Shropshire John Newman, Nikolaus Pevsner

The unspoiled county of Shropshire is among the most appealing in England for lovers of architecture. The county's many historic towns, of which Shrewsbury and Ludlow are the largest, are especially plentiful in Georgian and timber-framed buildings. Shropshire's villages, intriguingly varied in plan and building materials, reflect the diverse landscape of plains, hills and moorland and the rich and complex underlying geology. The Cistercian abbey of Buildwas is the finest of several notable monastic ruins, and outstanding medieval parish churches and castles are also numerous. Many of the country houses have a central place in the story of English architecture: the fortified mansions at Acton Burnell and Stokesay, thirteenth-century design at its most sophisticated; the vigorous Baroque houses of John Prince and Francis Smith; John Nash's Italianate villa at Cronkhill, looking like something in a Claude painting; Norman Shaw's splendid Late Victorian mansion at Adcote. Shropshire is also unrivalled for its early industrial remains, including the spectacular bridge at Coalbrookdale, the first in the world to be built of iron. More ancient cultures are represented by the numerous prehistoric hill-forts and the celebrated Roman town at Wroxeter. Each city, town or village is treated in a detailed gazetteer. A general introduction provides a historical and artistic overview. Numerous maps and plans, over a hundred new colour photographs, full indexes and an illustrated glossary help to make this book invaluable as both reference work and guide.

John Newman first became involved in The Buildings of England as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's driver, in Berkshire and Hampshire. He wrote the two volumes on Kent, West Kent and the Weald and North East and East Kent, and half the Dorset volume. From 1983 to 2002 he acted as overall advisory editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides; and in the 1990s returned to authorship, contributing Glamorgan and Gwent/Monmouthshire to the Buildings of Wales series. In 2001 he retired from teaching the history of architecture at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, since when he has concentrated on the preparation of the present volume.