When Shrewsbury Town formed in 1886, they first played on a racecourse called Monkmore, but had to move after a year when lawlessness and widespread corruption halted racing and closed the ground down. Yes, unlike today, they used to take a dim view on race-fixing and would close down the whole operation. Three more moves ensued, before they settled at Gay Meadow in or around 1910. It was named Gay Meadow because the meadow was once home to a fairground, and being gay meant you were happy and jolly. Plans are in place to upgrade the ground and rename it, New Meadow, leaving the path clear for Lambeth Council to rename Clapham Common Gay Meadow, in its stead.
The club’s nickname is a shortened form of Shrewsbury and they will be hoping no one can tame “The Shrews” this season, I thank you. The club has almost always used the town coat of arms for its badge. (PIC 1) It is in the roundel with the club’s name at the top and the motto of Shrewsbury at the bottom. In the centre are three lions and date the club was formed. The arms are a combination of the lion heads of the old Shrewsbury coat of arms and the badge of Atcham Bridge. (PIC 2) The arms of Shrewsbury and Atcham were granted in November 1975. The arms of Shrewsbury alone were officially recorded in 1623. The coat of arms cannot be dated with certainty but does appear on the Town Seal of 1425. (PIC 3) There is some confusion as to the actual identity of the three animals in the seal, as the heraldic description calls them both leopards and golden lions, but as one web page explains: “The reason for the occurrence of leopards heads on Shrewsbury’s coat of arms is less readily explained. It has been suggested that they are really the three gold lions which have formed the English Royal Arms since the twelfth century. Possibly Shrewsbury was allowed to use the royal lions as their arms by one of the medieval Kings, perhaps Edward I, who often made the town his headquarters during his conquest of Wales in the late thirteenth century, and who substantially rebuilt the castle. Certainly, the three Royal leopards or lions formed the entire shield of Edward I, in whose time Shrewsbury, as a military centre of great importance, began to assume its medieval aspect of a semi-royal city. Alternatively, it may be that the loyal burgesses of Shrewsbury themselves decided to adopt the charge to demonstrate their fidelity to the King”.
Heads such as these were often called loggerheads and originate from the practice of carving fierce animals onto the end of logs that were to be used for battering, a ram would be a popular choice as they had rounded horns, hence the use of the term battering ram. Atcham Bridge, symbolised in the arms is actually older than the USA. It began in 1771 and opened in 1776, the year the USA gained its independence from England. (PIC 4) The motto “FLOREAT SALOPIA” translates as, May Shropshire Flourish. Salop is the abbreviation for Shropshire, the county in which Shrewsbury lies. The previous badge looks more like the arms, as it is on a shield with just the club’s initials. (PIC 5) Derby County uses a stylised ram as their badge, and very tasteful it is too, which is more than can be said for the Shrews who use a stylised shrew, which looks more like an April fool’s prank than a badge. (PIC 6) But use it they did, for ten years from 1983 to 1993, and if you don’t believe me here is a picture of Shrewsbury player Nigel Pearson in the 1980s sporting the Shrew’s Shrew. (PIC 7)
The name of Shrewsbury has nothing to do with the small mole-like mammal found on the 1983 badge, but originated from the Anglo-Saxon word Scrobbesburh which means, the fortified place in the bushes, or scrubs. Scrobbes being the plant, and Burh being the fortified settlement, from where we get bury and later borough. New Meadow is also known as Montgomery Waters Meadow, and it can hold 9,875 fans eager to make welcome local rivals Wrexham and Walsall. To unearth more about “The Shrews” just burrow your way to www.shrewsburytown.com
