Bishops Castle
Bishops Castle is a small Shropshire market town that lies close to Wales in the West Midlands region of England. The first recorded history of Bishops Castle dates back to Saxon times. It is said that a local landowner, Edwin Shakehead, was cured of a palsy at a shrine at Hereford Cathedral and gave part of the land he owned to the Bishop of Hereford in thanks. In the late 1000s one of the Hereford Bishops took the land and built a castle on it. This was probably done in order to protect the town’s inhabitants and church from attacks from the Welsh.
The castle built here had a stormy past. Not only did it have to withstand attacks from Wales (the town at one point was literally situated in both England and Wales at the same time) but it was also attacked at other times. In the 1200s, for example, the Earl of Arundel put Bishops Castle’s castle under siege which resulted in a lot of damage to the structure of the building. In this century the town was given a charter to run a market every week and a fair every year.
A few centuries later Bishops Castle became fairly notorious for such a small and relatively rural place. It was used as a rotten borough and despite its size was able to send two representatives to Parliament in the 1500s. The castle itself started to change in the 17th century. Some of it was destroyed in the following century and a hotel (The Castle Hotel) was built in the 18th century where the bailey had once stood. Today, nothing remains of the castle apart from a stretch of wall.
Bishops Castle still holds its weekly market and its May Fair every year. In addition it also has a Carnival and a Beer Festival in July and a Michaelmas Fair in September. Visitors can also take the chance to visit the town’s Rail and Transport Museum. A good way to discover more about the town is to take one of its Guided Tours or Town Tours which run mainly during the summer months. The House on Crutches Museum is also worth a look. Not only does this museum tell you the story of the history and life of Bishops Castle it is also housed in a particularly interesting building that is worth a look on its own merits.