Newtown

Heading east

This is the old railway viaduct which once carried a branch of the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (known as the "Potts") across the River Severn at Melverley. The bridge in its current form was built by the Great Western Railway in 1947 but there had been a rather rickety wooden bridge built on this site when the original builders of the Potts line opened a branch to Criggion in 1871 in an attempt to capture lucrative quarry traffic. The extra revenue wasn't enough to prevent the railway going into receivership in 1877, and closing altogether in 1880. Various companies attempted to run the line profitably, to no avail and in 1902 the original wooden viaduct at Melverley collapsed into the Severn, which you would think would be the end of the story. However, in 1907, Colonel Stephens formed the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway Company and reopened the line, which involved rebuilding the viaduct using secondhand girders from elsewhere on the system. Freight trains resumed on this section in early 1912 with passenger trains - made up of a variety of bizarre vehicles including a converted tram - following later that year. There was some tourist traffic, but in the 1920s the viaduct was again declared unsafe and all traffic on the Criggion branch ceased, with the entire Potts system closing (under its fourth set of owners) in 1939. The viaduct was seriously damaged by ice floes in the severe winter of 1940. The Second World War gave the fortunes of the line a boost, with the MOD requisitioning the whole system and repairing the viaduct (albeit on the cheap, to the point where it needed rebuilding again after the war). Stone was once again transported from Criggion across the viaduct, although it was declared unsafe (again) in 1945. It was rebuilt in the form you see here in 1947 by the Great Western Railway. However in 1959, the last War Department stone traffic ran from Criggion and the line was returned to civilian operation; by March 1960 the line was closed. It was reopened as a road bridge, a function it still serves today, in 1962. Much of the information in this caption - in fact, all of it - was lifted from Link. Also worth a look for more detail of the bridge itself is Link which contains some fascinating pictures of the various incarnations of the bridge in railway days.

Shortly before its confluence with the Severn. Breidden Hill is on the horizon.

Hedgerows and fields off Criggion Lane

Layby boulders on Criggion Lane

Vernacular and modern farm buildings at Lower House Farm

Middletown Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

The Breidden Hills are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Middletown Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Middletown Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Middletown Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Bulthy Hill, Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Middletown Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Bulthy Hill, Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Bulthy Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Bulthy Hill, Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.

Bulthy Hill is part of the Breidden Hills, which are made up of Breidden Hill (365m 1,197ft), Moel y Golfa (meaning Bare or Bald Hill), the highest at (403m 1,322ft), Middletown Hill (367m 1,204ft), Bulthy Hill, Kempsters Hill and Bausely Hill. They are on the border of England and Wales (Shropshire/Powys), about ten miles west of Shrewsbury. Breidden Hill is an extinct volcano, and has Rodney's Pillar on its summit. Middletown Hill has an ancient Iron Age Hill fort on its summit.