Shropshire Routes to Roots

David decides to wait until the blizzard passes

The Story Continues

David decides not to risk going out into the terrible blizzard and decides to wait until the next night and then go to recover the body. But in the morning David is horrified to find that the shepherd is out early on the hill after the blizzard looking for any animals trapped in overnight snowdrifts. The shepherd finds he is one ewe short, he knew he was looking for a lame ewe, and discovers the dead ewe in the ditch as the drifting snow had collapsed the old branches that David had placed over the body. It is very obvious that the ewe has been killed and not died accidentally. As David was the only worker out on the hill yesterday the shepherd knows who is to blame.

The shepherd knows what he has to do - report the loss of the sheep and his well founded suspicions to the farmer. This he does and the local police are called.

Labourer's wife collecting firewood [Shropshire Archive reference: PH/S/14/1] Larger image, in a new window [12kb]

May Davies would struggle to keep the cooking range burning continuously during the winter. This would not only provide heat for cooking but also for drying washing in wet weather and their wet clothes when they had been working outside in poor conditions.

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