Did You Know?

Not only is Shropshire the first choice location for enterprise, one of the few remaining rural idylls and in a central location – but did you also know that:-

Shropshire is also home to the world's first skyscraper. Ditherington Flax Mill, on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, was the first multi-storey iron-framed building - and therefore the forerunner of every skyscraper and tower block in the world. Built in 1797, it's currently beginning its redevelopment and is one of 660 listed buildings in the town.
The first ever modern day Olympic Games were held in Much Wenlock in 1850. The brainchild of Dr Brookes the games were originally designed to promote the moral, physical and intellectual improvement of the inhabitants of the Town and neighbourhood of Wenlock, resulting in the re-birth of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Shropshire is the home of two major water supply aqueducts, the Elan aqueduct running through South Shropshire carrying water from Elan Valley to Birmingham and the Vyrnwy Aqueduct running through North Shropshire delivering water from Lake Vyrnwy to Liverpool.
Edward I was a regular visitor to the Shrewsbury area and it is believed that he convened the first English Parliament at Acton Burnell Castle in 1263. Further meetings took place at the Chapter House in Shrewsbury Abbey.
Besides having one of the shortest names in Britain, the Shropshire town of Wem is also responsible for giving the world the sweet pea. It was developed by Henry Eckford, who crossbred the plants until he came up with the highly scented blooms. Every July the town still holds an annual sweet pea festival.
Lord Hill's column, outside Shropshire County Council's headquarters at Shire Hall, Shrewsbury is the tallest of its kind in the world - it stands at 133ft 6ins tall and is in the Doric style, as used by the ancient Greeks.
The castle keep at Bridgnorth leans at a seventeen-degree angle. This is three times further than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Henry VIII's brother Arthur has his heart buried in a silver casket beneath the chancel of Ludlow Church.
Shropshire, particularly the south of the county, is something of a magnet for geologists. There are more rocks of different ages here than any area of similar size in the world (dating from 700 to 200 million years ago). Places like Ludlow and Wenlock Edge have even given their names to geological periods. The world's oldest known complete fossil was also discovered in Shropshire at Caradoc, near Church Stretton.
Edgmond is a village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin. It lies 1 mile north-west of the town of Newport, Shropshire. Here on 10 January 1982 the English lowest temperature weather record was broken (and is kept to this day): -26.1°C.
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge formed by the river Severn in Shropshire. Originally called the Severn Gorge, the gorge now takes its name from its famous Iron Bridge, the first iron bridge of its kind in the world, and a monument to the industry that began there. The bridge was built in 1779 to link the industrial town of Broseley with the smaller mining town of Madeley and the growing industrial centre of Coalbrookdale.. There are two reasons the site was so useful to the early industrialists. The raw materials, coal, iron ore, limestone and clay, for the manufacture of iron, tiles and porcelain are exposed or easily mined in the gorge. The deep and wide river allowed easy transport of products to the sea.
Origin of the Shrewsbury Name The original Saxon settlement was named "Scrobbesbyrig". It is thought to have been derived from two Old English words - “scrubb”, meaning scrubland and “burh” which means fortified place. Thus it is the fortified place in the scrubland, probably referring to the nearby plains which in Saxon times were sparsely populated with alder trees, especially in the boggy regions alongside the River Severn.
Michael Palin, Entertainer, Comedian and Traveller was educated at Shrewsbury School.
Last year's wartime blockbuster Atonement, starring Keira Knightly and James McAvoy is partly filmed in Stokesay Court in Onibury, which was used for the Tallis home in the movie.
The 1978 thriller Absolution, which starred Richard Burton and featured a young Billy Connolly, follows the story of a rebellious young scholar at a Catholic public school. Ellesmere College provided the backdrop to many of the school scenes.
In a 1985 two-part episode of the original Doctor Who series,entitled The Mark of the Rani, Colin Baker found himself on the receiving end of an evil Time Lord. Both episodes were shot in the Blists Hill Open Air Museum in Ironbridge.
The writer and historian David Starkey from Channel 4’s Moral Maze filmed at Ludlow Castle to illustrate part of his 2001 documentary series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Parts of his subsequent series Monarchy with David Starkey also featured the castle.
If you're fond of small spiky mammals, then Shropshire is the place for you. It's the home of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, which was started in 1982 by Major Adrian Coles, now chairman of Shropshire County Council. The society is responsible for humane innovations such as hedgehog ramps in cattle grids, which stop the poor animals from getting trapped, and improving general awareness of the welfare of wildlife.
Apart from being famous for its cheese market, Whitchurch is also known as 'The home of tower clocks'. Local clockmakers JB Joyce & Co were established in 1690 and are the oldest tower clock manufacturers in the world. They made the famous Eastgate Clock in Chester. Many of their timepieces can be seen all over the world, in Australia, China and India. They also had a hand in the building of the famous Westminster clock known as Big Ben.
Whitchurch's famous sons and daughters include composer Edward German, Sir John Talbot (who gets a mention in Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1), and Victorian Illustrator Randolph Caldecott. Author, Lorna Sage also went to the Whitchurch Girls' High School.
Whitchurch is the oldest continually inhabited town in Shropshire.