- Chapel Lawn
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Coordinates: 52°22′52″N 3°00′25″W / 52.381°N 3.007°W
Chapel Lawn nestled in the Redlake valley.
Chapel Lawn is a small village in southwest Shropshire, England, located within the Redlake Valley, some three miles south of the small, historic town of Clun and lying in the civil parish of Clun and Chapel Lawn.
The village lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty bounded to the north by Bryneddin Wood, an ancient deciduous wood containing extensive plantings of Sessile Oak. On Caer Caradoc, a 403 metre high hill less than 1 kilometre south of the village, can be found an Iron Age fort with mounds and ditches well defined and maintained by English Heritage.
The name is derived from a chapel attached to Chapel Lawn Farm in the 16th century and "lawn" refers to a grassy clearing in the forest. A school was built in the village in 1856 (Date corrected as per info from the book, The life and death of Chapel Lawn School, published by The Redlake Valley Hall Committee), on the former village green.[1] It had to close in 1985 due to diminished numbers of children; the nearest primary school is now in Bucknell.[2]
Chapel Lawn village.There is a village hall in Chapel Lawn for the local rural community, called the Redlake Valley Village Hall. It was built in 1952.[3]
Many public footpaths cross the Redlake Valley enabling walkers to see the features above and an information board at the Village Hall car park, next to the church, displays a map together with local information. Walkers are free to leave their cars at this car park whilst enjoying the local sights. Numerous sheep and cattle graze on the higher fields and walkers are asked to obey the countryside code, closing gates after themselves and keeping dogs under control. A local conservation spot, Hodre Pond, lies along the road to Obley, some 1.5 km from the village centre and dates back some 400 years. The pond boasts many aquatic species of flora and fauna well worthy of viewing.
Church
St Mary's Church in the centre of Chapel Lawn was designed by Edward Haycock in the lancet style and erected in 1844. It was planned to provide 232 sittings, of which 162 were declared free and unappropriated forever. Originally a Chapel of Ease of Clun parish, without an adjoining vicarage and resident priest, it was built to save parishioners the long walk to Clun. Built of stone in the style of the period, it displays the typical plain lancets, flat buttresses, and western bell gable with a wide queen post roof. The polygonal apse, which forms the chancel, is unusual. The church became a parish church in its own right in 1991, part of the benefice of Bucknell and morning services are held on the first and third Sunday of each month.
References/External links
- ^ A Guide To Shropshire, Third Edition, Michael Raven (2005), p. 45
- ^ Shropshire Postcards From The Past: Ludlow and South-West Shropshire, Ray Farlow and David Trumper (2005), p. 53
- ^ Redlake Valley Village Hall
External links
Media related to Chapel Lawn at Wikimedia CommonsCeremonial county of Shropshire Boroughs or districts Major settlements Bishop's Castle • Bridgnorth • Broseley • Church Stretton • Cleobury Mortimer • Clun • Craven Arms • Ellesmere • Ludlow • Market Drayton • Much Wenlock • Newport • Oswestry • Shifnal • Shrewsbury • Telford (Dawley • Madeley • Oakengates • Wellington) • Wem • Whitchurch
See also: List of civil parishes in ShropshireRivers Topics Categories:- Shropshire geography stubs
- Villages in Shropshire
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