Bishop's Castle
Template:Infobox England place with map Bishop's Castle is a small market town in Shropshire, England, and formerly its smallest borough. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,630. Bishop's Castle is 4 miles east of the Welsh border, about ten miles north-west of Ludlow and about twenty miles south-west of Shrewsbury. To the south is Clun and to the east is Church Stretton.
It is also known for its alternative community.
Facilities
Although it is smaller than many villages, Bishop's Castle has all the facilities of a small town. It has a post office, two banks, butchers, a baker, a chemist, a green-grocer, three general groceries and shoe and clothes shops where you can buy walking gear. It also has several good pubs, including two which brew their own beer, and most of which also do meals. There are also half a dozen other places to eat, second hand bookshops, and several antique shops. There is no main road running through the town.
Sights in the town include Bishop's Castle Town Hall, the House on Crutches, and the Three Tuns Brewery.
History
The Castle at Bishop's Castle was originally a motte and bailey design built to defend the church and village from the enemy.
Bishop's Castle has been on a main route for travellers since prehistoric times. The inns would have provided accommodation for travellers and have stabled their horses.
The town was bypassed in the 19th century by Thomas Telford's great road further north, which ran through Shrewsbury. A branch railway was later built from Craven Arms to Bishop's Castle, but closed in 1935.
The town lost its status as a municipal borough which it gained in 1885 in the 1960s, but still has a mayor and its regalia.
The church of St John the Baptist lies at the lower end of the town and the remains of the castle, of which almost nothing survives, at the upper end. Between the two runs the main street.