Wilderhope Manor

Wilderhope Manor is a fine Elizabethan manor house perched on the edge of Wenlock Edge in the Shropshire Hills, built in 1585 by Francis Smallman. The house retains its original plaster ceilings with elaborate decorative motifs and a handsome oak spiral staircase. During the Civil War, Major Thomas Smallman famously escaped Parliamentarian captors by leaping his horse from the limestone cliff behind the house — a spot still known as the Major's Leap. Now a YHA youth hostel, the manor is open for guided tours on certain days.