Overview

Whitchurch claims to have been built on an original Roman site, then later on during Saxon times its name came into use as Westune, and later again a few hamlets became integrated into Whitchurch , such as Dodtune, now the area of Dodington. In the 13th century, Whytchurch was a small market town, and the old eagles, maybe built in the 14th century is regarded as its oldest building. (Sat NAV SY13 1DP) while the half timbered buildings further up the street were built later on. PIn 1598, a lawyer sir Thomas Egerton bought the manor of Whitchurch, and the town quickly prospered, turning the area into a centre for leather work, as well as shoe making. Following 1698, clock makers prospered, especially J.B.Joyce and co, their clocks can be seen on St Alkmunds church, (sat NAV SY13 1LB) and this church is known as the most important building in Whitchurch,(photo 1) consecrated in 1713. There is another clock of theirs in the bull ring area of Whitchurch (photo 4). A famous childrens book illustrator Randolph Caldecott lived here, first of all as a bank clerk, before illustrating books such as Rip van Winkle. Today, west of Jubilee park, you will find Caldecott crescent, so named in honour of its famous resident. Within a 10 mile radius of Whitchurch there are around 200 listed buildings, but it’s main livelihood has been earned through farming, with Cheshire cheese it’s most important product, with more Cheshire cheese being sold here than all the whole of Cheshire, a cheese fair having started in 1899. Horse racing and cock fighting took place around the town. It’s museum now houses many examples of local archaeology finds, and todays heritage centre, which was built in 1810 as a Wesleyan church started holding weddings here from 1825. By 1901 the building became the post office, before being bought by lottery money in 1997 to then house the heritage centre. (Sat NAV SY13 1QY) the building is wheelchair friendly on the ground floor, with parking next to it, and there you will see works of J.B. Joyce clocks, and artwork by Caldecott on show. Because of one way system and narrow roads with few parking spots, may we suggest this route. Sat NAV SY13 1LB. St Alkmunds church. You may be lucky enough to find car parking opposite church. and main attraction is the old clock on church. If you have parked here, then take a look before moving on around the corner to a short stay car park. sat NAV SY13 1BF. Newtown road short stay car park. There are disabled bays. Right opposite the entry into car park is a small private car park area, and if you walk on ahead through this car park, a narrow archway will take you out onto the main shopping street for Whitchurch. Simply walk down past the shops to clock at the bottom. Just turn around here and walk back up the hill for just a few yards only, and take the narrow road to your right. Walk uphill to Heritage centre. Return to Main Street and to your car, ready for return journey to your home. You will have to decide if visiting Whitchurch is worth the effort, there’s not much there, but it’s a visit, something to do. OUR REVIEW We parked up, and took a look at the clock on church (photo 1) before visiting the heritage centre (photo 2). Just around the corner we turned left to walk towards the old clock (3) and looked into a couple of shop windows (4) All the shops around here are just small but some are interesting enough(5) before we left the shops (6) and walked up the hill (7). We had managed to park on the street at the first bay (8) so did not have much walking to do, as pushing the wheelchair can be rather hard work even on slight hills. We give just 3 stars for this visit, it’s again disappointing, as all Shropshire towns seem to be, they are all uncared for and badly need attention, before what should be an interesting visit, becomes a sad loss for these towns by the constant lack of care by council, and the local store keepers. Sorry about these remarks, but we really do care about you, and want to help you when we can, so the disappointing visits and lack of care just puts us off. We enjoyed our day trip however, and finished off by taking an hours drive towards Stoke on Trent to visit the delightful hotel, the Moathouse hotel, which is a lovely visit on a dry summers warm day when sitting by the lakes is most enjoyable. Sat NAV ST17 0RJ. See our three reviews for this hotel.

Transport & Parking

Difficult to find parking Close to town centre, unless you are fortunate to be at the right place at right time.

Access

Not the best of towns for disabled, some areas on the flat, but generally a few hills to have to get up or down. The road is not to bad, a few bumps and holes to get round, but a typical Shropshire town, mainly uncared for.

Toilets

Did not see any toilets available.

Staff

Did not meet any

Photos