Shrewsbury Wolves’ 10 things you might not know about Shrewsbury...
1	The column at the Shropshire County Council building known as The Shire Hall, on which perches the statue of Lord Hill is the tallest of its kind in the world. It stands at 133ft 6 inches.
2	In the graveyard of Shrewsbury’s St Chad’s church lies the gravestone of one Ebenezer Scrooge. Sadly, it is a fake, left over from when the classic film (which you can guarantee will be on every year) ‘A Christmas Carol’ was filmed in Shrewsbury in 1984.
3	The commoners say Shrew, the posh people say Shrow. But in fact both are correct! The name seems to suggest it should be Shrew as in the small animal, but the town used to be known as Shroesbury and Shrowsbury so you could say the toffs are actually right as well.
4	The town has a Welsh name – Amwythig. But allow me to take this opportunity to remind you that Shrewsbury definitely is not in Wales!
5	The name originates from Anglo Saxon Scrobbesburh. This is translated as ‘fort in the scrub-land region’. The Welsh name we told you about earlier means ‘fortified place’.
6	Shrewsbury had its own battle, between Henry IV and the rebel army led by Henry Hotspur Percy. This happened some 600+ years ago in 1403. You can find out loads about it at www.battleofshrewsbury.org but for those of you who can’t be bothered, Henry won.
7	According to a report on the state of UK prisons, HM Prison Shrewsbury is the most overcrowded in the country. It’s a category C prison currently holding about 300 convicts.
8	The town of Shrewsbury is twinned with a city in Holland called Zutphen (no, we’ve never heard of it either). Apparently its home to about 46,000 people compared to 70,000 in Shrewsbury. Which must really annoy those responsible for...
9	...Shrewsbury applying for City status in 2000 and 2002. Both times they failed, unlike Wolverhampton which was awarded city status in 2000. Luckily for the reputation of Shrewsbury folk, rival town Telford have also failed in attempts to become a city.
10	But do the people of Shrewsbury even want to become a city? There is a term ‘Proud Salopian’ which stems from when overweight carrot top Henry VIII wanted Shrewsbury to become a ‘Cathedral City’ for Shropshire. The town of Shrewsbury said thanks but no thanks, we would rather be a ‘first of towns’ instead of a second rate city. The term comes from the people of Shrewsbury being proud of the way it is. Somebody better tell the bods in charge of those city status bids!