England Trip Day 4

The fourth day of our trip was a Sunday, at which point we discovered that there is not a great deal to do in Shrewsbury on a Sunday morning, for the streets looked like this:

Empty.

Nonetheless we took our last stroll through the town, enjoying it to the fullest, and checked out of our lovely bed and breakfast. It was time to move on to Tamworth.

Don’t quote me on this but I *believe* those are the Pennine Hills we saw in the distance as we drove out of Shrewsbury. They looked quite gigantic as we got closer.

The road we took most of the way was the A5, which long ago was the ancient Roman road called Watling Street, and would have been a popular highway in Eadric’s time, as well.

We settled into Tamworth as quickly as we could and made our way to Tamworth Castle. Long ago, in the time of King Offa, Tamworth was the capital city of Mercia. Because of this it was later the target of Viking raids who burned down the timber fortress. In 913, Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, rebuilt the fort, and for this reason I make it the home of Eadric Streona and his wife Aydith in “Eadric the Grasper.”

Whereas the museum of Shrewsbury Castle was rather disappointing, Tamworth Castle was a lot of fun, complete with rooms decorated in the Tudor style and lots of old artifacts.

After the castle we continued to roam around the Tamworth Castle Pleasure Grounds and the nearby shops.

Here is a statue of Ethelfleda standing just next to the castle:

We didn’t do much else that day because there was a rugby game going on, and that filled up the pub of our hotel so tightly that I could barely squeeze my way inside. From the comfort of our room we enjoyed listening to the intense yells and cheers concerning the ongoing game below, but best of all, the rather well-coordinated eruptions of song.