Ludlow

‍I love those crumbling castle walls,

‍The old half-timbered shops and halls, 

‍And how the streets go tumbling down 

‍To riverbanks around the town.

‍The festivals, the market square, 

‍The Medieval Christmas Fayre. 

‍I love those lazy long weekends - 

‍Good company, good food - good friends 

‍John Creber 

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‍Ludlow’s recorded history begins in 1086 when the impressive castle was first developed as one of a line of castles along the Welsh Marches to defend the border and local Anglo-Saxon population. The local Norman overlords, the De Lacy family, who decided to situate Ludlow Castle here, also decided to develop a new settlement. 

‍Town Walls and Castle 

‍The watchtower and round chapel of the now ruined castle date from the 11th century. Ludlow was a fortified town, one of just over a hundred in England and Wales which had a full circuit of walls. The town walls were constructed from 1233 onwards, and the castle stood within their circuit and shared a common line of defence. Some well-preserved stretches of town wall remain and the sites of its seven gates can be readily  identified. As in most fortified towns, the walls and gates served many purposes other than defence. They were a means of controlling the entry of all sorts of undesirables; they enabled market tolls to be easily collected and gave support to lean-to buildings. In times of peace, they were a ready source of building stone, and continued to exercise a strong influence on the topography of the town long after their defensive function had ceased. 

‍Some Key Events

‍Ludlow played a key role in some turbulent events in English history. One of its 14th-century owners, Roger Mortimer, helped his mistress, Queen Isabella, to overthrow her husband, Edward II. In 1473, the Yorkist Prince of Wales and his brother were held here before their mysterious death in the Tower of London. In 1502, Prince Arthur, Henry VII’s son and heir to the throne, died at Ludlow. The castle became Crown property in 1461, (though it was acquired by the 2nd Earl of Powis in 1811) and was the headquarters of the Council of the Marches, which governed Wales and the border counties until 1689. The Council’s courts were very active, and the town was full of lawyers, clerks and royal messengers.

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‍St Laurence’s, Ludlow - the ‘Cathedral of the Marches’ 

‍Dominating the town centre is the exceptionally fine parish church of St Laurence, with its 41 m/135 ft elegant tower, wonderfully carved misericords and stained-glass windows. Constructed by the Normans in the 11th century and rebuilt in 1199 to accommodate Ludlow’s growing population, St Laurence’s expanded in the late Middle Ages to reflect the town’s prosperity as a centre of the wool trade. The ashes of the poet A. E. Housman (1859-1936), the author of ‘A Shropshire Lad’, were scattered in the churchyard. 

‍Ludlow Town 

‍Ludlow was a planned town, and had several medieval settlements laid out beyond the Gates. It was a highly successful development, and by 1377 it had 1,172 tax-paying residents, which placed it 33rd in the list of English towns of that date. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ludlow was a fashionable social centre and county families built elegant brick houses. Glove making was now the major industry, reaching a peak production of 660,000 gloves in 1814. Population grew rapidly, causing many back buildings to grow up in the congested town centre. 

‍Ludlow Today 

‍A stroll through Ludlow’s streets is pure pleasure, with a plethora of good eating places, pubs, independent retailers, butchers and bakers. See the Feathers Hotel in Corve Street, with its timber frames and decorative carving, and Bodenhams, in Broad Street, now a family-run independent department store trading since 1860, dated by dendrochronology to 1404. 

‍    The Guildhall in Mill Street was owned by the Palmers’ Guild, and used for meetings and feasting. Taken over by the Corporation in 1551 and until very recently still used as a courtroom, the original building was a medieval aisled hall (like a church) with a timber arcade. In 1768, Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, then a leading architect in Shropshire and the Border Marches, refaced the building. Today it is home to Ludlow Town Council. 

‍    The Buttercross faces down Broad Street and was built in 1743-46 to replace the 16th-century New House, where the Corporation held its meetings. Designed by William Baker of Audlem, the upper rooms now house the Ludlow Museum, a hands-on museum well worth a visit.