War Walks Company’S Flying School
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It began at the Craven Arms Mayfair. A local In June 1916 he left his rural round for the man had bought a plane at auction for £22 10s. Western Front. He was posted to 366 Siege It went on display. Hotchkiss was inspired, he Battery, equipped with two 9.2inch naval guns signed on at the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane mounted on railway waggons. The 28ton guns War Walks Company’s flying school. On May 16th 1911 he could fire a mighty shell 15 miles at a muzzle became just the 87th person in the land to obtain velocity of 1,800mph. Gunner Morris had on the Home Front the Royal Aero Club’s Aviator’s Certificate. become part of the team that serviced these He became Bristol’s chief test pilot and the monster guns which could fire on the enemy manager of the British School of Aviation at from well behind our lines. Brooklands. He was on Cloud Nine. In the He survived the War but appears on two war 1912 manoeuvres Hotchkiss took off in his memorials. Men and women still in military Coanda Military Monoplane and arrived over service at the time of their death qualified his destination at 2,000ft. He put the plane into for commemoration if they died between 4th a glide. A catch failed, a flying wire tore a hole August 1914 and 31st August 1921. He died on in the wing stripping off the fabric. The plane February 5th 1919 of the Spanish ‘flu. Now turn became uncontrollable and crashed. It hit the to the adjacent headstone where the family lost ground and smashed into a tree simultaneously. two more members to the ‘flu; his mother Emma The plane was concertinaed – only the tail unit died six days later [aged 74] and his niece Hilda was recognisable. His body was recovered from Emma Hotchkiss [aged 12] a day after that. the wreckage By the hedge is ‘Old Bill’ the Craven Arms The train drew into Craven Arms & Stokesay war memorial. The work of a sculptor from Station. Two thousand people were waiting. The Leominster, Storr-Barber, he is the spitting coffin, on a gun carriage drawn by 8 horses of the image of Bruce Bairnsfather’s cartoon figure. Bill Royal Horse Artillery, was escorted by a troop was posted here when traffic in town became of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. A firing too intrusive. The memorial records the fallen party discharged three volleys over the open on the front and all who served on the sides and grave and the bugler sounded the Last Post. the back. On either side is a chilling mistake – Inside the church Shropshire’s first aviator is the word ‘fallen’ has been added to two names. commemorated by two stained glass windows They had not returned. Walk 3 of St Michael and the Archangel Gabriel. ! Retrace your steps almost to the A49. We cannot know what sort of war Hotchkiss Turn left and walk along path, then cross with might have had. We can be sure the officers he care the A49 following the Shropshire Way Preparing for War taught to fly whilst at Brooklands made their signs. Go through gate and take path to left mark in the skies over the Western Front. through the trees. Continue along the path to A Riverside Walk the Discovery Centre. Gunner Joseph Alexander Morris Walk route by Helen d’Albert. Texts © 2014 Keith Pybus along the Onny On the other side of the same path leading to the Research: Craven Arms and District History Group and castle beyond a chest tomb are two graves close Alan Brisbourne and Vanda Dawson. to the churchyard wall. One has a headstone to You won’t have to visit the battlefields to experience members of the Morris family. The other is a Shropshire’s part in the First World War. 20 walks cover simple grave with surround but no headstone. the war years and the aftermath throughout the county. The printed guides will form a complete set by the end “Uncle Alex”, as his descendants refer to him, of 2019. was the local postman. In 1914 the GPO with 250,000 staff was the largest single employer of labour in the world. By 1918 30% had been released for war services. Morris became a “big gun”. www.shropshirewalking.co.uk Walk 3– Preparing for War – 1 Leave the Discovery Centre via the Car his wife Anna Maria. He was the curate (later work was required. The tracks were constantly In the Air and on the Rails Park entrance. Turn right and follow the vicar) of Halford and Sibdon Carwood. The cut by shellfire. John Evans died in hospital days road to the right past the school. Turn right family was wealthy and gentry. after arriving in France. Distance: 3.5 miles, approximately 2½ hours into Newton. This young woman, from the world of Jane 5 Leave the Church, turn right and follow Grade: Easy Austen, married a railway stoker. There was Before the railway created Craven Arms, this the lane to the main road. Terrain: Meadow paths, lanes, crossing busy talk that ‘Her family were not too keen on the medieval hamlet grew up on the banks of the road at couple of points. Walk is relatively flat match but love won the day.’ In 1901 Hilda was 6 Turn right. At the bridge cross the Onny. The variety of timber-frame and stone apart from several stiles, 2 sets of steps and 25. She helped her father with his duties. The main road and through kissing gate you cottages are picturesque. The Victorian terrace one very short section steep incline. railways were the major employer in Craven used before. Retrace steps. Cross the field was built by John Derby-Alcroft, wealthy glove Arms. A terrace – built by the railway company A circular riverside walk with a weir and manufacturer, who owned Stokesay Castle and (keeping to the left of the telegraph poles), for 28 families – was the main source of Halford salmon ladder along paths and across built Stokesay Court. till you reach a footbridge. Go up steep slope parishioners. In No 21 Newington Terrace lived meadows. Learn how the men and women and follow fence line on your right. Through 2 At the end bear left and cross over the a guard, Richard Biggs, and his family. of Craven Arms played their part before and two kissing gates, fence line and river below ‘White Bridge’ during the First World War. So Hilda Baxter met William Biggs, who had on your right. Continue. Cross a stile and The River Onny rises in the Shropshire Hills. It followed his father, and was a stoker. The couple field to another stile. flows from Craven Arms through Onibury to married in 1908 at All Saints, Ealing; her father The river is bordered by our ‘linear forest’. The meet the River Teme at Bromfield. having retired there. If they felt she was marrying tiny alder seeds are equipped with a pair of Go straight ahead across the field to the corner beneath her, they were clearly reconciled to the water wings. The Clun Valley alders provided match. Then came the First World War. Hilda’s Church of wood. Bear left. Pass wood with the river on charcoal and clog soles. The charcoal was prized A49 Farm your left. Go through the kissing gate to the faith was vindicated. The army too, thought highly for its use in gunpowder. main road. of William. He was made a Regimental Sergeant NEWINGTON Major with a railway operating company of the 7 Climb steep steps holding the hand rail. Halford 3 Turn left. At the end of the bridge cross Turn left along abandoned road towards the Farm Royal Engineers and awarded the Meritorious R road, go over stile on opposite side and down Service Medal (a silver medal for distinguished ‘new’ A49. iv er O steps. Follow the permissive footpath through service or gallantry). Hilda died aged 85 in 1962, 8 n Community n Busy road, cross with care. Turn right y the fields with the river on your right. Continue leaving £1m in today’s terms. The war memorial Centre along the pavement over the road bridge past Halford Weir with its salmon ladder. at Halford is an enduring monument not just to Onnyside towards the lane to Stokesay Castle. There is CRAVEN Picnic Area HALFORD 4 18 men of the parish, 8 of them, like her husband, Leave through the kissing gate and cross with railway connections, but to this generous another weir and salmon ladder below. ARMS river on the foot bridge. The Bishop’s Castle D and inspiring woman. 9 Supermarket E ROA Turn left up the lane and take the lych EDAL to London turnpike followed this way via CORV By the end of 1917, 180,000 railway men had gate entrance to Stokesay churchyard. On O A D Halford and Whettleton before joining the line C L U N R B4368 enlisted. 40,000 served in Royal Engineers the right is a mounting block from the days of today’s A49. railway units. Craven Arms, created by the when you rode to church on horseback Follow the causeway across the meadow. railway, played its part. There were construction Turn right along the ‘turnpike’ until you reach and light railway operating companies. RSM Edward Hotchkiss Lt Royal Flying Corps the Church. Biggs served with 32nd railway operating company in Salonika. Their job was to serve the To the right of the path which leads from the Shropshire Hills NEWTON Is the lych-gate of St Thomas Shropshire’s least- front line against the Bulgarians and Austrians.