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 […]

This observation post was built about 1940 in the early war years. It provided visual cover to the approaches to the railway sidings within the Donnington Ordnance Depot. Positioned on the raised ground of the extensive ordnance sidings, it gave an uninterrupted view across farmland to Hadley and Horton. In those busy times the sidings […]

The photograph of the Wrockwardine Wood Rectory comes to us courtesy of Paul Luter and Joy Minshall the former wife of Neville Minshall, Vicar of Wrockwardine Wood Church in 1965-1974. Joy now lives in the Shrewsbury area, but the photograph reminded her of the rectory in 1965 before renovations were carried out. The house was […]

This photograph shows the John Hunt School Orchestra with Norman Pickering, about the year 1960. Trench Boys’ Modern School Staff in 1956. Amongst the faces are Headteacher Harold Fletcher, Sir John Hunt and Reverend G. Smith. A Science Lesson at John Hunt Boys School circa 1960 Our picture shows a happy group of fund raisers [...]

Trench Methodist Chapel Our second 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 […]

I was quite young, but I remember feeling quite sad when they drained the Old Canal. I recall a sunken coal barge was revealed near the Old Yard. The canal was at the top of the old incline near the Trench Lock and went all the way to Lilleshall Abbey without a lock. At Teagues […]

Between 1818 and 1821 a partnership was formed to mill, bake, and deal in grain, and a four-storeyed brick steam mill was built in 1818 on the north bank of the Shrewsbury Canal. The mill, generally known as Donnington Wood mill, closed in the 1970s. (ref. http://www.british-history.ac.uk) Four bitter years of trouble followed during which […]

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.