Shrewsbury

Typical Tudor and Georgian architecture on Wyle Cop.

The town was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys,[9] known to the ancient Britons as Pengwern, signifying "the alder hill";[10] and in Old English as Scrobbesburh (dative Scrobbesbyrig), which may mean either "Scrobb's fort" or "the fortified place in the bushes" (or “shrubs”, the modern derivate).[11] This name gradually evolved in three directions, into Sciropscire, which became Shropshire; into Sloppesberie, which became Salop / Salopia (an alternative name for both town and county), and into Schrosberie, which eventually became the town's name, Shrewsbury.[10] Its later Welsh name Amwythig means "fortified place".[12]

Over the ages, the geographically important town has been the site of many conflicts, particularly between the English and Welsh. The Angles, under King Offa of Mercia, took possession in 778.[13]

Nearby is the village of Wroxeter, 5 miles (8 km) to the south-east. This was once the site of Viroconium, the fourth largest cantonal capital in Roman Britain. As Caer Guricon it is a possible alternative for the Dark Age seat of the Kingdom of Powys.[14] The importance of the Shrewsbury area in the Roman era was underlined with the discovery of the Shrewsbury Hoard in 2009.[15][16]

Shrewsbury Castle was built around 1074 by Roger de Montgomery.[17] Today the Castle is home to the Shropshire Regimental Museum.

Shrewsbury's known history commences in the Early Middle Ages, having been founded c. 800 AD. It is believed that Anglo-Saxon Shrewsbury was most probably a settlement fortified through the use of earthworks comprising a ditch and rampart, which were then shored up with a wooden stockade.[18] There is evidence to show that by the beginning of the 900s, Shrewsbury was home to a mint.[18]

Roger de Montgomery was given the town as a gift from William, and built Shrewsbury Castle in 1074,[7] taking the title of Earl. He founded Shrewsbury Abbey as a Benedictine monastery in 1083.[19] The 3rd Earl, Robert of Bellême, was deposed in 1102 and the title forfeited, in consequence of rebelling against Henry I and joining the Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1101.[10] In 1138, King Stephen successfully besieged the castle held by William FitzAlan for the Empress Maud during the period known as the Anarchy.[20]

From 1155, during the reign of Henry II, there was a leper hospital dedicated to St Giles and associated with Shrewsbury Abbey. From the 1220s, there was also a general hospital dedicated to St John the Baptist. [21]

It was in the late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries) when the town was at its height of commercial importance. This success was mainly due to wool production, a major industry at the time, and the wool trade with the rest of Britain and Europe, with the River Severn and Watling Street acting as trading routes.[22] The Shrewsbury Drapers Company dominated the trade in Welsh wool for many years.[23]

In the midst of its commercial success, Shrewsbury was devastated by the Black Death, which records suggest arrived in the spring of 1349.[24] Examining the number of local church benefices falling vacant due to death, 1349 alone saw twice as many vacancies as the previous ten years combined, suggesting a high death toll in Shrewsbury.[25]

In 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought a few miles north of the town centre, at Battlefield; it was fought between King Henry IV and Henry Hotspur Percy, with the King emerging victorious,[26] an event celebrated in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5.[27]

Map of Shrewsbury from Pennant's A tour in Wales, 1778

The former Shire Hall (since demolished) and Old Market Hall, 1796

Ireland's Mansion circa 1900; at the eastern end of Shrewsbury High Street, the building was built in 1596 for wealthy wool trader Robert Ireland. Still extant.

Shrewsbury's monastic gathering was disbanded with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and as such the Abbey was closed in 1540. However, it is believed that Henry VIII thereafter intended to make Shrewsbury a cathedral city after the formation of the Church of England, but the citizens of the town declined the offer. Despite this, Shrewsbury thrived throughout the 16th and 17th centuries; largely due to the town's fortuitous location, which allowed it to control the Welsh wool trade. As a result, a number of grand edifices, including the Ireland's Mansion (built 1575) and Draper's Hall (1658), were constructed. It was also in this period that Edward VI gave permission for the foundation of a free school, which was later to become Shrewsbury School.[28]

The monastic hospitals, and incomes from their endowments, were transferred to secular owners. St Giles leper hospital passed to the Prince family, later Earls of Tankerville. St John the Baptist hospital passed to the Wood family, and became almshouses. [21]

Sir Francis Ottley with his wife, Lucy, and children, Richard and Mary. Sir Francis was the royalist military governor of Shrewsbury at the beginning of the English Civil War.

During the English Civil War, the town was a Royalist stronghold and only fell to Parliament forces after they were let in by a parliamentarian sympathiser at the St Mary's Water Gate (now also known as Traitor's Gate). After Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury in February 1645; in following with the ordnance of no quarter; a dozen Irish prisoners were selected to be killed after picking lots.[29][30] This prompted Prince Rupert to respond by executing Parliamentarian prisoners in Oswestry.

Shrewsbury Unitarian Church was founded in 1662. By the 18th century Shrewsbury had become an important market town and stop off for stagecoaches travelling between London and Holyhead on their way to Ireland; this led to the establishment of a number of coaching inns, many of which, such as the Lion Hotel, are extant to this day.

A town hall was built in the Market Place on the site of an ancient guildhall in 1730;[31] it was demolished and a new combined guildhall and shirehall was erected on the site in 1837.[32]

Local soldier and statesman Robert Clive was Shrewsbury's MP from 1762 until his death in 1774; Clive also served once as the town's mayor in 1762.[33]

St Chad's Church collapsed in 1788 after attempts to expand the crypt compromised the structural integrity of the tower above. Now known as Old St Chad's, the remains of the church building and its churchyard are on the corner of Princess Street, College Hill and Belmont. A new St Chad's Church was built just four years after the collapse, but as a large neo-classical round church and in a different and more elevated location, at the top of Claremont Hill close to The Quarry.[18]

In the period directly after Napoleon's surrender after Waterloo (18 June 1815), the town's own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was sent to guard him in his exile on St Helena. A locket containing a lock of the emperor's hair (presented to an officer of the 53rd) remains to this day in the collections of the Shropshire Regimental Museum at Shrewsbury Castle.[34]

A view of Shrewsbury's skyline from Shrewsbury School.

Shrewsbury has played a part in Western intellectual history, by being the town where the naturalist Charles Darwin was born and brought up.[35] The town is home to the Ditherington Flax Mill, the world's first iron-framed building, which is commonly regarded as "the grandfather of the skyscraper". Its importance was officially recognised in the 1950s, resulting in it becoming a Grade I listed building.[36][37] Shrewsbury in the Industrial Revolution was on the Shrewsbury Canal, which linked it with the Shropshire Canal and the rest of the canal network of Great Britain.[38]

The town suffered very little from the bombing runs in the Second World War that did damage to many English locations. The worst case in Shrewsbury was in 1940, a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on Ellesmere Road, the only local air raid deaths.[39] Therefore, many of its ancient buildings remain intact and there was little redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s, which arguably destroyed the character of many historic towns in the UK. However, some historic buildings were demolished to make way for the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s, though the town was saved from a new 'inner ring road' due to its challenging geography.[40] A notable example of 1960s/70s construction in Shrewsbury was Telecom House on Smithfield Road - demolished in the 2000s.[41]

The town was targeted by the IRA in 1992. One bomb detonated within the grounds of Shrewsbury Castle causing severe damage to the regimental museum of the Shropshire Light Infantry.[42] The damage caused was estimated to be in the region of £250,000 and many irreplaceable artefacts were lost. A second bomb detonated in the Darwin Shopping Centre but was put out by the sprinkler system before any major damage was caused. Finally, a third bomb was discovered elsewhere in the town centre but failed to do any damage.[43]

From the late 1990s, the town experienced severe flooding problems from the Severn and Rea Brook. In the autumn of 2000 large swathes of the town were underwater, notably Frankwell, which flooded three times in six weeks.[44] The Frankwell flood defences were completed in 2003, along with the new offices of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. More recently, such as in 2005 and 2007 but not 2020, flooding has been less severe, and the defences have generally held back floodwaters from the town centre areas. However, the town car parks are often left to be flooded in the winter, which reduces trade in the town, most evidenced in the run up to Christmas in 2007.[45]

Shrewsbury won the West Midlands Capital of Enterprise award in 2004.[46] The town has two large expanding business parks, Shrewsbury Business Park by the A5 in the southeast and Battlefield Enterprise Park in the north. There are many residential developments currently under construction in the town to cater for the increasing numbers of people wishing to live in the town, which is a popular place to commute to Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham from.[47]

A 2005 report on prison population found that HM Prison Shrewsbury was the most overcrowded in England and Wales.[48] The prison, which was also known as the Dana, was closed in 2013 and then sold by the Ministry of Justice to private property developers in 2014.[49]

In 2009 Shrewsbury Town Council was formed and the town's traditional coat of arms was returned to everyday use.[50]

There are a number of suburbs and surrounding villages. The River Severn separates the western, southern and eastern suburbs from the town centre and northern suburbs. An example of a large neighbouring village that has effectively become part of the suburban area is Bayston Hill, which grew considerably in the latter half of the 20th century and is now separated from the Meole Brace suburb by only a few fields and the A5 by-pass. It remains, however, a separate entity to the town, with its own parish council, etc. Bayston Hill lies 3 miles (5 km) south of the town centre of Shrewsbury and on the A49 and near to the A5.[53] The smaller village of Battlefield, north of the town, is considered a suburb of Shrewsbury. It is covered by the parish of Shrewsbury.[54]

Pride Hill, one of the town's main shopping streets, displays a multitude of architecture styles from various eras.

The Quarry is often busy during fair weather, especially during the Spring and Summer months when regular events are held, such as the Food Festival

The climate of Shrewsbury is similar to that of the rest of Shropshire, generally moderate. Rainfall averages 76 to 100 cm (30 to 39 in), influenced by being in the rainshadow of the Cambrian Mountains from warm, moist frontal systems of the Atlantic Ocean, which bring generally light precipitation in autumn and spring.[55] The nearest weather station is at Shawbury, about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north-west of Shrewsbury town centre. The local topography, being that of a low-lying plain surrounded by higher ground to the west, south and east gives the Shrewsbury area its own microclimate – the absolute maximum at Shawbury of 34.9 °C (94.8 °F) and absolute minimum of −25.2 °C (−13.4 °F) represents the largest temperature range of any individual weather station in the British Isles – although the maximum range of average temperatures tends to peak to the south east of the Shrewsbury area, particularly in the south east midlands, inland East Anglia and inland south east England.

In an average year, the warmest day is 28.4 °C (83.1 °F),[56] giving a total of 8.9 days[57] of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. The absolute maximum of 34.9 °C (94.8 °F)[58] was recorded in August 1990.

Conversely, the coldest night of the year typically falls to −9.6 °C (14.7 °F)[59] – in total 61.7 air frosts are recorded in an average year. The absolute minimum of −25.2 °C (−13.4 °F)[60] was recorded in 1981.

Annual average rainfall averages around 650 mm, with over 1 mm falling on 124 days of the year.

Shrewsbury was until 2009 an unparished area and had no town or parish council(s). Instead, the Mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham was also the mayor of the town. However, as part of wider changes to local governance in Shropshire, the town was parished on 13 May 2008, with a single parish created covering the entire town and previously unparished area. Shrewsbury is the second most populous civil parish in England (only Weston-super-Mare has a greater population) with a population of approximately 72,000. The area of the parish is 3,799 hectares (9,390 acres).

The town council, which is the parish council, first convened on 1 April 2009, and its chair is the Mayor of Shrewsbury. For the interim period before the first elections, the existing county councillors who represented electoral divisions covering Shrewsbury were the town councillors. On 4 June 2009, the first election was held to the town council, with councillors elected from 17 single-member wards coterminous with Shropshire Council electoral divisions.

The political make-up of the town council, as of the 2017 local elections, sees Labour as the largest party with 7 seats, the Conservatives on 6, the Liberal Democrats on 3 and the Green Party with 1. The Mayor of Shrewsbury for 2018–19 is Peter Nutting.[68]

The town council was based at the Guildhall on Frankwell Quay, a facility which had originally been built in 2004 as the headquarters of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council; however the town council moved to Riggs Hall in 2017.[69] Riggs Hall is one of the original buildings on the former site of Shrewsbury School on Castle Gates (to the rear of the town's main library).[70]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the former Shrewsbury Borough Council, and now the Town Council, depicts three loggerheads (leopards), with the motto Floreat Salopia, a Latin phrase that can be translated to "May Shrewsbury Flourish".[71][72] The coat of arms of the (now abolished) Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was Shrewsbury's shield with the addition of Atcham Bridge running above the leopards. Shrewsbury Town F.C. historically used the leopard, but from 1986 till 1992 had a Celtic shrew and from 2007 to 2015 had a badge depicting a lion rather than a leopard. A new leopard badge embedded in a circular shape returned for 2015–16 season. The flag of Shropshire, and other county crests etc., also uses the three loggerheads.

The population figures below are for the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, which existed only between 1974 and 2009, and covered a much wider area than the town.

In 2011, the town of Shrewsbury had a population of 71,715. 93.9% of the population were classed as White British, compared with 95.4% for the surrounding district.[5]

Shrewsbury Library, Castle Gates; formerly housed Charles Darwin's alma mater.

The historic town centre still retains its medieval street pattern and many narrow passages. Some of the passages, especially those that pass through buildings from one street to the next, are called "shuts" (the word deriving from "to shoot through" from one street to another).[91] Many specialist shops, traditional pubs and local restaurants can be found in the hidden corners, squares and lanes of Shrewsbury. Many of the street names have remained unchanged for centuries and there are some more unusual names, such as Longden Coleham, Dogpole, Mardol, Frankwell, Roushill, Grope Lane, Gullet Passage, Murivance, the Dana, Portobello, Bear Steps, Shoplatch and Bellstone.[92]

The public library, in the pre-1882 Shrewsbury School building,[93] is on Castle Street. Above the main entrance are two statues bearing the Greek inscriptions "Philomathes" and "Polymathes". These portray the virtues "Lover of learning" and "Much learning" to convey the lesson that it is good to gain knowledge through a love of learning.

Fish Street, the spire of St Alkmund's Church and the tower of St Julian's Church are visible.

In the centre of the town lies The Quarry. This 29 acre (120,000 m²)[94] riverside park attracts thousands of people throughout the year and is enjoyed as a place of recreation. Shrewsbury has traditionally been known as the "Town of Flowers", a moniker incorporated into many of the signs on entrance to the town via major roads, although this was replaced in 2007 with 'the birthplace of Charles Darwin'.[8]

The British Army's Light Infantry has been associated with Shrewsbury since the 17th century when the first regiments were formed and many more regiments have been raised at Shrewsbury before being deployed all over the world from the American Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, after several major reorganisations, the Light Infantry now forms part of the regiment known simply as the Rifles. Shrewsbury's Copthorne Barracks, spiritual home of the Light Division, ultimately housed the Headquarters of the British Army's 143 (West Midlands) Brigade before it moved in 2014, while that of the 5th Division disbanded in April 2012 as part of the reorganisation of the Army's Support Command.[95]

St. Chad's Church and The Quarry (foreground) on a summer's day.

Between 1962 and 1992 there was a hardened nuclear bunker, built for No 16 Group Royal Observer Corps Shrewsbury, who provided the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and would have sounded the four-minute warning alarm in the event of war and warned the population of Shrewsbury in the event of approaching radioactive fallout.[96] The building was manned by up to 120 volunteers who trained on a weekly basis and wore a Royal Air Force style uniform. After the breakup of the communist bloc in 1989, the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995. However, the nuclear bunker still stands just inside Holywell Street near the Abbey as a lasting reminder of the Cold War, but is now converted and used as a veterinary practice.

The tourist information centre is situated in the Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery in what used to be the old Music Hall theatre in the town square. The three main museums are Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, Shrewsbury Castle (which houses the Shropshire Regimental Museum) and the Coleham Pumping Station.[97] There are various private galleries and art shops around the town, including the Gateway Education and Arts Centre.[98] Another notable feature of the town is Lord Hill's Column, the largest free-standing Doric column in the world.[99]

The Quantum Leap is an abstract sculpture unveiled in the town centre in 2009 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Shrewsbury biologist Charles Darwin.

Kingsland Bridge, the town's only toll bridge, connects Kingsland with the Town Walls area.

Shrewsbury, being almost entirely encircled by the River Severn, has nine bridges across the river and many that cross the Rea Brook.

The English Bridge (pictured) and Welsh Bridge are Shrewsbury's two main access bridges for cars.

Working downstream from Frankwell Bridge, a modern pedestrian footbridge spans the River Severn between Frankwell and the town centre. Welsh Bridge was built in the 1790s to replace the ancient St George's Bridge. Further along from the Welsh Bridge is the Porthill Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge running between The Quarry and Porthill, built in 1922. The next bridge along the river is Kingsland Bridge, a privately owned toll bridge, and the subsequent bridge is the Greyfriars Bridge, a pedestrian bridge between Coleham and the town centre. Following the Greyfriars Bridge is the English Bridge, historically called Stone Bridge, which was rebuilt in the 1920s. Beyond it is the railway station, which is partly built over the river. After the station is Castle Walk Footbridge, another modern pedestrian footbridge.[100][101] The last bridge to cross the river within the Shrewsbury bypass area is called Telford Way, which has separate lanes for vehicles (A5112), bicycles and pedestrians. A. E. Housman wrote of the area this verse, which mentions the bridges of the town:[102]

High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam
Islanded in Severn stream;
The bridges from the steepled crest,
Cross the water east and west.

The nave of the Church of St Mary the Virgin.

There are many churches in Shrewsbury, including Shrewsbury Abbey, founded by Roger de Montgomery in 1083.[103] Shrewsbury Greek Orthodox Church, a former Anglican church building, is off Sutton Road to the south.[104] Shrewsbury is home to the Roman Catholic Shrewsbury Cathedral, by the Town Walls,[105] as well as two other parishes in Harlescott and Monkmoor, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. One of the houses in Fish Street, facing St Alkmund's Church, was the site of John Wesley's first preaching in Shrewsbury; a wall plaque records the date as 16 March 1761. According to legend, the spire of St Alkmund's Church was damaged by the Devil in 1553, and climbed four times by a drunken steeplejack in 1621.[106]

There are several Anglican churches in Shrewsbury.[107] Methodists,[108] Baptists[109] and the United Reformed Church are also represented, alongside newer church groups including Elim Pentecostal[110] and two Newfrontiers, which are:

• Barnabas Community Church Shrewsbury, in Longden Coleham and the town's largest Church.
• Hope Church Shrewsbury, in the north of the town.

[111][112] Shrewsbury Evangelical Church meets in the former Anglican parish church of St Julian at the Wyle Cop end of Fish Street.[113] Shrewsbury's first non-Christian place of worship, a Muslim centre, was approved in 2013.[114]

Many community projects in Shrewsbury are based in, or have been started by local churches, including the Isaiah 58 project, which is the primary work amongst homeless people in the town, whilst 'Churches Together in Shrewsbury' works to help homeless people through the Ark project.[115][116] Shrewsbury Food Bank, based at Barnabas Community Church Centre and part of 'Food Bank PLUS,' provides debt relief for local people, as well as a wide range of social action initiatives including 'Money Advice' (a confidential, not for profit debt, benefits and financial help service) and Eclipse Child Bereavement, which works with local schools to help children who have experienced losses to overcome their situation. Also run by Barnabas are projects including '360 Journey to Work,' which help people gain skills in applying for jobs and basics like CV writing, and 'Cage football,' an initiative that is lent out to local community groups, youth clubs and other churches.[117]

The regency façade of Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, formerly the town's theatre. The building, known locally as 'The Music Hall', was converted and reopened as a museum and art gallery in 2014

The Shropshire Horticultural Society organises the town's annual flower show in August.

Shrewsbury has a busy spring and summer events season, which includes music, art, food and sport.

The town is home to the 'longest running flower show in the world'. The annual Shrewsbury Flower Show is a two-day event, which takes place in mid-August, has been running for more than 125 years.[144] The event attracts around 100,000 visitors each year and offers a multitude of events, exhibitions and gardens, with a fireworks display at the end of each day.

The Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an extremely popular music festival held at the West Mid Showground in Shrewsbury during August bank holiday.

The Shrewsbury Folk Festival has been held in Shrewsbury since 2006. Held annually over the August bank holiday, the event is very popular, with people travelling from across the UK to attend.[145]

Other events held in Shrewsbury's busy spring and summer of events include the Cartoon Festival, Shrewsbury Bookfest, Shrewsbury Regatta, Cycle Grand Prix, Shrewsbury Carnival, Food Festival, Dragon Boat Race and the Coracle World Championships.[146] Since 2017, Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival has been held over the third weekend of July in multiple venues across town & featuring acts previewing material prior to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Shrewsbury celebrates the intrinsic links to Darwin with an annual Darwin Festival in February. The two and a half week multi-media event celebrates the town as the 'Origin of Independent Thinking' with activities including lectures, dance performances and live music.[147]

The Old Market Hall cinema opened in 2004 in the prominent Tudor market hall positioned in Shrewsbury Square. The independent cinema features daily screens of films from around the world along with a cafe and bar.[148]

Theatre Severn is the town's main performing arts complex, it is situated in Frankwell next to the Welsh Bridge on the bank of the River Severn. The theatre includes two performance spaces, the 635 seat Main Auditorium and a smaller studio space, the Walker Theatre which can accommodate 250 seating or 500 standing. The venue includes a full sized dance studio, function rooms and a restaurant.[149] The new complex replaced the old theatre, the Music Hall, which itself has been refurbished and expanded in preparation for its current use as home to Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (opened 2014).[150]

Further museums in the town include the acclaimed Shropshire Regimental Museum, based at Shrewsbury Castle,[7] and the restored 19th century steam-powered Coleham Pumping Station, which opens for tours on specific days each year. Nearby National Trust properties include Attingham Park, former home of the Noel-Hill family, Barons of Berwick, and the last remaining Town Walls Tower which dates from the 14th century.[151]

There are some very old public houses, which have been continuously open, such as the Golden Cross in Princess Street, the Dun Cow in Abbey Foregate, and the King's Head in Mardol. The Golden Cross is reputed to be the oldest licensed public house in Shrewsbury and records show that it was used as an inn as far back as 1428. Its original name was the Sextry, because it was originally the sacristy of Old St Chad's Church.[152]

Famous literary figures who have lived in or visited the town include (in the 17th century) Daniel Defoe, Celia Fiennes, the Shrewsbury School-educated Arthur Mainwaring and Ambrose Phillips and playwright George Farquhar whose 1706 play 'The Recruiting Officer' was set in the town.[153]

The Brother Cadfael series was based at Shrewsbury Abbey.

The town appears in the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters (pen name of Edith Pargeter). The novels take Shrewsbury Abbey for their setting, with Shrewsbury and other places in Shropshire portrayed regularly, and have made Medieval Shrewsbury familiar to a wide worldwide readership.[154]

Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the likes of John Wesley, Thomas de Quincey and Benjamin Disraeli the latter of which was MP for Shrewsbury 1841–47, would visit the town. Charles Dickens once visited to present a series of lectures at the Music Hall, staying at the Lion Hotel. However, in this period the town's most prolific literary figure and famous son was born – Charles Darwin.

The Magnum Photos Evolution Explored exhibition in Shrewsbury Square

Darwin was educated at Shrewsbury School and later, with the development of his 1859 work On the Origin of Species became the pre-eminent naturalist of the 19th century. Although Darwin's work was both revolutionary and highly controversial at the time, his teachings and beliefs have become ever more globalised and he is today widely recognised as the father of the modern theory of evolution.

In his 1910 novel, Howards End, E. M. Forster makes a brief reference to "astonishing Shrewsbury", an impression he received after having visited the town in the early 20th century. In the same century, Shrewsbury became famous for its poets. The Great War poet Wilfred Owen was a resident. Mary Webb, the novelist, much loved the town and referred to it many a time in her works under the guise of Silverton.

In film, Shrewsbury was used as the setting for the popular 1984 film, A Christmas Carol,[155] which filmed many of its interior and exterior shots in and around the town. The gravestone prop of Ebenezer Scrooge (played by George C. Scott) that was used in the movie is still present in the graveyard of St Chad's Church.

In early 2017, Shrewsbury BID, the Hive and GRAIN Photography Hub organised an outdoor Magnum Photos exhibition.[156] Inspired by Shrewsbury's links to Charles Darwin, this exhibition showcased the theme of evolution through the eyes of international photographers. The 10-week exhibition was free to the public and staged at St Mary's Churchyard and the Square.

Two newspapers are published for Shrewsbury – the local edition of the county's Shropshire Star and the more traditional Shrewsbury Chronicle, which is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the country, having produced its first edition in 1772.[157][158] There are three radio stations that specifically serve either the Shrewsbury area or encompass it as part of a Shropshire-wide broadcast. They are: Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country;,[159] BBC Radio Shropshire, which is based in Shrewsbury;[160] and, as of September 2006, The Severn, which broadcasts from the Shropshire Star building in Telford.[161]

In 2009 an online independent media company launched covering Shrewsbury and Shropshire. shropshirelive.com,[162]

Shrewsbury is well known in culinary circles for being the namesake of a classic English dessert.[163] Shrewsbury cakes (or biscuits) are typically crisp and brittle creations that may incorporate fruit. They can be small in size for serving several at a time, or large for serving as a dessert in their own right. Traditionally Shrewsbury cakes have a distinct hint of lemon.

The playwright William Congreve mentioned Shrewsbury cakes in his play The Way of the World in 1700 as a simile[164] (Witwoud – "Why, brother Wilfull of Salop, you may be as short as a Shrewsbury cake, if you please. But I tell you 'tis not modish to know relations in town"). The recipe is also included in several early cookbooks including The Compleat Cook of 1658.[165] A final reference to the cakes can be seen to this day as the subject of a plaque affixed to a building close to Shrewsbury's town library by the junction of Castle Street and School Gardens. The aforementioned plaque marks the spot where the Shrewsbury Cake's recipe is said to have been pioneered in 1760 by Mr Pailin; a further quote, drawn from Richard Harris Barham's Ingoldby Legends, reads:

Oh! Pailin. Prince of Cake Compounders
The mouth liquifies at the very name.

Shrewsbury is the origin of the most popular Simnel cake recipe. Different towns had their own recipes and shapes of the Simnel cake. Bury, Devizes and Shrewsbury produced large numbers to their own recipes, but it is the Shrewsbury version that became most well known. Shrewsbury had a large cheese market in Victorian times.

Five railway lines connect the town to most corners of Shropshire and the region, and the town is known as the "Gateway to Wales". Shrewsbury railway station is served by Transport for Wales Rail and West Midlands Trains with trains running north to Chester, Manchester Piccadilly, Crewe and Wrexham General, south to Hereford and Cardiff Central, west to Aberystwyth, and east to Birmingham International via Telford, Shifnal and Wolverhampton.[175] Heart of Wales line trains also operate to Swansea.

In May 1998, Virgin Trains West Coast introduced a service from Shrewsbury to London Euston;[176] it was withdrawn in 2000. On 28 April 2008, open access operator Wrexham & Shropshire commenced services from Wrexham General to London Marylebone, restoring the county's direct rail link to the capital; previously, Shropshire had been one of only two mainland English counties without a dedicated service to the capital, the other being Rutland.[177] However, the service ceased on 28 January 2011. Virgin Trains reintroduced a service to London Euston in December 2014.[178]

The main railway station building of Shrewsbury General includes a clock tower, imitation Tudor chimneys and carved heads in the frames of every window. There is a small British Transport Police station within the building.

• Shrewsbury Abbey
• Shrewsbury West

• Shrewsbury Parkway

Bus services in the town are operated by Arriva Midlands and serve most parts of the town from Shrewsbury bus station, adjacent to the Darwin Shopping Centre, and a short walk from the railway station. Arriva also operate county services both independent of and on behalf of Shropshire County Council. There are other bus companies operating around the Shrewsbury area, including Boulton's of Shropshire, Minsterley Motors and Tanat Valley Coaches with the last operating services crossing from over the Welsh border from nearby towns including Llanfyllin, Montgomery, Newtown and Welshpool.

Shrewsbury has a park & ride bus scheme in operation and three car parks on the edge of town are used by many who want to travel into the town centre. The three car parks are at Harlescott (to the north, colour-coded blue), Oxon (to the west, colour-coded pink) and Meole Brace (to the south, colour-coded green). It is proposed that a fourth one be built to the east of the town, at either Emstrey or Preston.[179]

A map of Shrewsbury showing suburbs, surrounding villages, rivers (blue), roads (red) and rail routes (green).

Shrewsbury has been an important centre for road traffic. In 1815, Thomas Telford designed a new coaching route from London to Holyhead in order to improve communications with Ireland. He routed the new road via Shrewsbury, which opened in 1830. The road is now the A5.[180] The road connects the town northwest to Oswestry, and east towards Telford, where it joins the M54. The A5 once ran through the town centre, until a bypass was built in the 1930s. Subsequently, in 1992, a 17-mile (27 km) dual carriageway was completed at a cost of £79 million to the south of the town and was made to form part of the A5 route. This dual carriageway was built further out of the town to act as a substantial link to Telford, as well as a bypass for the town.[181]

The A49 also goes to Shrewsbury, joining the A5 at the south of the town, coming from Ludlow and Leominster. At this point, the road merges with the A5 for 3 miles (4.8 km), before separating again to the east of the town. From there it runs north, passing Sundorne, then Battlefield, before heading out towards Whitchurch. At Battlefield, the A53 route begins and heads north-east towards Shawbury and Market Drayton, then onwards towards Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.

The A458 (Welshpool-Bridgnorth) runs through the town centre, entering in the west and leaving to the southeast. The A528 begins in the town centre and heads north, heading for Ellesmere. The A488 begins just west of the town centre in Frankwell and heads out to Bishop's Castle, Clun and Knighton crossing the border in the southwest of Shropshire.

Major roads within the town include the A5112, A5191 and A5064. The A5191 goes north-south via the town centre, while the A5112 runs north-south to the east of the town centre. The A5064 is a short, one mile (1.6 km) stretch of road to the southeast of the town centre, called "London Road". Additionally, the A5124, the most recent bypass, was completed in 1998, and runs across the northern edge of the town at Battlefield (connecting the A49/A53 to the A528), though it did exist before as Harlescott Lane (which has since become unclassified).

Construction of a major new artery referred to as the North West Relief Road (NWRR) was granted central government funding in April 2019. Together with the existing A5 and A49 by-passes, the Battlefield Link Road (A5124) and the Oxon Link Road (construction expected to be completed by 2021), this will result in the completion of the ring road around the outskirts of the town. The NWRR will involve the construction of a new bridge over the River Severn, upstream from the town centre.[182]

Shrewsbury has a comprehensive network of on-road and traffic-free cycle routes.[183] In 2008 the town was awarded Cycling Town status by Cycling England;[184] as a result, it benefited from £1.8 million of grant funding from the Department for Transport between 2008 and 2011. The funding was used to make improvements to the cycle network in Shrewsbury, and to provide cycle training, information and advice to people to help encourage them to cycle to school and work.[185]