Shrewsbury V Wolves 26.01.2019
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Date: 26.01.2019 Ground: Revisit Match: 22 (2018/2019 season) Venue: Montgomery Waters Meadow Teams: Shrewsbury Town V Wolverhampton Wanderers Competition: FA Cup 4th Round Admission: £20 Final Score: 2-2 ( H/T 0-0 ) Referee: Roger East Attendance: 9503 Mileage to venue and return: 38.6 Programme: £3 Introduction The first game of football that I ever attended was on 18th April 1987, aged six years old. I to the The Gay Meadow that day, the former home of Shrewsbury Town and watched them beat Stoke City 4-1 in front of a crowd of 6,777. My Uncle (Tim Thomas) took to me the game, Tim has supported Shrewsbury Town for over a period of 65 years and is still keen as ever. This was my third visit to the Montgomery Waters Meadow, home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club. My first visit came on 5th April 2016 where I watched the Shropshire Senior Cup Final between Shrewsbury Town and AFC Telford United. The match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes with Shrewsbury winning the penalty shootout 3-2 to lift the trophy. My second visit came on 2nd May 2017 where I watched the Shropshire Premier Cup Final between Shawbury United and Market Drayton Town, the winners that day were Market Drayton by one goal to nil. My nephew Jimmy joined me for the game, this was his second taste of groundhopping within a month after he came with me to watch Carno 0-3 Caersws on 29th December 2018. I also attended the game with my father-in-law Dave and two brother-in-law’s Damian and Jamie, Damian’s son (my nephew) Billy also came to watch. Jimmy and I arrived at the ground at 1:15pm and a good walk around the exterior of the stadium after picking up our matchday programmes. We also had a look in the club shop where Jimmy bought himself a Shrewsbury town eraser for 75 pence. I will talk more of the day and the game during this report – on Friday after I finished work, I had a lovely walk around Shrewsbury and took some picture of the County town to use in this report. The next section of this report is about the town of Shrewsbury. SHREWSBURY Shrewsbury is the County town of England’s biggest inland County, Shropshire. This beautiful market town is on the banks of the River Severn and following the 2011 Census, Shrewsbury was recorded as having a population of 71,715 inhabitants. The town is situated only 9 miles east of the Welsh border and is the commercial centre of both Shropshire and Mid-Wales. Shrewsbury is also 14 miles west of the town of Telford and 43 miles west of Birmingham. Shrewsbury was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys, at the time the area was known by the ancient Britons as Pengwern. In Old English, the area was known as Scobbesburh possibly meaning “Scrobbs Fort”. The name eventually evolved into three formats, namely Sciropscire (Shropshire) into Sloppesberie (becoming Salop/Salopia – used as an alternative name for both the town and County and into Schrosberie which is where the name Shrewsbury is derived from. In Welsh, Shrewsbury is known as Amwythig which means “fortified place”. Over the years, because of its geographical position, Shrewsbury has been the site of many conflicts and battles. The Angles who were ruled under King Offa of Mercia (Reigned 757-796) took possession of the town in 778. Not far from the County town is the village of Wroxeter, Wroxeter was once the site of Viroconium which at its peak was the fourth biggest cantonal capital throughout the whole of Roman Britain. The Site of Wroxeter Roman City Actual recorded history of Shrewsbury begins in the middle ages when it was founded in circa 800AD. It is suggested Shrewsbury during Anglo-Saxon times was most likely a settlement which was defended using earthworks which comprised of a ditch and rampart, secured with a wooden stockade. Roger de Montgomery was handed the town from William the Conqueror as a gift and duly constructed Shrewsbury Castle in 1074, subsequently Roger de Montgomery took the title of Earl and later founded Shrewsbury Abbey in 1083. The 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, Robert of Belleme an Anglo-Norman nobleman, was deposed in 1102 which meant the title was fortified. In 1138 King Stephen was successful in taking the Castle which was then held by William FitzAlan, the Castle was then handed to the Empress Maud during the time of the England and Normandy Civil War. The site of Shrewsbury Castle as it is today During the 14th and 15th centuries, Shrewsbury was at a peak of commercial importance, mainly down to the production of Wool, at the time the River Severn and Watling Street acted as the main routes of trade. Despite this success, the town was not spared from the effects of the Black Death. The plague reportedly arrived in Shrewsbury during the spring of 1349 and with devastating consequences. The year of 1403 saw the Battle of Shrewsbury, the fighting took place to the North of the town centre at Battlefield. The conflict was between King Henry IV and Henry Hotspur Percy, the King eventually won the battle. This event was even celebrated in William Shakespeare’s production – Henry IV Part 1, Act 5. Following the suppression of the monasteries, Shrewsbury Abbey was shut in 1540, following this Historians believe that Henry VIII intended to make Shrewsbury a cathedral city after the founding of the Church of England. The town’s inhabitants declined the King’s offer of this transformation. During the English Civil War (1642-1651) Shrewsbury was a Royalist stronghold and only succumbed to Parliament forces when they were let into the town via St Mary’s Water Gate (now known as Traitors gate) by a Parliamentarian sympathiser. General Thomas Mytton captured Shrewsbury during February 1645. By the 18th century, the County town had become a notable and important market town as well as a stop off for stagecoaches making their way between London and Holyhead and onto Ireland. Robert Clive also known as Clive of India was a local soldier and statesman, he was the town’s Member of Parliament from 1762 until his death in 1774. Robert Clive also served once as the mayor of Shrewsbury. Directly following Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo on 18th June 1815, Shrewsbury’s own 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot was ordered to guard him during his exile in St Helena. A small locket which contains a lock of Napoleon’s hair remains to this day in the collections of the Shropshire Regimental Museum based at Shrewsbury Castle. Fortunately, Shrewsbury suffered very little with regards to bombing raids during the Second World War. The severest occurrence of bombing in the town came in 1940, a woman and her two grandchildren were killed when a cottage was destroyed on the Ellesmere Road in the town – these were the only local deaths due to bombing during the conflict. From the latter part of 1990’s Shrewsbury has been the victim to terrible flooding problems from the River Severn and Rea Brook. The year of 2000 was particularly severe, large areas of the town were underwater, the Frankwell area was flooded three times in only six weeks. Flood defences have since been installed and although further flooding has been suffered, it has not been as severe as in 2000. Until 2013 Shrewsbury had a prison in the town but following a report written in 2005 it was recorded that HM Prison Shrewsbury (Also known as the Dana) was the most over populated prison in England and Wales. Following its closure in 2013, the site was sold onto private property developers in 2014. Shrewsbury is an historic town and still retains its medieval patterned streets as well as numerous narrow passages. Many of the street names in the town have also remained unchanged for centuries – some of the more unusual names are: Grope Lane, Bear Steps and Dogpole. One of the many narrow passages in Shrewsbury Right in the centre of town lies the Quarry – the Quarry is a beautiful 29-acre riverside park that holds a variety of events throughout the year. Probably the most famous of these events is the Shrewsbury Flower Show which was first held in 1857. The show was recognised in 2005 by the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s longest running flower show. The Quarry Park where the Shrewsbury Flower Show has been held for many years. Shrewsbury is almost entirely surrounded by the River Severn, because of this there are a total of nine bridges going across the river and many more that cross the Rea Brook. Picture of the River Severn taken from English Bridge, to the right of the picture is the former site of Shrewsbury Town’s former ground – The Gay Meadow. English Bridge As well as the Shrewsbury Abbey there are many more churches situated in the town, some of these include – The Shrewsbury Greek Orthodox Church, The Roman Catholic Shrewsbury Cathedral and St Chad’s Church. St Chad’s Church is probably my favourite building in Shrewsbury – the current building was constructed in 1792 and is a well known and loved landmark in the county town. It faces the Quarry Park and is a Grade II listed building. The present building replaced a church of earlier design dating back to the 13th century. The original building was destroyed in 1788 when the central tower collapsed. The Scottish architect George Steuart was the man put in charge of rebuilding a new church with the foundation stone being laid on St Chad’s day on 2nd March 1790 – the newly constructed building was officially opened on 19th August 1792.