Bromlow callow

[Viktoria]

This ring of trees atop a hill is a well known landmark.

Various sources have it as a guide for drovers, when cattle and sheep were moved around the country to markets and fairs etc.
However I was told another reason many years ago , by the man I named as uncle , because I lived with his family as an evacuee- a courtesy title.
We were looking across the valley towards the callow, from Snailbeach> I asked uncle what it was and why the trees at the top.
He explained that during the first world war the landowner was felling the trees for the war effort, they were destined to be used as retaining timbers for the trenches and to prop up the tunnels
where mining to place underground bombs was happening.
Sadly his son was killed whilst fighting at the front and the landowner asked permission to leave the ring of trees at the top of the hill as a permanent memorial.This he was allowed to do.
I was told this in the early 1940`s but since then I have never heard this story told .

A couple of years ago we were visiting Bishop`s Castle and went into the delightful museum in The House on Stilts . I mentioned the story to two volunteers  on duty that day.
One lady knew the land owner and he had indeed lost a son in WW1. I can`t for the life of me remember the name of the  aristocratic landowner.

Has anyone else any info on this,?. It seems such a pity that the likely  reason for the ring of trees  has been forgotten.
Uncle who when he  told me the story would be in his late fifties, so born about1890 and would have perhaps been a soldier.
I would not like the story -if correct- to be lost.

Any help much appreciated. Viktoria.

[garstonite]

is the 1939 register too late ?
it should give you names in Brownlow Callow addresses - whether they are the owners is a different matter but if you see a titled gent it may give you an idea .

[Viktoria]

Thank you ,that may prove helpful. The name was something like Lord Weston but that may be totally wrong.There will probably be a memorial in the local church, I`ll try contacting the rector/vicar and see .Thanks again. Viktoria.

[Mary Pryce]

Hello
 Re Bromlow Callow
My father told me that Bromlow Callow ring of trees, was the O from the name Naylor
Naylor,s where a very large  land owners who lived at Leighton Hall Powys, my Dad used to work for  Post Office Telephones and worked all over the Stiperstones Bromlow Trelystan and had an avid interest in local history.
I have an interest in Bromlow Callow As I can see it from my home, by 1889 I think the land may have been sold I would be interested to know who owned it in the time you talk of.

[Viktoria]

I don’t think it was the name Naylor.
I have not been back to Bishop’s Castle since.
I do not drive and my husband died in 2014 so I have not been back
The lady who gave me the information was an elderly volunteer so if still alive will probably not be working there.
I feel fairly certain it was the Weston family who had a son killed in WWI.
Thank you for the reply.
I know Snailbeach best of all.
Did you know there was a Post Office up at Pennerly up to about 1940.
George Lewis was the postman.
There is a photograph of him on his bike.
It is in a lovely book”Once Upon A Hill,”the second if two.
The first “Never on a Sunday.”
Available at the pub Stiperstones Inn. Also bookshops in Shrewsbury.
I wonder how we could find out about the Callow Ring?
The person my sister was evacuated with with was Dorothy Preece,her mother Mrs.Parry ran the P.O
In Snailbeach,Before that it was someone who was named Blakemore I think.
Thank you again for your reply.
I will try to find out more,
Viktoria.

[Robbwell]

In the early 1950s a Mrs. Blakemore lived on a farm about a mile to the NW of the callow. I had the impression her husband was at that time dead but there was a son, perhaps running the farm.

The farm is the first on the left if you walk from the bridge over the stream which drains the west slope below the callow up the road towards Meadowtown. Therefore her land certainly ran from the road up towards Bromlow callow.

Mrs. Blakemore was religious so I assume there will be evidence of her and her family at the Meadowtown chapel.

[Viktoria]

Thanks, I would really like to solve the mystery,sad if the reason for the ring of trees was left as a memorial but that the reason is now forgotten.
I must try to get in touch with the minister of Bishop’s Castle  Church.
Thanks again.
Viktoria.

[willyam]

Viktoria,

You may already have considered this, and it is a bit of a long shot, but just in case you haven't.

In 1911 there was living, at Red House Farm in Bromlow, a Farmer by the name of James Pryce, his wife Elizabeth & 7 of their 8 children.

It would seem that there was only 1 son, Richard James Pryce - who was born in 1895, and in 1911 he was shown as a Farmer's Son, helping on the farm. Perhaps 'learning the trade' to be ready to take over from his father in the fullness of time?

The CWGC site shows that he was a Private (19073) in the 3rd Bn. of the Coldstream Guards and that he died in France on 13 April 1918.

Willyam

[Viktoria]

No I hadn’t , but a possibility.
It depends who the landowner was ,do you think or know it was James Pryce?
I phoned the Minister at Bishops Castle, an answer machine so no call from there as yet.
There is a memorial pillar in the Churchyard but no names listed .
Thanks, it has intrigues me after all these years, about 78 !
We were standing looking over that way to The Callow ie the ring of trees and uncle told me the story.
Cheerio,I will be in touch if I find out any more,many thanks .
Viktoria.