Katherine Plymley would have had a lot to say about this week

Katherine Plymley, a contemporary of Jane Austen from Longnor, kept a detailed diary. She was very well-connected for a single woman from rural Shropshire; she knew the Darwins, the Wedgwoods, Thomas Telford and many other influential people of the time. Katherine’s diaries form an invaluable archive that tells us about the major events and issues of Georgian England, like the campaign for the abolition of slavery in which she and her progressively-minded family were heavily involved.

Katherine was also the daughter and later the sister of the vicars of Longnor and Leebotwood, and her diaries record fascinating details about life in rural Shropshire in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, information possibly only she would have noticed and noted.

Were Katherine living today, you can be absolutely sure that she’d have written about the Supreme Court’s judgment on the legal definition of a woman. (If you want to understand this ruling and its implications, this is a good place to start.)

You can also be sure that Katherine would have noted the cancellation of this year’s Shrewsbury Flower Show, which has sent ripples across Shropshire and prompted a range of comments.

I’ve got things to say about both of those topics in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Take a listen and tell me what you think? Leave a comment

… or send me a message?

If you want to reach out in confidence about either of these stories or anything else, you can email me, or send a message via the secure messaging app Signal where my user name is jimallthetime.69

A Shropshire Lass

Katherine Plymley was a Shropshire lass, who was born and died in what was then Bank House in Longnor. She packed a lot into the seventy years in between, and her remarkable life, diaries, art and connections are celebrated in Miss Plymley Recollects, a new dramatic presentation which you can see in Shrewsbury next weekend.

It’s written and performed by Alison Utting, a writer, actor, director and public speaker who is also A Shropshire Lass.

I met Alison somewhere that Katherine would have known very well, the parish church in Longnor, to learn more about both of these Shropshire women, and the others that Alison has studied and presented about: Eglantyne Jebb and Dame Agnes Hunt.

Miss Plymley Recollects is at the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury at 2pm on Saturday April 26. To make sure you don’t miss it, get your tickets via Alison’s website or from Ticketsource.

One thing in particular struck me from my conversation with Alison Utting. Here’s what she says the three Shropshire women have in common:

‘They’re all born into relative privilege, but it’s just chance … so they do everything in their power to make life better, easier, happier for those who are not as fortunate’

I’ll just leave that thought with you …

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