Editing Wenlock Edge

{{short description|Limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England}}
{{for|the song cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams|On Wenlock Edge (song cycle)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
'''Wenlock Edge''' is a [[limestone]] [[escarpment]] near [[Much Wenlock]], Shropshire, England and a [[site of special scientific interest]] because of its geology.<ref name=nateng/> It is over {{convert|19|mi|km}} long, running southwest to northeast between [[Craven Arms]] and Much Wenlock,<ref name=nateng>{{cite web|url=http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/geodiversity/englands/sites/local_ID76.aspx|work=Natural England|title=Wenlock Edge (SSSI)|access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref> and is roughly 1,083 feet above sea level. The [[deciduous]] woodland which runs along it covers much of the steep slopes of the escarpment and in parts it is very well preserved.
[[File:Eaton under Heywood 2012.JPG|300px|thumb|The Edge at [[Eaton under Heywood]]]]
[[File:Jack Mytton Way - geograph.org.uk - 200927.jpg|thumb|[[Jack Mytton Way]], near Rushbury, Wenlock Edge, Shropshire]]

It was featured on the 2005 TV programme ''[[Seven Natural Wonders]]'' as one of the wonders of the Midlands.

Wenlock Edge contains many interesting features such as [[Flounders' Folly]], [[Wilderhope Manor]] and [[Shipton Hall]] and waymarked walks such as the [[Shropshire Way]] and [[bridleway]]s such as the [[Jack Mytton Way]]. It is a popular area for [[hillwalking]], cycling, [[mountain biking]] and [[horseback rider|horseriding]] and is also frequented by tourists and sightseers.

[[Robert Hart (horticulturist)|Robert Hart]] created a model [[forest gardening|forest garden]] from a small orchard on his farm called Highwood Hill in Wenlock Edge.<ref>{{cite book|title=Forest Gardening|author=Robert Hart|year=1996|page=45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N01940btQAQC&q=forest%20gardening%20robert%20hart%20simple%20living&pg=PA45|isbn=9781603580502}}</ref>

==Geology==
[[File:Llandovery and Wenlock Fossils Pocock Whitehead 1948 Figure 27 (Xylodes articulatus).jpg|thumb|left|150px|A fossil coral from the Wenlock Limestone<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pocock |first1=Roy Woodhouse |last2=Whitehouse |first2=T.H. |title=British Regional Geology: The Welsh Borderland 2nd Edition |date=1948 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) |location=London |page=53 |url=https://archive.org/details/WelshBorderland2ndEdnBritishRegionalGeologyImages}}</ref>]]
The "world famous Wenlock Limestone outcrops"  are amongst "Britain’s most important geological sites".<ref name=nateng/> The limestone quarries in the North "demonstrate the best examples of [[reef]] development during the [[Silurian]] Period in Britain."<ref name=nateng/> Many species of [[brachiopods]], [[trilobite]]s and [[ostracod]] (microscopic crustaceans) were first found at Wenlock<ref name=nateng/> and most of the known [[Wenlock Series#Silurian fauna|Wenlock group Silurian fauna]] comes from here.
[[Richard Corfield (scientist)|Richard Corfield]] also gave Wenlock Edge as an example of the most spectacular reef building the world has ever known.<ref name=iot>{{cite web|last=In Our Time|title=The Permian-Triassic Boundary|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007r285|publisher=BBC|date=28 June 2007|access-date=30 June 2013}}</ref><br />
The reef was formed in shallow subtropical seas about 425 million years ago when the area was south of the equator at about the same latitude as the [[Seychelles]] is today.<ref name=beeb>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/03/21/geological_tour_wenlock_edge.shtml|publisher=BBC Shropshire|title=Nature Features|date=October 2008|access-date=30 June 2013}}</ref>
A walk by a BBC journalist in 2008 found abundant fossilised [[crinoids]] (sea lilies) and brachiopods.<ref name=beeb/> The [[Wenlock (Silurian)|Wenlock]] Epoch of the [[Silurian]] Period is named for the rocks of Wenlock Edge.

== Legends==

'''Ippikin'''

Local legend tells of a local robber and bandit named Ippikin, who buried his ill-gotten gains in the vicinity of the edge. Tales tell that should anyone stand on the escarpment and say "Ippikin, Ippikin, keep away with your long chin" that they will be pushed over the edge by the ghost of the erstwhile villain.<ref name=Ippikin>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/08/24/weird_ippikin_legend_feature.shtml|publisher=BBC Shropshire|title=Legends: Ippikin, the robber knight of Wenlock Edge|date=April 2008|access-date=30 June 2013}}</ref>

'''Major's Leap'''

In the [[English Civil War]] a Major Thomas Smallman of nearby [[Wilderhope Manor]] was a Royalist officer who was forced to flee from [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell's]] approaching troops after escaping from his manor. As he was carrying important dispatches, he was cornered on the Wenlock Edge. Rather than surrender, he galloped his horse off the edge falling some 200 feet. His horse was killed but the Major was saved by falling into an apple tree. He made his way on foot to [[Shrewsbury]] where he delivered the despatches. The area where he made the jump is known as Major's Leap and is said to be haunted by the Major and his horse.

==Transport==
===Rail===
Served by [[Transport for Wales Rail|Transport for Wales]] on the [[Welsh Marches Line]] and [[Heart of Wales Line]] at [[Church Stretton railway station|Church Stretton]] and [[Craven Arms railway station|Craven Arms]].

===Bus===
2012 saw the introduction of a Shropshire Hills Shuttle service that operates at weekends and on [[bank holiday]]s during the spring and summer. The route, called the "Wenlock Wanderer", connects the towns of [[Much Wenlock]] and [[Church Stretton]], and operates mostly along the B4371 which runs atop the Wenlock Edge. It also calls at [[Ticklerton]], [[Acton Scott]] and [[Marshbrook]] to the south of Church Stretton.<ref>[http://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/things-to-do/shuttles Shropshire Hills AONB] Shuttle bus service</ref> The Shrewsbury road down Wenlock Hill is one of the steepest main roads in the United Kingdom, with a gradient of 1 in 6.<ref>Harold Donaldson Eberlein – Little Known England – 2007 Page 12 "To the right the Shrewsbury road beckons us down Wenlock Hill, one of the hilliest main roads in the kingdom, with a gradient of 1 in 6 at steepest, unfolding a really fine view as you drop down into the vale with the Wrekin heaving up his broad ..."</ref>

==Cultural references==
It is the setting for [[A. E. Housman]]'s poem "On Wenlock Edge the Wood's in Trouble", poem XXXI in his 1896 collection ''[[A Shropshire Lad]]''. In 1909, [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] composed a [[song cycle]] called ''[[On Wenlock Edge (song cycle)|On Wenlock Edge]]'', which comprises settings of that and five other Housman poems. It is also the subject of several works by the famous artist [[L. S. Lowry]], with his piece ''A Bit of Wenlock Edge'', which is a fine pencil drawing of the escarpment, detailing the woodland.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} Housman's poem, in turn, is at the centre of a discussion in [[Alice Munro]]'s short story "Wenlock Edge".

In his alternate history novel ''[[SS-GB]]'', set in a German-occupied Great Britain during [[World War II]], [[Len Deighton]] places a [[Gestapo]] concentration camp in Wenlock Edge.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glazzard |first=Andrew |date=12 February 2017 |title=Why thriller writers love to imagine Britain being invaded by Nazis |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2017/02/why-thriller-writers-love-imagine-britain-being-invaded-nazis |website=[[The New Statesman]] |access-date=2 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Len Deighton |author-link=Len Deighton |date=1978 |title=[[SS-GB]] |edition=2023 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=275 |isbn=9780241639238}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco/literature/alfrededwardhousman/poems/ashropshirelad/onwenlockedgethewoodsintrouble.html On Wenlock Edge the Wood's in Trouble text]
* [http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/walk01.htm Wenlock Edge – A Literary Walk]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/midlands/wenlock-edge/index.shtml BBC]
* [http://wenlockedgenationaltrust.blogspot.com/ The National Trust's Blog for Wenlock Edge]

{{Coord|52|33|1|N|2|39|17|W|type:mountain_region:GB-SHR|display=title}}

[[Category:Escarpments of England]]
[[Category:Geology of Shropshire]]
[[Category:Hills of Shropshire]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Shropshire]]