A mystery in Church Stretton and the most picturesque tin tabernacle of them all in Little Stretton

This is the last of these brief posts on where I have been that day, as I'm going home to Leicestershire tomorrow. They will remind me of what I got up to on holiday and of some possible longer posts about the places I've been to that I may write later in the year.

Today it was the town of Church Stretton and the village of Little Stretton. I saw several emergency vehicles in Church Stretton and a helicopter landed in the centre, all of which made me fear that someone had met with an accident on the Long Mynd, a hill that towers over the town. But I can't find any news reports about what was going on.

And in Little Stretton I once again admired All Saints' Church. This began life in 1903 as a tin tabernacle – one of those flat-pack, corrugated-iron churches that were produced in their hundreds for new industrial settlements or the further reaches of the Empire.

It's a surprise to find one in an ancient Shropshire village, but All Saints' was soon zhuzhed up with a mock Tudor exterior and thatched roof to make it look at home. And it does to this day.

Later. The incident at Church Stretton, whatever it was, didn't make the media, but somebody was flown to the Royal Stoke University Hospital in the helicopter.

Secret Shropshire: The ghost of Copper Hole

Another tale from the BBC's Secret Shropshire series. This time it's the ghost of Copper Hole:

Richard Tisdale unravels the mystery of the Church Stretton ghost story that made global headlines.

In1874 the glowing white spectre of a woman who’d vanished off the face of the earth caused mass hysteria in the south Shropshire town. It’s a ghost story that has reverberated through the centuries and one that will never be laid to rest.

Family's horror seeing tourists eat from saucepans in idyllic Cotswolds village

Gloucestershire Live wins our Headline of the Day Award for this tale of tourism in Bourton-on-the-Water.

The judges left me to comment, so I shall merely point out that all tourist areas have honeypots where visitors tend to congregate. 

If you go to the Shropshire hills but don't want crowds, then avoid the Carding Mill Valley at Church Stretton. And if you find St Ives in Cornwall too crowded, walk a mile along the cliffs towards Zennor and you'll have an amazing landscape all to yourself.

Or you could forget the Cotswolds and visit the Notswolds.

This post is sponsored by Visit the Notswolds - The Official Notswold Tourism Site.

Shropshire: It's more like it was now than it was then

As my Twitter followers may have gathered, I've made it back to Shropshire for a few days.

Of course, there have been changes. The Plough at Wistanstow has closed. You can't have tea in the courtyard at Stokesay Castle any more. The Land of Lost Content museum at Craven Arms really has gone.

But then I decided I was looking at things the wrong way. My memories of exploring the Shropshire hills cover nearly 30 years from the late 1980s - I first encountered Snailbeach and the Stiperstones on the day we won an important qualifying-group game against Poland on our way to Italia 90.

As a result, what I have is a jumble of memories that I sometimes struggle to put together into a single holiday or even a single day. 

Where, for instance, was I walking to or from when I discovered the little Catholic chapel at Plowden? I think it was on a walk from Church Stretton to Bishop's Castle - the first time I saw the latter town - but I may well be wrong.

So I decided to stop hankering for a past that may never quite have been and make some new memories. I went to look for Halford church on the other side of the Onny from Craven Arms. 

Not only did I find the church, I also found an agricultural village that long predated the founding of the town. I won't share the photos with your today - this is, after all, meant to be a holiday - instead, the photo above shows the Plough in its pomp

I shall leave you with a thought from the Shropshire-based sitcom The Green Green Grass. In one episode, an American returned to the county, where he had been stationed in the Sixties, and wondered if it had changed.

"Oh no," a local reassured him, "It's not changed. If anything, it's more like it was now than it was then."

The 10 best Shropshire hills

Just a little Shropshire hill porn while I plan my holidays.

Lib Dem PPC for South Shropshire calls for action on flash floods

From the Shropshire Star:

Chris Naylor, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the new South Shropshire constituency at the general election, says the county needs to be better prepared for deluges like that that hit the area as part of Storm Babet. 

He said immediate steps that need to be taken are drain clearance and looking for ways to control the flow of water.

After meeting residents in Church Stretton affected by flooding from the A49, he told the paper:

"Yet again it has rained hard. Yet again there were flash floods that could have been avoided if the county had been better prepared. Floods at Minsterley, Ludlow, Church Stretton, Cleobury Mortimer and in many other towns and villages in the south of the county.

"I am saddened and shocked to hear that one man died in floodwater at Cleobury Mortimer."

And added:

He added: “The stark reality is that south Shropshire needs to be better prepared for these deluges. The science is straightforward. As the climate warms, the air will hold more water. Deluges, rather than the steady rain we are used to, will become more common.

South Shropshire is the successor to the Ludlow constituency that Matthew Green held for the Liberal Democrats between 2001 and 2005.

Since then it has returned a Conservative with large majorities, but in recent weeks two of the safest Tory council wards in the constituency have been gained by the Lib Dems with huge swings. Something is stirring among those blue remembered hills.

South Shropshire Lib Dems choose Chris Naylor as their PPC

Chris Naylor will fight the South Shropshire constituency for the Liberal Democrats at the next general election.

He told the Shropshire Star:

"I'm delighted and honoured to be selected as South Shropshire's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Lib Dems here. I promise to do all I can for local residents.

"I want to build on the success of our previous Lib Dem MP here, Matthew Green - and win back this seat to give our residents, our rural issues, a stronger voice in Westminster.

"South Shropshire and our particular problems are sadly being taken for granted by this exhausted, infighting government. I want to champion our local needs - and especially our rural communities, our farms, our rivers - in Westminster and press for change.

"I also want faster ambulance response times and to save our community hospitals. I want more affordable housing, better public transport, and good-value shops in towns and in rural villages. And real encouragement for new businesses - including a better deal with Europe."

Chris Naylor, who lives in Church Stretton, was a Lib Dem councillor in Camden for eight years and was the cabinet member for housing for four of them.

South Shropshire has much the same boundaries as Ludlow, which Matthew Green held for the Lib Dems between 2001 and 2005.

Trivial Fact of the Day features Church Stretton and Boris Johnson

It's well known to readers of this blog that Boris Johnson was married in the Shropshire village of West Felton.

Andrew Gimson told the story in the first of his many biographies of the former prime minister:

He also arrived for his own wedding without the right clothes. As Allegra said, after relating the story of the ring: "What's more, he was wearing John Biffen's trousers at the time ... Some weeks later I had to send the mo rtgagees our wedding certificate, but it was nowhere to be found. Naturally Bozzer showed not the slightest interest. Months later the Biffens were much amused to find the missing document in the pocket of the famous trousers."

When Lady Biffen was reminded that Boris got married in her husband's trousers, she replied with indignation: "And in his cufflinks, and the reason he didn't get married in my husband's shoes is that his feet were larger - he would have limped to the altar, which would have been worse than the holes in the soles of his own shoes."

Allegra is his first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen, of whom it was once said: "She speaks to you as though she were launching a ship."

It turns out that Johnson's nuptial connection with Shropshire, and his inefficiency, did not end there.

I'm currently reading Simon Kuper's Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK. Here he quotes an article in the Oxford Student magazine Isis from late 1987 - its author clearly hadn't been asked to the wedding:

It has been one of the trademarks of Boris Johnson to turn shambling eccentricity into a smart career move. It helped him win the Captaincy of Eton, the Presidency of the Union, and the hand of socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen. Their wedding this summer in Shropshire seemed to mark a new stage in his life. For once Boris was in control.

But as guests enjoyed the lavish reception, Boris and Allegra set off for their honeymoon to spend their wedding night NOT in romantic Egypt but in nearby Church Strutton [sic; actually Church Stretton]. True to form, Boris had completely forgotten that one needs visas to visit Egypt.

But where did they stay? The photo above shows the Longmynd Hotel, which must be a strong candidate, though an upmarket guest house such as Jinlye must is another possibility.

It's the photo of the hotel I've gone for above, but wherever they stayed, we can be sure that Boris took Allegra up The Lawley.

Acton Scott Historic Working Farm to reopen next spring

There are plans to reopen Acton Scott Historic Working Farm next sprint, reports the Shropshire Star.

Before it closed in the summer of 2021, the historical attraction near Church Stretton welcomed thousands of visitors. It received UK-wide attention after the BBC series Victorian Farm was filmed there in 2008.

Now Shropshire Council has handed it back to the Acton Scott Estate, which plans to establish a not-for-profit body and reopen the attraction during the spring of 2024.

The Acton Scott Estate website tells readers:

We're fixing leaking roofs, woodworm infestations, drainage issues, weeds, asbestos, the blacksmith's forge, the threshing barn floor and much more. We're working as quickly as we can to get the site open to visitors again.

The Estate has decided to purchase the Dairy Shorthorn Cattle, Shropshire Sheep and poultry from Shropshire Council and then hand them to the new not-for-profit organisation when the time comes. In the meantime, they will be looked after with love and care.

We are proud to be a Rare Breeds Survival Trust accredited farm. This means that we look after and breed animals which are not commonly found in the UK.

The Joy of Six 1104

"I believe that the leadership is making a serious mistake. Our policy on rebuilding trade and cooperation in Europe can be popular – if only we let people know about it. There is no credible answer to the challenges Britain faces without it. And, even better, it distinguishes us very clearly from Labour, which is running scared of Brexit." Duncan Brack asks why Ed Davey never talks about Europe.

Andy Boddington reports that Shropshire is to receive no 'levelling up' money to revitalise its bus services: "The operating costs of bus companies have increased significantly over the last year following the increase in fuel prices. Passenger numbers have also not recovered since the pandemic. We are in danger of losing many of our services. Two routes under threat are the 435 service between Ludlow and Shrewsbury and the 553 Bishop’s Castle Shrewsbury service."

Merve Emre fears that academia has ruined literary criticism.

Emily Brontë acted with pragmatism, courage and kindness in her last illness and the received wisdom that she was a 'stubborn', self-destructive patient is grossly unfair, says a new account discussed by Mark Bridge.

"Let me now be your guide to the five most horror-inflected Crown Court cases.  Witchcraft, demonic possession, folk horror and, er, imaginary killer robots, they’re all here (and I’ll finish up with a rundown of the series’ other mildly spooky-flavoured stories)." Ivan Kirby discovers the dark side of the afternoon programme Seventies children watched if they were off school ill.

Sarah Weinman on Sandy Fawkes, the journalist and Soho character who met a stranger at a hotel bar and agreed to a road trip across America. Her companion later turned out to be a serial killer.

The Shropshire Hills shuttle bus service is cut again

I will get back to the Shropshire hills soon - if not this summer, then next. And when I do I shall use my favourite buses - the Shropshire Hills Shuttle.

They used to be called the Secret Hills Shuttle, but I guess the hills are better known these days. If they are not, it's no fault of mine.

I can remember when three different routes were timed to coincide at The Bridges pub at Ratlinghope, giving visitors a wonderful choice of destinations.

In 2012 it was possible to reach Much Wenlock, which has some claim to be the cradle of the modern Olympic movement, and I can recall dropping in on Aardvark Books at Brampton Bryan, which is in Herefordshire.

As in recent years, in 2022 there is only one route. And it has been cut back.

I can see why this has been done. Once the bus left Snailbeach and the remains of its lead mine, the ride back to Church Stretton was scenic but did not pass through anywhere people were likely to want to alight.

Now the bus turns back at the Stiperstones Inn (where I once posted a Britblog Round Up), which means it does not even reach Snailbeach.

I trust I shall still be able to walk there from the Stiperstones Inn (sorry if this is getting technical), but there are many people who cannot.

The decline in this bus service, which allows people access to these lovely hills without a car, is a measure of our decline as a nation since I stated vising the Shropshire hills 36 years ago.

Here endeth the first lesson.

Fatal air crashes on the Clee Hills in Shropshire

Embed from Getty Images

As regular readers will have noticed, I love the Shropshire hills. Yet for all their beauty, there is something dark and cruel about them. 

For instance, the last fair of the year at Church Stretton was known as 'Deadman's Fair' because of the risk to people making their way home afterwards.

The latest support for this view comes from the Shropshire Star, where an article reveals that there were 19 air crashes on the Clee Hills between 1937 and 1975 with the loss of 43 lives.

This article is occasioned by the publication of Bernard O'Connor's book Air Crashes on the Clee Hills.

O'Connor tells the Star:

"Many local people came out to help after the crashes. There were agricultural labourers, farmers, the Home Guard, anti-aircraft crews, searchlight crews, troops from the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, and the local police as well as staff from the RAF maintenance (rescue) unit and RAF accident investigators.

"Local hospital staff, clergy, gravediggers and crematorium staff played an important role. Local photographers made a record of many of the crashes and reporters from the local, and sometimes national, press ensured readers were provided with the details."

Two Shropshire successes for community land trust

Good news from Shropshire: the Middle Marches Community Land Trust has succeeded in raising the money to buy Norbury Hill - I blogged about this bid the other day. 

A member of the trust told the Shropshire Star:

"We are completely astonished really – this was not something we expected. We heard on Thursday that it was all going to happen and we are sharing the land with one of our supporters, who pledged the other half. The process of buying the land is under way.

"What really made a difference to me was when people actually came up to my house and knocked on the door and gave me a cheque, because they didn't want to miss out on the deadline. It was incredible. We are just so grateful to everybody."

The star also carries the news that the same trust's appeal to raise the money to buy a meadow in Church Stretton has reached its target.

Ships to tie up at Shrewsbury bus station

Red faces at BBC Shropshire today.

I have a soft spot for Shrewsbury bus station, as it's where you set off for Church Stretton, Stiperstones and Bishop's Castle, but it will be good to see the Severn made navigable again this far upstream.

To be serious for a moment, you can read about the now defunct Severn Navigation Restoration Trust online.

Thanks to a vigilant reader.

Keep Britain Bona

How, you will ask, did this ever get broadcast in the 1960s?

The answer is that Kenneth Horne was seen by the powers that be at the BBC as a safe pair of hands and  a good sort. "If Horne's involved it's probably all right."

Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams' Julian and Sandy proved wildly popular with listeners and were saved for the end of the show to stop them going anywhere, much as Peter Sellers' Bluebottle had been on The Goon Show a decade before.

Incidentally Kenneth Horne's father Silvester Horne was a Liberal MP and a celebrated orator. I once went to visit his grave in Church Stretton.

But then Hugh Paddick is a distant cousin of the Lib Dem peer Brian Paddick.

Police investigating 'hate crime' at Church Stretton hustings

Yesterday I tweeted about Philip Dunne's remark (for which he later apologised) that a Sikh opponent was "talking through his turban".

Now the Shropshire Star says:

Police today confirmed they were treating the incident as a hate crime and said it would be fully investigated.

Rest assured, however long this story runs I shall have enough photos of St Laurence's, Church Stretton.

Tory MP accuses Sikh opponent of "talking through his turban"

At a hustings held in St Laurence's, Church Stretton, last night Philip Dunne, the Conservative candidate for Ludlow and MP for the seat since since 2005, accused his Sikh Labour opponent of "talking through his turban".

The Shropshire Star quotes the Liberal Democrat candidate Heather Kidd, who also took part:

"The audience was obviously shocked. It was the worst kind of unthinking Tory prejudice. 

"Mr Dunne apologised quickly, but he should do so again publicly and have a big think about his attitudes, and reflect on his responsibilities. 

"The comment came 15 minutes after holier-than-thou assertions that the Conservative Party always acts on Islamophobia and prejudice, which does make you wonder. 

"If a full explanation is not forthcoming we're entitled to come to our own conclusions."

The retoxification of the Conservative Party is surely complete.

Bishop's Castle Town Council declares a climate emergency

The Shropshire Star reports:

Following in the footsteps of other councils across Shropshire including Shrewsbury, Clun and Ludlow, the Bishop's Castle Town Council declared a climate emergency at a meeting this week after a public led campaign.

Going by my experience of Bishop's Castle, the important thing is that they got there before Church Stretton.

A reader adds dismissively: You're just blogging this so you can post another photograph of Bishop's Castle.

We Make Hay by The SY6 10 years on

One of my more esoteric Sunday music video choices was We Make Hay by the SY6.

Ten years after it was shot, a blog post by Jake Buchanan looks back on the experience:

As the years rolled on, people wanted more of the SY6. We did an ill advised 2nd video for a fruit and veg company which I am not a fan of and then left it as that. 

People wanted us to do something to mark the ten years. We kicked about the idea of doing something but to be honest I was never fully sold, it’s nice to dream about it but it wouldn’t be the same. 

You need those careless times, and the vibe we all had when we all lived close, the gags were effortless to make, the tone was easy. 

I look back on this time foundly, I have a video of myself and my friends being idiots, that’s all I wanted. 

Nottingham's The Park is in the hands of a foreign power

There is something wrong with The Park.

This enclave of 19th-century architect-designed houses stands behind Nottingham Castle. Indeed it occupies what was once its deer park.

The houses are lovely but the atmosphere is strange.

You will find the estate office in a building that looks like the sort of place where you would buy a ticket for the putting course at Church Stretton or Woodhall Spa.

The streets are still lit by gas and little vehicles owned by the estate putter about them. The drivers will wave to you.

But something is wrong with The Park.

It feels like the sort of place Soviet spies would be sent to live after capture to wait until an exchange to be arranged. Their lives would be pleasant, but if they tried to escape they would be shot.

It feels like Patrick McGoohan’s Village transferred to central Nottingham.

The real giveaway is this pillar box.

And I don’t just mean because  it is so small.

Look closely and you will see there is no monogram for the reigning monarch.

It is clear that The Park is held by a foreign power.

I would inform the authorities, but who knows how deep the plot runs?