“But time * * *
Has seen this ruin’d pile complete,
Big with the vanity of state.”

Dyer.

The civil history of the town being somewhat connected with the Castle, a notice of that edifice will properly occupy this place.

After the Earldom of Shrewsbury had been given by William the Conqueror to Roger de Montgomery, one of his first works was the building of a stately Castle, or, rather, the enlargement of a previous one, which it is certain existed here anterior to the Norman Conquest, on that narrow isthmus where the town is undefended by the river.

This is supposed to have taken place about the year 1070, on a site previously occupied by fifty-one houses, and was a measure of necessity, in order to restrain the hostile incursions of the Welsh, to which the town, from its situation near the borders, was frequently exposed; and having probably received injury from the siege two years previous, and being also limited in size, was inadequate to the dignity of a wealthy earl, who enjoyed the feudal supremacy of nearly the whole of Shropshire.

The Castle, in succession, was possessed by the two sons of the founder, until the reign of Henry I. when it became a royal fortress, under the custody of a constable.

Edward I. introduced a new style of castellated architecture; the stronger portion, therefore, now remaining was probably erected by direction of that monarch, being in the style generally adopted during his reign.

On the union of Wales it was no longer important as a place of defence, and the building began gradually to decay, although in the civil war it was repaired and garrisoned for the king, and afterwards escaped the almost general demolition of royal fortresses by its surrender to the parliamentary army in 1645.

The Castle subsequently reverted to the burgesses, who resigned it to Charles II. and that monarch presented it to Lord Newport. It is now the property of the Duke of Cleveland, and is occupied by J. C. Pelham, Esq. one of the members for the borough.

The present remains have a picturesque effect, and are composed of a deep red stone. They consist of the keep, the walls of the inner court, and the great semi-circular arch of

THE INTERIOR GATEWAY,

from which the last Norman Earl of Shrewsbury issued with the keys of the gates to make submission to Henry I. Although the masonry of the jambs of this noble gateway is singularly irregular, it has, through a period of nearly 800 years, retained its strength unshaken amid the ravages of time and war. It was formerly defended by a portcullis and towers.The keep consists of two large round towers, embattled and pierced, connected by a square building of about 100 feet in length.

Gateway of Castle

The interior is much altered from its original appearance, and now forms a handsome private residence, modern pointed windows having been placed therein when it was repaired by Sir William Pulteney, about the close of the last century. The drawing room is supposed to have been the guard chamber in the time of Charles I. The castle still retains one mark of its ancient dignity, for in the area of the inner court the knights of the shire are nominated, and when the result of the election is declared, are girt with their swords by the Sheriff. On the north-east side of this court is a postern, built in the time of Charles I.; and the battlements of the western wall have an interior platform, and are curiously pierced with narrow eyelets for the convenience of the cross-bowmen, around which time has wove its ivy mantling.

On the south side within the court is a mount, [16] rising upwards of 100 feet above the bed of the river. The summit is surrounded by a wall, and crowned by a watch tower, which forms a bold and beautiful object. The tower was rebuilt during the repair of the castle, from a design and under the superintendance of the late Thomas Telford, Esq. who was then residing with Sir William Pulteney. In this elevated tower Mr. Telford wrote the beautiful poem to his countryman Burns, and thus alludes to its site near the river Severn:—

No distant Swiss with warmer glow
E’er heard his native music flow,
Nor could his wishes stronger grow
Than still have mine;
When up this ancient mount I go
With songs of thine.

The sides of the mount are richly planted, and the summit commands a view of unrivalled beauty, with the most extensive amphitheatre of mountains of which perhaps the island can boast, inclosing within its wide sweep an eminently fertile, finely wooded, and beautifully diversified champagne country. ’Tis here that, after the eye has wandered from object to object, from the foreground to the most extreme distance with delight, that the words of Cowper naturally occur, as if written upon such as spot—

“Oh, scene surpassing fable, and yet true!”

It is now difficult to form an adequate idea of the original extent of this fortress; but it is certain that the castle formerly occupied a much larger space than is now marked out by its walls, the ballium (or outer court) extending within the town probably as far as the water-lane. The northern and north eastern sides were defended by a deep ditch or vallum encompassing the base of the bold and natural elevation on which the castle stands, having a communication with the river, but it is now filled up and forms a thoroughfare.

The remains of a duplicate rampart is distinguishable on the western side; and other outworks and towers might have stood near the front of the present county gaol, the Severn being a protection towards the east.

In auncient tyme our elders had desire,
To buyld their townes on steepe and stately hill;
To shewe that as their hearts did still aspyre,
So should their works declare their worthie will.

Churchyard.