You really shocked me there, saying that he never visited Shropshire till after the publication of A Shropshire Lad. The peoms seem to smell of fresh Shropshire air. Why would anyone write a peom with geographical references if they didn't know the area well?
I went googling for evidence, didn't find it, but a quote from wiki seems relevant "Many colleagues were unnerved by his scathing critical attacks on those whom he found guilty of shoddy scholarship".