Chapel Lawn is a small village in southwest

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England, located within the Redlake Valley, some three miles south of the small town of

Clun Clun is a town in south west Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills AONB, Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 United Kingdom census, census recorded 680 people living in the town.Combined populations for the t ...

. Chapel Lawn lies in an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

bounded to the north by Bryneddin Wood, an ancient deciduous wood containing extensive plantings of

Sessile Oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Welsh oak, Cornish oak, Irish oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unof ...

. On

Caer Caradoc Caer Caradoc (, the fort of Caradog) is a hill in the English county of Shropshire. It overlooks the town of Church Stretton and the village of All Stretton and offers panoramic views to the north towards the Wrekin, east to Wenlock Edge, a ...

, a hill less than 1 kilometre south of the village, can be found an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

fort with mounds and ditches well defined and scheduled by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

History

The name is derived from a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

attached to Chapel Lawn Farm in the 16th century and "lawn" refers to a grassy clearing in the forest. A school was built in the village in 1856, on the former

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

. It had to close in 1985 due to diminished numbers of children; the nearest primary school is now in Bucknell. The history of the village and surrounding townships is gradually being researched and placed on a website by a group of local residents.

Civil parish

The village lies in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and with the surrounding countryside forms one of the two wards of the parish. The parish council is formally called "Clun Town Council with Chapel Lawn".

Features

There is a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

in Chapel Lawn for the local rural community, called the Redlake Valley Village Hall. It was built in 1952. Many public footpaths cross the Redlake Valley enabling walkers to see the features above, and an information board at the village hall car park, next to the church, displays a map together with local information. Walkers are free to leave their cars at this car park whilst enjoying the local sights. Numerous sheep and cattle graze on the higher fields and walkers are asked to obey the Countryside Code, closing gates after themselves and keeping dogs under control. A local conservation spot, Hodre Pond, lies along the road to Obley, some 1.5 km from the village centre and dates back some 400 years. The pond boasts many aquatic species of flora and fauna.

Church

St Mary's Church in the centre of Chapel Lawn was designed by Edward Haycock Snr in the lancet style and erected in 1844. It was planned to provide 232 sittings, of which 162 were declared free and unappropriated forever. Originally a

Chapel of Ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

of Clun parish, without an adjoining vicarage and resident priest, it was built to save parishioners the long walk to Clun. Built of stone in the style of the period, it displays the typical plain lancets, flat buttresses, and western bell gable with a wide queen post roof. The polygonal apse, which forms the chancel, is unusual. The church contains war memorials in the form of a brass plaque listing local men who died serving in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and a stone plaque to the only man to die serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, John H.P. Adams. The churchyard contains one

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of a soldier of the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. Although the cavalry link rem ...

.CWGC Casualty Record.
/ref> The church became a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in its own right in 1991, part of the benefice of Bucknell and morning services are held on the first and third Sunday of each month.

References

External links