Shuts of Shrewsbury

My cousin Margie asked if I wanted to do the tour of the Shuts of Shrewsbury and I said yes I had wanted to go through Shrewsbury again it had been many years since I was in town, I would just see if from the train when I arrived and picked up it is one of my very fave towns in England it is full of Tudor building or black and whites as they are called there are many 16th Century ones in this town. Shrewsbury was also the setting for Christmas Carol 1984 with George C Scott, I have seen that movie a couple times just to see the places I know.

cereal cocktail

After a good breakfast we headed to town, we drove to a place to catch a bus shuttle and hopped on we were in town very quick. It was on the dark side but as I kept saying to myself if it is not raining and I have been blessed to have seen the town on a blue sky day more than once.

Margie had a little pamphlet of the Shuts so we proceeded to find them here is a bit of a description of what they are:

Shrewsbury is a fascinating city to explore especially as it retains a number of ancient 'shuts' or alleyways which provide convenient shortcuts and which enable pedestrians to get around the centre of the town in an almost bygone world behind and between the busy shopping streets. These narrow passages date back to the Middle Ages when the town must have been a veritable rabbit warren: many have disappeared in the course of redevelopment and those that remain deserve to be preserved. The origin of the name 'shut' is obscure but, it has been suggested that, unlike closed cul-de sacs, these alleys, being open both ends, allow the pedestrian to 'shoot' rapidly from one street to another. 'Shut' could also be a contraction of 'shortcut' which is what it usually is!

So we explored up and down alleyways and then to take a break we had a bit of a lunch stop we ordered soup and bread after I placed my order I spotted scones would have had that if  I had seen them first. They we went in search of a chemist my wasp sting had become very itchy red burning the past few days Margie had suggested using  HC45 and I had but she said lets have a chemist look at and we did. She said it was reaction to the sting and would probably calm down in a few more days and she recommended HC45 as Margie had told me so I bought a tube she also suggested using ice.

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury to we walked over by the River Severn to look at the memorial and it was quite an ugly piece of work it is called  Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap

We finished our Shut tour and we lost Deric for a few moments and missed the shuttle so Margie decided to walk a bit more and we would up by the Castle so I ran over to snap a few photos as they had Diamond Jubilee spelled out in flowers. Then we hopped the shuttle and headed back to the house.

Margie made a yummy chicken dish and we sat and talked awhile and they went to watching Dancing with the Stars UK style.  I was checking email and then I had a phone call from my cousin Gerry in Ireland. He was all excited telling me that I was in the Mayo news I was confused at first and then he kept saying the Gathering. (just before I left for my trip I got interviewed over the phone by a woman from RTE in Ireland about my web page and my experience in Ireland we chatted about 30 mins.) Somehow an article about this appeared in the Mayo news mentioning me and my website. As my cousin said once again Pat puts Gorthbawn on the map, this is the village my mom was born in. He was thrilled and so was I.

so old its crooked

looking through the shut