Virtual archive
 |
JUNE 1987: First issue of the Snailbeach District News. The newsletter, edited by Jack Foley, was intended to cover the area from The Bog and Ritton Castle down to Plox Green, including Wagbeach Waterwheel and Drury Lane. It was typed on to stencils by Mary Groves at Pennerley, printed on a duplicator and the pages stapled togeter before distribution. The newsletter head was designed by Snailbeach resident Barbara Hallihan, wife of Pastor Peter Hallihan of Lord's Hill Baptist Church, and the Snailbeach District News said it symbolised "the association of our present-day commnity with the hills, the engine houses, chimneys, spoil heaps and railway of yesteryear." The complete eight-page issue will be available here shortly |
| MEMORIES OF STIPERSTONES NATIONAL SCHOOL |
|
THE date is May 20 1886 and this is the book awarded to Thomas Charles Speake, signed by one of the masters, Mr J Moore, at the tenth annual prize day. Inside are some attendance details...and a little bit of advice. Contributed by Chloe Sturrock |
 |
 |
| A DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE |
Once you have located the railway bridge on the extreme right of this picture and pinpointed St Luke's Church just beyond it, you will get your bearings. The legendary White Tip is at bottom right and you are looking at the present site of the village hall car park, with an old factory building at left. The picture, contributed by Nick Southwick, can be dated between 1872 and 1910. Can anyone be more specific? |
| MEMORIES OF THE CAMP MEETINGS |
 |
THIS local certificate, and the hymnbook in which it was found, bring back memories of the Camp Meeting - a feature of religious life on the American frontier which was introduced into England on May 31 1807. Primitive Methodists were strong on Camp Meetings, where the services moved into the open air. Each chapel in the old Minsterley Circuit (originally 13)had its own Camp Meeting, where there were three or four preachers, standing on a lorry or farm wagon, and the congregation, singing lustily, paraded around the area to the chosen "camp ground." The Perkins Beach chapel in Stipersones village, the Grit chapel at the foot of Corndon and Hyssington chapel, right on the Welsh border (all in the new combined Marches Circuit) have been the only local ones to continue the custom in recent years. The Perkins Beach congregation originally met at Birch Hill and an area known as the Marble Play up Perkins Beach Dingle but latterly the services have tended to be held indoors owing to the weather! The Grit's Camp meeting has a memorable locaion - the lawn of a house with the name of Giant's Cave. Hyssington meet at Todleth Farm, where straw bales have provided the pulpit. Hymnbook contributed by Geraldine Heath. |
| A SHOPPING CENTRE AT THE BOG? |
|
Well, not quite. But The Bog, now such a tranquil spot, was once a busy mining community and here, with Nipstone Rock in the background, is Bill and Ada Swain, who ran the little shop close to the Victorian school which is now a popular visitor centre. Stylish new information panels at the centre tell more of the story of village life at The Bog. Picture contributed by Bill and Sylvia Swain. |
 |
| STILL SURVIVING: REMNANTS OF THE AERIAL ROPEWAY |
 |
 |
 |
|
Captured in previously unpublished photographs, here are surviving fragments of the amazing aerial ropeway which ran from the upland mining areas of the Stiperstones down to Malehurst, near Minsterley. On the left, with Corndon in the background, a complete set of four supports for one of the trestles which carried the ropeway from The Bog can be seen around this tree which replaced it. The picture was taken in the early 1990s, as was the central picture showing another support close to the Pennerley reservoir, although dislodged from its exact original position. The right-hand picture was taken in 2008 close to the Tankerille mine and is believed to relate to a spur of the aerial ropeway which ran from Buxton Hill. Pictures contributed by Roy Anderson. |
| TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT DRINK IN PERKINS BEACH |
  |
|
ABSTAIN is the key word on this page from the National Temperance League's Book of Song, used by Perkins Beach Band of Hope in April 1900. The Band of Hope had been established in Leeds in 1847 to teach children about the importance of sobriety and teetotalism, and in 1855 became a national organisation. Meetings were held in churches throughout Britain, the membership grew to millions and Queen Victoria became patron. The organisation still survives as Hope UK. Book contributed by Chloe Sturrock. |