The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

Minsterley

Minsterley maps

Historic maps of Minsterley and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Minsterley maps

Minsterley photos

We have no photos of Minsterley, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Hanwood| Middletown| Chirbury| All Stretton| Church Stretton

Minsterley area books

Displaying 1 of 4 books about Minsterley and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Minsterley

No memories of Minsterley have been shared yet - be the first!
Add your memory of Minsterley or of a photo of Minsterley.

Shropshire memories

Stiperstones Poem

THE STIPERSTONES

T’was long ago the Ludlow people vexed the Devil very sore
He vowed to stone their homes and steeples until they were no more
On Cranberries Hill he then collected his apron full of rocks and stones
With these missiles he expected he could break the peoples bones

Swiftly crossing roads and rivers past the peasant peoples homes
Through the land of peaceful livers till he reached the Stiperstones
O’er the mountain dark and dreare hurried satan on his way
Vowing war and strife and riot on the people miles away

Suddenly the strings were broken in a heap the stones all fell
And he left them as a token of his presence there to tell
Then cursed he Ludlow and it’s tower from the top of Stiperstones
In the fury of the hour built a chair of rocks and stones

And tis said at midnight hour when the moon is rising high
Satan sits in state and power while the ghosts of... Read more

Mum And Dad

My mum dad and two sisters and brother lived here, Mum used to walk a mile a day to fetch a pale of water. When I was born we had to move to Stiperstones because the house wasn't big enough, the house at the bog only had two bedrooms, so my brother slept on the landing, till we moved I slept in an open drawer. I would love to hear from anyone who knew my family then. My mum was Phyllis Hotchkiss, my dad was Lincoln Hotchkiss. Thank you, Mike Hotchkiss

Lea Cross School

My auntie, Dorothy Jones, was a teacher at Lea Cross school and I remember going with her to the school for a day when I was about 3 or 4.  I wonder if anyone remembers her.  The head teacher was a Mrs Pierce.

Mary Ann Shuker

My great grandmother, Mary Ann Shuker came to Manchester from Chirbury in service as a maid.  She married my great grandfather, Ernest Edward Chorlton and they must have returned to Chirbury to be married because the family bible states they married at Chirbury Church on 22nd December 1888.  I always thought she came from Wem - but this is quite a way away (for those days).  I would love to find out more about her - I will travel to Chirbury and search the graveyards for her mother and father.  What a life change for her to travel to Manchester!  The address she came to is Stanley House, Oxford Road, Manchester (I would imagine a cotton baron's home).  She must have visited her family in Chirbury for her wedding (and Christmas I imagine) then travelled back to Manchester where she remained.  How I wish I could find out more about her - she is often in my thoughts!

CHIRBURY ROAD WOOD RELATIVES

Some time in the 1980s, my mother Dorothy visited her gt-aunt Rhoda Wood (b1901), who had lived in the same cottage, 15 Chirbury Road, Montgomery, all her life, one of 10 children of Charles (b1849) and Ellen Wood (b1859). I have a photo of the cottage. My mother recalls that Ellen was a laundress, but had to get all her water from the village pump. On the 1911 census, she is still working, with her daughter Catherine. I would love to know if anyone has memories of Rhoda or her 9 siblings, Mary, Anna, Frances, Charles, Catherine (Kitty), Gladys, Alexander, Percy or Walter. I have old photos of some of them and of Charlotte Beamond, who was Rhoda's grandmother. I am having problems sorting out what Ellen Wood's maiden name was - on some docs she writes "Jones" and others "Bumford" or "Boundford". I THINK her mother was Mary Jones (daughter of Richard Jones) who died in 1862.

Titleys

I am looking for my ancesters. They lived in Bausley through the 1800s. Their names are John Titley and Jane Briggs. Is there anyone that might help me fill in any missing details. Here are the details from the 1861 census:

Address: Bauseley Hill, Bauseley, Montgomeryshire, Wales
Head of household: Richard Titley, 50, labourer, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Wife: Elizabeth Titley, 37, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Son: Thomas Titley, 13, labourer, 8, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Son: Richard Titley, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Son: John Titley, 6, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Daughter: Elizabeth Titley, 3, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire
Son: David Titley, 12 months, born Bauseley, Montgomeryshire

This information has led me to Richard Titley’s baptism on 15 Dec 1811 at Alberbury, parents John and Jane Titley. And from that I have found the marriage of John Titley and Jane Briggs on 28 Jun 1805 at Alberbury, which fits in with the birth of their first child (Mary) in 1807. Unfortunately I can’t trace the line back any further than that as the parish... Read more

Bomere Pool Near Bayston Hill

I grew up at the Masonic Arms in Belle View, Shrewsbury. When I was a child my mother and I used to cycle to Bomere Pool near Bayston Hill to pick primroses in the spring. She used to tell me about the legends that it was bottomless and also that some people said there was a village at the bottom and sometimes you could hear the church bell ring. It was a wonderful wild and mysterious place. We left Shropshire when I was 14. I tried to take my husband there in the 1970s when we were visitng for the flower show but we couldn't find it. I recently discovered the work of Mary Webb and am reading 'Precious Bane'. I recognised the setting as Bomere Pool. It brought back so many memories. I've heard it is now owned by a water sports company, what a shame!

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.