Memorials of Shrewsbury / being a concise description of the town and its environs, adapted as a general guide for the information of visitors and residents

by Henry Pidgeon

THE FAIRS.

The fair for the sale of horses, cattle, butter, cheese, &c. is held on the second Wednesday in every month; and that for sheep and pigs on the preceding day. It has long been in contemplation to form a proper “Smithfield” for cattle, &c. which are now disposed of in the streets, much to the annoyance of passengers. The wool fairs are in July and August.

THE SEVERN.

This beautiful stream, the queen of rivers,—famed in British story and noticed by classic historians,—the theme of poets and the admiration of tourists, is next in importance to the Thames.

It rises in Plinlimmon mountain, Montgomeryshire, and pursues its course through that county, receiving in its meanderings numberless tributary streams, and presenting to proud Salopia the richest variety of picturesque scenery. After winding sixty or seventy miles through the centre of Shropshire, passing Worcester, &c. it at length becomes “a mighty river, potent, large,” and empties itself into the Bristol Channel, fifty miles below Gloucester.