2-995-545 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meeting of the British Archaeological Association at Shrewsbury, 1860. 'Stone pulpit of the Abbey; Tudor houses and shops; effigy of Hotspur Battlefield Church; Shrewsbury Battlefield; Haighmond [sic] Cliff and Castle...Among the famous old towns of England few could have been better selected for the purpose of antiquarian inquiry than the well-known capital of "'Fair Salopia"…The stone pulpit...is almost the only portion remaining which enables us to form an idea of this once important place......[nearby] is the famous battle-field of Shrewsbury, where Sir John Falstaff fought three hours by Shrewsbury clock, if he might be believed...In the middle distance is Battlefield Church, which was built soon after the battle, so that in it might be offered up prayers for the souls of those who fell in this fierce struggle...Haughmond Cliff, where, tradition says, the body of Hotspur was found after the battle, answers well the description of the "Bosky Hill" over which the sun rose so gloomingly on the morning of the important event. There are other features of this locality which show that Shakspeare, in order to have written the scenes in the play, must have carefully noted the spot'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.