These extracts from the Clun Valley Parochial Magazine for St. Mary’s Church, Chapel Lawn, at the time a chapel of ease to Clun Church, provide a fascinating glimpse into 19th century rural life in the Redlake Valley on the border of England and Wales.

The introduction of the magazine must have been very welcome. It not only provided important information about forthcoming church, school, and other social events, but it also enabled people to read news from neighbouring parishes and the wider world.

We must be indebted to the Rev. Charles Warner whose initials are at the end of the introduction to the first issue. It is through his personal efforts, plus encouragement from Rev. Preb. Jellicorse of Clunbury, and through delegation to the various curates who had the good fortune (or bad luck when the weather was inclement) to be attached to Chapel Lawn, that the Magazine was undertaken, and we have this account of life in a quiet rural community in the late 19th Century.

It was with some prescience that in March 1889, Rev. Warner wrote, “The monthly parts will, when bound, make a handsome volume, which will prove interesting, as a record of parish news for future generations.”

Originally from Hampshire, Patrick Cosgrove retired to South Shropshire with his wife, Di, in 2007.

Although not an historian, as he walked, cycled and rode his neighbour’s horse around the lanes of the Redlake Valley, he was struck by a palpable sense of history in the surrounding countryside, amongst the long-standing farming families, and especially by the mixture of English and Welsh place and field-names.

The discovery of a cache of old parish magazines provided the material and inspiration for this book and, Patrick hopes, will encourage others in neighbouring parishes to use the magazines in a similar way now that they are safely stored at Clun Museum.