U3A WTT Groby Newtown Stuart Galloway Linford Route Summary A circular walk from Groby to Newtown Linford. More information on the history of Groby can be found at http://www.groby.org.uk/history/frontpage.html Route Overview Category: Walking Length: 6.410 km / 4.01 mi Last Modified: 3rd May 2016 Difficulty: Medium Rating: Unrated Surface: Average Date Published: 15th April 2016 Description The walk starts and finishes by St Phillip & St James Church. Lunch can be taken at the Stamford Arms Waypoints Groby (52.66427; -1.22976) The Groby landscape is predominantly granite and slate deposits. The granite is used to form very hard wearing road surfaces. The slate is mainly used for roofing, gravestones, window sills and door lintels. The name Groby is almost certainly Saxon/Germanic. Grub pronounced Groeber means pit or mine. There are many small mines on either side of the ASO towards Markfield.In 1066 the Normans, took over the running of the village and its lands. Depending where you have parked make your way to St Phillip & St James Church and take the path on the Markfield end of the church 1 / 9 St Philip and St James Church (52.66375; -1.22877) St Philip and St James Church was built in 1840 by the Earl of Stamford owing to the distance from his home at Bradgate House, and 'to the foulness of the way there'. Henry Grey, the 7th Earl of Stamford, decided to buld a Chapel of Ease at Groby for the princely sum of £2,300. Take the path along side the church Castle Mound and Groby Hall (52.66412; -1.22834) At this point you shouls be able to see the rear of Groby Hall and the Castle Mound. A better view of both can be gained from the grounds of the church. A castle mound with tower was erected by the Normans. Little remains of Groby Castle except for a large mound of earth at the rear of the present Manor House known as Groby Hall. The castle mound thrown up in 1086 had a short period of use as it was demolished on the orders of Henry II between 1154 and 1189. Groby Manor House, known today as Groby Hall is a Grade II* listed building. The outer shell hides a much earlier building, earlier than the red brick work of the late 15th century and the early 16th century recycled stone materials. William de Ferrers inherited the Groby and Bradgate Estates in 1279 and the Old Hall - footings located by Time 2 / 9 Team in April 2010 - continued to be an administrative centre and home until the Grey family inherited the Estates in 1445. In 1446 Sir Edward Grey became Lord Ferrers of Groby by right of his wife Elizabeth Ferrers. It was only when Henry VII died in 1509 and the constant surveillance on the Grey's activities lifted that building works at Groby and Bradgate were able to get underway. After the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her father the Crown took over the Grey estates and Groby Hall was reported as fit only for resale as building materials in 1577 - Bradgate House meanwhile had lost its floors as the wood used in the floor joists collapsed during this same period. Although the records concerning the Old Hall are incomplete, it does appear to have been unoccupied and in decay for long periods after it was vacated in the late 15th century. It has now been restored. Continue along the path and go under the A50 Dowry Furlong (52.66602; -1.22739) Dowry Furlong - This meadow (situated behind the Groby Pool Car Park) was once part of a large cultivated open field known as Dowry Furlong, part of Groby's common field system dating from the Medieval period. The site shows a number of undulating parallel strips (furlongs) these are the ridge and furrows, a characteristic feature of medieval ploughing techniques. The strip of land was ploughed first down the centre, then on alternate sides working outwards. The sod would always be turned inwards such that after several seasons of ploughing, a ridge would develop separated from its neighbour by a furrow. 3 / 9 During the Parliamentary enclosures period, the large open fields were reorganised and many hedges planted including around the Dowry Furlong site in the 1790s, and these form the nucleus of hedges you can see now. Continue along the path towards Groby Pool car park. Mineral Railway (52.66754; -1.22693) The former mineral railway line from Groby Village (now forms a footpath access to Groby Car Park}, was opened in 1890 to transport 'granite' from Castle Quarry, and was extended as the newer Sheet Hedges Groby Quarry opened. It closed in 1967, road transport is now used. A branch line was constructed in 1907 to transport stone from the former Dowry Quarry, the track which is hidden used to run along the southern boundary of the wildlife area. The Locomotive Blackbrook was specially purchased to work from the quarry until the quarry closed in 1916. The boulders around the edge of the car park are of a rock called Markfeldite which is 550 million years old, and is quarried close by. The stone was used for walls and buildings in the past, but now the quarry stone is used in the local construction industry and used for road making. You may find the occasional lump of Swithland slate, which is about 700 million years old. Turn left onto the road and walk with care alongside Groby Pool. Groby Pool (52.66858; -1.22701) By 1288 the Groby deer parks had been established between Groby and Markfield and Groby pool built. Monks from Leicester Abbey are thought to have been the builders. Groby Pool is situated on the southern edge of the Charnwood 4 / 9 Forest and is reputedly the largest natural expanse of open water in Leicestershire, covering 38 acres. Groby Pool lies in a hollow in the Mercia Mudstone, underlain by Swithland Slate. The pool and the surrounding area are of great ecological importance and contain a wide range of plants and animals and was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1956. The Pool is owned by Hanson Quarry Products Europe Limited. Continue carefully along the road Quarry (52.66962; -1.22818) In the years 1832 to 1840 Groby had working slate quarries and granite quarries. The Grey family improved the houses and built new ones in both Newtown Linford and Groby. The church at Groby, St Philip & St James, was built in 1840 by the 7th Earl of Stamford for £2,300. By 1880 the Groby granite quarry had moved its main activities close to the Pool and Sheet Hedges. The last Groby slate quarry closed in 1908 after failure to compete with the lighter cheaper Welsh slate brought to Leicester by the Midland Railway. Continue along the road until you meet a path on the lft just after the boat house. Follow this path to Newtown Linford. Lady Hay Wood (52.67438; -1.23653) Early May its worth a diversion into Lady Hey Wood to admire the Bluebells. Newtown Linford and Bradgate Park (52.68288; -1.22965) 5 / 9 The village's name originates from the relocation of people when the Ferrers family of Groby turned Bradgate into a deer park. The people who lived within the estate were moved to the "New Town" - or hamlet as it would have been then, at the ford of the river Lin (once located at the junction of Markfield Lane and Main Street). The village was first documented in 1293 and was previously known as "Lyndynford". The villagers were all tenants of the Ferrers family and later the Grey family. The village is famous for Bradgate Park, a large country park which was home to Lady Jane Grey, Queen for nine days. Bradgate Park is a popular destination for days out in Leicestershire, home to several herds of deer, and children are often seen paddling in the shallow river Lin, which runs through it .. All of the properties in the village belonged to the Grey Estate until 1925 when it was sold off. Much of the village was designated a conservation area in 1972. There are 32 listed buildings in the village. 6 / 9 Police Box - Bradgate Park. Leicester's police call boxes first materialised on our city streets on December 31, 1930. Chief Constable OJ B Cole suggested 39 strategically- located call boxes would be a good way of keeping police officers on the beat rather than having to return to their stations for instructions. Few people had telephones, so the boxes also enabled the public to contact the police directly. Although similarly painted in electric blue, the police box in Newtown Linford is a slightly different design to Doctor Who's famous call box, which was based on Gilbert MacKenzie Trench's 1929 design. With the arrival of modern short-wave radios, apart from this survivor, all Leicester's police boxes were ... EXTERMINATED! Toilets and Cafe are available at the entrance to the park. Turn left out of the car park and walk along until a path on your right just after Bracken Hill and walk along side a riding school back towards Groby.. Sheet Hedges Wood (52.67528; -1.21862) A 26ha woodland on the outskirts of Groby managed by Leicestershire County Council. It was opened to the public in 1998 with National Forest grant aid together with funding from the County Council and Forestry Authority. The western part of the woodland contains a car park and a picnic area.