Llanymynech

After a morning spent shopping in Oswestry we headed out the town in search of somewhere suitable to eat a picnic.  We ended up in Llanymynech a village which straddles the border between England and Wales, it runs down the high street.  In fact there was, it is now closed, a pub which straddled the border and it had two bars in England and one in Wales!

We found a car park next to the Montgomery Canal and headed off and found a picnic bench a few yards up right alongside the canal.  It was a lovely spot out of the wind and in the sun that had come out for us.  After we had eaten we headed off to explore a Heritage Area nearby.  What we found was a collection of wonderfully preserved buildings and much evidence of industry.  We only explored a small section of the area bit we did walk around in a huge Hoffman Kiln which was used to produce lime for industry.  The article I have linked to is old now as it talks about the kiln being overgrown, this is no longer the case, it has been restored and recovered with a large metal structure similar to what it would have looked like in its heyday.  There were many interesting interpretation boards which explained what the buildings were for and many signposts to help you walk round the site.  We only managed to look round a small part of it, I would love to returned and look round it some more in the future.  My eldest was intrigued and fascinated by all of it, after reluctantly joining us!  What better way to introduced children to industrial archaeology and history?