Heritage - Hawkstone Historic Park and Follies in Shrewsbury
Hawkstone Park is unique in being one of the earliest tourist attractions of Great Britain, an unspoiled landscape of sandstone outcrops left over from the Ice Age. The first guidebook was written in 1807.
Hawkstone Park Follies is a fantasyland of cliffs, crags, caves, deep woods and a series of extraordinary monuments created more than 200 years ago by Sir Rowland Hill whose family home was Hawkstone Hall on the estate. The Park was created around the centerpiece of the ruined "Red Castle", a medieval stronghold that is now virtually hidden in the trees. Back in the 18th Century the whole walk encompassed 10 miles and took three days - and so many visitors came that when the Hall and the family could no longer accommodate the numbers (who came from many areas of the country including London), an inn was built in 1790 (now the Hawkstone Park Hotel). After years of neglect, the magical landscape was lovingly restored and opened to the public once again in 1993. Even now, there are many "follies" or viewpoints still hidden away in the Park, just waiting to be rediscovered.
'Striking scenes and terrifick grandeur' were the words Dr Samuel Johnson used to describe The Follies of Hawkstone Park when he visited them in 1774. The Duke of Wellington was a regular visitor to the park in the 18th Century as a guest of Sir Rowland Hill, as were the Darby family from Ironbridge which at the time was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. Hawkstone is also claimed to be the final resting place of the valiant King Arthur, and the location of the Holy Grail - according to legend!
