396 A Bay with the Field-Clubs. 



established. In Shropshire these clubs are of very recent date. 

 There is one at Ellesmere, which, like those of Dudley and 

 Malvern, is forming a museum ; and another at Oswestry, close 

 upon the Welsh county of Denbigh. Two other Shropshire 

 field-clubs, the Severn Valley Club and the Caradoc Club, 

 which havs been formed during the present year, have distin- 

 guished themselves by their energy and activity. The former 

 has for its special field the district from which it takes its name 

 and the Wenlock Mountains ; the other has its head-quarters 

 at Church Stretton, between the mountain ranges of Caer 

 Caradoc and the Longmynd. Although, however, these clubs 

 belong properly to particular districts, they have adopted the 

 custom of fraternizing occasionally, and holding joint meetings 

 at places of special interest. Thus, on the 7th of July in the 

 present year, the Caradoc, Woolhope, and Oswestry Clubs held 

 a joint meeting at the Craven Arms in Shropshire, and explored 

 together the interesting district of which that place is the 

 centre; and on the 13th of August, the Caradoc and Severn 

 Yalley Clubs joined in a meeting at Church Stretton. It was 

 at this latter meeting that I attended. 



It was one of the hottest days — perhaps the hottest — of 

 this unusually fervid month of August, when, on the morning 

 of the 13th, I took a forenoon train from Shrewsbury, with a 

 number of companions bent on the same errand. We soon 

 approached the entrance to the beautiful Stretton valley, over- 

 looked by the lofty mass of Caer Caradoc, which, seen in this 

 direction, rises on one side somewhat in the form of a vast 

 sugar-loaf, and stands here like a permanent sentinel on guard 

 over some enchanted region. Caer Caradoc, on this side, 

 appears to most advantage when seen from the railway, a little 

 to the south of the Dorrin^ton station. A few minutes more 

 and our train left us at the Church Stretton station, where we 

 were soon afterwards joined by another body of our associates, 

 who came by the train from the south. 



Church Stretton is a picturesque town, seated at the foot 

 of the Longmynd range, which forms the western side of the 

 valley, and nearly opposite Caer Caradoc, which, with the range 

 of mountains out of which it rises, and which are known col- 

 lectively as the Stretton Hills, forms the limit of the valley to 

 the east. At the bottom runs the ancient Roman road from 

 Uriconium [Wroseeter) to Magna (Kenclicntcr) and South Wales, 

 now called the Watling Street, and still framing part of the high- 

 road from Shrewsbury to Hereford. Through tho valley, which 

 is watered by numerous little trout streams, sparkling in the 

 sunshine as they wind their course through pleasant meadows 

 and copses, this ancient road runs nearly parallel with tho 

 railway, and may frequently be seen from it. Geologically this 



