Place Feature

But by far the the most spectacular scenery can be found in the southwest of the county, in the hills south of Pontesbury.

This was once a bustling area dotted with mines like Snailbeach, but today many of the traces of mining have blended into the landscape and the area is popular with walkers.

Chief among these hills is the long ridge of the Stiperstones, with its dramatic rocky outcrops.

With such breathtaking - and spooky - scenery, it's hardly surprising that the area abounds in legends and myths. The best-known of these is that of the Devil's Chair.

The Devil's Chair is the highest - and the most imposing of these outcrops.

According to legend, the rocks of the Devil's Chair were brought there by the Devil himself.

Curiously, perhaps, he was carrying a load of stones in his apron(!) and apparently travelling across Britain from Ireland, when he fancied a bit of a rest.

As the legend goes, the Devil was actually planning to use his load of stones to fill in the valley on the other side of the Stiperstones, which is known as Hell's Gutter.

Unfortunately for him, as he got up after his rest on the highest rock of the Stiperstones, his apron strings snapped and the rocks tumbled out.

Instead of picking them up, the Devil left the rocks scattered all over the ridge - the mucky pup - and the legend has it that you can smell the brimstone on them in hot weather.

However, the claim that the Devil wears an apron is quite unique and the legend doesn't offer an explanation for this.

Perhaps he was doing a spot of washing up for Mrs Satan when he had a compulsion to fill up that irritating valley in Shropshire with rocks.

Perhaps not.

Mind you, this isn't the end of the Devil's involvement on this rocky outcrop.

The Evil Guy is also said to use the Devil's Chair as... er... a chair.

On the longest night of the year, according to legend, he sits on his chair and summons all his local followers - witches and evil spirits, mainly - and they choose their king for the year.

The Stiperstones are actually made up of a unique rock - Stiperstones Quartzite - which emerges from the ground to form its distinctive rocky crest.

When the ridge was first formed it is thought to have been covered by softer rock, which has weathered away over many thousands of years.

The ridge itself has been shaped most recently by the action of ice and frost shattering on the rock during the last ice age.

This has created the tors that line the top of the ridge that make this site so recognisable from the surrounding countryside.