred to as the North West Relief Road (NWRR), was granted central government funding in April 2019. Together with the existing A5 and A49 by-passes, the Battlefield Link Road (A5124) and the Oxon Link Road; this will result in the completion of the ring road around the outskirts of the town. Construction is expected to be completed by 2026.{{cite web |title=Key Dates |url=https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/roads-and-highways/shrewsbury-north-west-relief-road/key-dates/ |website=Shropshire Council |access-date=27 August 2023}} The NWRR will involve the construction of a new bridge over the River Severn, upstream from the town centre.[https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2019/01/22/nwrr-wins-government-funding-bid/ Shropshire Star] NWRR wins government funding bid (22 January 2019)

Shrewsbury has a comprehensive network of on-road and traffic-free cycle routes.{{Cite web |title=Cycle routes |url=http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/cycle-routes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516055117/http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/cycle-routes |archive-date=16 May 2009 |access-date=25 July 2017 |publisher=Cycle Shrewsbury |df=dmy-all}} In 2008, the town was awarded Cycling Town status by Cycling England;{{Cite web |title=[archived content] Cycling England |url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519000604/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/ |archive-date=19 May 2009}} as a result, it benefited from £1.8 million of grant funding from the Department for Transport between 2008 and 2011. The funding was used to make improvements to the cycle network in Shrewsbury and to provide cycle training, information and advice to people to help encourage them to cycle to school and work.{{Cite web |title=cycle shrewsbury |url=http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/about |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515163822/http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/about |archive-date=15 May 2009 |access-date=27 April 2018 |website=www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk |df=dmy-all}}

File:The entrance to the original (1630) Shrewsbury school - in greek = if you love learning you will become learned - panoramio.jpg

Prior to the reformation, Shrewsbury Abbey and the Collegiate Churches of St Mary (established by King Edgar in the 10th century) and St Chad (established in the 13th) were providing education in the town.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Remains of the college of St Chad can be traced in the land adjoining the south-western extremity of the church on the old site, with portions of the wall traceable to a considerable distance in the neighbouring gardens.{{better source needed|date=August 2023|reason=This source is over 150 years old, are the remains still traceable?}} These were closed by the dissolutions. There is mention of a grammar school at Shrewsbury in a court case of 1439.{{Cite book |last=Champion, Bill. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32893450 |title=Everyday life in Tudor Shrewsbury |date=1994 |publisher=Shropshire Books |isbn=0-903802-60-0 |location=[Shropshire] |pages=38 |oclc=32893450}}

An effort was made to found a university in the 1600s during the Commonwealth which followed the execution of Charles I. Richard Baxter, a puritan minister from Shropshire, suggested the establishment of a university for Wales at Shrewsbury in the belief that he could obtain the support of Cromwell and Parliament for the scheme.{{Cite book |last=Carr, A. M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12478648 |title=Shrewsbury Library : its history and restoration. |date=1983 |publisher=Shropshire Libraries |others=Fullman, T. |isbn=0-903802-26-0 |location=[Shrewsbury] |oclc=12478648}}

File:School Boathouse Shrewsbury (20960693446).jpg's main building on the site it moved to in 1882 was built {{circa}} 1765]]

Shrewsbury School is a public school, on a large site in Kingsland, just south of the town centre overlooking the loop of the Severn. The school was located in the town centre between 1552 and 1882. The buildings it formerly occupied then are now occupied by the main county library on Castle Street.{{Cite web |title=History of Shrewsbury School |url=http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=124 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314003503/http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=features.content&cmid=124 |archive-date=14 March 2009 |access-date=2 March 2008 |publisher=Shrewsbury School |df=dmy-all}} Opposite it on the other side of the river is Shrewsbury High School, an independent girls' day school.{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://shrewsburyhigh.gdst.net/explore/our-community/our-history/ |website=Shrewsbury High School |access-date=26 September 2023}}

Prestfelde School is an independent preparatory school, on London Road, close to the Lord Hill's Column. As part of the Woodard Schools group, it is affiliated to the largest group of Church of England schools in the country. Whilst originally a school for boys it started accepting girls between the ages of three and thirteen. The school is set in {{convert|30|acre|ha}} of grounds on the outskirts of the town.{{Cite web |title=Prestfelde Preparatory School Home Page |url=http://www.prestfelde.co.uk/home.php?menu=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630003513/http://www.prestfelde.co.uk/home.php?menu=2 |archive-date=30 June 2007 |access-date=2 March 2008 |publisher=Prestfelde Preparatory School |df=dmy-all}}

The town's other long-established boys' preparatory school is Kingsland Grange, on Old Roman Road in Kingsland. In 2007, it merged with the junior department of Shrewsbury Girls' High School, sharing the two sites with some classes remaining single sex, but others switching to a co-educational format.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury High Prep at Kingsland Grange |url=http://www.indschools.co.uk/cgi-bin/woda/is97direct_linksall.pl/Show?_id=shrewsburyhighprepschoolatkingslandgrangesy39ah&sort=TIME |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721061651/http://www.indschools.co.uk/cgi-bin/woda/is97direct_linksall.pl/Show?_id=shrewsburyhighprepschoolatkingslandgrangesy39ah&sort=TIME |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=21 February 2009 |publisher=Independent Schools Directory |df=dmy-all}}

File:Shrewsbury VI form College.JPG, built circa 1910]]

The majority of the town's pupils attend one of the several comprehensive schools. The Priory School, formerly a grammar school for girls;{{Cite news |title=League tables: Secondary Schools in Shropshire |publisher=BBC.co.uk |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/07/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/893_4368.stm |access-date=26 February 2008}} Meole Brace School, The Grange School, Sundorne School and Belvidere School. In 2016, The Grange and Sundorne schools were amalgamated to form Shrewsbury Academy. The school has two campuses; however, it is planned in the next few years for all pupils to move to the Corndon Crescent site of the former Sundorne School.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury schools merger formally approved |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/education/2015/07/01/shrewsbury-schools-merger-formally-approved/ |website=Shropshire Star |date=July 2015 |access-date=1 September 2023}}

The Wakeman School, which was geographically the closest school to the town centre 'loop', next to the English Bridge, was previously the Shrewsbury Technical School and was attended by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen. It closed as part of reorganisation in July 2013.{{Cite web |date=15 June 2013 |title=Shropshire Star |url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/1-/13/wakeman-school-memories-sought-as-closure-looms/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615174250/http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/1-/13/wakeman-school-memories-sought-as-closure-looms/ |archive-date=15 June 2013}} The site is now utilised by the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.{{cite news |title=Shrewsbury Sixth Form College to take over Wakeman School site |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/education/2013/02/21/shrewsbury-sixth-form-college-to-take-over-wakeman-school-site/ |access-date=9 June 2020 |publisher=Shropshire Star |date=21 February 2013}}

Further education is provided by Shrewsbury Sixth Form College, previously the Priory School for Boys,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Sixth Form College |url=http://www.ssfc.ac.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804133413/http://www.ssfc.ac.uk/ |archive-date=4 August 2017 |access-date=25 July 2017 |publisher=Ssfc.ac.uk |df=dmy-all}} ranked 17th in the top 20 of sixth form colleges nationally by the Sunday Times newspaper in November 2012,{{Cite web |date=21 November 2012 |title=Joy as Shrewsbury Sixth Form College lands top-20 ranking in UK |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/11/21/joy-as-shrewsbury-sixth-form-college-lands-top-20-ranking-in-uk/ |access-date=5 January 2022 |website=Shropshire Star}} and Shrewsbury College, which handles primarily vocational courses. In 2016, the two establishments were merged into the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.{{cite web |title=About us |url=https://www.scg.ac.uk/about-us/governance-and-leadership/the-shrewsbury-colleges-group |website=Shrewsbury Colleges Group |access-date=28 August 2023}}

University Centre Shrewsbury has been offering postgraduate courses since autumn 2014 and undergraduate courses from autumn 2015. It was established by the University of Chester and Shropshire Council. The main campus is located in the renovated Guildhall.{{cite web |title=Our Site and Facilities |url=https://www1.chester.ac.uk/university-centre-shrewsbury/our-sites-and-facilities |website=University of Chester |date=5 May 2021 |access-date=28 August 2023}}

File:The old St Chad's - geograph.org.uk - 687195.jpg

File:Fish Street, Shrewsbury.JPG

There are two Anglo-Saxon foundations of collegiate churches: that of St Chad, since resited after the collapse of the original church and rebuilt in 1792 and St Mary, replaced by what is described as the most complete medieval church in Shrewsbury, dating back to the 12th century.{{cite web |title=St Mary the Virgin, Shrewsbury |url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/church-listing/st-mary-shrewsbury.html |website=Churches Consevation Trust |access-date=27 September 2023}} The Norman Shrewsbury Abbey was founded in 1083{{Cite web |title=History of Shrewsbury Abbey |url=http://www.shrewsburyabbey.com/left_menu/abbeyhistory.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621123816/http://www.shrewsburyabbey.com/left_menu/abbeyhistory.htm |archive-date=21 June 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=ShrewsburyAbbey.com |df=dmy-all}} and its nave survived as a parish church following the dissolution.

File:Shrewsbury Methodism 02.jpg

According to legend, the spire of St Alkmund's Church was damaged by the Devil in 1553 and climbed four times by a drunken steeplejack in 1621.{{Cite book |last=Ash |first=Russell |title=Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain |date=1973 |publisher=Reader's Digest Association Limited |isbn=9780340165973 |page=328}}

There are a number of other Anglican churches in Shrewsbury: Shrewsbury All Saints in Castlefields, The Church of the Holy Spirit in Harlescott, Holy Trinity, St George of Cappadocia, St Giles, Greenfields United Church and St Peter in Monkmoor.{{Cite web |last=Archbishops' Council |title=Shrewsbury |url=http://www.acny.org.uk/result.php?query=shrewsbury&type=place |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719222312/http://www.acny.org.uk/result.php?query=shrewsbury&type=place |archive-date=19 July 2012 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=A Church Near You |publisher=Church of England}}

Methodists,{{Cite web |title=Belle Vue Methodist Church, Shrewsbury UK |url=http://www.bvmc.freeuk.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509154734/http://www.bvmc.freeuk.com/ |archive-date=9 May 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=bvmc.freeuk.com |df=dmy-all}} Baptists{{Cite web |title=Claremont Baptist Church |url=http://www.claremont-baptist-church.co.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010418012447/http://www.claremont-baptist-church.co.uk/ |archive-date=18 April 2001 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=Claremont-Baptist-Church.co.uk |df=dmy-all}} and the United Reformed Church are also represented, alongside newer church groups including Elim Pentecostal{{Cite web |title=Rivers Way – An Elim Church |url=http://www.riverswayelim.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622181232/http://www.riverswayelim.org/ |archive-date=22 June 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=RiversWayelim.org |df=dmy-all}} and two Newfrontiers.{{Cite web |title=Barnabas Community Church, Shrewsbury |url=http://www.barnabascommunitychurch.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012221932/http://www.barnabascommunitychurch.com/ |archive-date=12 October 2007 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=BarnabasCommunityChurch.com |df=dmy-all}}{{Cite web |title=North Shrewsbury Community Church |url=http://www.northshrewsbury.org.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226003905/http://www.northshrewsbury.org.uk/ |archive-date=26 February 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=NorthShrewsbury.org.uk |df=dmy-all}} Shrewsbury Evangelical Church met in the former Anglican parish church of St Julian, which was previously a craft centre, at the Wyle Cop end of Fish Street,{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Evangelical Church |url=http://www.shrewsburyevangelicalchurch.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114075021/http://www.shrewsburyevangelicalchurch.org/ |archive-date=14 January 2009 |access-date=27 December 2008 |website=shrewsburyevangelicalchurch.org |df=dmy-all}} later moving into the Springfield estate in the eastern suburbs{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Evangelical Church |url=https://www.shrewsburyevangelicalchurch.org/ |access-date=5 July 2021}} meeting at the Mereside Community Centre.{{cite web |title=Location & Contact |url=https://www.shrewsburyevangelicalchurch.org/contact/ |website=Shrewsbury Evangelical Church |access-date=12 January 2025}} One of the houses in Fish Street, facing St Alkmund's Church, was the site of John Wesley's first preaching in Shrewsbury; a wall plaque records the date as 16 March 1761. The Grade II listed Shrewsbury Unitarian Church was founded in 1662 according to the inscription above the main door. The current building was built between 1839 and 1840.{{NHLE|grade=II|desc=Unitarian Church|num=1254520|date=17 November 1995}}

Shrewsbury has a Roman Catholic Cathedral, by the Town Walls.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Cathedral Home Page |url=http://www.shrewsburycathedral.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605233103/http://www.shrewsburycathedral.org/ |archive-date=5 June 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=ShrewsburyCathedral.org |df=dmy-all}} Designed by Edward Pugin after the death of his father, Augustus, it was consecrated in 1856.History of the Cathedral, [http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/about-us/cathedral/welcome Diocese of Shrewsbury] There are two other parishes, in Harlescott and Monkmoor, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury's Greek Orthodox Church, a former Anglican church building, is at Dove Close off Oteley Road to the south. The site of which had been used as a place of worship for some four thousand years. The building, dating from the 13th century, was purchased by the Orthodox church in the 1990s after being disused for services since the 1950s and restored, as the Church of the 318 Holy Fathers, with funds from English Heritage.{{cite web |title=Our Sacred Site |url=https://shrewsburyorthodox.com/about-us/our-sacred-site/ |website=Greek Orthodox Church Shrewsbury |access-date=12 January 2025}} Regular Sunday services are now conducted at St Julian's Centre, which is privately owned, owing to the need for a larger venue{{cite news |title=Shrewsbury town centre church set to host Christian celebration with hundreds expected |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2024/04/30/town-centre-church-set-to-host-christian-celebration/ |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=Shropshire Star |date=30 April 2024}} although weekday services continue at the Church of the 318 Holy Fathers.{{cite web |title=Church of the 318 Holy Fathers |url=https://shrewsburyorthodox.com/find-us/church-of-the-318-holy-fathers/ |website=Greek Orthodox Church Shrewsbury |access-date=12 January 2025}}

Shrewsbury's first known dedicated non-Christian place of worship, a Muslim prayer centre, was approved in 2013. It is in the Column Lodge, the former registry office in Preston Street. Before then, the local Muslim community had been hosted by the United Reformed Church on English Bridge.{{Cite news |date=21 June 2013 |title=Shrewsbury Muslim prayer centre plans approved |work=Shropshire Star |publisher=MNA Media |url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/06/21/decision-due-on-shrewsbury-muslim-prayer-centre/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622065006/http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/06/21/decision-due-on-shrewsbury-muslim-prayer-centre/ |archive-date=22 June 2013 |df=dmy-all}}

Many community projects in Shrewsbury are based in, or have been started by local churches, including the Isaiah 58 project, which is the primary work amongst homeless people in the town, whilst 'Churches Together in Shrewsbury' works to help homeless people through the Ark project.{{Cite web |title=Churches Together in Shrewsbury – The Shrewsbury Ark |url=http://www.shrewsburychurches.org/ark.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706131803/http://www.shrewsburychurches.org/ark.htm |archive-date=6 July 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=ShrewsburyChurches.org |df=dmy-all}}{{Cite web |title=Isaiah 58 Project |url=http://www.shrop.net/isaiah58project/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229032453/http://www.shrop.net/isaiah58project/ |archive-date=29 February 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=shrop.net}}

Shrewsbury Food Bank, based at Barnabas Community Church Centre and part of 'Food Bank PLUS,' provides a wide range of social action initiatives including 'Money Advice' (a confidential, not for profit debt, benefits and financial help service) and Eclipse Child Bereavement, which works with local schools to help children who have experienced losses to overcome their situation. Also run by Barnabas are projects including '360 Journey to Work,' which help people gain skills in applying for jobs including basics like CV writing. 'Cage football' is an initiative that is lent out to local community groups, youth clubs and other churches.{{Cite web |title=Community |url=http://www.barnabascommunitychurch.com/community.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828060815/http://barnabascommunitychurch.com/community.html |archive-date=28 August 2018 |access-date=9 January 2019 |website=Barnabas Community Church Shrewsbury |df=dmy-all}}

File:STFC - New Meadow (Aerial).jpg stadium, home of Shrewsbury Town]]

The town has a claim on the emergence of the formally codified game of association football via Shrewsbury School which published a set of ten rules in about 1856, agreed with Eton, Harrow and Rugby schools and Cambridge University This predated the Football Association's initial rule book by seven years.{{Cite web |date=2013-02-16 |title=We played by our own set of rules |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/02/16/we-played-by-our-own-set-of-rules/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}

Shrewsbury is home to a professional football club, Shrewsbury Town. As of 2024, they compete in Football League One{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68767271 |title=Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Shrewsbury Town |work=BBC Sport }} and since 2007 has played their home games at New Meadow – from 1910 to 2007 the club played at the Gay Meadow stadium. The town is also home to a semi-professional football club, Haughmond, who take their name from the nearby Haughmond Hill. They currently compete in the Midland Football League and play their home games at the Shrewsbury Sports Village, in Sundorne.{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/haughmondfootballclub |website=Haughmond Football Club |access-date=30 August 2023}}

File:Rowing at Shrewsbury - geograph.org.uk - 1195498.jpg rowing on the Severn in Shrewsbury]]

The River Severn in the town is used for rowing by both the Pengwern Boat Club,{{Cite web |title=Pengwern Boat Club website |url=http://www.pengwernbc.co.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509195912/http://www.pengwernbc.co.uk/ |archive-date=9 May 2008 |access-date=20 March 2008 |website=PengwernBC |df=dmy-all}} founded in 1871 and using an ancient name for the town,{{cite web |title=Pengwern Boat Club |url=http://www.pengwernbc.co.uk/#!about/c15v1 |access-date=2016-05-22 |website=Pengwern Boat Club}} and the Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club (RSSBC), founded in 1866.{{cite web |title=School Rowing |url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/rowing-rssbc |website=Shrewsbury School}}{{Cite web |title=Rowing |url=http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=sport.content&cmid=75 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111015236/http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=sport.content&cmid=75 |archive-date=11 January 2008 |access-date=4 March 2008 |website=Shrewsbury School |df=dmy-all}} The Pengwern brick and timber club house was built in 1881 and is a Grade II listed building.{{Cite web |last=Stuff |first=Good |title=Pengwern Boat House at Sj 4852 1220 - Shrewsbury - Shropshire - England {{!}} British Listed Buildings |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-457388-pengwern-boat-house-at-sj-4852-1220-shre#.V0G6pvkrJqw |access-date=2016-05-22 |website=www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}} The club house was expanded around 2013.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury's Pengwern Boat Club club floats an expansion bid « Shropshire Star |url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/09/03/shrewsburys-pengwern-boat-club-club-floats-an-expansion-bid/ |access-date=2016-05-22 |website=www.shropshirestar.com|date=3 September 2013 }} More recently, the two clubs have been joined by students of Harper Adams University, University Centre Shrewsbury and crews from other local schools.

There is an annual rowing regatta in the town in May. It is one of the oldest events in the rowing calendar, having first been held in 1871.{{Cite web |title=Pictures: Thousands enjoy Shrewsbury Regatta « Shropshire Star |url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2016/05/09/pictures-thousands-enjoy-shrewsbury-regatta/ |access-date=2016-05-22 |website=www.shropshirestar.com|date=9 May 2016 }}{{Cite web |date=8 October 1849 |title=The Shrewsbury Regatta ... will take place on Monday August 27th 1849 1st race at 2 O'clock for 8 oar boats ... etc. (List of events follows) Course ... An excellent Brass Band will be in attendance ... |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/02b14694-6c21-4422-afac-38ad4c572f2f |via=National Archive of the UK}} A head of the river race was run annually between 1936 and the 1990s.{{Cite web |date=2016-03-10 |title=The History of Pengwern BC – And the Friendship Between Two Rowing Historians |url=https://heartheboatsing.com/2016/03/10/the-history-of-pengwern-bc-and-the-friendship-between-two-rowing-historians/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Hear The Boat Sing |language=en-GB}}

There is a local rugby club, Shrewsbury Rugby Club.{{Cite web |title=Rugby Clubs in Shropshire |url=http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/sports.nsf/open/7BA9BAFA99E9B372802572A60034D952 |access-date=16 January 2008 |website=Shropshire County Council}}{{dead link|date=March 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

The local motorsports heritage includes the Loton Park Hillclimb and Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit near Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury Motocross Club has staged motocross events in the area for over 30 years.{{Cite web |title=History of SMXC |url=http://www.shrop.net/shrewsburymxc/history-of-smxc/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714114837/http://www.shrop.net/shrewsburymxc/history-of-smxc/ |archive-date=14 July 2007 |access-date=4 March 2008 |website=Shrop.net}}

Shrewsbury Sports Village is a sports centre in the Sundorne district of the town, aimed at providing a wide range of sports facilities for townspeople.{{Cite web |title=Shrewsbury Sports Village |url=http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/sport/facilities/shrewsburysportsvillage/default.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218031407/http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/sport/facilities/shrewsburysportsvillage/default.htm |archive-date=18 February 2008 |access-date=4 March 2008 |publisher=Shrewsbury and Atcham council |df=dmy-all}} There are a number of golf facilities, including Meole Brace Municipal Golf Course, in the area. Shrewsbury holds its own annual Sprint Triathlon, which takes place each September at the West Midlands Country Showground, organised by SYTri (Shrewsbury Triathlon Club) which is affiliated to the British Triathlon Federation.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury Sprint Tri, Quad, Aquathlon and Aquabike |url=https://www.sytri.org/races/shrewsbury-sprint-tri-and-quad/ |website=Sytri |access-date=1 September 2023}} A free weekly parkrun takes place in the Quarry.{{cite web |title=Shrewsbury parkrun |url=https://www.parkrun.org.uk/shrewsbury/ |website=Parkrun |access-date=1 September 2023}}

{{For|alumni of Shrewsbury School|List of Old Salopians}}

There have been a number of notable Salopians, including Charles Darwin, the biologist and evolutionary theorist.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Darwin, Charles Robert|volume=7|last=Poulton|first=Edward Bagnall|author-link=Edward Bagnall Poulton|pages=840–843|short=1}} Darwin, one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century,{{Cite web |title=Charles Darwin – Great Minds, Great Thinkers |url=http://www.edinformatics.com/great_thinkers/darwin.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413155115/http://www.edinformatics.com/great_thinkers/darwin.htm |archive-date=13 April 2008 |access-date=16 March 2008 |publisher=EDinformatics |df=dmy-all}} was born in Shrewsbury on 12 February 1809 at the Mount House, baptised at St Chad's Church and educated at Shrewsbury School. The town's river and proximity to the countryside inspired his interest in the natural world, while its abundant ice-age boulders sparked his interest in geology.{{Cite web |title=The Bellstone, Shrewsbury {{!}} Original Shrewsbury |url=https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/bellstone-shrewsbury |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=originalshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} Classicist Mary Beard, Cambridge professor and television presenter, was educated in Shrewsbury where her father was a prominent architect.{{Cite web |last=Laity |first=Paul |date=2007-11-10 |title=A life in writing: Mary Beard, Britain's best-known classicist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview19 |access-date=2018-06-14 |website=The Guardian}}

File:Wilfred Owen 2.png]]

Shrewsbury has been home to many contributors to literature. Thomas Churchyard ({{Circa|1523}}–1604) son of a farmer, was an author of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical verse collections.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Churchyard, Thomas|volume=6|page=348|short=1}} In the early years of the 18th century, the Irish dramatist George Farquhar resided in the town while acting as a recruiting officer for the Army. He drew on this experience in writing the comedy The Recruiting Officer. The romantic novelist Mary Webb lived in and around outer Shrewsbury and was buried there upon her death. Before the First World War, the poet Wilfred Owen lived in the town and there is a memorial to Owen at Shrewsbury Abbey.{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Harvey |date=2 December 1998 |title=The war poet Wilfred Owen 80 years on |url=http://www.wsws.org/arts/1998/dec1998/owen-d02.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111065950/http://www.wsws.org/arts/1998/dec1998/owen-d02.shtml |archive-date=11 January 2008 |access-date=15 January 2008 |website=World Socialist Web Site}} Comedian George Robey lived in the town, near Lord Hill's Column, before and during the Second World War.{{Cite book |title=A Town At War, Shrewsbury 1939–45 |page=37}}It notes "...Shrewsbury [had its resident comedian] with the legendary George Robey (then in his seventies) living near the Column."

File:Clive of India statue.jpg]]

Politicians with connections with the town include Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, once Britain's richest man, he was MP for Shrewsbury from 1768 to 1805.{{Cite web |last=Johnstone |first=Jeffrey |title=Sir William Johnstone Pulteney and The Scottish Origins of Western New York |url=http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/101_135/132summer2004/132johnstone.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028101841/http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/101_135/132summer2004/132johnstone.html |archive-date=28 October 2007 |access-date=16 January 2008 |website=The Crooked Lake Review |df=dmy-all}} He lived in apartments at Shrewsbury Castle. Robert Clive was MP for Shrewsbury and also the mayor.{{Cite web |title=Robert Clive: Tearaway to empire builder |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/03/29/robert_clive_feature.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111202200/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/03/29/robert_clive_feature.shtml |archive-date=11 January 2008 |access-date=16 January 2008 |website=BBC.co.uk |df=dmy-all}}{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Clive, Robert Clive, Baron|volume=6|pages=532–536|short=1}} Leo Blair, the father of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, was a resident of the town.{{Cite news |date=20 May 2000 |title=Leo Blair: What's in a name |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/756633.stm |url-status=live |access-date=17 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060512213607/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/756633.stm |archive-date=12 May 2006 |df=dmy-all}}

Ian Hunter, the lead singer of the 1970s pop group Mott the Hoople, was a resident of 23a Swan Hill in the town centre and wrote a song of the same name.{{Cite web |title=Ian Hunter |url=http://everything2.com/node/1170116 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503213653/http://everything2.com/node/1170116 |archive-date=3 May 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=Everything2.com |df=dmy-all}} The 1980s pop group T'Pau was formed in the town and the band's vocalist Carol Decker was educated in the town, along with other members of the band.{{Cite web |title=For Crying Out Loud! (T'Pau interviews) |url=http://www.tpau.org/ints/recmir87.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513142412/http://www.tpau.org/ints/recmir87.html |archive-date=13 May 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=T'Pau.org |df=dmy-all}} Notable music historian and composer Charles Burney was born and educated in the town.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Burney, Charles|volume=4|pages=853–854|short=1}} Lange, a DJ and dance music producer, was born in Shrewsbury.{{Cite web |title=Langa (AKA Firewall) |url=http://supra.armadamusic.nl/artists/lange-aka-firewall/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222191410/http://supra.armadamusic.nl/artists/lange-aka-firewall/ |archive-date=22 December 2007 |access-date=17 March 2008 |publisher=Armada Music}}

Sporting Salopians include four FA Cup Final winning players who took part in the first decade of the Cup's history were born in or lived in Shrewsbury: John Hawley Edwards, Henry Wace and John Wylie, of the Wanderers and Clopton Lloyd-Jones of Clapham Rovers.{{Cite book |last=Warsop |first=Keith |title=The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs, A Who's Who and Match Facts 1872 to 1883 |publisher=Tony Brown, Nottingham |year=2004 |isbn=1-899468-78-1 |pages=76,96–97,133,138–139}} Arthur Rowley, the Football League's highest scoring player, settled in Shrewsbury, having first come to the town as a Shrewsbury Town player, where he died in 2004.{{cite book|last=Francis|first=Peter|title=A Matter of Life and Death, The Secrets of Shrewsbury Cemetery|date=24 October 2023 |publisher=Logaston Press, Almeley|page=104|isbn=978-1-904396-58-1}} More recent players are Danny Guthrie of Newcastle United,{{Cite web |title=Player profile |url=http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=1166 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029222055/http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=1166 |archive-date=29 October 2007 |access-date=16 January 2008 |publisher=LFChistory.net |df=dmy-all}} Shrewsbury Town youth academy graduate and England goalkeeper Joe Hart{{Cite web |title=Joe Hart |url=http://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,,11761_262521,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113031942/http://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,,11761_262521,00.html |archive-date=13 January 2009 |access-date=16 January 2008 |website=Sky Sports |df=dmy-all}} and Wales midfielder David Edwards were born in the town, as was Sheffield Wednesday and Scotland striker Steven Fletcher whose serviceman father was stationed there.{{cite news|last=Coates|first=Jonathan|url=http://sport.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=169&id=1748102006 |title=Easter Road call-up spared Fletcher a soldier's life|work=The Scotsman|publisher=Johnston Press|date= 25 November 2006}} Sandy Lyle, a professional golfer, was born in the town.{{Cite web |title=Sandy Lyle |url=http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/17/17/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103234046/http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/17/17/ |archive-date=3 January 2008 |access-date=16 January 2008 |website=PGATOUR.com |df=dmy-all}} Neville Cardus spent some of his formative years as assistant cricket coach at Shrewsbury School.{{Cite web |title=Wisden Almanack Profile |url=http://content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152816.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013120953/http://content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152816.html |archive-date=13 October 2012 |access-date=11 May 2009 |website=cricinfo.com |df=dmy-all}}

Other notable people of the town include; John Gwynn, an 18th-century architect, who designed the English Bridge and the bridge at Atcham, was born in the town;{{Cite book |last1=Newman |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Zqbit3opjQC&q=john+gwynn+shrewsbury&pg=PA55 |title=Shropshire |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |last3=Watson |first3=Gavin |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300120834 |access-date=17 March 2008}} the Anglo-Scottish suffragette Barbara Wylie was born in Shrewsbury;{{Cite web |title=Miss Barbara Fanny Wylie / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2675/miss-barbara-fanny-wylie |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=www.suffrageresources.org.uk}} comic book artist Charlie Adlard was born in Shrewsbury and is known for illustrating The Walking Dead; Robert Cadman, a performer and steeplejack, is buried in the town, at St Mary's Church;{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101064323/|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Robert Cadman}} Simon Gosling, a visual effects designer, was born in the town and was resident there until 1994;{{Cite web |title=Simon Gosling |url=http://www.lovefilm.com/community/view_list.html?customer_list_id=5719 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611064038/http://www.lovefilm.com/community/view_list.html?customer_list_id=5719 |archive-date=11 June 2011 |access-date=17 March 2008 |publisher=LoveFilm.com |df=dmy-all}} Percy Thrower, the gardener and broadcaster lived in Shrewsbury, where he set up the garden centre near Meole Brace and just down the road from the football club.{{Cite web |title=Percy was the forerunner of TV's gardening celebrities |url=http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Thrower,_Percy:_Percy_was_the_forerunner_of_TV's_gardening_celebrities |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516035439/http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Thrower%2C_Percy%3A_Percy_was_the_forerunner_of_TV%27s_gardening_celebrities |archive-date=16 May 2008 |access-date=17 March 2008 |website=You&Yesterday |df=dmy-all}} Justin Pearson, an award-winning stunt performer and stunt coordinator currently lives in the town.{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Six Ticks |title=Award-winning stuntman's Shropshire cinema dates |url=https://www.myshrewsbury.co.uk/blog/stuntmans-shropshire-cinema-dates/ |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=www.myshrewsbury.co.uk |language=en}} Hugo Botstiber, Austrian musicologist, died at Cotonhurst on 15 January 1941 only a few months after arriving in Shrewsbury. Being of Jewish origin, he had emigrated from Vienna in 1938.{{cite web |last1=Lackner |first1=Robert |title=Concert Life between Tradition and Innovation |url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrhs/download/pdf/1944732?originalFilename=true |publisher=Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz |access-date=30 May 2024 |pages=231}}

Flight Lieutenant Eric Lock was born in nearby Bayston Hill and was educated at Prestfelde preparatory school on London Road. Lock became internationally recognised as a high scoring fighter ace of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War with 26 victories before his death in combat at the age of 21. He was the RAF's most successful British-born pilot in the Battle of Britain.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/04/09/great_salopians_eric_lock_feature.shtml "Shropshire's 'Sawn Off' Battle of Britain hero"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916070023/http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/04/09/great_salopians_eric_lock_feature.shtml|date=16 September 2007}}, BBC. Accessed 3 January 2008.Lashmar, Paul. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000916/ai_n14340752 "'The Few' who saved Britain were even fewer in number than anyone"], The Independent, 16 September 2000. Accessed 3 January 2008. One Victoria Cross recipient is known to have lived in Shrewsbury; Arthur Herbert Procter, who was decorated in 1916 during World War I and retired from his later full-time clergy ministry in 1964 to briefly live at Mytton Oak Road, Copthorne, before relocating to Sheffield.{{Cite news |date=1 July 2016 |title=County heroes who won Victoria Cross |page=36 |work=Shropshire Star}}Battle of the Somme – 100 Years supplement compiled by Toby Neal. Proctor did not yet live in Shropshire at the time he was decorated.

• List of mayors of Shrewsbury
• Listed buildings in Shrewsbury

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Carlton |first=Charles |title=Going to the Wars: The Experience of the British Civil Wars 1638–1651 |publisher=Routledge |year=1994 |isbn=0415103916}}
• {{cite book|last=Clarkson |first=Tim |title= Æthelflæd: The Lady of the Mercians|publisher=John Donald |location =Edinburgh, UK |year=2018|isbn=978-1-910900-16-1}}
• {{cite encyclopaedia |first=Marios|last =Costambeys | publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopaedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title= Æthelflæd [Ethelfleda] (d. 918), ruler of the Mercians|volume =1 | year = 2004a | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8907| access-date= 17 September 2014|doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/8907|isbn =9780198614128 }} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book|author-link=Frank Stenton|last=Stenton|first= Frank|year=1971|title=Anglo-Saxon England|publisher= Oxford University Press|place=Oxford, UK|edition=3rd|isbn=978-0-19-280139-5}}
• {{cite odnb |last=Walker |year=2004 |first=Simon |title=Percy, Sir Henry (1364–1403), soldier |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-21931 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190216032243/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-21931 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-02-16 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/21931 |authorlink=Simon Walker (historian)}}

{{Commons category|Shrewsbury}}

{{Wikivoyage|Shrewsbury (England)|Shrewsbury}}

• {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Shrewsbury |volume=24 |short=x}}
• [http://www.originalshrewsbury.co.uk/ Original Shrewsbury]
• [http://www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk Shrewsbury Town Council]
• [http://shrewsburybid.co.uk/ Shrewsbury BID]
• [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/constituencies/shrewsbury The History of Parliament: the House of Commons – Shrewsbury, Borough, 1386 to 1831]

{{Geographic Location

|title = Destinations from Shrewsbury

|Northwest = Nesscliffe, Oswestry, Chirk
Wrexham

|North = Wem, Prees, Whitchurch, Nantwich

|Northeast = Shawbury, Hodnet, Market Drayton, Newport,
Stoke-on-Trent

|West = Ford, Westbury, Welshpool

|Centre = Shrewsbury

|East = Wellington, Telford, Shifnal
West Midlands conurbation

|Southwest = Pontesbury, Minsterley, Bishop's Castle, Clun, Knighton, Newtown

|South = Bayston Hill, Condover, Dorrington, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow

|Southeast = Atcham, Much Wenlock, Ironbridge, Broseley, Bridgnorth, Kidderminster
London

}}

{{Shropshire}}

{{River Severn towns}}

{{Shrewsbury architecture}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places on the River Severn

Category:Market towns in Shropshire

Category:Towns of the Welsh Marches

Category:County towns in England

Category:Railway towns in England

Category:Populated places established in the 1st millennium

Category:Towns with cathedrals in the United Kingdom

Category:Towns in Shropshire

Category:Civil parishes in Shropshire

Category:Massacres during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms