South Shropshire

Hopton Castle is a small parish and equally small village somewhere southeast of Clun. The parish is dominated by Hopton Titterhill, a sizable wooded hill with what appears to be a maze of footpaths and tracks to explore. The village stands in a line alongside a minor road, together with a stream that adds a little character to the scene. For such a small village there are some rather interesting timber-framed houses, and, of equal interest but much younger than the houses it serves, is the church of St. Mary, which was built a little over a hundred years ago.
Nearby Hopton Castle has not always been idyllic, and its history during the Civil War is one of treachery and murder and makes shocking reading. But the history of Hopton Castle goes back much further than the Civil War, as the earthwork at nearby Warfield Banks shows. In Saxon times the manor was held by Edric of Shropshire legend.

Hopton Wafers is a rural parish. This part of Shropshire is 'cattle grid' country and these can even be found on the A4117 Ludlow to Cleobury Mortimer road which passes through the southern part of the parish. This part of the parish is rolling rural Shropshire countryside at its best, with such names as Upper Down and Lower Down, the latter seeming to be at the same altitude, but further north, which, perhaps, typifies the Shropshire sense of humour.
The village of Hopton Wafers is small and peaceful, and has a nice feel to it. There is a sympathetic mix of architecture, with some quite substantial houses. One of these is Hopton Manor, a late 18th-century brick house. The church stands on a small rise and is dedicated to St. Michael. Inside the church there is a rather handsome monument to Thomas Botfield. The Botfields lived at nearby Hopton Court, an 18th-century structure, and were amongst the pioneers of the coal-mining industry in Shropshire.

Neen Sollars lies south of Cleobury Mortimer and is surrounded on three sides by the county of Worcestershire. The village has a number of timber-framed houses in it which add to the character. The church is dedicated to All Saints and is a cruciform structure dating from the 14th century, believed to stand on the site of a Saxon structure. In the church there is a monument to Humphrey Conyngesby, an early 17th century lord of the manor who was something of a traveller. He is described as "a perfect scholar by education and a great traveller by his own affection". He spent over four years mainly in Europe on his first travels, then after a brief period at home he left again, this time travelling further east where he joined "Rodulphe the Second Emperor of the Romanes" in a crusade against the Turks. Later he travelled to Turkey, where he was honoured by Mahomet the Third Emperor of Turkey. He never returned from his fourth journey overseas and no one knows of his fate.

A little way to the south of Ludlow are the two parishes of Richard's Castle, one of which is in the county of Herefordshire and the other in Shropshire. In the Herefordshire parish are the remains of Richard's castle, and it seems strange that one might have to travel to Herefordshire to discover the origins of our county. In the days of Edward the Confessor, Richard Scrob built a castle which was one of the main fortifications in the pre-Norman defence of the Marches. It was through him that our county obtained its name of Scrob's Share, or Shropshire. Although it is in Herefordshire, the site of Richard's castle and the adjoining church is worthy of a visit for anyone in love with the county of Shropshire and its history. Though there is little left, one can easily imagine the scene when this castle stood amongst magnificent forests. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is a magnificent medieval structure with a detached tower which probably doubled as a lookout for the castle.