Walking the Shropshire Way. John Gillham

by a Clun extension via Offa’s Dyke, taking in Stiperstones and a little section of Offa’s Dyke.

      Between 1991 and 1995 the route was updated and became a 140-mile circular based on Shrewsbury, but still with the northern extension to Grinshill. Unfortunately, in the 2000s the route gained 32 different loops and followers were sometimes confronted by signposts with the Shropshire Way pointing in three or four different directions. There was no distinction between loops and the main route on the ‘buzzard’ waymarkers.

      In 2015 at the Shrewsbury Ramblers AGM proposals were made to identify a single main route and to re-form the Shropshire Way Association. After consultation a new 180-mile circular route (200 miles including the Whitchurch leg) based on Shrewsbury was devised using the best of the loops in the north, visiting Llanymynech, Ellesmere, Whixall and Wem and retaining the Sandstone Trail link to Grindley Brook. The southern route used the Clun extension rather than the shorter Long Mynd route. A Shrewsbury link was added for those who wanted either a north or a south circular route.

      The Shropshire Way visits much of the county’s best countryside, although, by its nature as a county circular way, it cannot go everywhere. The hills of Stretton, including the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc, have been omitted in favour of the Wrekin, the Stiperstones, the Offa’s Dyke borderlands and Wenlock Edge.

      Shrewsbury, with an impressive castle, over 650 listed buildings and the lovely River Severn, makes a fine start to the walk and the Shropshire Way finds an ingenious route through green sylvan corridors out into the countryside to the south. Little Lyth Hill serves as a taster for things to come as the Shropshire Way enters the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB). At day’s end you come down through the lovely Golden Valley to Bridges, a tiny community with an inn and a hostel, sheltered in folds between the Long Mynd and Stiperstones. Stiperstones, a fine ridge of heather bilberry and jagged splintered tors, comes early the next day, with the fascinating offbeat little town of Bishop’s Castle coming at the end.

      The view from Lyth Hill with the Lawley and Caer Caradoc on the horizon

      On the following day the Way flirts with the Offa’s Dyke path for a while and descends a beautiful grassy ridge, the Cefns, to its conclusion at the medieval castle town of Clun. Two days of undulating hillside, woodland and riverside paths brings you to the south of the county at Ludlow, described by John Betjeman as ‘Probably the loveliest town in England’. Here, the once powerful castle town with fine Tudor and Georgian buildings overlooks the rivers Teme and Corve. In the background there’s an interesting rakish escarpment known as Titterstone Clee Hill, which will be the highlight of the next day. Although it’s been ravaged by quarrying and has masts and a couple of radomes sticking out from the summit, this is a fascinating place with a view of most of the Midland plains and the Welsh hills. The same can be said of Brown Clee Hill, the highest place in Shropshire.

      Wenlock Edge provides easy limestone ridge-walking for half a day before the descent into Ironbridge, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. This fascinating place deserves an extra day, so, if you’re thinking about having a rest day, make it here.

      The iconic Wrekin provides the last real hill of the walk, although there will be a few small sandstone hills in the next couple of days. From Haughmond, where there’s a fine old abbey, you have the choice of curtailing the route and heading back on the 5-mile trek to Shrewsbury or doing the longer route around the plains of northern Shropshire. The northern route explores the market town of Wem and visits the mosses and meres around Whixall and Ellesmere. Canal towpaths aid progress and take you to Llanymynech, a little town straddling the Welsh–English border.

      A grassy flood embankment known as the Argie, which runs parallel to the River Vyrnwy, leads the route back eastwards, always in the shadow of the distinctive peaks of the Breidden Hills. The very last small sandstone hill comes at Nesscliffe, where you can see a highwayman’s cave and huge red quarry cliffs. The last day is easy and highlighted by the pretty village of Shrawardine and a lovely walk back to Shrewsbury by the banks of the Severn.

      For the readers who want to discover those missing hills, the Stretton Skyline Walk has been added: a challenging 19½-mile (31.4km) itinerary taking in the Long Mynd, Ragleth Hill, the Hope Bowdler Hills, Caer Caradoc and the Lawley. For those who prefer an easier schedule, this walk could be completed over two days with Church Stretton providing an ideal breaking point to stop overnight.

Shropshire’s history

      The first known settlement in Shropshire is at the Roveries near Lydham, just north of Bishop’s Castle. Although the fort is Iron Age, evidence has been found of a Neolithic (Stone Age) settlement dating back to before 2000BC. Shropshire, like most of England at this time, was heavily afforested and the Stone Age people forged highways such as the Portway across the region, erected stone circles and standing stones and buried their dead in raised barrows (tumuli) on the ‘open’ ridges. Axes and other flint tools have been found all over the county. The first evidence of tree clearing comes from the people of the Bronze Age (2000BC to 800BC).

      In the Iron Age period (800BC to AD43) the Celts put down roots and began to construct hilltop forts and settlements with roundhouses. Examples of these on the Shropshire Way include the forts topping the Wrekin, Bury Ditches and Nesscliffe. In Shropshire the Cornovii tribe ruled and probably had their capital on the Wrekin Hillfort. The tribe cleared large swaths of the valley woodland into fields where they grew cereals, peas, beans and cabbages.

      The Cornovii were here when the Romans came to the area in AD47. They were led at this time by Virico. The Romans, under Governor Aulus Plautius, attacked the Wrekin fort and eventually overpowered it but Virico must have put up a good fight for the Romans named their city at nearby Wroxeter Viroconium (sometimes known as Uriconium) in honour of their enemy. The conquerors rapidly built forts of their own and roads such as Watling Street to link them. The Cornovii disappeared into history.

      After the Romans abandoned Britain in the fourth century much of what we call Shropshire today became the Welsh Kingdom of Powys and later Pengwern. These border grounds were the scenes of many a battle. In 656 the region was overrun by Saxons and became part of Mercia. In 765 the Mercian King Offa built Watt’s Dyke to repel the Welsh. He then advanced with his troops to take Shrewsbury before driving them back into the hills. By 779 he had constructed the Offa’s Dyke earthwork border between Chepstow and Prestatyn.

      King Edward the Elder merged Mercia into his kingdom of Wessex. The Danes made many forays into the region, mostly unsuccessful or short-lived. They succeeded in destroying the original Wenlock Priory but were eventually driven out by Edward. In 1006 England was divided into shires and Scrobbesbyrigscire (Shropshire) was born.

      When the Normans conquered England in 1066 Wild Edric, a Saxon nobleman, owned much of Shropshire. He fought hard to repel the enemy but eventually had to surrender to William the Conqueror. Much of the land, including Shrewsbury, was ceded to Roger de Montgomerie. Over the next two centuries powerful castles were built at Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Clun, Bridgnorth and Bishop’s Castle. Many monasteries and abbeys were built at this time, including those at Shrewsbury, Haughmond, Much Wenlock and Buildwas. Scrobbesbyrigscire became Salopescira, which is the origin of Salop.

      Ludlow Castle

      There were frequent skirmishes between the Plantagenet kings and their Norman barons. At this time the Welsh were making inroads into the county again, with Prince Rhys flattening Clun Castle and Prince Llewelyn the Great taking Shrewsbury Castle. In 1216 King John took the castles of Clun and Oswestry only to have John Fitz-Alan, an ancestor to the Dukes of Norfolk, take them back. In revenge King John had Oswestry burned to the ground and took Clun once more.

      The Percy Rebellion against Henry IV concluded at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, when the Lancastrian king defeated Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur) of Northumberland. The battle was immortalised by William Shakespeare’s play Henry IV.

      By the late 14th century Ludlow had over 1100 inhabitants and had become