Category: Long Stratton

This is the grave of Cyril Edmund August Cheney, one of the two men buried in this churchyard who died of their injuries during the First World War.

Cyril was born in 1899, the only son of Edmund Cheney and Rosa Eva Cheney. Edmund worked as a farmer and they had three children, Olive Flossie Mabel (born in 1898), Cyril and Alma Beatrice (born in 1900). All of the three children were born in Denton, but they moved at around that time to Stratton St. Michael (now part of Long Stratton) and that’s where they are listed on the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

Cyril joined the Royal Horse Artillery in June 1917 (the above photo was likely taken at a similar time), and the RHA is shown on his grave, which is a nicely sculpted stone. He was given service number 61367 and served in the U Battery of the RHA, something akin to a regiment.

Cyril was wounded in France on 3 October 1918 and was taken to Rouen Hospital before then being brought back to the UK for treatment to his injuries. He was sent to the 4th London General Hospital at Denmark Hill (now known as King’s College Hospital), but he died on 26 October 1918, at the age of 20. His probate was completed in February 1919, with his entire wealth of £185 17s being transferred to his father, Edmund.

Cyril’s parents are buried next to him on the same plot, with their stone noting that Edmund died on 11 April 1928 at the age of 62, whilst Eva died on 4 October 1955, at the age of 80. Following Edmund’s death, Eva had moved in with her daughter Olive, who had married the farmer James Brighton, and they all lived at Lime Kiln Farm in Newton Flotman. Olive remained living in Newton Flotman until her death in 1991, over 70 years after the death of her younger brother.

This is one of my more niche posts (although, to be honest, I’m not sure that any are particularly mainstream or useful), but I was interested walking along Edge’s Lane as the road clearly went a bit askew. It transpires that the end section into Long Stratton has been rerouted, with the old road now being used as a footpath.

As an aside, I was walking down where that footpath is on the right-hand side of the above map and there was a dog trying desperately with all his might to take his owner over the field to explore. I stopped to chat for a short while (not for long, being British I can’t be doing social for that long) and she said her dog adored the field and she was taking him back that way later, but he didn’t seem at all convinced. I admired the dog’s persistence though, I get like that when stopped from going into a pub. Anyway, I digress.

This felt a little odd, but was once the road into Long Stratton.

A small section is still in use so that homeowners can park their cars, but it doesn’t go anywhere else (other than the road that gets the cars in, obviously).

Where Edge’s Lane used to join the main road, with the white stop sign still being visible, even though the road has been closed off for well over a decade.

Long Stratton was once formed of two villages, the parish of St. Michael’s in the north and St. Mary’s in the south. The church here is mostly from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, likely replacing an earlier building located on the same site. The heritage of the church, which was originally known as St. Michael’s and All Saints, is though recognised as it’s Grade I listed.

There was also another nearby church (and very nearby, it’s about a two minute walk away), St. Peter’s, but this was demolished in 1520 after it fell into disuse. The parish of St. Peter had merged with St. Michael under the reign of King Henry VIII and its location is visible in the above photo. Quite why there were ever two churches so close, I’m not entirely sure.

The tower is contemporary with the rest of the church, but is a relatively short affair. There was once more of a village that surrounded the church, but much of this has been lost and the manor house was demolished in the late sixteenth century.

The chancel end of the church, with this section being built in 1487, under the supervision of the rector John Cowall.

There’s quite a chunky buttress at the chancel end of the church.

Despite the tower being quite low, the church still doesn’t feel entirely out of proportion. I do wonder though if there were ever plans to build higher than this.

Unfortunately, I’ve had a run of bad luck in getting into the churches run by the Long Stratton and Pilgrim Team Ministry, and it seems so have some others. The situation isn’t ideal and hopefully the buildings will be opened up again when this current health crisis goes away.

A few churches seem to allow this in their graveyards and personally I’m not entirely convinced that it’s appropriate so near to graves. Anyway, it’s a lovely little church in what feels quite a remote countryside location, although in reality it’s just a short walk into the town of Long Stratton.

I haven’t been to the metropolis of Long Stratton in a fair while, so my morning meander today was to see some churches in that area for a change. And, also, to visit another chip shop as I haven’t been to one this week. It’s quite a zestful chip shop name, but they had a web-site and I got a positive vibe from them. The shop is also open for long hours, I suspect the owners here must be pretty hard working.

My first impressions were very positive as they accept cards, including Amex, and the welcome was wholesome and I felt it was genuine. The staff member was friendly, although slightly befuddled by the complexity of the order made by the customer after me, but all went well. All was clean and felt safe, with the food options being quite wide, including fish, pizza, chicken, burgers and pies. I wonder whether a chip shop can really achieve quality in all those areas, but at least it gives plenty of choice.

I opted for the medium chips and a deep fried battered Mars bar, which came to a very reasonable price of £3.20. The quality here was good, the Mars bar was prepared without any undue delay and that was the high quality gooey mess that I expected, very decadent. The chips were also of a decent quality, and I’ve decided that if I need to put ketchup on then they aren’t top notch. These chips remained sauce free, so all was well there.

This is another one of my favourite chip shops, although having written that I’ve only been once, but I’d go again. I liked the service, this was the sort of staff member who I think would remember customers if they returned a few times, he was that sort of engaging person. Keenly priced, they accept cards and the quality is high. All rather lovely.