Parwich

My personal challenge for this round of Miss Jenny Matlock's alphabe-Thursday is to post about a location within the borders of my own county of Derbyshire, UK, for each letter of the alphabet.


Look for the letter, to see where I am.

P is for Parwich.

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Parwich is a village of around 500 inhabitants, located approximately 7 miles north of the market town of Ashbourne. There has been a settlement here for some time, the village being listed as Pevrewic in the Domesday Book of 1086.

I'm going to take you for a little stroll. We won't see all of the sights, but I can show you a good selection.

Our journey takes us from the lower green; one of three in the village.

A small stone bridge leads to this footpath, which cuts between the cottages and into the back of the churchyard.

The graves here are neatly tended and the headstones bear some names very familiar to me.

As we walk on through the churchyard, we come to the side of the church building and the main door.

The tympanum in the arch above the church door is thought to date back to pre-Norman England. It shows the lamb of God with a cross, a stag trampling on a serpent, a wolf and a selection of other strange creatures.

Continue through the front of the churchyard and out of the gate into the main street. Here is the church green and from a little way up the street is a good view of the church itself.

There is believed to have been a church on this site for around 800 years. The current church of St Peter, was erected by Sir Thomas William Evans in 1873; a reconstruction of an earlier building. At the time, Evans owned Parwich Hall.

A little further up the main street is the turning for Alsop, just along which is the Royal British Legion building; a social club, established in 1951, for ex-servicemen and their friends and families.

Back on the main street, is the village Memorial Hall; a very modern construction. The original was built in 1962, but was replaced by this new building, opened in September 2010.

Continuing up the main street, this building was once the village shop; now sadly closed.

Just above it, at the head of the village, is the Primary School, built in 1861 (also by Sir Thomas William Evans). The school currently caters for around 50 children aged between 4 and 11.

From the school, we do an about turn and head back down the main street, past the church and round to the other village green.

Here are the swings and see-saw. At the beginning of July each year, Parwich has its 'Wakes' week; a traditional holiday and festival filled with events including the parade, the hill race and the fair. I used to love the fair with its old fashioned penny slot machines, coconut shy and swingboats. I especially loved the swingboats and would pull on the thick rope until the boat was swinging as high as it was possible to go! I used to go round all of the family adults, persuading them to take a ride with me (and pay the fee of course!).

In places like Parwich, housing is always an issue. House prices are sky high and any child who has grown up in the village will struggle to find somewhere affordable to live. That is the reason for this little 'Close' which consists of affordable starter homes for local young people, and also flats for senior citizens.

Across the road from the Close is the Sycamore Pub, which now also houses a small village shop.

...and a stroll along the front of Chestnut Cottages brings us back to our starting point on the lower green. 

Once there was a line of horse chestnut trees here, but most have now had to be felled. When they were planted, they were named after the children in the village. One was called 'Hazel' which always makes me smile; a tree with a confused identity.

PS: I'm away at the moment doing voluntary work. I was hoping to post a photo a day, but it's been so busy, there has been no way :(. I'm also well behind with commenting. I will catch up whan I'm home. Sorry.