Appleshaw church is old. Its predecessor churches and chapels are even older. And before them there were Romans living in and around Appleshaw, although it would be too much to assert that there was a Roman temple on the site – even if it makes for a romantic and atmospheric story.
Rev. George Engleheart – gentleman clergyman, archeologist and horticulturalist (1851-1936)
The British Museum has a Roman find comprising 32 pewter items, ten of which were purchased from a Reverend George Herbert Engleheart of Appleshaw in 1897.
Remains of a jug with graffito ‘VICTRICI’ (property of Victricius); part of the Appleshaw Hoard discovered by Rev. Engleheart in 1897. (Image credit: British Museum, 1897, 1218.14)
Rev. Engleheart was not only an enthusiastic Roman historian – but also an expert on daffodils (Narcissus).
“Rev. Engleheart devoted much of his life to Narcissus, breeding over 700 named forms by the time of his death in 1936. The life of a rural vicar was not particularly demanding in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and he was one of several gentleman-clergyman, who became serious horticulturalists of their times. There are stories of parishioners arriving at church to find a notice pinned to the door, reading, ‘No service today, working with daffodils’.“
(Image credit: Getty images)