Along the Moors - Kynersley

When the Boat Comes In

The Remaining Wooded Section Of Preston (Formerly Rough) Moor

In 1707, Reverend George Plaxton, who served as vicar for Kynnersley for over 30 years, wrote a series of observations on the life of the parish during his time there. He arrived in the village in November 1673, finding it to be ‘surrounded with a large morass’ (by which he meant the moors themselves) overflowed to the extent ‘that you could not come into the parish in anyway (sic) upon arable land’. This state of affairs appears to have been nothing new. Another account from the late 16th Century refers to local farmers being forced to make ‘plattes and passages’ for their cattle to cross the moors ‘or else drag them on their sides’!

Nevertheless, the section of the Rough Moor between Kynnersley and Preston was especially valued by locals because it contained the only woodland in the area. This in itself appears to have brought with it some disadvantages, as Plaxton recalled… ‘I have been assured by aged people that all the wild moors were formerly so far overgrown by rubbish wood, such as alders, willows, salleys, thorns and the like that the inhabitants commonly hung bells about the necks of their cows that they might the more easily find them’. Yet, while life amid the wild and watery moors could certainly be onerous, many Kynnersley folk appeared more than capable of rising to the challenge…