Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase June 2020
June is definitely bursting out all over in our June 2020 edition! We've got our usual mix of local news, features, history, reviews and recipes - we're all over Rugeley and Cannock Chase!
June is definitely bursting out all over in our June 2020 edition! We've got our usual mix of local news, features, history, reviews and recipes - we're all over Rugeley and Cannock Chase!
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Churchdale,<br />
Wolseley Road, <strong>Rugeley</strong><br />
By Peter J Everall<br />
.........................<br />
When the modern National Insurance scheme started <strong>in</strong> 1948<br />
some odd quarters were chosen as local offices (from necessity<br />
- they were str<strong>in</strong>gent times) but one which was pleas<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
memorable was the <strong>Rugeley</strong> office at Churchdale.<br />
Churchdale was a delightful old Georgian house which had seen better times.<br />
It cried out for some gentle tlc. The ma<strong>in</strong> room downstairs was heated by an<br />
antiquated coke stove; the others by uneconomic coal fires <strong>in</strong> old cast –iron<br />
grates; the toilets were antediluvian; the roof leaked. It had belonged to the<br />
titled Littleton family, as witness the cattle trough on nearby Wolseley road,<br />
(“presented by the Revd the Honble C. J. Littleton of Churchdale, 1909”), but<br />
by 1960 it was owned by an MP, leased to the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Works, <strong>and</strong> the lease<br />
was runn<strong>in</strong>g out. Soon, its grounds would be part of a large hous<strong>in</strong>g enterprise.<br />
The demolish – <strong>and</strong> – burn philosophy of the 1960’s was rush<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>.<br />
On a frantic day <strong>in</strong> 1961 (Lady Day – the very day the lease expired) we<br />
moved to an excellent new Vic Hallam build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> S<strong>and</strong>y Lane (a journey from<br />
quasi- rural to unremitt<strong>in</strong>g urban) <strong>and</strong> said farewell to the house which had<br />
been our work place, to the f<strong>in</strong>e stables <strong>and</strong> other out build<strong>in</strong>gs, the<br />
unexplored timber summer – house which probably contributed to one of the<br />
many bonfires (not just <strong>in</strong> <strong>Rugeley</strong> but all over Engl<strong>and</strong>) which then burned on<br />
build<strong>in</strong>g sites. And farewell to the rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g grounds <strong>in</strong>to which cattle from<br />
the adjo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g farm would sometimes w<strong>and</strong>er <strong>and</strong> peer curiously at us through<br />
the w<strong>in</strong>dows.<br />
Today Churchdale would be protected as a listed build<strong>in</strong>g. Not so <strong>in</strong> 1961.<br />
But begone dull care!<br />
This tale has a pleas<strong>in</strong>g postscript. Someone who has a house with a canal<br />
at the bottom of his garden (on part of the old Churchdale l<strong>and</strong>, perhaps?) has<br />
his holiday- hire narrowboat berthed on the Trent & Mersey there. She is called<br />
the ‘Churchdale’. When not abroad, <strong>and</strong> but a short walk from the canal bridge<br />
on Station road, she may be seen, tied up at home.<br />
May God bless all who journey <strong>in</strong> her.<br />
Churchdale canal boat<br />
26<br />
ChurchDale House<br />
<strong>Rugeley</strong> Church from Church Dale<br />
Cattle trough, Wolseley Road
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