The Bootsteps

Article by: Ron Iremonger

The Boot public house once occupied this site at a point where the 'Little Borough' of Frankwell becomes The Mount. Steps to the side are known as the Boot Steps and lead to Hermitage Walk, named after the hermit of St. Cadogan. A chapel and cross stood somewhere close to the entrance to Barracks Lane until the early seventeenth century. In 1295 the name recorded for The Mount was 'Le Crossway', much later The Mount became known as the Irish Road. In 1643, at the crest of The Mount, the Royalist Lord Capel built a considerable defensive compound known as Cadogan's Fort; the following year Parliamentarians captured Shrewsbury but Cadogan's Fort held out a little longer.

Above this garden are the grounds of 'The Mount', home of the Darwin family and birthplace of Charles Darwin, author of 'The Origin of Species'. A London journalist writing in 1871 described the Darwin estate, '...their gardens and grounds became known for the choicest shrubs and flowers...'.

Across the road from the gardens is Millington's Hospital, founded in 1748 by James Millington, a wealthy draper of Dog Lane (now Claremont Street); it was endowed for the purpose of providing cottage homes for twenty boys and twenty girls from Frankwell. Dr. Robert Darwin, father of Charles Darwin, was Chairman of the Trustees of Millington's Hospital but rather than travel all the way to the entrance on Copthorne Road he had a door put in the wall opposite his house on The Mount, more convenient for him to attend meetings of the trustees.

A few years ago the site was an untidy shrubbery. Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council (SABC) cut down the shrubbery to reveal a surface of bricks and rubble left over from when the house was pulled down, the area then resembled a bombsite. Everyday many people pass by the Boot Gardens on foot making their way into Shrewsbury and situated as it is just before the Frankwell roundabout the Boot Gardens occupies a 'gateway' location for traffic approaching Shrewsbury from the west, ...first impression of Shrewsbury ...what an eyesore.

The Mount Residents' Group urged SABC to improve the area. Councillor Judith Williams took up the cause and Gary Farmer of SABC designed a planting scheme. The site was cleared of rubble, topsoil imported and planting began. One of our residents, Barbara Baldwin, kindly donated a fig tree and SABC incorporated this into the planting scheme to compliment the existing fig. The Mount Residents' Group were encouraged to be involved in the aftercare and members regularly weed and litter pick the garden.