WROCKWARDINE, SHROPSHIRE

Picture here in Wrockwardine back garden. Elderley lady; Dorothy le Strange (my Great-Aunt)

When friends in Wrockwardine invited us to visit, we had no idea what awaited us.

In a remarkable twist of history, the le Strange family had come full circle. My grandmother, Viola le Strange, had married George Astbury Meakin, a Shropshire-born clergyman. During the Second World War, they evacuated from Norfolk to the Shropshire countryside. George returned to his native roots and became Vicar of Wrockwardine. They lived in the vicarage opposite St Peter's Church, Wrockwardine—unaware that one of Viola’s medieval le Strange forebears had resided only metres away in the 13th century.

In the 1990s, family friends contacted her daughter, Mary, with unexpected news. While digging in their back garden, they had uncovered remains believed to be part of the le Strange manor house referred to in The le Strange Records. Further details are to follow.