AE Housman

‘On Wenlock Edge, the wood’s in trouble.’ So wrote local lad AE Housman in his enduring classic 63-poem work A Shropshire Lad, which was published in 1896. Aside from namechecking various locations in the county’s rich landscape, Housman’s homespun verses deal with more personal subjects such as football matches, fickle lovers, and wounded young men returning from war. It proved an immensely popular volume during the First World War, with many a soldier heading for France with one slipped into a pocket. The Wenlock Edge they read about is a mighty 19mile limestone escarpment that remains well wooded to this day. To see it for yourself, start a 6-mile loop from the attractive market town of Much Wenlock. Head west along the Victoria Road. The Jack Mytton Way and the Shropshire Way both pass along the top or upper slopes of Wenlock Edge, sometimes sharing the same path. You can take one to Blakeway Coppice (or indeed beyond), returning to Much Wenlock on the other. In Housman’s poem, the wood on Wenlock Edge was in trouble because of a fierce storm, which is a reminder to check the weather forecast before you head out.

‘The Wenlock Edge they read about is a mighty 19-mile limestone escarpment that remains well wooded to this day.’

ON EDGE Views roll far from Major’s Leap on Wenlock Edge.

COUNTY LAD? Housman was born in neighbouring Worcestershire, but ‘had a sentimental feeling for Shropshire because its hills were on our Western horizon’.