Shropshire 12- Calverhall and Ightfield /a dissenters cemetery/the defibrillator in the phone box and the village library

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Today was a day of change . The first day that we had the opportunity to drive across the border from Wales into England . The sun was shining it felt a little as if we were on holiday. We headed over the border and arrived in the small village of Calverhall and a walk with my daughter . I was looking foward to that walk . . It would make a change to walk somewhere different to Wingerworth or Bangor on Dee. It would be good to walk with someone rather than walk alone.

We set off from Calverhall . A small rural village with an ancient history going back to the Domesday book. We walked past the Old Jack Pub and headed towards the village library which was housed inside a lyche gate . The seats inside were covered with paperbacks . During Covid the villagers were asked what they wanted to with the lyche gate and a library was chosen. Outside were two old baths filled with soil and spring bulbs. Daffodils just going over and stunning multicoloured tulips . The sun was shining . It was Day 400 of lockdown and all seemed well with the world . As well as it could be . Sunshine helps though doesnt it ?

We were heading for the Old Jack pub. I knew it from going for meals in the 1990's. It used to house a drinking vessel known as the Jacca Corra which has since disappeared . Its whereabouts not known. Beyond the pub used to be a Post Office . Long closed down. We were heading for a path that ran beween Calverhall and the neighbouring village of Ightfield . The path was new . The idea of a path had been mooted ten years ago. The villagers of both Calverhall and Ightfield were asked if they wanted to contribute to the cost of making the path. The answer was a maybe from Ightfield who could then walk safely to the Old Jack and a resounding no from Calverhall who thought that there was nothing worth walking to in nearby Ightfield . With only just over 500 souls living in each village the burden of the cost of the path would fall on the council tax . Ten years passed and eventually money was found and the idea moved to reality . According to my daughter it was heaving with walkers in the evening but it was quiet this time of the day. We skirted the field which was fenced off to protect the crops and fell into easy conversation . 12 months worth of conversation . Work and home life all were covered . A young lad rode past on his bike . He ignored us and cycled on . The walk only took 15 minutes and we were then walking on the road into Ightfield .

First stop a picture opportunity at the village world war one memorial . This stands on the corner of the main road through the village . The sun was bright so I struggled with my photographs . The memorial was the usual stone cross placed on a plinth set on three steps . A simple cross was incised on the front face. The inscription stated that the cross was erected by the parisioners of Ightfield in glorious memory of those in this parish who laid down their lives in the Great War.

We left the war memorial behind us and headed for the local church . Both Ightfield and Calverhall have large and impressive churches . Both of very different character. Ightfield is an older church Named after St John the Baptist it was partly rebuilt in the 19th century but much was of 15th century origins . Gargoyles featured heavily along the rooflne . A pretty graveyard surroundd the church . We did not get the chance to see inside even though the door was open. The vicar came out . She wore her black cassock and white surplice and looked ready to undertake a service . "Are you coming in ? " She said . She was waiting for the village to turn up for a small memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh who had died last week. We explained that we were just walking and looking at the church from the outside . The church looked pretty enough . We headed back towards home passing an elderly well dressed man who clearly was off for the service at the church .

Heading away from the church we passed the old red phone box now housing a defibulator. Another innovative use of a disused phone box .

We headed off down the lane to an old graveyard . This was highly unexpected as it was in the middle of nowhere . My daughter did not know much about it and had pondered whether it was a burial ground for the local gentry . However it look unkempt with none of the graves cared for. They lay at jaunty angles . None had flowers on them or wreathes . It was clearly abandoned . Some of the memorials were worn so much none of the names were visible . Others were easy to read and showed different family names . So clearly not a graveyard for the local gentry . A number of the memorials were small and identical . Each with two initials cut into them . All were ending with an N . Clearly a linked family . Clearly with a surname beginning with N. People who worked on the local estate. The clue eventually was there if you looked hard enough . One grave more grander than the rest was for the local Baptist preacher who served the Whitchurch Circuit . We had wondered why all these graves were not in the local churches . These were the graves of Dissenters . A congregation who wanted nothing to do with the Church of England and built their own Chapel somewhere on this piece of ground .. Mossfield Baptist Chapel once served a thriving congregation , a ministers house and a small schoolroom . Nothing was left bar for a dozen graves .

Our walk home took us back on the newly opened path . Tulips lined the banks , the church at Calverhall was there in the distance . A more modern church not open for visitors . Some gardeners worked in the graveyard but did not acknowledge us . My daughter called an hello to various people she knew . A neighbour on his way to the cricket club , a school colleague . We stood at the Millenium Ponds and watched the small fishes in the deep water . Reeds lined the banks. It was so peaceful and a change from Bangor on Dee . Something I had looked forward to and hoped to walk again.

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