Shrewsbury Holiday Part Three

Day Two

Friday, September 20th

Last night I had an even worse night sleep! I woke at about 2.40 am and I was up and restless for about the next hour.  I eventually managed to get back to sleep waking at about 6.50 am and having had around eight hours of sleep.  I had a leisurely breakfast, made my lunch for the day, washed up the pots and then headed for a shower.

Today's outing was to the Castle and Regimental Museum which has Laura's Tower on the grounds of the castle.  The regimental museum was in the castle itself and so there wasn't much of the castle to see except the existing building, which was a bit of a shame. 

I got there early as usual, so I walked up the steps to see Laura's Tower and the view of Shrewsbury Castle and Shrewsbury itself from the Tower.  

Laura's Tower was built for Laura Putney's 21st birthday by her father Sir William Putney by Thomas Telford in c1790. It was built as a summer house with one room at ground level and one room up the stone steps. I missed the heritage open day for the tower which was on Sunday, September 15th; the weekend before I arrived in Shrewsbury.

The castle was £4 entry and houses military pictures, medals, weapons, uniforms and other artefacts from the 18th Century to the present day. In the entrance and ticket office area, there was some information and photographs about when the castle museum was attacked by an IRA bomb in August 1992.

Most of the early items didn't mean that much to me as they've all been superseded by more modern items I recognise more so I walked leisurely around the exhibits until I got to WW1.  Here the weapons, uniforms and other artefacts were more recognisable as modern items so I slowed down more around this area.  I was a bit encumbered in this area by a local school visiting for a project they were working on so I walked my way around the exhibits to wherever they weren't or where there wasn't very many of them at least.  When I got to WW2 and the modern-day it was particularly poignant as my dad was in the British Army for just over twenty years and I even saw a beret with his regiments badge.  Something I was not expecting to see.

One small circular room in a tower room past the gift shop had a small amount of information about the castle itself, with a couple of artefacts that were castle related; part of a chain mail tunic and a three-dimensional plan of the castle and surrounding area as it would have looked when it was a working castle.  I had my lunch within the grounds of the castle, taking care to stay far away as possible from the wasps that were out in force that day.  (I'm allergic to wasp stings.)

Then I walked to Rowley House, a photography task to do while I am here, but unfortunately, it was being renovated so it was surrounded by scaffolding and barriers so I was unable to take a proper photograph of it. Instead, I walked back into the centre to visit the Museum and Art Gallery where I saw medieval and roman items found in the Shrewsbury area. Here there were a couple more school groups but these were a bit louder but I managed to keep well out of their way more here.

Then I walked back over the river and back to the apartment I was staying in, spending the afternoon chilling, drinking tea, eating snacks and packing what I could as I was leaving for home the next day.  I always pack the majority of my things the day before I leave so I'm not having to rush in the morning before checkout time.  

In the evening I chilled a bit more, had a few more snacks, checked my train time for the morning and planned what time I needed to be up by, all packed and finish cleaning the apartment.  I always like to leave where I've stayed in a clean and tidy state.  I packed a few more things that I wasn't going to need that night, had some supper and headed to bed to have my last sleep in Shrewsbury.  

So my time in Shrewsbury is almost at an end.  In the morning I will be packing and heading back home.  I have enjoyed my few days here and they were very much needed especially because my anxiety was so bad the few days before I came away.  I've felt so much better the past few days and I hope that it continues long past my return back home.