Old Church Stoke

St Nicholas's Church, formerly called St Mary's Church until 1881, is a Church of England parish church in Church Stoke, Powys, Wales. The church's current building is largely the result of 19th-century reconstruction, but it retains its 13th-century tower with a later timber belfry. From the period prior to the 19th century, only a font, a stoup and a chest have survived up to three phases of restoration and reconstruction. The main body of the church with its large high pitched roof dates to the second half of the 19th century. It is a Grade II listed building.

Churchstoke or Church Stoke (Welsh: Yr Ystog) is a village, community and electoral ward in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. Located in the southeast of the Vale of Montgomery, it is overlooked by Todleth Hill, Roundton Hill and Corndon Hill. The rivers Caebitra and Camlad have their confluence just outside the village. The nearest town is Montgomery. In the 2011 census the village had a population of 708.The community of Churchstoke covers a wider area than the village, including the neighbouring villages of Hyssington and The Marsh. Recently the detached part of the community around Weston Madoc was transferred to Montgomery's community. The community is situated on a salient and covers an area of over 50 square miles (130 km2).

Roundton Hill is a rounded, steep sided, 1,210 feet (370 m) hill, volcanic in origin, in the easternmost part of old Montgomeryshire (in present day-Powys), Wales, which juts into the English border near Church Stoke. It is managed as a nature reserve by the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, who acquired it in 1985.

The Lack is a Grade II* listed building, formerly in the historic parish of Churchstoke but now in the parish of Chirbury with Brompton in Shropshire. It is likely to have been built in the latter part of the 16th century.

Brompton and Rhiston was a civil parish in Shropshire, England. In 1987 it merged with Chirbury civil parish to form the present-day civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton. Brompton and Rhiston continues as a parish ward within the new civil parish, returning 2 councillors.The parish included the settlements of Brompton and Pentreheyling, both hamlets. Rhiston is a small hamlet, partly in Wales; it was historically more notable and has an entry in the Domesday Book.The neighbouring places of Brompton and Pentreheyling are notable for the fact that they are impossible to reach from any other place in England by road without first passing through Wales. Public footpaths are the only access which link them with the rest of England. They are however not geographically an exclave.

Priestweston (or Priest Weston) is a small village in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton, Shropshire, England, lying in the Welsh Marches. Its name is based on the Old English for "western settlement (tun)", with the affix priest in reference to the estate of the Prior of Chirbury at Weston Parva. It was mentioned in Domesday, and later became part of the possessions of the Botterell family. The village is located near to the English-Welsh border, at the foot of Corndon Hill. Due to a quirk of the border geography in the area of Corndon Hill, the nearest village in Wales, White Grit, lies to the east of Priestweston. Second World War Victoria Cross winner John Brunt was born there in 1922 and his family lived there before moving to near Whittington some six years later. An outdoor memorial plaque to his memory was put up in the village in May 2004.The village church at Middleton-in-Chirbury is located a mile from Priestweston. A megalithic stone circle known as Mitchell's Fold is located within Shropshire on nearby Stapeley Hill, and there are also remains of a second circle, known as the Whetstones, a short distance to the east over the Welsh border in Montgomeryshire. There is also a traditional pub, The Miner's Arms. National Cycle Route 44 passes through the village.

Brompton is a hamlet in Shropshire, England. It lies on the A489 between Church Stoke and Newtown (both in Powys) at its junction with the B4385. The hamlet is notable for the fact that it is impossible to reach any other settlement in England (except Pentreheyling) by road without first passing through Wales. Public footpaths are the only access which links it with the rest of England. It is, however, not geographically an exclave. It is also notable as having Welsh language road signage on the B4385 heading south into Powys, unique in England. Brompton is in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton; in 1987 the parishes of Chirbury and Brompton and Rhiston merged to form the present-day civil parish. Earlier Brompton was a township in the English portion of the parish of Church Stoke. Brompton remains in a separate ecclesiastical parish to Chirbury however. The remains of three Roman marching camps have been found near Brompton. The hamlet lies on Offa's Dyke, and the Offa's Dyke Path passes through. There is also an earthwork motte, which was in existence by 1225. The Lack is a Grade II* listed building, formerly in the historic parish of Churchstoke but now in the parish of Chirbury with Brompton. It is likely to have been built in the latter part of the 16th. century.Situated by the crossroads, there was a public house called the Blue Bell, which closed in 2020 when the landlady died.

The River Onny is a river in Shropshire, England. It is a major tributary of the River Teme.

Snead is a small village in Powys, Wales. It is situated on the A489 road and the River Camlad. The English border is immediately to the east of the village. The small town of Bishop's Castle is 2.0 miles (3.2 km) to the south.A monastery existed here c. 1200, before moving to Chirbury in Shropshire by 1227.The small St Mary's Church of Snead is uniquely positioned on the banks of the River Camlad. Recent archeological investigations have shown that 11th century dwellings or buildings formerly existed very close to the church. A village of Snead was possibly built with the church in its midst, or perhaps it was built as the Chapel of the Priory founded hereabouts in the 12th century by Lord of Montgomery, Robert de Buthlers. The Priory was later moved to Chirbury. Not much larger than a chapel, the church has a small belfry, where medieval bells have recently been restored to their positions. The church is surrounded by a small raised churchyard with retaining walls and ditches. This indicates that it is an ancient site where a wooden church may have been built before the first stone building of the 13th/14th century. The churchyard contains several Yew trees, one ancient. The grassland contains many species which indicate that the ground may have been undisturbed for centuries. A close look at the south wall of the church, where the present entrance is located, shows that there may at one time have been an outdoor preaching platform. This could be attributable to the Augustinian monks who founded the Priory, as they were known to preach outdoors. On the north window are two unusual faces carved in stone. Much of the north and west of the church was rebuilt on 1870. Inside it is mostly undecorated, with bare stone walls. There is a Victorian screen and pulpit (part of which is much older). The Victorian floor tiling remains in good condition. The font, dated 12th century, could have been a relic of the former Priory. This was not originally made as a font, but as a quern - a vessel for corn or liquid with a pouring lip on the edge of the rim. In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Snead like this: 'SNEAD, a parish in the district of Clun and county of Montgomery; 2 miles NNW of Bishops-Castle r[ailway]. station. Post town, Bishops-Castle, Shropshire. Acres, 644. Real property, £742. Pop[ulation]., 59. Houses, 10. The property is subdivided. The living is a rectory, annexed to Hyssington. The church is bad.'

Bankshead is a hamlet in Shropshire, England, near Bishop's Castle and the England-Wales border.

Hyssington (Welsh: Isatyn) is a parish in the South-Eastern corner of the historic county of Montgomeryshire in Wales and borders the county of Shropshire in England. It is now within the area of the Church Stoke community council in Powys. It is dominated by Corndon Hill. The church which is in the Diocese of Hereford lies just the north of a small village and is sited just to the west of a medieval Motte-and-bailey castle. This area was also the source of late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age battle-axes and axe-hammers, made from picrite that were widely traded around 2000 BC.

Corndon Hill (Welsh: Cornatyn) is a hill in Powys, Mid Wales, whose isolated summit rises to 1,683 ft above sea level. It is surrounded on three sides by the English county of Shropshire and forms a prominent landmark in the Wales-England border. Corndon's prominent western edge appears to form a separate hill and is known locally as Lan Fawr (Welsh: 'Big Hill'). It is frequented by walkers and ramblers from car parks nearby at Mitchell's Fold for example. There are spectacular panoramic views from the summit, and it is itself an important landmark for the surrounding countryside and towns like Montgomery. It is close to villages such as Church Stoke and Hyssington. The hill is geologically part of the Shropshire Hills range of hills lying mainly to the north, east and south of the summit. The immediate area to the west is the Vale of Montgomery and the River Severn. The Cambrian Mountains are visible beyond to the far west. The Stiperstones and Shelve lie to the immediate north, with Caer Caradoc and the Long Mynd to the east.