Distance: 1.3 miles
Difficulty of the terrain: medium
Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
Walk from Craven Arms Railway Station to Stokesay just south of the town where the famous, fairytaie Stokesay Castle is situated.
The Story
The Walk
Getting Back
Medieval Must Have
Situated just south of Craven Arms in south Shropshire, not far from the county boundary with Herefordshire, Stokesay Castle looks like its belongs on a film set or in a fairytale, but purportedly it is the best preserved example of a medieval fortified manor house in the UK.
A castle was erected on the site, which stands deep in the contested Welsh Marches, an area that was tumultuous for much for the Middle Ages, at least as far back as the 11th Century, however, parts of the structure that stands today date back to the 1280s and 1290s.
It was then the castle’s tenant Laurence of Ludlow, having purchased the “right to crenelate” (that is to add fortifications) from the king, began work on constructing Stokesay Castle. Laurence of Ludlow had made his money as a wool trader rather than from rents extracted from those working the land, making him an early example of capitalist. But like capitalists across the British Isles throughout his he was evidently keen to furnish himself with some of the accoutrements of aristocracy hence the fortified rural manor house.
In many regards the structure he had built was not so different to the later Coughton Court in Warwickshire, or the fortified hunting lodge King John constructed at King Clipstone in Sherwood Forest, or for that matter the lords of Dudley’s very similar structure at Weoley Castle. This suggests that certainly between the early 13th and 15th Centuries such structures were popular amongst the wealthy and powerful in central England.
Laurence of Ludlow drowned in a shipwreck off the French coast in 1294 meaning that he did not get to enjoy his fortified country retreat, believed to have been completed in 1291 for very long. It remained in his family for a time before being passed to other wealthy people.
During the 17th Century Civil Wars Stokesay Castle was besieged in 1645 during the latter part of the first stages of the civil conflict when Parliament was mopping up Royalist resistance in the parts of the western Midlands like Shropshire that were typically strongly in favour of the King’s cause. A small amount of damage was caused to the site during the skirmish and afterwards as was customary Parliament ordered that Stokesay Castle be pulled down, but this order was never put into effect.
Either way as the Early Modern period ended and modernity began Stokesay Castle ceased to be a dwelling for the rich and instead went through a series of agricultural and industrial uses which lasted up until the 19th Century. During early Victorian times, the site which had been seriously neglected, and suffered extensive fire damage in 1830, began to undergo restoration. Unusually for the time William Craven, the aristocrat who then owned Stokesay Castle was keen that anything of the building’s original fabric which could be kept or salvaged was restored or retained.
Later during the century the Craven estate was heavily indebted and John Derby Allcroft, a wealthy glove manufacturer purchased it. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s he undertook a further sympathetic restoration of the site, ensuring that it was in good repair by the end of the century. By this time Stokesay Castle had become noted by artists, writers and all manner of other enthusiasts for the medieval past.
As is customary, as the Allcroft family moved away from being industrial capitalists into being scions of the landed gentry, so their debts mounted up and cash on hand became scarce. In 1908 their dwindling quantum of funds encouraged the family to open Stokesay Castle as a tourist attraction. It remained popular throughout the 20th Century attracting as many as 16,000 visitors in 1955 alone. Throughout the decades that it was operated as a private attraction calls were made for the castle to become public property under the Ancient Monuments Commission, and then from 1983 English Heritage.
Eventually in 1986 Jewell and Philip Magnus-Allcroft, the then presiding members of the Allcroft family, agreed that Stokesay Castle could enter the care of English Heritage. The then government agency then conducted an extensive programme of restoration at the site between 1986 and 1989 leaving the property with the restored appearance it has today.
Alongside the medieval features which have endured in some cases since the 13th Century the castle is notable for its distinctive yellow painted wooden 17th Century gatehouse. This structure has numerous intricate, folky looking, and often downright weird carvings on it. Highlights include an entire array of carvings depicting the key characters from the biblical story of Adam and Eve including the serpent. There are further 17th Century vintage carvings inside the building including an equally richly and weirdly detailed fireplace.
The Walk
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
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This walk from Craven Arms to Stokesay, the location of Stokesay Castle begins from Craven Arms Railway Station.
Having alighted at Craven Arms exit the station on the town side.
Walk straight ahead down a driveway leading from the station to the A449 which forms Craven Arms’ high street.
Upon reaching the main road turn right and walk along the A449 into the town centre.
Soon you pass a cluster of shops including a petrol station with a Gregg’s and Tuffins Supermarket and Garden Centre.
Use a traffic beacon and pedestrian refuge to cross the road and then walk down the road to the left, past a couple of small churches and some other civic buildings.
Soon on the right between two corner shops there is another road, Market Street running off to the right. Turn right and head down Market Street.
Walk straight down Market Street until you reach The Stokesay Inn at the end of a terrace of houses.
Here, turn left walking along a road past a primary school.
Just past the school head right down a residential road.
Presently you reach the bottom of the road. Here turn right making for a snicket.
Walk straight down the snicket and out into parkland.
Soon the path curves around to the right.
Continue walking until you reach a junction.
Here take the left hand fork, and continue walking straight along the path.
Presently you reach a place where a hedgerow separates two meadow type areas. Here to the right there are waymarks for a bridleway and the Shropshire Way long distance path. Turn right here.
Soon you turn left walking through trees and emerge onto the side of the A449 once more.
Taking care, cross straight over the road here.
On the far side there is a pavement. Upon reaching it, turn left and begin walking straight ahead.
Presently you reach the road where Stokesay Castle is situated.
Turn right here and walk up the road towards Stokesay Church. The castle stands just behind it.
Once level with Stokesay Church, turn left through a lychgate into the churchyard.
Then follow the path straight ahead through the churchyard to reach the entrance for Stokesay Castle.
This is where the walk ends.
Getting Back
Craven Arms is a little over a mile from the end of the walk, so it is quite simple to retrace your footsteps either in full, or to just follow the A449 back to the station. Craven Arms Station has trains throughout the day, on a slightly uneven pattern, north towards Shrewsbury (for connections east towards the West Midlands conurbation) and towards North Wales and Manchester. There are also trains south via Ludlow, Hereford and Abergerveny towards destinations in South Wales. Four times a day at the time of writing in January 2025 trains for Swansea using the Heart of Wales Line called at Craven Arms. There were also at the time of writing in January 2025 buses from Craven Arms along the A449, primarily between Ludlow and Shrewsbury, but also services west to Bishops Castle and Pontesbury, as well as Knighton, Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells.