Landscape Detective

Today Shropshire is one of Britain’s most rural shires, but since Roman times it has had a long history of industrialisation.

Minerals such as lead, copper and iron have all been mined in the county. Coal and limestone, as well as stone for building, have all been exploited. On the open uplands this was piecemeal, but remains do persist. In the East Shropshire Coalfield the whole landscape has been altered by the mining of coal, iron and clay from the industrial revolution up until the late 20^th century.

The Romans valued Shropshire for its resources. Lead was extracted commercially first by the Romans close to Shelve. They were interested in lead ores for the production of silver. The ores in Shropshire were located close to the surface and were easily quarried by following the vein. Near Linley Hill, narrow trenches were cut into the slope. Streams were dammed at the top and the water allowed to run down the slope exposing the veins of lead. This was known as Hushing. The remnants of these activities can be seen in the bottom of the photograph.