Walking Whitchurch Heritage

On Tuesday evening we completed our first heritage walk. We ambled along Old Church Road from the Plough, finishing at the site of Whitchurch Castle. In spite of the weather forecast, over 50 folk joined us (so many in fact that we split into 2 groups). From the feedback, everyone seemed to enjoy the event, and the really hardy folk joined us in the Fox & Hounds for a catchup (I had to have a medicinal Reverend James because I’d done so much talking on the walk!)

With the help of ‘Men in Sheds’, colourful posts and posters were fixed all along the road in 15 locations describing some of the history and people from the neighbourhood. The posts and posters will remain up for a short period, so if you get the chance, look out for them!

We’ve printed special maps of the walk, together with an illustrated booklet (in Welsh and English), describing all of the locations along the walk. The maps and booklets are available free of charge (if you’d like to give a donation though, that’d be good) at our AWEN stall at the Festival Fete on Whitchurch Common on Saturday. Why not come along and say hi. The maps and booklets will also be available at the library/hub as well, so you can enjoy the heritage walk yourselves whenever you like

The booklets are filled with black-and-white illustrations of our village history (produced by Anthony Evans, Chris Griffin and yours truly), and make a lovely keepsake

However, we think that these booklets might make an interesting colouring competition. If any adults or children would like to colour the booklets as a summer activity we’d be delighted. They can be returned to the library/hub at the end of the school holidays, and we’ll ask a prominent local person to choose the best. There’ll be prizes of course

We’re already thinking about our second walk (for the autumn), and this time we’re planning to walk from the Common to the Philog. We already have lots of ideas, but if you’ve got any family stories, photographs or items of interest for the walk, why not bring them along to the fete on Saturday. If you can’t make it, why not share your memories with us on Facebook

As a little taster of what you might discover on this next walk is the story of Richard Lougher. He was the blacksmith who had his forge alongside the brook at the 3 Elms pub. Richard and his wife were well known characters in the village, and lived at the bottom end of the Philog. Every Sunday, he and his wife would solemnly walk (dressed all in black) from the Philog to St Mary’s Church, with Richard wearing his very recognisable top hat!

Does anyone have any stories about Richard and his wife? We’d love to hear

We’re also thinking about other walks around the village. Do you have any ideas for where they might be? Perhaps around Melingriffith or the Hollybush? Please share

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