Walpole

Introduction

The village is situated in the valley of the river Blythe, which runs through the village green. The attractive parish church, St Mary, was largely rebuilt in 1878 as a flint faced building. More significantly the extraordinary Old Chapel was adapted from a 16th century farmhouse in 1689 by local puritans and still contains various 18th century pine box pews and is now recognised as a unique religious building though it closed to worshippers in 1970.

The existence of Marlinspike Hall (see gallery) suggests that at least one Walpole resident is a fan of Hergé's famous boy reporter Tintin. (The hall was evidently given this name fairly recently; the 1977 OS map shows it as "The Gables").

The village was recorded in Domesday as "Walpola" or "Walepola".

Gallery