Things to do in The Marches
-
Ghost Walk
You can take the ghost walk from outside the Church Inn on the Buttercross.
reviewed
-
A
Mappa Mundi
The cathedral is best known for two ancient treasures housed here. The awe-inspiring 13th-century Mappa Mundi is a large calfskin vellum map intricately painted with the vivid (to modern eyes, wacky) world vision of the era's scholars and an enthralling pictorial encyclopaedia of the times.
It is the largest and best-preserved example of this type of cartography anywhere, but more than that it's a bewitching journey through the world as then envisioned, peopled by strange beings with eyes in their chest, roamed by basilisks and mythological monsters. Navigate your way through the barely recognisable mash of continents and you can even find Hereford itself.
reviewed
-
B
Castle
The town's crowning jewel is its splendid Castle, which snags an ideal defensive location atop a cliff above the river's elbow. One of a line of fortifications built along the Marches to ward off the marauding Welsh, it is now a great castle for hide-and-seek, with myriad nooks, ruined rooms and mysterious stairwells. The sturdy Norman keep was built around 1090 and has wonderful views.
The castle was transformed into a 14th-century palace by the notorious Roger Mortimer, who was instrumental in the grisly death of Edward II. The round chapel in the inner bailey was built in 1120 and is one of few surviving.
reviewed
-
C
Blists Hill Victorian Town
Set at the top of the Hay Inclined Plane (a cable lift that once transported coal barges uphill from the Shropshire Canal), Blists Hill is a lovingly restored Victorian village that has been repopulated with townsfolk in period costume, carrying out day-to-day activities like washing clothes, mending hobnail boots and working the village iron foundry. Some buildings are original, while others have been convincingly re-created or moved here from other villages. There's even a bank, where you can exchange your modern pounds for shillings to use at the village shops.
reviewed
-
D
Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron
Set in the brooding buildings of Abraham Darby's original iron foundry, the Museum of Iron contains some excellent interactive exhibits. As well as producing the girders for the Ironbridge, the factory became famous for heavy machinery and extravagant ornamental castings, including the gates for London's Hyde Park. Combined tickets with Darby Houses also available.
reviewed
-
Broseley Pipeworks
This was once the biggest clay tobacco pipe-maker in the country, but the industry took a nose-dive after the introduction of pre-rolled cigarettes in the 1880s, and the factory was preserved much as the last worker left it when the doors finally closed in 1957. The pipeworks is a 1-mile walk south of the river, on a winding lane that passes the old workers' cottages (ask the tourist office for the Jitties leaflet).
reviewed
-
E
Shrewsbury Abbey
Famous as the setting for Ellis Peters' Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, the lovely red-sandstone Shrewsbury Abbey is all that remains of a vast, cruciform Benedictine monastery founded in 1083. Twice the setting for meetings of the English parliament, the Abbey church lost its spire and two wings when the monastery was dissolved in 1540. It sustained further damage in 1826 when engineer Thomas Telford ran the London–Holyhead road right through the grounds. Nevertheless, you can still see some impressive Norman, Early English and Victorian features, including an exceptional 14th-century west window.
reviewed
-
F
Darby Houses
Just uphill from the Museum of Iron are these beautifully restored 18th-century homes, which housed generations of the Darby family in gracious but modest Quaker comfort.
reviewed
-
G
Hereford Cathedral
After Welsh marauders torched the original Saxon cathedral, the Norman rulers of Hereford erected a larger, grander cathedral on the same site, which was subsequently remodelled in a succession of medieval architectural styles. The Hereford bishops were a colourful company – Peter of Aquablanca (1240–68) was a close ally of Henry III and a notorious tax fraudster, while the pious St Thomas de Cantilupe (1275–82) was excommunicated for forcing members of the nobility to perform humiliating acts of penance at the cathedral. Memorials to past bishops – some worn smooth with age – are dotted around the nave and transept.
However, all fades into insignificance compare…
reviewed
-
H
Iron Bridge & Tollhouse
The flamboyant, arching Iron Bridge that gives the area its name was constructed to flaunt the new technology invented by the inventive Darby family. At the time of its construction in 1779, nobody could believe that anything so large could be built from cast iron without collapsing under its own weight. There's a small exhibition on the bridge's history at the former tollhouse.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
I
Enginuity
If the kids are tired of fusty historical displays, recharge their batteries at this levers-and-pulleys science centre beside the Museum of Iron, where you can control robots, move a steam locomotive with your bare hands (and a little engineering know-how) and power up a vacuum cleaner with self- generated electricity.
reviewed
-
J
Museum of the Gorge
Kick off your visit at the Museum of the Gorge, which offers an overview of the World Heritage Site using film, photos and 3-D models. Housed in a Gothic warehouse by the river, it's filled with entertaining, hands-on exhibits.
reviewed
-
K
Coalport China Museum
When ironmaking moved elsewhere, Coalport china slowed the region's decline and the restored works now house an absorbing China Museum tracing the region's glory days as a manufacturer of elaborate pottery and crockery. Craftspeople demonstrate china-making techniques and two enormous bottle kilns are guaranteed to awe even if the gaudily glazed chinaware leaves you cold.
reviewed
-
L
Jackfield Tile Museum
Once the largest tile factory in the world, Jackfield was famous for its encaustic tiles, with ornate designs produced using layers of different coloured clay (the tiles are still produced here today for period restorations). Gas-lit galleries re-create ornately tiled rooms from past centuries, from Victorian public conveniences to fairy-tale friezes from children's hospital wards. The museum is on the south bank of the Severn, near the footbridge to the Coalport China Museum.
reviewed
-
M
Old Market Hall
Hobnob with the local arts brigade in this posh café-bar in the old drapers hall, underneath a stunning timbered roof and styled to combine city chic with cosy rustic touches. As well as speciality teas, soul-restoring coffees and wines, it serves up a range of sandwiches, wraps, and calorific pastries. It's based in a lively film and media centre.
reviewed
-
N
Chained Library
The same wing contains the world's largest surviving chained library , hooked to its shelves by a cascade of long thin shackles. The unique collection of rare books and manuscripts includes a 1217 copy of the revised Magna Carta and the 8th-century Hereford Gospels, although the gospels' fragility means they aren't always on display.
reviewed
-
O
Black Lion
The more real ales and local ciders you knock back in this traditional pub, the more you may believe the tales that there are resident ghosts from the site's history as a monastery, an orphanage, a brothel and even a Chinese restaurant.
reviewed
-
P
Drapers Hall
The sense of history is palpable in this beautifully preserved 16th- century hall, fronted by an elegant Elizabethan facade. Award-wining Anglo-French haute cuisine is served in rooms adorned with wood panelling and artwork, and upstairs are spectacular, heirloom-filled rooms.
reviewed
-
Q
Henry Tudor House
Follow Mary's St into Dogpole and turn right into Wyle Cop, Welsh for 'hilltop'. Henry VII stayed in the seriously overhanging Henry Tudor House before the Battle of Bosworth. At the bottom of Wyle Cop, Welsh for 'hilltop', is the graceful 18th-century English Bridge, which takes you across to Shrewsbury Abbey (E of Town Centre).
reviewed
-
R
King & Thai
Accessed via an unlikely looking passageway near the bridge, this snug little Thai emporium piles plates high with tongue-tinglingly spicy food untamed for the English market. It's a surprisingly authentic place, with staff busily scurrying between levels and discharging rapid-fire smiles at every turn.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
S
Armoury
There's an irresistibly infectious bonhomie to this converted riverside warehouse. Towering bookshelves, old pictures and curios help straddle the divide between posh restaurant and informal pub, while a plethora of blackboard menus invite you to sample wines, guest ales and hearty British dishes.
reviewed
-
T
Church of St Laurence
One of the largest parish churches in Britain, the church of St Laurence contains grand Elizabethan alabaster tombs and some delightfully cheeky medieval misericords carved into its medieval choir stalls, including a beer-swilling chap raiding his barrel. Climb the tower (£3) for stunning views of town and countryside.
reviewed
-
U
Tar Tunnel
A short ramble along the canal brings you to the 200-year-old Tar Tunnel, dug as a water-supply channel but halted abruptly when natural bitumen unexpectedly started trickling treacle-like from its walls. You can still don a hard hat and stoop in deep enough to see the black stuff ooze.
reviewed
-
V
Koo
Cute and kooky, this bright green cubby hole is run by a friendly Japanese chef who's always eager to chat with diners about Japanese etiquette.
reviewed
-
W
Cafe@All Saints
A surprisingly modern and trendy offering inside the renovated nave of All Saint's Church. The menu is wholesome and mostly vegetarian, and you can even enjoy a beer or glass of wine – just remember, God's watching.
reviewed
