When last year began we were on the island of Anglesey in North Wales – gathering with family for a belated Christmas celebration. It was good to soak up some blue tranquillity. At the time, we were fretting over the sale of our cottage, plus trying to find a bolt-hole to rent while we looked for a new home to buy. All unnerving in all sorts of ways; nothing straight forward.
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Finding a house to rent proved almost as hair-raising as selling the cottage (Huge demand, few available properties). Only by the skin of our teeth did we secure a place in time for moving day in early March. And then it snowed – for two days, an unexpected blanketing that closed most of the roads. Snow – of all things. The Farrells had not factored that in. Still, a day later than planned, and by devious routes, the removal lads came through. We were re-homed.
Then more unforeseen happenings.
View from one of Broseley’s many country paths: bright and cold in March
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By the time we moved to Broseley (East Shropshire), we had already set our house-buying sights on Bishops Castle or points well south-west of the county. For one thing, we wanted to be nearer to my sister, and I’d anyway dismissed Broseley as a final destination. I’d known it from an earlier chapter in my life and always thought it a plain and unalluring town.
Just shows what I know. I didn’t expect to fall in love with the place. It began with finding a maypole at the end of our street; and from it a sweepingly magnificent view above the Ironbridge Gorge. And it began with finding beguiling footpaths that meandered in and out of town and took us to some wild, wild places that seemed slipped out of time. And most of all it began when I discovered the network of thoroughfares and alleyways that belonged to Broseley’s ancient industrial past, the wonderfully named jitties, that to my mind suggested jetties, or things that jutted like prows of ships. Exploring them on our cool summer days felt like voyaging – through time, space, the imagination.
Go HERE for the jitties posts.
Here is one of many favourite finds: some historic re-purposing of discarded artefacts in an old wall on Gough’s Jitty. It’s been built from saggars. These earthenware boxes were once used for the packing of clay pipes, then stacked in a bottle kiln for firing. There were several factories in the town from the 17th century onwards. They exported their wares around the world. In fact clay pipes were often referred to as ‘Broseleys’.
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Apparently the spot for some illicit fist-fighting back in the day.
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Lodge Lane became a favourite walk. Once there would have been the heavy rumble of trucks hauling coal from Broseley’s mines, an area still called the Fiery Fields due to the old coal pits’ erstwhile tendency for spontaneous combustion.
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Broseley sits above the Severn Gorge, directly across the river from Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale, so-called birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The town evolved from an early 17th century squatter community of immigrant miners. Coal, clay, ironstone and limestone were plentiful. There was timber for construction and for the making of charcoal for fuelling furnaces and forges. And there was the river for transport down to Bristol. The wealth of local resources attracted the likes of ironmaster-pioneer, John ‘Iron Mad’ Wilkinson, who lived here from 1757 in a very fine mansion opposite the parish church.
I loved these views of multi-period, multi-layered habitation.
And likewise across the River Severn on the opposite side of the Gorge:
Broseley’s neighbours – Ironbridge and the Iron Bridge (1779)
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I suppose if the little house in Bishops Castle hadn’t cropped up, we might well have stayed in Broseley. The folks were so friendly there. As it is, it’s good to think of our brief sojourn, even with the little pang of loss. Strange, how things turn out.
But now we’re here in an ancient agricultural town, where the folks are also very friendly. Clearly there’s many a tale to unravel here, or will be, once we’ve sorted out the house. This may take a while. For one thing, come spring there’s a new extension in the offing: this to remove an old conservatory and transform the space into a bright new kitchen with doors onto the garden. Apart from this, every room needs some serious attention, plus two chimneys to rebuild, and maybe the roof to replace. And then there’s the garden…
So all is in flux and not a little confused. But even so, with the turn in the year, it’s beginning to feel like home.
Excellent series of photos.
Many thanks, rabirius 🙂
It feels like the right place for you, Tish, and I know your man in the shed likes to keep busy too. You’ve weathered the move surprisingly easily after all those years at Much. I look forward to seeing where your explorations take you.
Thanks, lovely you. Hope you’re feeling better. Btw man in shed is very much missing his Wenlock shed. That’s another thing on the list – to build a new one.
Well Tish, should you ever get frustrated with living through the changes/improvements (the kitchen sounds lovely!) just walk out your door and meander through any of these uber-welcoming and beautiful spots! Looking forward to watching your progress!
You’re right, Tina. I have plenty of escape route right on the doorstep. I must remember that when the banging and clanging gets too much.
You’ve had an adventurous year Tish! This year you can settle in and do the remodeling. More adventures!
Yes, that’s a good thought, Anne – settling in. Order out of chaos, and hopefully not too far away.
Beautiful photos of this beautiful area of the world!
Thank you, Angeline.
Quite a busy year for you. And it sounds like you’ll be busy this year too with all the renovations. Your new house is very handsome looking. I hope you like living in Bishops Castle and have fun creating your vegetable garden.
Many thanks, Jude. I’m sure we will like Bishops Castle very much. And yes, the garden. There is potential, as they say. But first off, and hopefully tomorrow we have a handy chap cutting the hedges down to manageable size, plus pruning a couple of overgrown apple trees, and then clearing ground of insidious shrubs for the shed. And then begins my campaign against ground elder and Spanish bluebells which are just now arising, drat them. I’m longing to get the veggie patch going and the greenhouse mended.
Ah, yes, forgot about the shed. Most Important.
Beautiful area and photos, Tish.
Many thanks, Egidio.
Wonderful story from beginning to end, and good that you found the silver lining. Love the ding dong steps
Thanks, Alison. Hard not love that name 🙂
2023 was quite a year for you but I have no doubt that wherever you land, you’ll always find beauty, adventure, and history. 🥰. I look forward to reading more about your explorations in your new home.
It certainly was a bit of an upheaval – trying to keep track of stuff between moves – and not just my stuff. A man without his shed is a very random being!
I imagine that’s the legendary British understatement!
Ha! You spotted it!
🙂
And may you have a fine year coming up.
Thank you, Marilyn. A good year is a fine prospect. Wishing you likewise.
You do seem to have found pure gold when you decided to move to Broseley. And who doesn’t enjoy a winter’s day at the seaside? Especially in Anglesey. Looking forward to your adventures in 2024.
Thanks, Margaret.
None of us is ever creative enough to know how things will actually work out:). Looks like you have found a wonderful place to perch…..May you be very happy there…Janet:)
Many thanks for those good wishes, Janet. All the best to you in 2024.
A lovely look back at your year in flux. I followed the story of your two moves with interest at the time, but it’s nice to be reminded of it and to know you are settling into your new home 🙂
Many thanks for continuing to keep track of me, Sarah 🙂 🙂
so glad you are settling in, and that it is beginning to feel like home.
Many thanks, Becky. Am hoping your onward plans work out well for you.
That was an eventful year. I like the sound of Broseley, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of Bishops Castle
Cheers, I.J. Thanks for keeping up with me 🙂
Great photos, great journey. Superb.
Many thanks, John.
Wow! Just so beautiful and interesting Tish. So enjoyed.
Many thanks, Agnes.
It is wonderful to read again your moving adventures last year. Things happen for a reason, and you discovered far more than you ever expected.
Wise words, Jennie. Thank you.
You’re welcome.
I love the way you turned the chapters of this year into a story with some favorites. A journey indeed. And such beauty, life lessons and curiousity along the way. Fantastic Tish.
Many thanks for joining me on the journey, Donna.
A lovely reminisce through your recent history Tish and the not so recent stories of both Broseley and Bishop’s Castle – The Farrell’s would be welcome anywhere! I look forward to more from BC as you settle in with both feet planted 😉
Many thanks for those kind thoughts, Laura. Wishing you all the best (and especially in your garden) for 2024. And talking of gardens, we’ve finally got a good groundsman in to cut our hedges down to manageable proportions, and prepare the ground for the man-shed.
I remember these images and I’m glad to see them again. I hope you’re settled in because moving can be so unsettling!
Many thanks, Anne. As we work our way (v. slowly) through the ‘to do’ list, every bit done adds to the settling process.
😊
Love Bishops’ Castle, never heard of Broseley – but it looks wonderful. The photo of the Iron Bridge is simply beautiful. Well – hello! – Surely, Leslie Phillips frequented those steps?
Hello, Mike. Happy New Year to you and your out and abouting. Broseley does get overshadowed by Ironbridge, even though they are contiguous neighbours, i.e. either end the Iron Bridge. In fact Abraham Darby I is buried in Broseley’s little Quaker burial ground, which in turn is right behind the last surviving Broseley clay pipe works, now owned and sporadically opened by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
And as for Leslie ‘ding dong’ Phillips – what a hoot. Many thanks for that.
Nothing beats feeling you’re finally at home. A happy work in progress… 🙂
Many thanks for those kind thoughts, Sofia.