SHREWSBURY, a borough and market town of England, in Shropshire, is situated on two gentle eminences, which are surrounded on all sides but the north by the river Severn. At this open part of the peninsula, a junction is formed on the north-east with the Shrewsbury Canal, and on the north west with the Ellesmere Canal. On the north and west sides, the streets approach close to the river, but in other points a strip of meadow or garden ground separates the houses from the river. An uninterrupted range of well-built houses, commanding beautiful and ex tensive views, encircles the town, and on the western side is a noble field of twenty acres, called the Quar ry, ornamented with columns of trees. The interior appearance of the town is of a different character. The streets are ill arranged, and are in general nar row, steep, and badly paved. The eaves of the old houses project so as almost to meet those on the op posite side; and the mixture of ancient and modern buildings produces a disagreeable effect.
'nit: principal public buildings are the castle, the town-hall, the live churches, the town and county gaol and bricleivell, the market house, the theatres, the bridges, and charitable institutions.
The castle occupies a neck of land about 300 yards broad. The buildings which remain, are the keep, the walls of the inner court, and the great arch of the interior gateway. The keep is now a handsome dwell ing house, composed of two round towers embattled and pierced, and connected by a square building about 100 feet long and 100 feet high; the inner court is now a garden, and the arch of the gateway is eighteen feet high. A few traces of the ramparts and walls which defended the town on its north and cast sides'still remain.
The is a modern building, completed in 1786. It has a handsome stone front. in the grand jury room arc portraits of 1. and 11., and Ad miral Benbow; and in another room is a valuable col lection of books.
The churchea on the establishment, are St. Giles', St. Chad's, St. Mary's, St. Alkmund's, and St. Julian's.
St. Giles, consisting of a noble chancel and north aisle, seems to have been partly built in the Norman era. St. Chad's church, built in 1791 of freestone, is, generally speaking, a splendid and well-ornamented structure; the body of it is externally a circle 100 feet in diameter. St. Mary's church, in the north east part of the town, is a large venerable building, in the form of a cross, with a nave, side aisles, tran sept, choir and chapels, and with a tower at the west end. At the extremity of the chancel is a spacious window, nearly filled with stained glass. From the ruins of old St. Chad's church near the town, which is very large, and seventy-four feet in height, there rises a lofty and beautiful spire, which is a great or nament to the town. The height of the tower and the spire is 212 feet. The monuments in the church are numerous and some of them curious. St. Alk mund's church is built on the site of the old one taken down in 1793. It is an unseemly imitation of the an cient pointed architecture. The church of St. Julian is a plain and commodious edifice, rebuilt in 1750. The places of worship for dissenters are a Roman Ca tholic chapel, and meeting houses for Presbyterians;. Unitarians, Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers.
The Town and County Gaol and Bridcwell form an edifice beautifully situated near the castle. It has a good freestone front, with an arched gateway, contain ing a bust of Ilowerd by Bacon. It is a spacious, airy, and commodious building.
The remarkable for its size and mag nificence, was erected in 1595. In the principal flout, which is towards the west, the portal is decorated with two Elizabeth's arms in high relief: and on each side of it is an open arcade of three large circular arches supported by columns. Large open arches likewise decorate the north and south sides, and over one of them is a statue of Richard, Duke of York. Close to this building is a conduit, which supplies with water a great part of the town.