Shropshire 45 - Whitchurch at Christmas /the more you know/the closed down chapels /the Herald printers

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A snippet of wisdom from my daily dose of Eastern philosophy today told me that "The more I know , the less I need " I am definately sure I don't agree with one word of that. For me the more I know the more I want to know. It is never too late to stop learning or seeing things. Whether that is at home in the locality or further afield . When you think you know enough then it is rather a sad time . I wonder if what I have just written reminds you of the film Short Circuit where Robot number 5 also known as Johnnie 5 gains intelligence and demands input. I wake up each morning and need input. Whatever that input will be depends on so many things.

Today it was a trip to meet up with a friend in nearby Whitchurch where we would have lunch and a catch up on news. Although I know Whitchurch well from many years of living and working there I still find things to see and do . So before I headed off for lunch and a catch up on news with a friend I had to drive there and park up. It was the run up to Christmas so it made a change to drive a different road and see the way that houses were decorated on my route . A huge tractor wheel was decorated with tinsel, holly and baubles outside one of the farms . It brought a smile to my face . Recycling something that would have gone to landfill once .

Whitchurch seemed extremely quiet when I arrived . The car park was relatively empty. A handful of cars parked up and the occupants walking across the park towards the canal . The rain had made the walk across the park muddy. A few children played on the skate park on their new scooters. They had brought along that loud music to accompany them. The sort of music I listen to and wonder how it can be termed music . Perhaps that was one area I realised that I needed to know less about rap music .

As I climbed the steps slowly a young lad waited at the top for me to arrive . He was walking his two dogs . I thanked him and he smiled back answering with a cheery "you are welcome ". A nice gesture which made me smile.

I had a little time on my hands and thought how to fill it before heading for the usual Walkers Cafe for lunch. This end of town is a bit run down. Flats where the drug dealers lived. The backs of the hotels that lined the High Street . No Christmas decorations here . As I walked downhill I passed the empty shell of what once was the thriving local newspaper office. The windows and doors were boarded up and the sign announced that the property was available at auction . On closer inspection the sign had been there years. An empty shell of what it once was . The building housed the printing presses which produced the weekly Whitchurch Herald . Customers went in and arranged printing. The local correspondents called in and handed in reports of sports events. Womens Institute meetings, the local darts . The local jobcentre added a page of jobs that were being advertised locally. The estate agents booked a few pages to showcase the houses up for sale in the area. All that had gone with the internet . There is still a market for newspapers for most people like us glean their news from the internet . Magazines are available on line or from the local libraries . The weekly newspaper local to the area has gone by the wayside over the years and buildings like the Herald offices lie empty. Perhaps one day it will be demolished and housing will replace it . Perhaps that would be better than a building gradually falling down.

I headed for the other side of Whitchurch. A side I normally never got round to visiting. It was the wrong end of town . In the opposite direction. Away from the main shopping streets. There is a lovely small arcade full of independent shops which was decorated tastefully for the festive season . The sad thing was that some of the units as in any town were shut down. A number of old houses with plaques on the walls telling anyone who cared to stop what the house was used for in the past or who lived there . I had not noticed the pretty glass in one of the houses . A house that looked to come from the 18th century.

There are currently over 100 listed buildings in Whitchurch . I had never considered that there were so many. You can learn something new every day if you choose to. he street names in the town centre reflect the changing history of the town. The street names secretly gave out their origins . Roman Pepper Street - a common name that derived from the Via Piperatica where the roman citizens of Whitchurch purchased their pepper and spices . Norse street name ending in gate - the Norse word for street . Watergate Street - the water and the gate long gone . Highgate - no sign of a gate these days. Bargates - no idea where that one came from . Dodington named after an old Anglo Saxon Duda. Then the medieval street names. Castle Hill where once the castle stood . Or Yardington which stood in the castle yard. Again no trace exists apart from the street name . The modern Whitchurch streets referred to the local industries. Claypit Street where the bricks were made , Mill Street named after the medieval town mill and finally Chemistry. An odd name that always intrigued me .Named after the chemical industries that once lined the route into town .

When you wander up a street you have not walked for years it is clear to see the differences . The barber who cut every childs hair in the 1990's had long gone and replaced by a modern nail bar. The old laundrette down Park Road no longer there. Replaced by a housing estate . Goodwins dairy long gone. The housing had swallowed the land up and there was no trace of what was once a thriving business. I found myself thinking just how much had changed over 25 years .

I reached the top of the street and wanted to see how the two chapels had fared. Once thriving they stood facing each other. Religion was such a big part of society that Whitchurch like other towns could boast a large number of churches and chapels of every denomination under the sun. I was not sure which chapel was which but one was the United Reformed Church formerly Congregational . That had been built in 1815 and was Grade II listed . Sadly it was fenced off and looked as if it had been closed for years. The windows covered with steel sheets . I guess because it is a listed building it was being left alone . Sadly this meant a decline if it continued . I wondered if it would be better to turn it into two luxurious flats or one large house which maintained the outer structure but gave the building a new lease of life. It seems that someone had the same idea when the building closed in 2003 and had been put on the market for £295,000 with the plans to convert into retail and community use or four flats . It seems that nothing has happened since. The interior which was typical of a chapel would have lent itself to a concert hall for small scale concerts . The organ is still in situ and the woodwork and pews still in place . How I would have loved to have gone inside but it looked as if there was little chance of that. I looked on it with a certain amount of sadness .

St Catherines opposite is a much larger imposing building. This too is listed but closed to the public . This was a chapel of ease for Whitchurch . It seemed too large and ornate to not be a church in its own right . It dated 1836 but gave the feel of something built in the previous century. Now a builders store . That seemed a waste of a building with an impressive frontage. With portico and columns it oozed style and cried out money. The panelled doors were firmly shut like its neighbour across the road. The datestone above the door had always amazed me as it was inscribed with the letters MDCCCXXXVI in the roman style. I wonder how many children and adults walked by and never even noticed it let alone worked out what the date was. A lantern topped off the church. A clock made by Joyce was placed on the building and the court of arms carved in of the local Bridgewater family.

Time was running out and I had to head back towards Green End . My last stop the Almshouses . I knew there were a set in Whitchurch but today I learned that there were two . There was still more to see in Whitchurch but that have to wait for another day .

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