3-017-234 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meeting of the British Association at Birmingham: the Wrekin, 1865. 'The visit from Birmingham to the Wrekin was made by a party of 200, many of them ladies, the majority men of science, to whom the main attraction was the geology of the district...the party proceeded to ascend the Wrekin, 1200 ft. above the Severn, from the fir-woods below. Around the grassy sides of the hill were beautiful zones of light, and on approaching the summit the trees formed a well-turfed avenue, winding through Heaven-gate to the hill-top. Here the prospect is "awful and beautiful,'' extending to nineteen counties, stored with historical associations. Away to the right was fought the Battle of Shrewsbury; while to the left is the disputed site of Caractacus's last desperate stand against his Roman conquerors. Further to the left is the Devil's Chair and the summit of Caradoc-hill, surrounded by minor elevations, and undulating country, and almost imperceptible woods; and far over their tops, on very clear days, may be seen the Lickey and Malvern Hills, but the haze rarely permits you to see beyond Coalbrookdale, with its chimneys rising from the trees'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.