The Quarry is a 29 acre, Grade II listed park in Shrewsbury that borders the town and the River Severn. I found myself walking around here quite a few times on my visit to the town – on my arrival after checking in to my B&B to stretch my legs and as a convenient place to sit and watch the world go by when I needed a break from walking around.
The Dingle was created in 1719 though not really like its present form until the 1870s. It’s a landscaped garden that I never ended up exploring too closely. It was the site of a former quarry; the Quarry Park which surrounds it was designated a public park in 1878 though cattle was still grazing here until near the end of the 19th century.
There are lots of well laid out paths throughout the park including Victoria Avenue which was created in 1897 – Samuel Johnson of dictionary fame once enjoyed a walk through the garden.
There are a number of items of interest. I’ll start with what has to be the most striking war memorial I’ve ever seen. Grade II listed it depicts the Archangel Michael decked out in armour and was created by A G Wyon in 1922.
Another memorial in the grounds is for the extremely young deaths by a Provisional IRA bomb in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.
Another statue to note and which is made quite a big deal of is of Hercules. It was tricky to get a good photo because it was so sunny but this is a copy of the Farnese Hercules. This copy was placed here in the 1800s. When it was restored in 2004 it was discovered that he had always been covered by a fig leaf (as opposed to the more anatomically correct original) – inevitably the fig leaf has been vandalised several times. One other weird thing they discovered during the restoration was that the statue had been filled with cattle bones. I’ve no idea why.
Another interesting part of the park is the Porthill Bridge which was presented to the town by the Shropshire Horticultural Society in 1922. Among other things this society is responsible for organising the Shrewsbury Flower Show which usually happens in August ever year in the Dingle – the first show took place in 1875. I had a surprising amount of conversations with people in the town extremely annoyed that the 2025 flower show had been cancelled, I gather without much notice, for suspected financial reasons.
It’s a great place to wander or even fish if you’re so inclined (check for permissions needed etc). There’s a small kiosk where you can get food and drink near the Porthill Bridge and some public toilets (though them I wouldn’t recommend, not the worst I’ve been to but certainly not the best!)
Louise Jayne's Blog 