The medieval ruins of Clun Castle

A walk in the sunshine along the English/Welsh border

A walk in the sunshine along the English/Welsh border

The medieval ruins of Clun Castle, an 11th Century Welsh border fortification, 5th August 2022 (Author’s Collection).

A visit to the ruins of Clun Castle has long been on my travelling to-do list and after much prevarication and many journeys seeing me travel through or past the tiny town on the English/Welsh border, today was indeed the day.

According to the UK census of 2011, the town of Clun had exactly 680 inhabitants living in this tiny town and although situated in Shropshire, it’s perhaps more accurate to describe it as being only a handful of miles from the border with neighbouring Wales. The remains of the castle date as far back as the 11th Century and I’ve added a link to the bottom of this paragraph for a more detailed background into this time capsule from a bygone age.

Easy parking, a riverside café and toilet amenities are all available before you journey across the footbridge that leads to the bottom of the huge mound on which the castle’s ruinous remains sit. Despite the high cloud and occasional sprinkling of sunshine, the temperature seemed to drop dramatically from the very pleasant warm conditions beside the gently rolling River Clun to the peak of the mound and the ruins whereby it was incredibly blustery and cold.

The vagaries of the British weather!

History of Clun Castle
Clun Castle sits high on a natural rocky mound in a loop of the river Clun, on the edge of the small, picturesque town…www.english-heritage.org.uk

I’ll only add minimal commentary from hereon in as despite being both a verbose writer and speaker, I prefer to leave these images to paint their own pictures in your own personal virtual pictorial stroll, and I sincerely hope you find this peek into history interesting and entertaining.

*All images were captured by me on Friday 5th August 2022*

Welcome to Clun! With the Queen’s Jubilee bunting still flying and the gently rolling on by of the Clun River, head left across the bridge and back out of this tiny border town or right, through to the adjacent car park and onto the footbridge that leads to the castle ruins.

Clun — “A Castle Town”.

My first sighting of the ruins as well as a number of the well worn paths that lead to the summit of the mound.

Clun Castle ruins and “The Great Tower”.

Some of the largest remaining ruins of Clun Castle.

A beautiful gateway to the famed Shropshire Hills, Wales and beyond.

View from atop the mound with (foreground) the local bowling green and (background) the magnificent hills of Shropshire and beyond to another country, Wales.

(1) The largest remains of Clun Castle with a beautiful backdrop to accompany it.

(2) The largest remains of Clun Castle with a beautiful backdrop to accompany it.

(3) The largest remains of Clun Castle with a beautiful backdrop to accompany it.

A final wide shot demonstrating both the interchangeable British weather as well as the rolling hills for which the Shropshire/English/Welsh border are famous.

A final view after descending from the mound.

Clun Castle — “A Border Fortress”.

Methinks the fortress has been breached!

A final juxtaposition of strangely pleasing images.

A final view departing from the mound as seen from the nearby footbridge.

A final wide shot of yet another break in the temperamental British weather and the magnificence that greets you immediately as you begin your approach to the castle mound.

Your humble narrator and a “Flying Pig” at Gnosall, on the Shropshire Union Canal, end of July 2022.

Thanks for reading. Somewhat of a “dry” edition but if you’ve arrived here seeking some castle ruins, I truly hope you’ve enjoyed the brief pictorial stroll.

Please see the three links below to my most recent articles and travels throughout Shropshire and across the border into neighbouring Wales and beyond:

A stroll in the Welsh sunshine
Welshpool to Berriew via Powis Castlemedium.com

Chirk to St Martin’s
via Charles Darwin and Shrewsbury Castlemedium.com

A lost Englishman in Wales
And hitchhiking via a canal boat!medium.com