Nooks and Corners of Shropshire

Butcher Row. Shrewsbury.
AUTHOR OF 'NOOKS AND CORNERS OF HEREFORDSHIRE,' 'NOOKS AND CORNERS
OF PEMBROKESHIRE.'
y work completed, I may be permitted to add a few words by way of envoi.
'Nooks and Corners' is the outcome of many prolonged sketching rambles in Shropshire, where, as I roamed about the County, in search of subjects for pen and pencil, I succeeded in gleaning a good deal of original information anent the places I visited; and I was greeted by all sorts and conditions of Salopians with that hospitality for which they are proverbial, and which has left me their grateful debtor.
Though the more important places here illustrated are probably familiar to many of my readers, there are certain scenes and objects in the course of this work which have never been pictured or described before, and which will, I trust, prove of interest to Salopians. Amidst such an embarras de richesses, I have of necessity been obliged to pick and choose the subjects dealt with; for in matter antiquarian the locality is well-nigh inexhaustible.
But if the gentle reader, in perusing the following pages, should share in some degree my own pleasure and interest in compiling them, I shall have the satisfaction of feeling that I have not rambled in vain amidst the Nooks and Corners of Shropshire.
H. THORNHILL TIMMINS. Harrow, November , 1899.
'On this side whiche the Sonne doth warm with his declining beames, Severn and Teme in channell deepe doo run, too antient Streames; These make the neibor's pasture riche, these yeld of fruit greate store; And doo convey thro out the Shire commodities manie more. Here hilles doo lift their heades aloft, from whence sweete springes doo flow, Whose moistur good doth firtil make the vallies coucht belowe. Here goodly orchards planted are, in fruite which doo abounde; Thine ey wold make thine hart rejoyce to see such pleasant grounde.'

outhern Shropshire whose nooks and corners we are about to explore is a pleasant, fertile country, where breezy heather-clad hills alternate with cornfields, orchards and pastures, and rich umbrageous woodlands. Goodly rivers such as the Severn and the Teme, besides brooks, rivulets and trout-streams, enrich the meadows in the sunny vales, or wake the silence of the lonely hills where the curlew and the lapwing make their homes.