WE have had a week in the Shropshire area, staying not far away from Ludlow, a lively historic town with a famous castle that is about a thousand years old.

It’s an area of amazing countryside and, for me, the highlight is Wenlock Edge. It’s an escarpment running almost 20 miles through the area and I well remember it as an early school project in geography.

It is made up a limestone formed over 400-million years ago, in the Silurian Period, in warm shallow seas when Britain lay just south of the Equator, similar to the Seychelles today.

These rocks contain a wide variety of fossils including crinoids, or sea lilies, and brachiopods. However, it’s what happened afterwards that creates its fame. The limestone was interbedded with softer shales and after deposition the rocks were tilted which allowed the softer shales to be eroded, forming valleys, and the harder limestones to form the prominent ridges.

This creates the classic situation of a steep scarp face and the gentle dip slope, following the dip of the rocks. Wenlock Edge is considered to be one of the most classical examples.

The characteristics of the escarpment did lead to a tragic event, many years ago. During the English Civil War, 1642-1651, a Royalist, Major Smallman, escaped from his home in Wilderhope Manor carrying important despatches.

He was cornered at the top of the escarpment and, not prepared to be taken, he galloped his horse off the steep slope. He survived by falling into an apple tree and made his way to Shrewsbury to deliver his letters, but his horse was tragically killed.

As you would expect, there are stories of both their ghosts being seen on the escarpment. But don’t let that stop you visiting a lovely part of the world.

The Wrekin is a dominant hill of volcanic origin that looms over the area with tremendous views - it is a place well worth a visit.

• Fred Knobbit is a nature blogger. He grew up in the Pennines in Lancashire on the edge of an industrial town but is now safely in Cornwall. You can read his archive at www.bodminblogger.com