The Slang, Shuts of Shrewsbury 30

[Proud Salopian]

Shuts of Shrewsbury No 30 - The Slang
Town Walls-Victoria Avenue

The Slang runs downhill alongside the Kingsland Bridge approach on the town centre side of the River Severn. It is wider at the top and quite narrow at the bottom and is bounded on both sides by walls. I don't know why (or even if) it's called The Slang, other than that's what I've heard it called by locals. If anyone knows anything different, please do say! The entrance at the top is at the junction of Swan Hill and Town Walls.



The girls' high school is on the left and the former Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital (the huge red brick building) is nearby to the right. I had treatment there only a few years before it closed. Anyway, as you walk down the passage you should notice the rather gracious tall trees on the right. The hill here is quite steep and there are no steps.



At the bottom is Victoria Avenue, where it runs underneath the Toll Bridge. To return to the town centre from down here you can go via the Quarry park or turn towards Greyfriars and head up Crescent Lane back up to Town Walls.



The passage had recently been swept and tidied up when I took these photos. It can quite easily fill with leaves during Autumn though. The railed off footpath on the left leads steeply up to the Toll Bridge road. I wonder how many cyclists, going perhaps a little too fast, have ended up flying into the river here?

[s.g.d.]

a deed from 1305 names this passage as Cordelode.

in 1887 rev W.A.Leighton wrote that it is "now called the Slang."

I don't know why it is called the Slang but it might be a Shropshire thing as the Newport end of Lilleshall village is also known as "the Slang"

s.g.d.

[Proud Salopian]

Thanks for the info - "lode" as I have noticed was a name used quite often in Medieval Shrewsbury for wharfs and other riverside locations.

[s.g.d.]

I think "lode" used to refer to a gated track or watercourse.

the Slang has previously been named Murivance Lane, Gosnell's Slang and possibly Gosnell's Hedge.

Apparently a slang is a long narrow strip of land.

Shrewsbury also had a Bishop's Slang and there was a Slang near Coton Hill.

s.g.d.