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Mardol Head, SHREWSBURY, SY1 1HD

On Mardol Head at the NW end of the High Street. These office premises were purpose built in 1903. It is ashlar faced over brick with a Welsh slate roof. Carved in relief on the breast of the oriel windows are the words Royal Insurance Company. The listed building details http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1270692&resourceID=5 describe it as 'Free Renaissance style'. Until relatively recently this was the premises of the Alliance and Leicester Building Society but is currently branded as Santander Bank who took over various British banks and building societies in recent years.

By A.E. Lloyd Oswell for the Royal Insurance Company, 1903-04. Nicely done with oriels and a cupola. Grade II listed. It appeared to be between owners at the time, work underway behind the hoardings. Nothing was missed - all the architectural interest is, as usual, higher up.

On Mardol Head at the NW end of the High Street. These office premises were purpose built in 1903. It is ashlar faced over brick with a Welsh slate roof. Carved in relief on the breast of the oriel window are the words Royal Insurance Company. The listed building details http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1270692&resourceID=5 describe it as 'Free Renaissance style'. Until relatively recently this was the premises of the Alliance and Leicester Building Society but is currently branded as Santander Bank who took over various British banks and building societies in recent years.

The town centre bank branch at 1 Pride Hill was previously a branch of Lloyds TSB, rebranded Lloyds Bank in September 2013. Caffè Nero is on the left

Plaque commemorates the completion of the Hall on June 15th. The year of 1596 is given on the red rectangle below.

Operated as a branch by the old Alliance & Leicester Building Society when it was Grade II listed https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101270692-alliance-and-leicester-building-society-shrewsbury#.XBZUmdSLTGg in 1995, and subsequently a branch of the Spanish Santander Bank in 2010 (they acquired the Alliance & Leicester in around 2008 when many UK financial institutions were in a parlous state). The building was originally purpose built as offices for the Royal Insurance Company; the name is carved on the stone above the doorway, and dates from 1903. Described as "A dramatic and skilful articulation of this important corner site", it's now a clothing shop.

The juxtaposition of the chipshop and the heart research charity might be seen to highlight the possible consequences of a high fat diet. The current facade of the chippie can be compared with its appearance in 2001 although that image has been placed in the adjacent gridsquare Image] It's nice to see that the 'bears holding shields' have survived.

According to English Heritage National Monuments Record: Darwin Gate, a sculpture created by the artists Renn & Thacker and opened to the public in 2004. The sculpture is made of cast glass, copper, bronze, stainless steel and stone and is made up of three columns surmounted by metal sculptures. The design of the sculpture combines the form of a Saxon helmet with a Norman window and was inspired by features of St Mary's Church which was attended by Charles Darwin as a boy. The sculpture makes use of the "parallax phenomenon" as it appears as a single solid structure when seen from a certain angle. (This is not that angle unfortunately.)

Quite splendid, the grandest of Shrewsbury's timber-framed houses. Built c1575 for Robert Ireland, a cloth merchant. As to later alterations, "the windows are all Georgian sashes, the ground storey, with shopfronts, early C20 pastiche. Nothing to see inside". Grade II* listed.

Early 19th century shop premises, originally a single unit but now in two premises, which were Grade II listed https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101270693-12-mardol-head-shrewsbury#.WsZmgNQrLGg in late 1995.