SHEOPSHIRE. 103 



Most of the antiquities discovered on this spot have been deposited in the museum 

 of Shrewsbury, but the visitor may still trace part of the old wall, the foundations 

 of a basilica, and the remains of baths. The Roman city was probably destroyed 

 by the Saxons, in the sixth century, when its defenders were Romanised Britons. 



Below Wroxeter the Severn enters a narrow gorge, and passes through the coal 

 and iron district of the county. Leaving the ruins of JBuikhcas Abbe?/ on our left, 

 we soon reach the iron bridge which joins the town of Ironhridge to that of 

 Broseley, and is the oldest bridge of the kind in the world, having been erected in 

 1779 by Abraham Darby, of Coalbrookdale. Broseley is noted for its tiles and 

 tobacco-pipes, whilst the cluster of towns on the opposite bank of the river, 

 including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Daicley Magna, and Madeley, is the seat of a 

 flourishing iron industry, which spreads northward through the beautiful dale of 

 Coalbrook as far as Wellington, and in the north-east to Shifnal. Coalport, a few 

 miles below the bridge, has potteries and china works. The iron industry of this 

 district was established in 1709, and the works have retained their reputation for 

 fine castings. It is probable, however, that these populous towns will at no very 

 remote time sink as rapidly into insignificance as they have risen into importance. 

 The whole of the western portion of this Shropshire coal basin has become 

 exhausted, and large tracts exhibit only abandoned works and heaps of rubbish, 

 which are gradually becoming clothed with soil. Sooner or later grass and 

 herbage will spring up upon them, and it will then be impossible to distinguish 

 them from natural hillocks. Two-thirds of the coal originally stored in this basin 

 have already been raised to the surface, and before many years the iron-masters and 

 coal miners will migrate to the east, in order to tap the coal beds which there 

 underlie the Permian and new red sandstone formations.* 



To the south of this industrial district the Severn passes between " low " 

 and " high " Bridgenorth, the latter perched on a picturesque cliff of sandstone, 

 150 feet high. Besides the remains of its Norman castle, Bridgenorth may boast 

 of several half-timbered houses, including that in which Bishop Percy, the collector 

 of the *' Reliques," was born. 



The few townis in the northern portion of the county are quiet centres of 

 agricultui'al districts. They include Oswestry, in the north-west, amidst prettily 

 wooded hills, between Offa's and "Watt's Dykes, the ancient frontier of Wales ; 

 Ellesmere and Whitcliurch in the north ; Market Drayton, on the Upper Tern and 

 the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal ; and Newport. 



In the hilly region, bounded on the north and east by the valley of the Severn, 

 and in the south by that of its tributary the Teme, there are only small market 

 towns and villages. The principal of these are Much Wenlock, the centre of an 

 extensive borough, including a considerable portion of the county ; Cleobury- 

 Mortimer, in the Clee Hills ; Church Stretton, in a fertile pastoral district, between 

 the Caradoc Hills and Long Mynd ; and Bishop'' s Castle, on the Welsh border. The 

 river Teme runs along the southern border of the county. On it stands Ludlow, a 

 famous old border-town, with curious timber houses and an extensive Norman 

 * Edward Hull, "The Coal-fields of Great Britain." 



