Historic Parish

The historic parish of Caynham lies on the southern slopes of Titterstone Clee Hill. It stretches from the valley of Ledwyche Brook in the southwest, at a height of about 250 feet, to heights of over 1,500 feet in the extreme northeast. About half the parish is over 750 feet high. With plenty of rolling hills it is an important backdrop to the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The outstanding landmark in the south of the parish is Caynham Camp, an extensive Iron Age earthwork which occupies a site of more than eight acres. Excavations from 1959 to 1962 revealed evidence of occupation from about 1000 BC.

In the Middle Ages, Caynham was one of the many manors on the Welsh border belonging to the powerful Mortimer family of Wigmore. The most obvious survivor of the Middle Ages now is the parish church. One senses its antiquity as soon as one passes through the lychgate and along an avenue of ancient yew trees. Outside the church is an ancient cross, once used as a focal point for preaching.

Farming has always been important in Caynham, involving all sections of the community. A 20th century farming cleric was the Revd J.D.D. Rider, a much loved and respected vicar from 1926 to 1959. He was known as the hunting parson and is commemorated in a stained-glass window in the chancel, which shows him walking to the church with a staff, with the village school and Caynham Camp in the background.

An important event of the 19th century was the building of the village school in 1834. It was a one room building of rough stone which was hardly altered until 1970. It received a government grant of £47 towards the building, the first in Shropshire to benefit in this way.

During the 19th century the lower part of Caynham remained an agricultural area. Apples were widely grown, and many farmers made their own cider. Most of the population however lived at the Knowbury end of the parish, where there were three public houses and two Methodist chapels.

Caynham today has a population of just over 1000 and most of these still live up on the hill in Clee Hill and Knowbury. Like many rural communities, the southern part of the parish now has no shops, pub or post office, and many residents work in Ludlow, less than 3 miles away.