Wall which bears his name, saw his army defeated by the Parliamentarians.  We made a late start from Chester, but reached Shrewsbury in time to visit many parts of the town after dinner.  We found it indeed a delightful old place, rich in historic traditions, and the center of a country full of interesting places.  The town is built on a lofty peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the River Severn, and the main streets lead up exceedingly steep hills.  In fact, many of the steepest and most dangerous hills which we found in our travels were in the towns themselves, where grades had been fixed by buildings long ago.  The clean macadam in Shrewsbury made it possible to drive our car without chains, though it rained incessantly, but so steep and winding are some of the streets that the greatest caution was necessary.

Shrewsbury is described by an English writer as a “sweet-aired, genuine, dignified and proud old market town, the resort of squires, parsons and farmers, and mainly inhabited by those who minister to their wants.  It never dreams of itself as a show-place.”  He also adds another strong point in its claim to distinction:  “Some years ago a book was published by a zealous antiquarian, enumerating with much detail all the families of England of a certain consequence who still occupied either the same estate or estates contiguous to those upon which they were living in the Fifteenth Century.  The shire of which Shrewsbury is the capital very easily headed the list in this honorable competition and thereby justified the title of ‘proud Salopians,’ which the more consequential of its people submit to with much complacency, even though it be not always applied in a wholly serious way.”

It is a genuine old border town, so far unspoiled by commercialism.  Modern improvements have not invaded its quaint streets to any great extent, and many of these still retain their old names—­Dog-pole, Wylecop and Shoplatch—­and are bordered by some of the finest half-timbered houses in Britain.  Nor is Shrewsbury wanting in famous sons.  In front of the old grammar school building is a bronze statue of Charles Darwin, the man who changed the scientific thought of a world, who was born here in 1809.  This same grammar school was built in 1630 and is now converted into a museum of Roman relics, which have been found in the immediate vicinity.  In its earlier days, many distinguished men received their education here, among them Sir Philip Sidney and Judge Jeffreys.  The Elizabethan market-house and the council-house which was visited by both Charles I and James II on different occasions are two of the most fascinating buildings to be seen in the town.  There are scant remains, principally of the keep of the castle, built by the Norman baron to whom William the Conqueror generously presented the town.  St. Mary is the oldest and most important church, and in some particulars it surpasses the cathedral at Chester.  It is architecturally more pleasing and its windows are among the finest examples of antique stained glass in the Kingdom.