By Friday it was starting to get hotter. We had decided to go to Ludlow as its such a lovely old town but it turned out to be a big mistake!! I guessed it would be quite busy but it was heaving with people and there are a lot of narrow alleyways to walk through and many people were not social distancing (although I suppose now since the 19th you don't have to!!!). At one stage we all put on masks even though we were out of doors and we stayed less than an hour. I suspect Ludlow may be a place to visit in the autumn or early Spring or Winter!
Taking photos was hard too partly because B and E were walking fast and kept telling me to keep up and stop taking pictures! In addition while using the camera it was hard to avoid people as they'd suddenly appear out of nowhere and brush past!. Parking was difficult but we finally found a place in a pay and display.
Anyway, Ludlow grew up around the castle which became one of the strongest in the Welsh Marches. The town lies on a hill and the castle and church illustrate the wealth the town had. The castle at one time was the seat of the Council of the Marches and the church was built almost entirely by the burgesses of the town wealthy from cloth and other trades. I would like to revisit the castle at some stage as when we visited before it was for the Christmas Medieval Fayre and it was very busy.
The Feathers became an Inn around 1670 but was much altered in the mid 19th century when a balcony was added for electioneering. It has been called "a treasure of a house both inside and out".
Ye Olde Bull Ring Tavern - I do miss our pub visits but it is still something I am not happy about doing.
The Butter Cross was built in 1743/4 by William Baker. It is built of stone and is 3 bays wide with a clock turret and an open ground floor.
These stone heads were on a Water Conduit - a water supply point given to the town in 1581 by Sir Henry Sidney. It was moved to its present position from the High Cross in 1743.
The area round the market was even busier! but it was good to see the Ludlow Pottery stall was still there selling Herons Cross pottery which I love. I would so liked to have bought something but as I haven't been near a cash point since early last year I had no money and I doubt if they took card payments.
The War Memorial for World War One and the Korean War was commissioned by the local Royal British Legion and the sculptor was Walenty Patel (1941). You may recall he did sculptures of magpies in the village of Weobley - there is also one of his creations at Birmingham International Airport.
Castle Lodge Tudor Mansion
I had no plans to go into the Church of St Laurence as I had been before but I would have liked to go into the churchyard and to have looked round the exterior which I didn't do last time. B and E had had enough however and we decided to escape to the peace of Mortimer Forest to eat our lunch and go for a walk.
If you would like to see the blog post on St Laurence please follow the link here. St Laurence
On the way back to the car park I spotted these murals.
On the way to Mortimer Forest we drove over the15th century Ludford Bridge with its 3 arches and over the River Teme. More on Mortimer Forest in the next post and it was delightfully free of people :)
Timothy sitting in the shade!
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
Reference: Pevsner Buildings of Shropshire (first edition)
