Dudleston Heath (also referred to as Criftins) is a village in north-west

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England. It is located on the B5068 road between Ellesmere and St Martin's and is part of

Ellesmere Rural Ellesmere Rural is a civil parish in Shropshire, England. In 2011 the parish covered a large area, mainly to the west of the town of Ellesmere. This rural parish consists of farmland and a number of small settlements including Dudleston Heath ...

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

. The Wales-England border is just to the north.

Activities

The village has a village hall which hosts regular events such as coffee mornings, open days and other fund raising activities. These are arranged by the Events Committee. There are also regular user groups such as the

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being th ...

, senior citizens and bingo as well as card playing groups. There is also a franchised pub called the 'Parish Pump'. The hall possesses facilities for

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

crown green bowls Crown green bowls (or crown green) is a code of bowls played outdoors on a grass or artificial turf surface known as a bowling green. The sport's name is derived from the intentionally convex or uneven nature of the bowling green which is traditi ...

, as well as having a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

pitch and beautiful allotments which are an asset to the community. The Parish Pump pub and hall have in the past played host to a small country music festival and a village fete. The village has a football team of the same name which plays in Shrewsbury Sunday League.

Industry

The village consists of a local

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

(now situated inside the Parish Hall), and a

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class me ...

, in addition to the Parish Hall. The main source of income in the area is farming which provides jobs for many people of the local area. The reason for the high amount of farming is that the majority of land in the area is taken up by fields and the high clay content in the ground provides minerals for the growth of crops. Others from the community commute to nearby towns such as Ellesmere,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

as the village is served by the 53 bus route stopping outside the Parish Hall.

Church

The village's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church o
St Matthew
is beside the road from Ellesmere to St Martin's. The churchyard contains the village's war memorial, a red stone cross unveiled in 1921, remains of a Saxon preaching cross, and a yew tree with a girth of 20 ft and thought (in 2013) to be over 1,000 years old. Indoors is a Roll of Honour and framed list of local men who were on active service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Education

The village also has a primary school, which has been expanded over the years. Many of its pupils then go on to

Lakelands Academy Lakelands Academy (formerly The Lakelands School) is a coeducational secondary school located in Ellesmere in the English county of Shropshire. Previously a community school administered by Shropshire Council, The Lakelands School converte ...

in Ellesmere travelling on the 53 bus.

Notable people

* The family of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, (1890-1970), lived in the village at Gadlas Hall (now a residential care home) during their exile from France in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. They rented the house between August 1940 and autumn of 1941, from its owner, judge

Francis Taylor, 1st Baron Maenan William Francis Kyffin Taylor, 1st Baron Maenan (9 July 1854 – 22 September 1951), was a prominent English barrister and judge. He was a Railway and Canal Commissioner from 1930 to its abolition in 1949, and was its last member. Background and ...

.The village is named as Criftins. * British

showjumper Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

Nick Skelton Nicholas David Skelton (born 30 December 1957, Bedworth, Warwickshire) is a British former equestrian who competed in show jumping. He retired at the age of 59 years old, on 5 April 2017. He began riding at age 18 months and in 1975 took two t ...

, born 1957, owned stables in the area. * Welsh

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, Luke Preston, born 1976, grew up in the village and attended Criftins CofE school for primary education. *Kieran Davies - former judge in famous BBC show, ‘The Appreciate’. Current manager of the Gibraltar swimming and lacrosse team.

References