It is dificult to say why the wall became the marker, historicaly it was just a farmers wall around an entrance to out buildings. Now a hundred and fifty years later it has become a sort of social marker, one side of the wall has seen more expensive properties built, while the otherside has seen the gradual developement of social housing. Where the entrance used to be a small local shop stands, a general store.
Sadly the wall has become like a psychological partion, a mental barrier to mark your territory. Gone are the days when the farmer would lead his cattle from one grazing field to another, heading them along the country road and through the walled gated entrance to the sheds for milking. Now it is a small memory, a slate and stone wall with a sign pointing in two directions, Upper Castle Farm Village one way and Lower Castle Farm Village the other.
When strangers arrive and seek directions they are told, 'Well you go to where the wall is and then--'
I suppose the only nice touch about the wall is it link with history, they call it Castles Wall, Mr. Castle was the farmer all those years ago. Though I think if he was around today he would be very sad. In his day he lived in a village, one that literally had no name, it was all made up of family and farm workers homes, and refered to as Castle Farm, he had a great liking for community spirit, encouraged other farmers from all around to take time out once a year to come to The Hay Fare. It was a time when he would use one of his fields to share cooked food and cakes, everyone bought something, along with various talents and musical instruments.. That fare continued long after his death, well into the 1930's, it was then it ceased. The farm was sold and the land became a housing developement.
All that remains is a twenty five foot section of wall Castles Wall. The people that live in this community know not nor care a jot about farmer Castle. Their world is a fare on mp3 players and car stero systems, or sitting indoors looking at HD television.. In Lower Castle Farm Village the teenagers have nothing to do other than ride around on bikes or motorbikes, some of their parents have found it tough in the recession and have lost their jobs.
In Higher Castle Farm Village, the teenagers do not hang out on the streets, they head of in groups in cars heading to the city some ten miles away, there they have some social life. However the recession has also hit their parents, some were stockbrokers and they have lost heavily, others are seeing the end of their contracts soon and no work in the offering..
For both sides of the village one thing has changed, they may be separated by a wall boundary, but now they share the same concerns, money.
As the months roll on and situations become worse, the trips to the big supermarket weekly shop have narrowed down to both sides making trips to the local general store.
For the firat time the upper and the lower sides of the village have started meeting each other in the store. At first it was general hello's, then it changed when one found out the the other was an electrician, soon they were exchanging work ethics, ideas and within six months they had developed The Castle Farm Village Partnership in which they bartered and exchanged goods and services. Soon they extended their enterprise into surrounding areas. Within a year it was a thriving buisness. So succesful was it that they celebrated the partnership with a Village Fare, filled with stalls selling local craft work.
History may have lost the traditions of Farmer Castle, but he would be pleased that the Village Fare had been restored after many years of non existance, and now the Village sign had been torn down, it simply read Castle Farm Village. I think he would be well pleased.
