 Early in 2003 the project to restore the Pound was revitalised by the knowledge that we might be able to obtain support from the Local Heritage Initiative of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Under the guidance of our committed and energetic Parish Councillor, Victoria Todd, a sub-group of the Village Hall Committee set about galvanising support from the village, researching and making helpful contacts with local and regional officers. It was decided to make a grant application and to begin the process of logging the volunteer hours of in-put to the project.
In particular, the initial research work of Mrs Pam Kilfeather of Number 1, Harley, the former blacksmith’s cottage, inspired and spurred the group on through many meetings and planning sessions. The advice and support of the Assistant Conservation Officer for Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, Jo Barnes was secured and the search for a suitable stonemason began.
Once the promise of a grant had been obtained, volunteers began the daunting task of dismantling the walls, attempting to number each piece of stone and to lay the pieces in sequence on the ground for reassembly in the correct order.
 For those intending to undertake similar projects, let us offer a cautionary note of advice: accuracy is almost impossible to achieve and you will need to give serious thought to how stones that will suffer long exposure to the weather before reconstruction might effectively be labelled.
We failed! In the end, we preserved what stones we could in the correct pattern, supplemented with matching stones and left the mason to do his best. A further difficulty for us was that the sycamore roots, mentioned earlier, had seriously undermined the footings of the walls.
There was no alternative but to remove them entirely so as to ensure sound footings for the reconstruction. This necessitated the demolition of much more of the remaining original structure than either we or the Council’s Conservation Officer wished, and this work led to longer delays in reconstruction.
Delays are a characteristic of the reconstruction of historical buildings and our simple pound has not been exempt! The weeks proposed turned into months but by mid-summer 2005 the structure had been capped with rough cock-and-hen coping and the internal surface of cobbles had been laid.
The Pound had been gated appropriately and a start had been made in clearing the site ready for the public ‘opening’ at a special Village Fayre on 3rd September, 2005. By the time of the opening, we hope to have a commemorative plaque fixed to the structure and to have a leaflet for visitors to the area, offering some of the background available on this website. Other benefits will be the provision of archive material for our local studies library in Shrewsbury and a pack of material suitable for history projects by local school children.
This has been a long and, at times, heavy going project, but we are delighted to have restored the Pound for the village. It is a prominent reminder of the reason this village came into being as an agricultural settlement.
In these days of urban spread, dormitory communities and the fragmenting of communities, it is good to have another clear reminder of our links with the past and our roots in the land.
This is a lovely part of the world and the restoration project, this website, the pamphlet and all the other means of helping people understand more about the village, are offered in a spirit of friendship and recognition of our common heritage. |
