B5476 Grinshill Explorer’s Guide CLIVE

GRINSHILL Unearth Grinshill Clive A49 and Corbet Wood’s fascinating secrets. School Clive Church Explore paths and ancient track ways A5 A5 to find quarry sites, deserted settlements and enjoy this Local Animal Rescue Quarry Nature Reserve with Centre Viewpoint superb views of the Viewpoint Hills.

Start at Corbet Wood car park, Clive, Grinshill Grinshill or Cronkhill. Grinshill Church Location: OS Explorer 241 A49 SJ525 238. Grinshill is 6½ Hope Farm Pub miles (10.4 km) north of suggested routes to explore © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. other public rights of way Shrewsbury just off the A49 Shropshire County Council 100019801. 2009

Terrain & Gradient: Generally 1 This hillside has rung to the sound of stone and rain-drop prints from when they were formed Artist impression of Rhynchosaur based on uneven, the paths can be working for over a thousand years. Stone from 248 – 283 million years ago. remains found here muddy and slippery in places Grinshill quarries has built many of Shropshire’s over exposed rock. However most impressive buildings, churches and This quarry is one of the places where skeletal the surfaced all ability trail bridges. remains and fossilised footprints of the Triassic climbs gently from the car park beaked-lizard Rhynchosaurus were found in to view point 2 This is Grinshill’s only working quarry. From this 1983 and 1994. point you can see the layers of rock in the quarry The track from the car park face, laid down in the Triassic Period. The white 2 Admire the panorama of the Shropshire Hills towards Clive is fairly level but Grinshill Sandstone is a fossilised sand dune; its from beneath a canopy of Scots Pine. Shropshire uneven and the paths to the grains deposited by the wind 243 million years is world-renowned for the variety of its geology quarries & main view point can ago. Above this lies a siltstone, known as Grinshill from the soft, fossil rich Wenlock Edge limestone, be steep and very uneven Flagstones. It is part of the Tarporley Siltstone to the hard, sparkling Stiperstones Quartzite. Time: Allow 3 hours to visit all Formation laid down by river and sea waters. The Many acclaimed early scientists like Roderick 10 locations rocks show wave and ripple marks, mud cracks Impey Murchison and Charles Darwin have studied Shropshire’s geological riches. Turning right, at the bottom you’ll find the remains of a There are excellent views of the Shropshire Hills along cottage inhabited by quarryman Thomas Davies in 1838. the lower track. A path halfway along on the right, Bits of old crockery and tiles can still be found amongst climbs to stone-cut steps and passes another rock seat. the rubble. Alternatively continuing your walk to Clive Church 9 is worth the effort. The track passes Church Quarry that provided stone for Grinshill Church. The excavated dwellings of workers can ! The heather dotted clearing on the approach to the be clearly seen in the quarry faces. The square holes were summit is a relic of a much larger heathland. It is being cut to hold roof beams. restored by managed grazing to help maintain the rare species of wildlife it supports. 5 The quarry before the junction is known as Grinshill Village Quarry. Its less-valuable red sandstone was used The names carved into the soft rock are clues that many to build many of the houses and halls in the village. The have enjoyed this view. However, fire-hardened flint chips, quality of Grinshill sandstone was greatly improved by small flint tools and arrowheads have been found washed the natural intrusion of superheated mineral solutions out of the summit’s thin soil. Dating from the middle of the forced up along a complex system of fissures or ‘dykes’ in Stone Age, they prove that Mesolithic people also spent A steam crane working at Bridge Quarry the rock. They stripped away the red colouring making the time here. upper levels of stone creamy-white. There are several paths you can use to return to the car The trees and spoil-heaps disguise the huge scale of 3 6 At the junction you’ll see the remains of a building park. Right takes you back to the Bridge Quarries or the ‘Bridge Quarries’ that supplied stone for an impressive known as ‘Mrs Embrey’s cottage’. Ahead, behind the wall heading away from the cliff, a path joins the back lane. 18th century bridge building scheme. Stone from here are the remains of more dwellings, leading to another built both English and Welsh bridges in Shrewsbury, and quarry that is well worth exploring. Mesolithic people shaped flints at the view point Atcham’s Severn Bridge, amongst others. Grinshill also supplied stone for many well-known Shropshire buildings The stone ‘sets’ placed a wagon’s width apart in the floor of including; Lord Hill’s Column (1816) New St Chad’s Church the lower lane show that heavy traffic used this track. (1792), Shrewsbury Castle (1790) and Attingham House (1783). Earlier buildings include: Shrewsbury Library The extraction lane on the right leads back up to the (1627), Moreton Corbet Hall (1573) and Haughmond Bridge Quarries, and Holland Quarries, further up on the Abbey as early as 1135. left. Taking the left-hand path takes you past two seats, cut from the rock in Victorian times for people to sit and In addition it’s likely that the first Rhynchosaurus fossils enjoy the view. were found here in 1838, causing considerable interest amongst the scientists of the time. 7 Following the lower track as it cuts deeper into the rock brings you to Grinshill Village Hall. From here you 4 Imagine the twelve heavy-horses dragging the ten- can walk into Grinshill past the Church 8 or continue to ton keystone for English Bridge down this track in 1773. Clive. It was only ten of thousands of tons of stone that were hauled down here.

Caer Caradoc Stiperstones Brown Clee Long Mynd The Wrekin The Lawley Earl’s Hill Corndon Pim Hill Breiddens

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