Shropshire includes some of the finest towns in England - among them Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Bridgnorth. It also contains buildings of vital importance in the architectural history of the country from the Roman period to the present day. The Roman baths of Wroxeter; the Cistercian priory of Buildwas; the church and castle of Acton Burnell, displaying the latest fashions of the end of the thirteenth century; the magnificent fifteenth-century work in the parish church of Ludlow; the world's first iron bridge at Coalbrookdale; the extraordinary landscape of Hawkstone Park, a textbook example of picturesque planning; John Nash's Italianate villa at Cronkhill, looking like something in a Claude painting; Norman Shaw's monumental church at Batchcott; all are of the first rank.