REVIEWS OF THE RAVEN HOTEL

Lying in the heart of the ancient market town of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, the Raven Hotel began life as a coaching inn and now incorporates a row of former almshouses and a medieval hall arranged around a delightful plant-filled inner courtyard.

While it holds the oldest licence in the town, what makes the Raven really unusual is its close links with the formation of the modern Olympic Games. Dr William Penny Brookes, a local doctor who was born in Much Wenlock in 1809, organised the Wenlock Games that were first held on a field on the edge of the town in October 1850. He then forged a strong connection with friends in Greece and other foreign lands, making known his desire to establish a modern Olympic Games. Together with Baron Pierre de Coubertin they laid the foundations for the formation of the first International Olympics in Athens in 1896.

Many Olympian banquets and reunions were held at The Raven Hotel and Baron Pierre de Coubertin once made a famous speech there. It still hosts past Olympian gatherings and its walls are decorated with a fascinating collection of Wenlock Games pictures and memorabilia.

“Best of British” Magazine

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