Bridgnorth on the Severn Valley Railway.

Thursday 15th June 2017 in Kidderminster.
We had such a super day on the Severn Valley Railway yesterday that we couldn't resist another day playing trains. We caught the 10:15 steam hauled service from Kidderminster; this time we opted for a "corridor" carriage. R was a happy man!

Soon after leaving Kidderminster, we crossed the county boundary between Worcestershire and Shropshire.

Our plan today was to spend the day exploring Bridgnorth at the western end of the heritage line.
The train was pulled by the "Manor" class steam engine, 7802 "Bradley Manor". We got a good picture of it as it ran round the coaches ready for the return trip.

Bridgnorth is divided into "High Town" and "Low Town" and the pedestrian suspension bridge from the station to the town ends up about half way between the two.

We decided to go up to High Town first, which has a beautiful park that used to be a castle, chapel and keep, originally built in 1101. Like many such castles it had a chequered career until it was finally attacked and defeated by the Roundheads in 1646. They proceeded to pull most of it down but left a massive section of the keep leaning at a crazy angle.

The locals are very proud of the fact that it leans even more than its rival tower at Pisa!
In the park, that used to be the bailey, we found a marvellous vintage caravan selling not so vintage waffles and, while waiting for his waffle, R passed the time "taking the rays". This is the life!!!

The park, which was a finalist in the RHS 2014 "Britain in Bloom" competition, had a war memorial at one end but, in the middle there were three topiary displays of an aircraft, a battleship and, in the far background, a tank. A very inventive salute to the three services.

We walked on the path round the edge overlooking the Low Town and past the local parish church.

When we went inside, it turned out to have been designed by Thomas Telford, famous for all his engineering work on the canals and for being the father of the Civil Engineering profession.

It did look rather like a Victorian pumping station but was very light and airy.
Inside, there was a charity book stall and M picked up an autobiography of John Sergeant, who has done a series of canal boat programmes on the TV recently. He seems to be a remarkable and very modest man and R is enjoying the book very much.
We walked around High Town, which has a very attractive High Street full of real shops and a magnificent market hall in the centre.

High Town and Low Town are connected by a funicular railway, reputedly the steepest and oldest in the country. It has two counterbalanced cars and originally it was worked by filling a large tank under the upper car with water and emptying the water tank under the lower car until the upper car was heavier than the car at the bottom and so would pull the low car up. These days it is powered by electricity - effective but not so much fun!
It opened on 7th July 1892, so in a few weeks it will celebrate its 125th birthday.

Time for tea! And where better than the Winding House Tea Room in the shadow of the funicular, with the cars whirring up and down behind us as we enjoyed a late lunch. From inside the tea room you can watch the winding gear but we decided to eat outside.

A ride on funicular was mandatory and so we bought our return tickets. They don't sell singles!

It was very steep!

At the bottom, the River Severn flows through the town and R studied one of the information boards that were scattered around this lovely historic town.

Next to the bridge was an old warehouse with its original advertising painted on the end - the oldest seedsmen in Great Britain!

Returning back up to High Town on the funicular, we walked back to the railway station in time to catch the last train back to Kidderminster, again hauled by Bradley Manor.

Walking back to MM from the station, M posted a letter in the mailbox in front of the statue of Roland Hill, the inventor of the "Penny Black" stamp, who was born in Kidderminster.

MM had another day off.