The flags were flying yesterday in Bishop’s Castle, though not for us. They were marking a recent festival, celebrating the town’s 450 years of self-rule, granted in a royal charter by Elizabeth 1 in July 1573. This fabulous document, bearing the queen’s portrait, freed the town from the bishops’ control and instead gave executive authority to a Bailiff and fifteen Capital Burgesses to administer the community’s affairs; a first bold step towards democracy then.
Photo: Bishop’s Castle Town Council
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But if the flags weren’t for us, it felt as if they were. Yesterday we at last picked up the keys to our new home: a small red-bricked villa built by one George Nicholas in 1922 on a corner of land bought back then from a local brewery. The house sits above a narrow lane running parallel to the High Street, and is in walking distance of pretty much everything in the town.
And so begins the next stage: preparing for the actual move, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Phew and double phew. I think the nerves are holding up – just.
So watch this space for some new tales from another ancient Shropshire town.
In the meantime here’s a couple of photos also taken yesterday. As you can see- not the best of days, but proof that our cool and lacklustre July continues. And yes, that is an elephant you see performing on a vacant wall near the Town Hall.
And this is the Town Hall. We can hear the graceful chimes of its clock in our new garden. Yesterday it was hosting a wedding as we walked by. It also provides a regular venue for farmers’ markets and craft fairs, and of course council meetings are also held in its very handsome chamber on the upper floor.
To be continued…
Tish Farrell 
Oh, what an excellent surprise, that you are so near to moving, and to a place with quite a history. Good luck over the next few doubtless harrowing weeks.
Many thanks, Margaret. Harrowed is the word. I’m not sure why I’m finding it quite so stressful, although soliticitors had something to do with some of it. I should be delighted. I’m sure I will be when the dust has settled 🙂
Moving is right up there with death and divorce. No wonder you’re wrung out. It’ll be worth it in the end.
A corner of land, Tish: how many sides is the house windowed?
Good luck for the move and I shall burn candles for you on Lammas in a few days now!
Sarah
Hello, Sarah. That’s a very kind thought burning candles for us on Lammas. And thank you for those good wishes. As to windows, the main windows are front and back with a couple on the smaller ones on the side. It seems a very sunny house. It was one of the things that attracted us.
Although the house is in a corner of land (I think it belonged to blacksmiths before it was owned by a brewery), it’s an oblique corner meaning the house sits up rather squarely above the road, but the back garden goes off at an angle.
I like Bishop’s castle👍
It’s hard not to like it 🙂
On the move again! You are one brave soul…
Good luck on the move Tish. Hope all goes well and you get settled quickly, never nice when you are in a ‘temporary home’, luckily when we took the plunge some friends let us have their holiday cottage and we put our lives into storage so we only technically moved once!
Now that sounded a fine moving strategy, Brian. Appreciate all your good wishes.
I’m excited for your move, but mostly excited for it to be done and you settled in. 🙂 It’s so soon after your last move. We moved to Arizona over three years ago and once my late parents’ house is renovated, we’ll have to move again as well. Even with that time gap, I’m not looking forward to the move.
The only good thing about lots of moves, is hopefully one sheds some extraneous stuff. Though often more hope than actual shedding. Good luck with the renovations.
We shed a lot before our move to Illinois some years ago and a lot more before moving to Arizona but we still have plenty.
Good luck with new house and the big shift.
Many thanks, Pete.
Tish, I’ll take your cool and lackluster any time, especially the cool! It’s cool right now, in the 90s F. Good luck with your move. Your new town seems quaint and beautiful. Looking forward to seeing more.
Wish I could send you some cool, Anne.
😊
Great news, Tish. Could you send me your address please.
Of course I will, Kate. I did email you a couple of times re our Broseley move. (And I did suggest you might get a new email address!!!) I will email you right now. Tx
We dropped into Bishop’s Castle for the first time last year, whilst holidaying in the area. What a lovely part of the world; what a delightful, interesting, town. Beyond the history, it had a curiously cosmopolitan air about it, I thought; lots of colour. Good luck with your move. Oh boy, can they be stressful! But we survive, don’t we? We pull through…things can (usually) be so much worse.
Cheers, Mike. It’s lovely to think you and Mrs B have been wandering here too.
Yes, phew and double phew. Wonderful news, and you will get through this move before the cold weather sinks in.
Thanks, Jennie. And yes it would be good to sort ourselves out while there’s still some summer 🙂
Yes!
These elephants get everywhere, don’t they? Fabulous news, Tish, and I remember a walkthrough I did on your new home town when we were there. It seems to me a very Tish-like place, if you know what I mean? I know you’ll be very happy there. On with the packing!
Many thanks for all those cheering thoughts, Jo.
Packing has started 🙂
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Always enjoy your write ups Tish. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, GC. Always good to see you here.
Apart from the hard work involved you are in for a lovely interesting life ahead. Certainly plenty to write about! Good luck!
oh well done Tish, so pleased the move will be going ahead so soon. Bishops Castle is a lovely place so I’m expecting to see some interesting posts in the fullness of time. All the best with your unpacking and settling in
Hoping to meet those expectations of BC tales fairly soon, Sue. Thank you for those good wishes.
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That’s great news, actually having the keys in hand is such a big moment on the rough path to moving! It’s stressful, but I’m sure once you’ve moved in and had time to settle you’ll be very happy in this lovely historic town. It looks just right for you 🙂 Will you have a decent garden or allotment here? I know that matters to you 🙂
Hello, Sarah. Thank you for this thoughtful comment. And yes, We will have a garden – fairly modest but very sunny, and the possibility of trimming excess lawn to make some veggie beds. And there’s a greenhouse already there.
Elephants do remember.
They do indeed 🙂
Oh, well done. I hope you have many happy years in your new home. We liked BC but Ludlow was better for us as it had the trainline so OH could get to Shrewsbury on his own quickly.
Many thanks, Jude. And yes, it’s a shame BC lost its railway line. That would have been useful to us too. We did look in Ludlow but the market has mostly featured new-builds too near the A49. It was only last week that a place popped up there that might have interested us if we hadn’t plumped for BC.
I’m putting out the flags for you and your move into what sounds an ideal place to develop your homing and gardening skills Tish ❤
Very many thanks, Laura. Much appreciate a good waving of flags 🙂
Good luck with the new move Tish. I seem to have lost the thread a bit but hope it’s all going well.
Hello, James. You’re not the only one losing threads. Hard to know which way is up these days, and not in a good way. But thanks for the good wishes. BC is an interesting place to be heading to – seemingly slumbering, but a lot going on under the surface, or so a local told me last week. We shall see.
Excited for you to read this Tish as I know you wanted to be in Bishop’s Castle. Good luck with the move. Look forward to hearing more from your new home.
Cheers, Jo. Been thinking of you too. And yes, happy to be off to BC. Moving in in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime doing lots of titivating. You must come and visit when we’ve landed 🙂
Such a beautiful place. Wish you all the best in your new home.
Thank you so much, Lakshmi.
I so love your old towns with the narrow streets, clearly made for walking or making a on horse buggy. I have been so busy with various stuff I’ve missed a lot of posts. I tried to save them, but the volume became a bit overwhelming. It’s going to stay busy for the next couple of months, but I’ll try to be better about visiting. By the time I get home from whatever we were doing, I’m too tired to do much of anything. I’ll still try to do better.
No pressure, Marilyn. It’s nice to see you whenever you can make it. Besides, I’m hardly here myself 🙂 🙂 In the meantime, yes indeed, the new hometown is full of old world quirkiness that trundles along, sometimes not a little awkwardly, with the new-fangled. A liminal space too, on the border with Wales.
The best of energy for your new move Tish. The new town looks absolutely very interesting, looking forward to read more about it all.
Many thanks for those good wishes, Agnes.
Very welcome Tish!
Cheering you on as you move in to your new home – such a lovely place it is! Looking forward to seeing more as soon as you are done!
Many thanks for those good wishes, Ju-Lyn.
Dear Tish,
we wish you happy times in your new house.
We love those old manuscripts written in Latin and illuminated with pictures in minusceln.
Wishing you all the very best in Bishop’s Castle
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
I so appreciate the Fab Four of Cley’s good wishes. Many thanks, Klausbernd.
English villages are so… well-kept and preserved. Amazing. Karibu indeed to your new home. I’m sure you will be very happy there…
(While I’m at it, I have a question: what on earth were you doing in London, Ontario at one time? Puzzling.)
🙏🏻
Ah-ha! A puzzle. Well, we went there on holiday, but the reason: other half spent his formative years there. His papa was an engineer draughtsman and in the ’50s posted there from the UK to work on a new power station. We came across one of his blueprint drawings recently and had it framed. So: a pilgrimage of sorts and a very lucky break that we could get tickets for Leonard Cohen too.
A Med school friend of Daughter “moja” did her residency there. Looks like a pretty eclectic town.
And as for your father-in-law, I love the idea of framing one of his blueprints. I found my father’s agendas and notes from 1949 on and bound them…
Nice pilgrimage and a very lucky break indeed.