The village is in the middle of the most beautiful Shropshire countryside about five miles from Ludlow. The main industry is farming with many small manufacturers in the area.
There is certainly a good ‘atmosphere’ in the village and also many points of interest. The old yew tree in the churchyard has been dated to be nearly two thousand years old. This was probably the ‘meeting place’ all that time ago as the churchyard is round—so that the Devil could not hide in the corners! There is a Holy Well the water of which is said to heal eyes. There is also a Jubilee Spring which provides lovely clear water that comes from the Hill.
It is thought that the first part of the building of St John the Baptist was the tower which is Saxon. The nave is early Norman and was ‘adorned’ in 1685 for which there is a plaque in the pulpit. Outside there are two stone Celtic heads. These have been dated as no later than Romano-British. Apparently, all the ley lines are in the right places too!
This church uses BCP and does not wish to change that. There are two services a month, namely Holy Communion at 8.30am on the first Sunday of the month and Evensong at 6.30pm on the third Sunday. There is an organist for the Evensong and we sing unaccompanied for Holy Communion.
The church at Hope Bagot was re-roofed in 2005 and is in good order. Instead of many fund-raising events throughout the year it was decided some time ago to have a themed Festival and it has done very well until this year, when it rained all day. Even this year we had a letter afterwards from someone who wrote, “Who would have thought that on a soaking wet, cold summer day, the family could have had such a wonderful time?” There is a very flourishing ‘Friends of Hope Bagot Church’.