Ludlow, a market-town and municipal borough of Shropshire, at the Corve's influx to the Teme, 28 miles S. of Shrewsbury. It is a very old and interesting place, with two noble monuments of antiquity. First, there is the massive Norman keep, 110 feet high, of the castle, where Prince Arthur wedded Catharine of Aragon, and died less than five months afterwards; where, in the banqueting-hall, Milton produced his Comus; and where, too, Butler wrote Hudibras. Captured by King Stephen, the Lancastrians, and the Round-heads, it was finally dismantled in 1689. Secondly, there is the cruciform collegiate church (restored
1863-91), Perpendicular in style, with a tower 130 feet high. The grammar-school, founded in 1282, and refounded in 1552, is almost the oldest in the kingdom; and one of seven gates still remains. From Edward IV.'s reign till 1867 Ludlow returned two members, then one till 1885. Stanley Weyman is a native. Pop. (1851) 4730; (1881) 5035; (1891) 4460. See works by Wright (1826-69) and Baker (2d ed. 1889); and for Ludlow formation, SILURIAN.