Local History in Wrockwardine Wood & Trench Parish Council
Because so many of our residents are interested in local history, we have decided to have the Local History Page as a regular feature. If you have any old photographs, memories or articles you would like to see published in this newsletter, please call Yvonne on 616363 or visit our council office at The Parish Council Centre, Church Road, Wrockwardine Wood.
Construction of the Wrockwardine Wood inclined plane began about 17th January 1791 after the Ironmaster, John Wilkinson had personally petitioned Parliament to extend the Shropshire Canal from Snedshill to form a junction with the Donnington Wood Canal.
Our third local history page features Trench Methodist Chapel. We would like to thank Mr. Ken Fryer very much for the following article and for loaning the photographs to us.
“When Trench Methodist Chapel was built in 1866 the local population totalled approximately 500 people and the area was classed as a straggling hamlet until 1941when alterations were made to the area. The Chapel was surrounded by fields which were part of Bromleys Farm. The photograph below is of scholars and officials of the Trench Methodist Sunday School, taken in the early 1960’s. Many of the scholars are now married with children of their own, but should have no difficulty in identifying themselves.
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Rona Harris has been kind enough to contribute her memories of the local area.
Here is part of the first instalment:
"Hello Everyone. I have been asked to write about my life since coming to live in Shropshire.
It was 1946 and my father was transferred in his job to Wellington. We were living in the Peak District in Derbyshire and I was 16 years of age. We moved to Sinclair Gardens in Ketley and I got a job on the telephone switchboard at the Sinclair Iron Company in Ketley and from then I have lived with my parents in Wellington, Ketley Bank, Oakengates, then afterwards through marriage, in Wombridge, Donnington, Wrockwardine Wood and finally now in Trench and I love it here.
Now, although the Peak District is very beautiful, the village where we lived was very quiet. I recall the first day that we moved to Ketley, it all seemed so different, and I remember my Mum was fed up with a day of removals, so with my Dad not yet properly demobbed from the army, she took us to Wellington and we went to see a film at the Grand Theatre. To me it was truly gorgeous as the cinema in our previous small nearby town was known as the “flea-pit”, and no comparison to the Grand. To me it was luxury itself."
Continue reading Rona's story here.
