THIS week, Hidden Oswestry takes Advertizer readers back to the 19th century, and the death of a teenager one summer afternoon...

IF YOU thought the Maesbury Road today was a dangerous piece of road to walk or drive on, then we hereby reassure you that the road was just as dangerous in 1856 as it is today, as poor David Jones found.

On August 31, 1856, Jones was a 17-year-old boy travelling on a horse and cart to Oswestry to purchase some lead piping.

He was last spotted by Ms Mary Meredith entering the turnpike at around 3pm and while sitting on the cart, she described Jones having a dozed look about him.

Presumably, it was tiredness from finishing the harvest the previous night.

A Mr Richard Jones found Jones lying dead on the road, with wheel marks across his head, only a few hundred yards away from the Mile Oak Gate.

It was presumed Jones fell asleep proper, tumbled out of the cart and was driven over by it; his horse and cart where nowhere to be seen when found.

An inquest was held at the Ball Inn at Maesbury on September 1 and a verdict of accidental death was given.

This was the third incident on this patch of road in nearly two years.

But the first incident in nearly two years to not have a verdict of ‘drunkenness’ given.

This article was taken from the September 3, 1956 edition of the Border Counties Advertizer.