Shrewsbury Castle Tops Attractions

Shrewsbury has a lot to offer when it comes to tourist attractions. The fact that there are so many hotels in Shrewsbury suggests that this city is growing to be a major epicentre for sightseeing in recent years. However the highlight of the city must be the red sandstone Shrewsbury Castle.

Located on a hill along the River Severn, it is directly above the railway station which makes it also very accessible to get to. The castle was originally built to fortify the town as the river was the only form of defence that the town had. The town walls extended out from the castle but only little of them now remains to be seen. In 1138, the castle was sieged by King Stephen as the castle was being taken care of by William FitzAlan for Empress Maude, the daughter of Henry I. In its eclectic history, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, the Prince of Wales in 1215 once held the castle also. In 1924, the castle was given to the town by being bought by the Shropshire Horticultural Society  and council meetings were able to take place within the castle until 1981. The castle, now owned by the council, is undergoing renovations due to the fact that sandstone is a material that quickly erodes due to its soft nature, but it is open to the public for visitation. 

Other uses for the castle include weddings, events and even plays such as Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

The castle features the Shropshire Regimental Museum which has infantry artefacts. Whilst the museum was targeted and attacked by the IRA in 1992 and much of the collection was badly damaged, the museum re-opened in 1995 and has been safe since.

As the castle is located in the middle of the city centre, it is also very close to the hotels Shrewsbury town centre. So if you have a reservation booked at a nearby hotel, you won’t have to worry about travelling too far for this sight. Having stood for nearly a millennium, this castle is truly spectacular and plays a vital role in why Shrewsbury is now considered as a major British destination.