This is an ancient British town lying in an amphitheatre of high ground, but no reliable history relating to the place is extant until after the Conquest, when Roger de Montgomery founded the Castle, which for a considerable time was the residence of Royalty, more particularly of Edward IV. and his children. Ludlow was also the seat of the Grand Council entrusted with the jurisdiction of the Marches. The keep of the castle was erected between 1086 and 1096. In the Civil War the castle surrendered to the Parliamentary forces in 1646, at the same time as Bridgnorth. The appearance of the dismantled fortress on an eminence above the River Teme is imposing and impressive, as the Norman towers and bastions, together with a considerable portion of the curtain walls, are still standing.
The Church stands upon elevated ground near the castle, and is of Decorated Gothic, dating from the time of Edward III., although originally built in the twelfth century. It is dedicated to St. Lawrence, and is a cruciform building with a lofty tower, and one of the finest churches in England. There is also a guildhall, a town-hall, and the museum, chiefly confined to natural history, has a grand collection of Silurian fossils. A very fine timbered house, the Lane Asylum, dates from 1672.
From the district round Bromfield a fine view is obtained of Clee Hill lying to the right, with Titterstone Camp, 1,749 feet above the sea, on it. Farther to the north is Brown Clee Hill, 1,792 feet high, with Corne Dale to the left. Near Onibury the route is well wooded, and the valley becomes contracted as the road leads through a break in Wenlock Edge. Upon the right Norton Camp, a horseshoe-shaped entrenchment, occupies the summit of a knoll.
STOKESAY CASTLE
is reached just before coming to Craven Arms Station. It is, without exaggeration, one of the most picturesque and also one of the earliest fortified houses in the kingdom. From almost any point of view it thrills the artist, the architect, the archæologist, and the ordinary visitor who has any capacity to read sermons in stones. The very name 'Stokesay' tells the story of Norman owner superseding Saxon, the Says or Sayes being descendants of Picot de Sai, who came over with the Conqueror, a similar instance being found in Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey, where the Saxon 'Stoke' is again tacked on to the name of the new Norman owner. The gatehouse of the castle, although a highly picturesque timber-framed building of Elizabethan times, with a carving of Adam and Eve and the Serpent over the door, is not the most interesting feature, for the rest of the building belongs to the thirteenth century, and is quite one of the best examples of a fortified house of the Early English period. The moat is now dry, but otherwise one can see in Stokesay the type of house close to the Welsh Marches which was occupied by a lesser feudal lord in the days when Wales was still the home of unconquered tribesmen, who might at any time make a sudden descent into English territory. Facing the gateway is the hall, 51 feet by 31 feet (internal measurements), lighted with four tall lancet windows looking on to the moat on the west side. The open timber roof is blackened with smoke, for there was no fireplace, and the smoke from the central brazier escaped through an outlet in the roof. The builder of this hall is given by the late Mr. Augustus Hare as John de Verdun, who died in 1279, while the curious and picturesque polygonal tower at the south corner was no doubt built by Verdun's successor, that Lawrence de Ludlow who received permission from Edward I. to fortify his house of Stokesay. It would be a pleasant task to describe every room and every architectural detail of this fascinating castle, but space unfortunately does not permit.
The Church at Stokesay was rebuilt after the Civil War. Beautiful views of the Long Mynd, of Wenlock Edge, and the ridge lying between them, now open up. The church at the little village of Wistanstow has been restored, and during the alterations a carved oak roof of the Perpendicular period came to light.
CHURCH STRETTON
is a village in an exceedingly pleasant situation, with the Long Mynd ridge of hills to the west, and with Hope Bowdler, Caer Caradoc, and the Lawley nearly opposite. The name Stretton, like Streatham, indicates the presence of a Roman road—one of those leading southwards from the great Roman city of Uriconium.
The interesting cruciform church has a Norman nave with Transitional central tower and transepts. Several Perpendicular windows have been inserted. Mr. Hare mentions a stone in the churchyard, near the sundial, bearing this inscription to Ann Cook, who died in 1814:
'On a Thursday she was born,