Calceby My Soul Mate

A Memory of Calceby.

Calceby... I came to live here in 1947, not a country girl by birth, having lived in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, for the first fourteen years of my life. This hamlet was to become my home for the next three years, isolated and  buried in the heart of the wolds. I came to know every part of the landscape, and walking very soon became my hobby.  My interest in history became larger than life because here I was surrounded with evidence  of a long forgotten past.
The ruined St Andrews Church on the top of the hill was my playground, and most days I would spend my time exploring every nook and cranny, and under the turf surrounding the walls lay the inhabitants, what a wealth of stories they could have told me of the lives and deaths of this small and unobtrusive village.

The Black Death was soon to come and desolate the population, leaving it
ruined and abandoned. The once village now became a hamlet, and without its inhabitants the church was soon obsolete. Life did carry on but never returned to how it once had been.

I only wish I could have learnt so much more of the history that surrounded Calceby while I lived there, my memories will always be with me, and I have returned a few times just to stand on the bridge and listen to the stream go by as I did as a child. I see my home is still there, and what's left of the ruins!!
I have even seen a wonderful sunset once more, breathtaking in its entirety. Who could wish for more!!

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