A Shropshire town is shaping up as a popular destination for family holidays. While Bishop’s Castle is in the heart of dog-friendly countryside, it is four legs of a different kind that have firm roots in the history of the market town. Bishop’s Castle was once home to politician Robert Clive, better known as Clive of India, who added an Indian elephant to his family coat of arms which can be seen in the market square.
During the Second World War many circuses moved their animals and elephants out of the cities to rural places including Bishop’s Castle so they would be safe from the air raids. Today, signs of the town’s affection for their former elephant residents are everywhere with a huge three-storey high orange Banksy-style elephant mural on a wall in the High Street along with metal elephants marching across two ancient houses on the cobbled streets and a dedicated elephant walking trail. And one place to stay on a break in the town is the Elephant Gatehouse, an elegant, stone-built Grade 2 listed property built more than 300 years ago as one of the stables for The Castle Hotel.
Known locally as ‘The Elephant House’ after it was used to home the evacuated elephants – while most of the elephants were collected after the war, one Indian elephant was left behind unclaimed. It continued to live in the Gatehouse and some locals still remember seeing the elephant being walked around the town and recall local school children helping to feed it fruit and vegetable.
