A Changing Village

The substantial village of Caersws lies a few miles west of Newtown in Mid-Wales. Its main war memorial is a fine example of a Celtic (or Wheel) cross so common throughout the Principality. It stands in a prominent position at the cross-roads in the centre of the village next to what was formerly the Anglican church but has now closed and been successfully converted to a home.

In fact until relatively recently Caersws boasted not only the church, but also Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian chapels. Of these, only the Presbyterian chapel is still in use though the Methodist congregation have in recent months begun to meet regularly in Caersws’s striking village hall. Their chapel currently stands empty and the Baptist chapel is in the process of being converted to a dwelling. The village hall is described in ‘The Buildings of Powys’ by Scourfield and Haslam as a “curious affair”. It dates back to 1902 and its front, facing the road. Is a brick gable in the Dutch style with two low projections topped by domed roofs shaped in lead. The hall has become the village’s main communal centre and has also the repository for the memorial Rolls of Honour which once had pride of place in the church and chapels. First to be moved to the village hall was that of the church. It is a rather austere listing in a black wooden frame surmounted by a small cross and is dated 1934 (relatively late for a war memorial). The vicar at the time was the Rev’d WD Evans and it contains the unusual quote: “The men were very good unto us and we were not hurt … They were a wall unto us both by day and night” from the 1st Book of Samuel 25;16. More recently, the Roll of Honour from the Baptist chapel has also been moved to the village hall. It is designed with somewhat more of a flourish, the names inscribed in elegant calligraphy on a rolled scroll. Thirty seven men served in the Great War and six of them did not return.

The closure of small churches and chapels is becoming more prevalent throughout the country and with it comes the question of what to do with their war memorials. At one time, they may have just quietly disappeared but a growing sense of pride and of their importance to a community means new homes are being sought for them. The local village hall seems an entirely appropriate option and somewhere they can be displayed prominently and viewed by all sections of the community.

A Fitting Memorial

Shrewsbury School’s main war memorial stands at the meeting place of all the avenues leading from the School. At its centre is a bronze, life-size statue of Sir Philip Sidney (one of the school’s alumni) on a large rectangular plinth and in military costume, dressed as he would have been when he was fatally wounded during the Battle of Zutphen in 1586. In 1948 a low stone wall was erected, partly surrounding the Sidney memorial, inscribed with the names of Old Salopians who died during the Second World War. The location of the main school building, high on a bank above the River Severn, must be the envy of many boating clubs around the country. The Royal Shrewsbury School Boating Club has its boathouse on the banks of the river below the School. It was built in memory of John Edwin Pugh a Lieutenant in the RAF who served on HMS Princess Royal. He died on 12th November 1918, the day after the Armistice – of wounds received just prior to it - aged only 19. The boathouse was donated by his father, the “owner of a well-known Coventry motorcycle manufacturers” and opened by Sir Frederick Sykes, the Director of Civil Aviation. Pugh was a distinguished oarsman during his time at the school, having won the Challenge Oars, rowed stroke in the Head of the River crew and was in the School Eight at Henley. It is difficult therefore to think of a more fitting memorial.

The Pugh Memorial Boathouse