Ludlow, Shropshire

And then there's Ludlow, a historic South Shropshire town on the English-Welsh border. A Norman Castle here as in Trim and some close connections. Hugh de Lacy who built the castle at Trim or its predecessor was from the Ludlow area as was the Mortimers who came to Trim with him. Noel French from Trim is the Hugh de Lacy expert and is finished a comprehensive book on him to be published soon.

Ludlow is a picturesque town with wonderful streets, timber framed buildings, bridges and town gates. It even has a captured Russian Crimean War cannon in front of the castle as has Trim Castle. They must have brought back shiploads of captured cannon:
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them.



The poet of Ludlow is A.E. Housman (1859-1936) whose sad wistful A Shropshire Lad poems seem both out of date and prophetic as if he knew so many lads would die in the Great War. He is commemorated by this plaque on the church and by a cherry tree in the church grounds.

Lovliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

No blooms on the cherry tree at the moment.



Some interesting facts:

Signposting on English roads is just as bad as on Irish roads.
Being on the correct road is no good if you are going in the wrong direction.
The full English breakfast is actually quite good.
Broad generalisations are not facts.