Rhydycroesau
Rhydycroesau is a tiny village on the English-Welsh border, west 3.25 miles on B 4580 of Oswestry. It partly lies in the Shropshire parish of Oswestry Rural; the other part is in Montgomeryshire, Powys.
Pantomime
Rhydycroesau is well known locally for its pantomimes, which are hosted every year in January and February with the cast made up of people from the local area.
History
The former Rectory, now Pen-y-Dyffryn Hotel, was built in 1840 from the local stone for £1260.00, which sum included constructing the church and village school, now the village hall, into the bargain. The church is in Wales, the Rectory is in England, the only such instance.
The first Rector was the Reverend Robert Williams, appointed in 1837. A native of Conwy, where his father was the Vicar. he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford (MA). He was described as "ponderous and pedantic, big and burly, waddling as he walked with three or four pupils at his heels". The 1861 census gives details of his household. He had two sisters, a dairymaid, a housemaid and two farm servants living in. One of his favourite sayings was that "a goose is a very awkward bird, being a little too much for one, but not enough for two".
He was a dull preacher, using the same sermons over and over, reading them in a monotone. He was not much liked by his parishioners, and maintained a congregation of as many as a dozen worshippers. He was, however, an eminent Celtic scholar, and amongst other publications is responsible for the first dictionary of the Cornish language. In 1835, whilst curate of Llangernyw, he published "The History and Antiquities of the town of Aberconwy. In 1879, Rev. Williams left to become the Rector of Culmington, near Ludlow, where he died in 1881. He is buried in Culmington churchyard - the gravestone is the only one of slate and has its inscription in Welsh.
Two more vicars followed; the Reverend Richard Richardson-Jones from 1879 until 1908, and the Reverend William Arthur Morris until 1949. Both were rather more popular figures, and congregations regularly reached 100 or more.
In 1920 the Church in Wales was disestablished and a referendum was held in the village to decide if the Church should go to Church of England or Church in Wales. The vote was in favour of the Church of England, and so it is to this day, one of the few Churches of England actually situated in Wales.
In 1951 the Rectory was sold by the church into private hands, and bought by a dentist and his family. First hand accounts indicate that the house was always cold and almost totally without carpets. Water was pumped from a well and up to five fires had to be laid and lit each morning to provide any warmth at all. The place was, at times, in a state of near collapse.
It was not until 1981 that the then owners opened the Rectory's doors to the public, first as a restaurant and subsequently as a hotel. The village school is now the village hall, and has been substantially extended recently due to the high level of local activities held there. The church itself still holds regular services.
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