alanhitchcock49
Bishampton Churchsf
BISHAMPTON AND THROCKMORTON – A PROBLEM FOR OUR TIMES
There was a time when practically every village in England had its own church. The Chapelry, Throckmorton, and St James, Bishampton, are both fine examples, and both are grade 2 listed buildings. If you look at the map you can see an obvious problem – the churches are less than a mile and a half apart, and both depend largely on volunteers to finance them and keep them in good shape.
The volunteers do a fine job – when I and and some friends visited last week there were fresh flowers in abundance and the graveyards were newly mown, as you can see. And yet there are only a few services a year with a very limited attendance.
But take another look at the map - there is a disused World War 2 airfield at Throckmorton and plans to build 2000 houses on some of the land. It’s not a simple job because on part of the site there are the carcases of tens of thousands of animals from the foot and mouth outbreak of 2000 buried. But we badly need houses.
The biggest problem slowing development is local opposition – and if I lived there I guess I might be part of it.
But the future looks bleak indeed for the fine churches in my photos if a solution is not found. Already local residents have had to resort to taking over the village shop, and how long will the village pub at Bishampton last in present circumstances?
Bishampton Churchsf
BISHAMPTON AND THROCKMORTON – A PROBLEM FOR OUR TIMES
There was a time when practically every village in England had its own church. The Chapelry, Throckmorton, and St James, Bishampton, are both fine examples, and both are grade 2 listed buildings. If you look at the map you can see an obvious problem – the churches are less than a mile and a half apart, and both depend largely on volunteers to finance them and keep them in good shape.
The volunteers do a fine job – when I and and some friends visited last week there were fresh flowers in abundance and the graveyards were newly mown, as you can see. And yet there are only a few services a year with a very limited attendance.
But take another look at the map - there is a disused World War 2 airfield at Throckmorton and plans to build 2000 houses on some of the land. It’s not a simple job because on part of the site there are the carcases of tens of thousands of animals from the foot and mouth outbreak of 2000 buried. But we badly need houses.
The biggest problem slowing development is local opposition – and if I lived there I guess I might be part of it.
But the future looks bleak indeed for the fine churches in my photos if a solution is not found. Already local residents have had to resort to taking over the village shop, and how long will the village pub at Bishampton last in present circumstances?