Chesterton, Shropshire

This was our second trip to the West Midlands in our series of Chester walks.  The countryside we were walking through lies between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth, which is on the Severn.  Usually, myself and BAM (Best Aussie mate) find the nearest long-distance path and follow this, but that wasn't practical this time round, so we invented our own path - a rather circular one, at that - which is more in keeping with the concept of trailblazing! 

It was difficult to know, just by looking at a map, whether our chosen route would be a mucky slog through difficult countryside, or a pleasant stroll through wonderful autumnal colours.  Luckily for us it was mostly the latter!

Lodging and Victuals

The Old House at Hilton

Chesterton is just a small village and the nearest lodging we could find was at a neighbouring village called Hilton, which lies on the A454, the main Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton road.  The nearest train station to access this Chester walk was Wolverhampton, but we were lucky enough to get a lift to Hilton with a lovely lady called Fifi Sharplin, who is the owner of The Old House in Hilton, where we spent the night. 

The Old House is a beautiful building and we stayed in the main ground-floor room in the cottage.  It was an incredibly peaceful place and Fifi gave us a lovely welcome and talked to us about her time spent living overseas, in faraway places like Botswana and Sri Lanka.  She is also a wonderful artist and produces her own floral drawings which can be bought as prints or cards. 

Hilton to Claverley (2 miles/3.2 kilometres)

Hilton view, November morning

We were incredibly lucky with the weather during yesterday's walk and were treated to the most glorious November sunshine, as we set out from Hilton in the direction of Claverley.  Turning right on the main road outside the Old House, we headed back in the direction of Wolverhampton, before crossing the Hilton Brook and turning right through some buildings to follow a public footpath that follows the brook all the way to Hopstone.

The distance from Hilton to Bridgnorth is only 4 miles by road, so we started off walking away from Chesterton, rather than towards it, as otherwise the walk would have been too short and we would have missed out on some amazing countryside.  The path alongside the Hilton Brook is pretty clear and soon brings you to an interesting area of rock formations, known as The Clouds. 

The Clouds, rock formation

Shropshire has a particularly diverse geological make-up and this area, to the east of the River Severn, has a lot of red sandstone rock formations, which date back to the Triassic period, so they are around 240 million years old!  I've certainly not seen rock formations like this before in England and they reminded me of the rocks I saw on a recent trip to Wadi Rum in Jordan.  They give the landscape a very 'romantic' quality, which is more 19th-century Black Forest than 21st century England!

Once we'd passed the rock formations of The Clouds we came out onto a small country road which took us past the hamlet of Hopstone, downhill to the village of Claverley.

Claverley to Ludstone Hall (1 mile/1.6 kilometres)

Claverley

Claverley seemed like a nice village.  I bought some chocolate at the Post Office shop and saw a very touching sign on the village noticeboard about the local Women's Institute, which was forced to close down, after 61 years of continuous existence.  I don't usually get sentimental about change, but you could sense the genuine disappointment of the person who wrote the notice. 

The demise of Claverley's WI was due to falling membership, which could only be turned around by an influx of young members.  The notice was posted in 2008, which also served to give the village an aura of timelessness - I don't think life moves as quickly in Claverley, as it does here in London!

We walked through the village, past the pubs and turned left before the local school, to follow a small path that runs along the back of the village. This eventually brought us to a wider path, where we turned right into a birch coppice, which is more or less on the grounds of Ludstone Hall. 

Path through the Birch coppice

The public path continues to the left of the birch coppice, but we got a bit lost here, going through the trees to a small meadow and some artificial ponds, where we stopped for some chocolate and banana.  There was one magnificant tree by the upper pond, which had turned bright orange, shedding half of its leaves and looking spectacular in the afternoon sun.  Rather than retrace our steps to the right path, we continued across a field to meet a small road, then turned left towards the gates of Ludstone Hall.

Ludstone Hall to Rudge Heath (1.25 miles/2 kilometres)

Ludstone Hall is a fine building and has a long history, having been part of the monastic lands of medieval Bridgnorth.  The current building is Jacobean (ie from the era of James I, early 17th century).  It's privately owned, but is open to the public once a year and has a small museum which is also available for private viewings.  You can find out more on Ludstone Hall's website. 

Ludstone Hall

We continued along the public path to the left of the building, crossing a couple of fields until we came to the B4176, the secondary road between Dudley and Telford.  We didn't cross the road at this point, but backtracked towards Hopstone before turning right onto the Rudge Heath road, a small country lane which passes Rudge Heath farm.  This brought us back to the main Wolverhampton to Bridgnorth road (the A454), which we crossed to access a small lane between a shop and a plant nursery. 

As I'm sure you can imagine, crossing all of these roads was the least intersting part of the walk, but the most convenient way of getting from Ludstone back towards Chesterton. 

Rudge Heath to Chesterton (1 mile/1.6 kilometres)

Meadow near Ludstone

For some reason, we didn't really make good time yesterday.  I guess all the stopping and checking of maps delayed us somewhat, as yesterday's route was a lot more 'involved' than merely following a national or long-distance trail.  Also BAM was a little bit slower than usual, being covered in bruises from a recent kayaking experience! 

Crossing the B4176 at Rudge Heath, we entered a field with some horses and then came to a diversion sign, which was telling us to go up-hill to Littlegain, rather than along a small valley to the Littlegain footbridge, as we had planned.

BAM investigating the footbridge

I'm not sure why the diversion around Littlegain is in place, but I do know that Littlegain is very aptly named, as we lost a lot of time trying to figure out where to go next.  We eventually found the foot bridge via the diverted route, but the sound of gunshots and the sight of birds flying upwards from the forested area at the end of the footbridge put me off following the public footpath to Chesterton.  BAM was much braver than me, as usual, and she was prepared to stick to our original route, but we hadn't factored in 'getting shot' as part of our walking plan, so I managed to convince her to divert back to the dreaded B4176.

We followed the road again to the turn-off for Chesterton, but we never made it to the village.  Time was pushing on and the sun was slowly making its way downwards, so we decided to pick up our route again at the crossroads and avoid an unnecessary diversion to the village itself.

Chesterton to Worfield (1.7 miles/2.7 kilometres)

House near Lowe Bridge

Crossing the road again, we climbed a stile to enter a long field following Stratford Brook, then went uphill across a ploughed field to meet another country lane just outside Bradney.  At the country lane we turned left and continued downhill to a triangular junction, taking the road on the right to reach Lowe Bridge and the edge of Worfield village.  We got a little bit lost here, taking the footpath to Wyken, but we soon realised that we'd taken a wrong turning, so we backtracked to Worfield and found the correct path which led uphill past Davenport House.

Worfield to Rindleford (1.6 miles/2.6 kilometres)

Wheel in the River Worfe

The rest of the walk from Worfield to Bridgnorth was stunningly beautiful.  Davenport House is an example of English Baroque architecture and has a long, winding drive, which we crossed twice on our way to the River Worfe.  The river is crossed by a footbridge and there is an old mill wheel still standing near the footbridge, which was no doubt put to good use during the Industrial revolution. 

The signposting around Burcote House is really good and we often remark that farmers who make sure public footpaths are well-signposted around their land, ultimately have less problems with walkers getting lost and inadvertantly trespassing.  At Burcote, we turned right to follow a narrow path above the River Worfe and alongside the Burcote Rocks.  Like The Clouds over at Hilton, the Burcote Rocks are made of red sandstone and have interesting formations. 

Mist at Rindleford

After about 15 minutes, we crossed the river again, over a footbridge and continued along a small open valley towards the village of Rindleford.  The temperature was dropping at this time of the day and (hopefully) you can see, in the photograph, a wonderful mist over the Rindleford valley. 

Rindleford to Bridgnorth (2.5 miles/4 kilometres)

At Rindleford we crossed the river again and backtracked on a small, sodden path before turning uphill through a fantastic wooded valley towards Batch Lane.  I think this was my favourite part of the whole walk and I've never seen so many pheasants in one place in my entire life!  It's an incredibly secluded valley, which makes it really peaceful and the walking was easy up through Batch lane to a small country road.

Secluded valley

Crossing the small road we took a path uphill past Woodside Farm.  At this stage, it was dark enough to warrant using a headlamp and, as BAM rustled around in her bag, I looked backwards towards distant ridges and the ghostly orange glow of the West Midlands conurbation. 

After Woodside Farm, we entered a steep wood called Hollybush Coppice, picking our way carefully along the top of the ridge, before taking a small path downwards to meet the A442, which is the main Bridgnorth to Telford road.  We stumbled out onto the road by the impressive sight of Fort Pendlestone, an old textile mill, which has been converted into a modern apartment block.

Bridgnorth signpost

It looked quite imposing in the dark and our imaginations were running riot as to the building's fort-like attributes!  From Fort Pendlestone, we had wanted to join a path along the Severn, which leads into Bridgnorth, but it was too dark by the time we got there and a very inviting roadside path became our preferred route into town.

Bridgnorth looks like an interesting place.  We climbed up the Cartway to the High Town, had a wander around the High Street, looked at the Town Hall and made our way back to the Low Town via the Stoneway steps.  I wish we'd had more time to explore Bridgnorth (or at least seen it by day!), but time wasn't on our side yesterday, so it was back to Wolverhampton and our train to London. 

I've calculated that the walk was around 11 miles (17.7 kilometres) in all.  It definitely felt longer than that and, in a way, distance of little relevance during a walk like this, it's the landscape you cover that matters most.

The Stoneway Steps, Bridgnorth

Access for Wheelchair Users

The nature of yesterday's walk meant that it wouldn't be very well suited to wheelchair users.  The walk involved lots of country lanes, which are dangerous because of traffic and climbing over stiles, which would make the walk inaccessible for wheelchair users.  The only accessible bit might be the route from Rindleford to Batch Lane, although, even here, the terrain was  incredibly rough. 

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Wroxeter - Viroconium Cornoviorum

Our last -chester trip was to Rochester, which is at one end of Watling Street, the ancient Roman road running across the British mainland, from the coast at Kent to the Severn.  This time we found ourselves at the other end of Watling Street in Wroxeter, Shropshire.  Although these days it's barely even a village, in Roman times Wroxeter was the fourth largest settlement on the island of Britain, with an estimated 15,000 people and a Roman civitas that included public baths and a forum. 



Wroxeter Roman City, English Heritage site

 Last year Channel 4 made a programme called Rome wasn't built in a day which documents the reconstruction of a Roman-style villa at the site of Wroxeter Roman city.  I only managed to catch one episode before we did our Wroxeter walk but, now that I've been there, I'm definitely interested in watching the whole series!  This new feature of the English-heritage owned site was opened to the public last month but, unfortunately myself and BAM arrived in Wroxeter too late and left the next morning too early, to have to time to explore the site properly.

The West Midlands Cornovii



Roman villa at Wroxeter

 We like to stay in the -chester we visit, when that's possible and, although I'm sure there were lots of interesting accommodation options in nearby Shrewsbury, there is a lovely hotel in Wroxeter, which is reasonably priced and has a wonderful setting.  Trundling up from London on the train (via Birmingham, a sign of the times, there is no longer a direct rail service between Shropshire and the capital) and then catching a bus from Shrewsbury, followed by a short walk to the hotel, we went from one extreme to the other.  The hustle-bustle of one of the world's largest cities, to the tranquility of the Shropshire countryside. 

Our room had a view of the Wrekin, in the distance, Shropshire's iconic hill.  Indeed, the name Wroxeter, or as the Romans called it Vironconium Cornoviorum, was borrowed from the nearby hill fort on the Wrekin.  The origins of the name are obscure, but it might have something to do with the Celtic/Welsh word for werewolf! 



Snowdrops

 Before the Romans arrived on the scene, Shropshire was the territory of a Celtic tribe which the Romans called the Cornovii.  We don't know much about them, they produced no coins or other artifacts that might have preserved their culture, so the Roman records on the history of this tribe are our main source of information, apart from the hill forts and other archaeological evidence that they left behind.  There is a theory that the Cornovii of Shropshire and the West Midlands migrated south to Cornwall and gave that part of Britain its name, but this theory is controversial and the official story is still that Cornwall was so named because it resembled a 'horn'.  Another theory is that the Celts worshipped 'horned gods' (this may later have become our image of the devil) and there is a small village, called Abbot's Bromley, in neighbouring Staffordshire, where villagers still enact a 'horn dance', which has been around since time immemorial. 

Wroxeter to Atcham (1.8 miles)



The road out of Wroxeter

 The weather in Shropshire was rather strange yesterday.  A mist hung over the Severn valley for the whole day, that gave us the impression we were walking through someone else's dreams!  The path that we followed is part of the Severn Way, a 220-mile walking path that starts in mid-Wales and finishes somewhere near Bristol.  It's hard to imagine how much of a obstacle the Severn was, in Roman times - their great trans-Britannia road seems to have literally ground to a halt at Wroxeter, as they settled down and tried to figure out how to cross the river!  It practically separates England from Wales and, being the longest river in Britain, I think it has an iconic status, that is barely recognised, in our era of motorways and high-speed rail.  It was certainly the main focus of our walk yesterday and I think myself and BAM are confident that we now know this part of the Severn pretty well!



Old bridge at Atcham

 The first couple of miles from Wroxeter to Atcham were easy road-walking.  Atcham was a pretty place, with a wonderful old bridge, which has been superseded by a newer road bridge.  Atcham was the birth-place of Ordericus Vitalis (or as BAM so cruelly renamed him, Odorous Vitalis), the English chronicler who wrote one of the most famous histories of the Middle Ages, the Historia Ecclesiastica.  It also has a fine country house called Attingham Park, which is a National Trust property.

Something of a pattern on these walks is the mysterious links between places in Britain that are physically distant from each other.  Atcham/Attingham is named after Saint Eata, a 7th century bishop from Hexham in the North East of England.  It reminds me of the Hoo St Werburgh, the village in Kent, which is named after the patron saint of Chester.  It makes you wonder to what extent communication was possible between places that were really distant.  We tend to assume that there was little communication, because of the distances involved, but this obviously wasn't the case.  Nevertheless the connections are still somewhat obscure!



The Shropshire Loggerheads

 An interesting thing about Shropshire is that the county symbol is three loggerheads (which is the heraldic term for leopard's heads).  Again, it hints at something much more exotic and makes me more curious than ever, with conspiracy theories about werewolves running riot in my imagination!  The loggerheads in the picture are from a sign in Atcham.  BAM was terribly amused by the county motto, Floreat Salopia - Salopia being the Latin name for Shrewsbury.  As I also speak French, I can understand how that might sound a bit funny to a French-speaker!  I must admit, we did have a guilty giggle, as we walked past the Salopian Leisure Centre. 

Atcham to the A5 (approx 2 miles)



The Severn near Emstrey

 Shortly after leaving Atcham, we also left the road, continuing our walk much closer to the river, along one of the many bends that is characteristic of the Severn in this part of Shropshire.  The walking was pretty pleasant and, before long, we found ourselves at the modern bridge which carries the A5 over the river.  The A5 is an incredibly important road and was one of the earliest road building projects of modern Britain.  Although it more or less follows the route of the old Roman Watling Street, it's been altered and changed so many times that the original road no longer exists.  The bridge we were looking at was a pretty modern one and replaced an earlier version of the A5, which was the road we'd just walked on from Atcham. 



The A5 in the distance

 In 1800, an Act of Union was passed which united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, effectively creating a new country, which we still call the UK!  Seeing the importance of establishing effective communication between London and Dublin, the government of the UK invested heavily in creating a unified road system, the A5, which would make travel between the British and Irish capitals relatively high-speed (by early 19th century terms!).  I guess, as an Irishman, the A5 is pretty important, as a symbol of Britain's relationship with Ireland and it's another iconic feature of the landscape, that I had no awareness of, before I started planning for this trip!  It runs all the way from the Marble Arch in London, to Holyhead, where you can connect by ferry to the Irish capital.  It used to run right through the centre of Shrewsbury, but now bypasses the town and the bridge in the picture is the point where it first crosses the Severn. 



The A5 near Shrewsbury

 Overall responsibility for building the A5 lay with the popular engineer, Thomas Telford.  I wish I'd had more time to read up on Thomas Telford, as he sounds like a fascinating person.  He was a self-made man, born into poverty and self-taught, he became one of the most prolific civil engineers of the late-18th and early-19th centuries.  He built numerous bridges in Shropshire and around Britain, he was famous for his canals and was even invited to Gothenburg by the King of Sweden to build the canal there.  The modern-day town of Telford, which has overtaken Shrewsbury in terms of population, was named after this Scottish engineer.  Another interesting thing I learned about Telford is that his mother's name was Janet Jackson! 

The A5 to Monksmoor (approx 2 miles)



A lonely tree on Monkmoor

 This part of the walk was incredibly quiet - passing under the railway bridge and another A-road, the A49 which was a 1920's project, built for motor-cars, rather than horse and carriage, linking Lancashire with South Wales.  The river meandered peacefully and we walked along, mostly in silence, lost in our own thoughts.  The river bends again, just opposite Uffington and the houses of Monkmoor are set back from the river.  Although you're incredibly close to Shrewsbury at this point, it feels as though you're in the middle of the countryside!  I was quite taken by this image of the tree on Monkmoor, which seemed incredibly forlorn by itself in the middle of the field!  I guess the area was called Monkmoor, as it's at the back end of Shrewsbury Abbey.  Shrewsbury is prone to flooding at several points along the Severn, some of the worst floods being at the other end of Shrewsbury, in Frankwell, which was flooded three times in 2000!  It would explain why some parts of Shrewsbury aren't particularly built up.

Monkmoor to the English Bridge (approx 3.5 miles)



The promenade at Ditherington

 We found Shrewsbury really interesting.  It's not a place you hear about much, in the news (which can only be a good thing!).  Although you have the feeling that you are in any typically English market town, you can sense the presence of Wales and, as I understand it, much of Shrewsbury's economy these days is focused on the many Welsh shoppers and visitors the town receives.  I was keeping an eye on the local news before going to Shropshire and it was interesting to see the reports of protests and campaigns by local people who are angry at the cuts to Shropshire Council's budget.  Whilst I'm used to protests, living in London, it surprised me to see this level of anti-cuts feeling in a part of England that traditionally votes Conservative. 



The walk into Shrewsbury

 The local Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski is 6 foot 8 1/2 inches tall (that's 2 metres four) and is believed to be one of the tallest MP's ever to sit in the UK parliament!  He belongs to a more right-wing grouping of conservatives, called 'the cornerstone group' and he is of Polish descent. 

This part of the walk took us through the suburb of Ditherington, where we crossed the road bridge and then walked on a really nice promenade all the way down to the centre of Shrewsbury.  We passed under another railway bridge, just below Shrewsbury Castle, then walked along the Gay Meadow to Shrewsbury's English bridge. 

The English bridge to the Welsh bridge (1.2 miles)



The Shrewsbury School

 We'd spent a couple of hours wandering around Shrewsbury when we arrived on Friday, but we hadn't done the riverside walk before yesterday and this was definitely the highlight of the day.  It says a lot that Shrewsbury's two main bridges are called the English Bridge and the Welsh Bridge and Shrewsbury itself acts as a kind of gateway between England and Wales.  Saturday seems to be a really popular time for the town's rowing clubs and, as we walked along Victoria Avenue, we saw lots of rowing teams zipping up and down the river, being shouted on by their coxswains and chased along the bank by friends videoing their performance. 



Statue of Hercules

 Some of the teams were from The Shrewsbury School, a well-known educational establishment founded in the 16th century.  Former pupils, known as Old Salopians (I can hear BAM giggling on the other side of London!), include Charles Darwin, Paul Foot, Michael Palin and Christopher Booker (the founder of Private Eye). 

Despite the bad weather, it seemed as though the whole of Shrewsbury had come out to jog, cycle or walk through Shrewsbury's main park, the Quarry.  The photo is a view of the Quarry with the statue of Hercules in the foreground.  Apparently, the statue used to face the other way, with its back to the park, as its front was deemed too shocking for the local womenfolk!  I'm also showing you the back, so as not to offend my more sensitive readers :-)

The Welsh Bridge to Shelton and back again (approx 4 miles)



Street Sign at the Welsh Bridge

 At the Welsh Bridge, the Severn Way joins up with part of a local walk called 'the Darwin town trail', which has interesting plaques telling different aspects of local history and highlights Shrewsbury's Darwin connection.  This side of the river is known as Frankwell and grew up as a separate place to Shrewsbury.  It's where Darwin lived, as a boy and some of the fields we were walking through, especially the Doctor's Field, are places that he would have known well as a child and are where he developed his interest in the natural world.  We followed the river for a couple of miles to the suburb of Shelton, then turned back onto the main road and made our way back to Frankwell and across the Welsh Bridge for some well-earned victuals in a very popular restaurant called The Armoury. 

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