[1] Come out of the Saints Community Centre car gates onto Solway Road North and cross the road carefully. Turn left and walk towards Bristol Road. Notice the hanging baskets on some of the houses. At the end of the road turn right and cross the road carefully. The road is quite busy and is a bus route. Keep going to the right towards Bishopscote Road.
[2] At the end of Bristol Road turn left into Bishopscote Road by the roundabout. There are some shops around this junction. Take care as cars sometimes park on the pavement. This is particularly difficult on Thursdays when bins are also on the pavement. Along the road you will see some bungalows with pretty gardens. Cross over Tintagel Close and continue to the junction with Trinity Road. The wall at this corner is much older than the buildings inside it. It may have been part of the church land or a vicarage at some time.
A. Bishopscote Road has nothing to do with Bishops. The name is ancient and goes as far back as the Magna Carta. The name means king's land.
[3] Turn left into Trinity Road. There are more shops and a petrol station around this junction. As you walk along the old wall you will come to the Parish Hall and then the churchyard. The gateway into the church is a memorial Lych gate to those who gave their lives in the First World War.
[4] Go through the gate into the church yard. Follow the path round the church to the left. The path is uneven and becomes a grass path behind the church. Despite the sometimes uneven surfaces, it is worth looking at some of the graves. The War Graves Commission has put in some new gravestones to the left of the path round the church. 8 of the fallen heroes from WW1 and 17 from WW2 are buried here. There is a group of three of them in a position about 25 foot to the left of the church, and another on its own just by the uneven path about 50 foot behind the church.The other gravestones also give small insights into the lives of the people of this area since Victorian times. There is no one to care for this large graveyard at the moment and the grass is left to grow very long. Though it may seem sad, it gives shelter and food to a wide range of wild life in a built up area.
B. Of the 8 servicemen that died in WW1 the youngest was 20 and the oldest 48. As I think of most of the deaths from the first world war being infantrymen in the trenches, i was surprised that 2 of these 8 were in the RAF. That probably reflects the local industry even 100 years ago. Of the 17 servicemen from WW2 the oldest was 43 and the youngest just 18. The list includes one volunteer from the home guard. Six of these were also in the RAF.
[5] Coming out of the church gate turn left along Trinity Road, past the African and Caribbean Elders Day Centre to the shop on the corner of Blundell Road Turn Left into Blundell Road and continue to the junction of Bristol Road. Take care when passing cars parked on the pavement.
[6] Turn left into Bristol Road and walk along until you see Solway Road North on the other side of the road.(just past No.29) Cross carefully, turn into Solway Road North and walk down the right hand pavement until you get back to the Saints Community Centre.