Porch house, high street, Bishop's Castle - Photo: Humphrey Bolton CCL

Little remains of the 12th castle from which this town took its name, but there is no shortage of fine buildings, including Tudor houses.  Bishop's Castle is a tiny settlement clinging to the steep hillside 150m up on the edge of the Clun Forest. The town once claimed to be the smallest borough in England - but it has lost its status whilst retaining its charm.  Nearby are the Stiperstones, a range of hills with a 1,700ft summit, part of a 1,000 acre national nature reserve. Mary Webb gave them a supernatural flavour in her 1916 novel ‘The Golden Arrow’. Shropshire’s most ancient monument, a stone circle containing 15 stones, lies at Mitchell’s Fold. The full story of the town’s history can be found at the curiously-named House on Crutches Museum.