Walking Whitchurch Heritage

Last Saturday, we completed our second heritage walk. Meeting on Whitchurch Common (opposite the Three Elms), over 60 folk met up ready for another instalment of local history and healthy walking

The weather forecast had been dire in the preceding days, but for the duration of the walk (and a few hours after) the sun shone and the showers, pretty much held off

Learning so much from our first walk, we had positioned our colourful waymarkers around the lower village. Each showed an illustration of the stop, and with bilingual ‘teasers’ to tempt passers-by. The fourteen stops covered another tranche of our village history with local characters, lost houses and even hints at a more gruesome ancient past!

The illustration below is by Chris Griffin (thanks Chris!), and is one of the sketches on the waymarkers. It shows what Baylis’ shop might have looked like a hundred years ago. Other sketches were generously produced by Anthony Evans and Chris (and even a few from yours truly!)

With funding from CADW and HLF we were able to have a foldable map and coloured booklet to guide our walk. These bilingual maps and booklets are still available free-of-charge from the Hub/Library if you want to walk the route yourself. The Waymarker boards will also remain in position for the next week too

We’ve had incredible feedback from those on the walk saying how much people enjoyed it, and also from others who couldn’t make it on the day, asking if the walk will be repeated. I’m sure we will, so watch out on our website for details

The walk (more of a gentle amble really), took us east along Gwauntreoda and the Philog as far as the old parish boundary. We looked at Ararat Chapel, Holly Cottages and the old Baylis shop. Names of old residents popped up and talk of long-demolished houses, sadly no longer here. Where was Old Povey’s House? And what did the Filog Cottages look like?

The return leg, on the other side of the road looked at the bomb damage in Violet Place and Wauntreoda Road, the site of Flays Farm and stories of American soldiers camped on the common. We discovered a little of Eli Evans our local sculptor and Vine Cottage, finishing back at the Three Elms pub

We had so many people booked on the walk, we split into two groups, with Terry leading the second group in reverse order

There was so much to see that the walk took two hours, and we were delighted how many of the really hardy folk managed it all. Well done you! A well-deserved pint of cwrw helped at the end

If you’re interested in our project, we’re holding a free event at St Mary’s Parish Hall in Church Road on Saturday afternoon (29th October), starting at 2 o’clock. We’ll be celebrating our Walking Whitchurch Heritage project, with displays, short talks and refreshments. There’s something for all ages and everyone’s cordially invited

We’re planning further walks before the end of the year. Ceri Stennett is curating and guiding a Memorial Walk over Remembrance weekend starting at St Mary’s and finishing at the Parish War Memorial outside the Hub/Library. This walk has to be restricted to low numbers for health and safety reasons. We’re also looking at a walk, suitable for children in December in the village with a ‘Christmas’ theme. Watch out for more details

Even though our grant funding runs out at the end of the year, our walks have proved so popular that we’re hopeful that we’ll continue them into 2023 (and maybe beyond)

If you have any ideas for other walks around the area, please let us know

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