Article 60 – Thursday, 8th November 2018 - ‘St. David’s Church, Welsh Walls – An Update’

Recently we submitted an appeal for any further information that could shed some light on the history of St. David’s Church, in Welsh Walls, via Facebook and in our weekly column in the Oswestry & Border Counties Advertizer. Luckily, one of our loyal readers came across the article and happened to have a pamphlet on the history of the Church which was written for a church body, and has kindly granted us permission to share this with you, our loyal readers. This is where the story continues.

Construction of the original St. David’s Church was completed by 1877 and was described by many as the ‘Tin Church’, due to the corrugated iron materials used to build this church. Whereas the second church cost around £1,000 to build, the Tin Church only cost £470.

As well as being more cost effective, the Tin Church also had logistical differences with the second church, as while both churches comprised of naves, apses, vestries and organ chambers, the Tin Church had seating for 270 people, whereas the second Church only had seating for 200.

The Church finally closed its doors on the 1st of August, 1985, due to a dwindling congregation caused by age and a lack of new membership. The last Vicar of the Church was the Reverend Glyn Morgan, a travelling preacher and Religious Studies teacher at the Oswestry Girls’ High School, who now lives in retirement near Meifod.

All furniture was transferred to St. Oswald’s Church for safe keeping, including the wooden alter, which was originally property of St. Oswald’s Church and was only lent to St. David’s. Incidentally, the alter was given to St. Oswald’s in 1674 by William Tomkies, an attorney of Willow Street.

Following its closure, the Church was subsequently leased by the Diocese for the Oswestry & District Amateur Operatic Society, until the Diocese finally sold it in 2014 to developers, who converted it into holiday lets. While many of the graves have since been gravelled over to create parking spaces, they have all been recorded in Parish Records.

At the gateway to the churchyard, two pillar exist which are similar to the ones at the end of the Broadwalk Gates. At first, we at Hidden Oswestry were led to believe that the inscriptions of the four Church Wardens from 1817 were removed when the development took place, but actually, it turns out these names have been carved into the pillars for eternity. Those four Church Wardens were: R. Bill, R. Roberts, R. Thomas and D. Skellorn.

Sources:

- Mr. John Pryce-Jones;

- Mrs. Betty Lawson;

- Mrs. H. Jones;

- Ms. Anne Pilsbury;

- Oswestry Parish Magazine, June 2014 Edition;

- Explanatory Note, Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011; and

- Draft Pastoral (Church Buildings Disposal) Scheme [affecting the closed Church of St. David, Oswestry (Eglwys Dewi Sant) Diocese of Lichfield], dated January 2014