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Castles in Shropshire

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Did you know... 

  • The play Comus by John Milton was first performed in the Great Hall at Ludlow Castle in 1634. This play was set in the local woods and the children of the Lord President of the Council of the Marches, John Egerton, Earl of Bridgwater were cast as themselves.

 

  • Catherine of Aragon was brought to live at Ludlow Castle sometime in the early 1500s following her marriage to Prince Arthur, son of King Henry VII. The union was meant to bring peace between England and Spain. Catherine was later to marry Henry VIII after the death of Arthur, his brother, from the plague, but was then divorced in 1533.

 

  • Ludlow Casle is also associated with Roge de Mortimer through his marriage to Joan de Geneville who was heiress to the castle in 1306. Mortimer became a very powerful man until he was accused of playing a part in the murder of King Edward II. He was then tried for treason and hanged in 1331.

 

  • The name of Caus was given to this castle by Robert Corbet because it echoed the name of his Norman homeland - Pays de Caux.

 

  • The castle keep at Bridgnorth leans at a seventeen-degree angle. This is three times further than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This Learning Zone was researched, written and designed by Natalie Gibbs whilst working as a Volunteer.


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