Renaissance beer for renovation party at Shropshire church
A beer has been brewed to tie in with the £220,000 renovation of an ancient rural church.
As a Heritage Lottery Fund project to restore the 12th century St John the Baptist Church on the Long Mynd – more commonly known as Myndtown Church – nears completion, plans are underway for a celebration that will involve the project's own beer.
In honour of the project the Six Bells Brewery in nearby Bishop’s Castle has released a special ale called Myndtown Renaissance.
The ale will be served at a planned re-opening party at Myndtown Church on July 30. But as well as being available at the party, it will be served throughout July by the Six Bells pub, The Coach House in Norbury, the Inn on the Green and the Crown Inn of Wentnor and The Bridges at Ratlinghope.
John Burt, project manager of the Myndtown Heritage Lottery Fund project, said: "We are thrilled that our local hostelries have joined together to help us celebrate the project’s completion and the re-opening of the church.”
Caz Dunham who brewed the beer, ably assisted by Doug Jones at the Six Bells, said: “I am really pleased with this brew and delighted by the very enthusiastic reaction of those who have had an early taste.”
Her tasting notes read: “Subtle malt undertones and distinctive spiciness from the rye malt, married with fruity flavours and a retained bitterness, make this a tantalisingly tasty copper ale.”
They were joined at a launch of the beer by Six Bells landlord John Stradling and student Eleanor Davies, who previously won a competition to design a logo for the HLF project.
Myndtown Church is a rare surviving example of 12th century farmers’ church, siting nestled on the west side of the Long Mynd, that contains one of the oldest bells in England but was judged in danger of a crumbling in 2015 leading to a drive to to preserve it for future generations.
The free re-opening party, which will run from 11am to 6pm at the church, will feature entertainment every hour, a hog roast from noon to 2pm a 'build your own ice-cream sundae’ table, tea, coffee and soft drinks, and an exhibition and auction of paintings of the church by local artists.
While the hog roast is free, for the sake of numbers organisers as those who want to eat contact them on myndtownchurch@gmail.com
