Shropshire Routes to Roots | Changes in people and landscape

6. Buildings (Part 1)

What can the buildings tell us about life in the villages?

Every village has a collection of buildings all adding to the character and history of the area. But can these buildings tell us about the people who lived in the village and their daily lives?

What can the church tell us about the village?

A view of Church Preen Church [Opens in new window: image size 48kb]

Church Preen Church
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[Original photograph - Routes to Roots]

An Unusual shape for a parish church

The 13th century church at Church Preen is 70 foot long and only 13 foot wide. This is certainly an unusual shape for a parish church. This is because it was adapted from a monastic church. Originally founded in 1163 as a cell of Wenlock Priory, a prior and 2-3 monks would have lived here serving the church. The remains of the priory have all but gone although there are still vestiges within the gardens of the manor.

Why is the yew at Church Preen famous?

The Church Preen yew which stands outside the monastic chapel is considered to be of great antiquity. Yew trees were sacred to the Druids and Celtic people because of their symbolism of death and rebirth. When St Augustine brought Christianity to England in the 7th century he was told not to destroy the pagan shrines and places of worship but to bring the Church to those places. This explains why so many ancient yews, such as this one, predate the churches in whose churchyards they stand. The central trunk is now hollow but the branches above very much alive. So historians think that the tree maybe as much as 1500 years old.

A view of the Church Preen Yew [Opens in new window: image size 50kb]

The Church Preen yew
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[Original photograph - Routes to Roots]

What is special about Kenley churchyard?

The first record for the church at Kenley is 1364. It was originally a chapelry of Cound but it did not have its own graveyard until 1605, before this burial was carried out at Harley.

A view of Kenley Church [Opens in new window: image size 32kb]

Kenley Church
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[Original photograph - Routes to Roots]

A photograph of the Yews in Kenley churchyard [Opens in new window: image size 41kb]

Yews in Kenley churchyard
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[Original photograph - Routes to Roots]

These yews define the edge of the old churchyard at Kenley. The church sits, like Easthope and Stanton Lacy, on a circular site. This suggests that it has been built on an earlier perhaps, pre-christian, religious site.

Where is Hughley's steeple?

"The vane on Hughley steeple
Veers bright, a far-known sign,
And there lie Hughley people,
And there lie friends of mine.
Tall in their midst the tower
Divides the shade and sun,
And the clock strikes the hour
And tells the time to none."
A.E.Housman

A picture of Hughley's steeple [Opens in new window: image size 45kb]

Hughley's steeple
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[Original photograph - Routes to Roots]

Housman is reputed to have written this poem before he visited the village and did not realise that there was no steeple! It is poetic licence. The earliest part of the church is the North wall. The two lancet windows date to the early 13th century. The bell tower was added in 1701. Inside is a beautiful Jacobean screen. Like Kenley it was not until 1576 that permission was granted for burial of the dead.

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Page created 2003 and last updated 30 July 2007

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