Five Walks in Parish

Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Introduction

Here are the descriptions of five walks in the parish of High Offley. The walks stretch across the parish from east to west and offer a range of walks of between 1 and 3½ miles. The two shortest walks have no stiles but the longest has in excess of twenty. The walks can all be linked together in several combinations to create longer walks some of which are indicated in the descriptions. The descriptions also include notes about the history of the parish.

The paragraph numbers, 1.1, 1.2, etc. correspond to the numbers shown on the map in the description of the walk.

Should you encounter any problems in following the descriptions, or if you know of other points of interest relating to the walks, that could be included in the notes, please contact Geoff Loadwick of , telephone 01785 284 359. Should you encounter any problems such as damaged or overgrown stiles, or paths that have been ploughed or planted over and not restored, please report them to County Council using the link:http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/environment/eLand/RightsofWay/PublicPathObstruction.aspx Geoff would also be interested to hear about them.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Walk 1 – A circuit from Woodseaves Village Hall via Littleworth .

This walk is slightly more than one mile long and does not have any stiles. For those who do not mind a slightly longer walk with four stiles, there is a variation that extends the walk to one mile and a quarter. This walk can be linked to Walk 2 to make a walk of 3.5 miles.

The walk begins from the Village Hall [see note A] on the High Offley Road in Woodseaves.

1.1 Walk along the pavement with the Newport Road behind you. Cross the end of Blackberry Way [see note B] and continue along the footpath [see note C]. Where the footpath comes to an end [see note D], turn left off High Offley Road and walk down the lane to The Green [see note E].

{If you want to link Walk 1 to Walk 2, at the T-junction turn left and then immediately right to a gate that has a stile on its right. Cross the stile and continue along the track for three hundred metres to the next field corner and turn left to follow the hedge along the right-hand m6rgin of the field for approximately 300 metres to a stile in the hedge on the right. Continue from 2.6.}

1.2. At the T-junction, turn left. There are two gates side-by-side ahead of you. Go through the smaller gate, the bridle-gate, and close it after you. Continue along the track for 200 metres to another gate across the track. Go through this gate and continue to a bridge across a stream. Pass through the two bridle-gates, one on each side of the bridge, and climb the slope heading slightly right towards the right of the house at the top. You will soon see a bridle-gate next to a field-gate in the fence at the side of the house. Go through the bridle-gate and walk along the Lane, Moscow Lane in the community of Littleworth, to meet the Newport Road [see note F] at a point almost opposite Lodge Lane. Here you have a choice.

1.3. For the shorter walk, turn left to follow the pavement at the side of Newport Road [see note G] to the Woodseaves crossroads and turn left to return to the starting point.

{For the longer, slightly more challenging walk, cross the main road carefully and walk up Lodge Lane. A few metres beyond the first house on the right-had side, the road bends lightly to the left and there is a footpath sign and a stile in the hedge on the left-hand side of the road. The stile represents the start of a recently (2013) diverted length of footpath.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

1.4. Cross the stile and walk over the field to another stile in the fence ahead. Cross this stile and walk slightly to the right to another stile in the fence opposite. Cross this stile and walk half right up the slope to a stile at the side of a field-gate. Cross this stile and walk half left to the corner of a hedge on the left. Turn right to follow the edge of the field to the field-corner where there is a stile giving access to the Newport Road. Cross the busy road carefully and turn rightt to follow the pavement to Woodseaves crossroads and turn left to follow the pavement towards High Offley. Cross the end of the Glebefields cul-de-sac to reach the Village Hall}

Local history notes: [A] The village institute was erected in the 1920s just before electricity and electricity poles arrived in the village during the 1930s, before a sewerage system was installed. The “Institute” has undergone a number of alterations and extensions since then. Over the years, it has provided a base for several village groups such as the billiards team, the tennis club, the Derby and Joan club for our senior citizens, the youth club, and the play group for our youngsters. It has been used regularly for dances and whist drives and the annual village produce show and fete.

[B] The houses on Blackberry Way were built on the site of a former Agricultural Machinery Yard owned by Mr Allcock. Prior to the building of the Council houses in the early fifties and before the arrival of the old peoples' bungalows or the housing estates on Barn Common and Glebefields, in the sixties, this was a quiet country lane with neat hedges and rough verges. On clear days from this vantage point you could enjoy wide views of the Shropshire hills extending from the Clees in the south, to the Wrekin, Wenlock Edge, Long Mynd, Caer Caradoc, and the Styperstones in the south-west. Beyond them you could see into the Welsh Hills. [C] As you walk further along the pavement, you pass some older property which formed part of a small community long before piped water arrived in the district. The people living here in those days, obtained their water from a well in Well Alley which runs between the High Offley Road and Back Lane, but to see it, you will need to look carefully at the hedge on the right hand side of the road two or three houses before you reach Back Lane [D] On the corner of High Offley Road and Back Lane stands the former Wesleyan Chapel; its date, 1844, is still displayed on the front of the building, now a private house. [E] A glance at a large scale map reveals just how many roads, paths, and bridleways converge on The Green, showing just how important this little community was in past years. There was once a flourishing butcher's shop at The Green.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

The Former Wesleyan Chapel

[F] The bridleway we have just followed would have been in frequent use at one time by people passing between the communities of The Green and Littleworth. Littleworth had a milk canning factory in the early days of food canning. The chimney from the milk factory was dismantled after the war and the bricks, which were in short supply at that time, were used to build Evans' Garage. There was once a post office here where you could buy anything from a tin of paint to a new dress. There was a bakery here too. [G] Until recently, the village had three pubs, “The Plough” and the “The Cock” on the left-hand side and the “Reform Tavern” between them but on the right-hand side. The “Tavern” has been closed for several years and the “Plough” closed more recently. Just past the “Tavern” There is a large building with the sign “Old Grocery Store” on the wall. At one time it was a grocers shop and a bakery combined. Further along the road, the next-building-but-one, “The Old Dairy” is where the villagers obtained their milk supplies. Next to “The Cock”, there used to be a ladies’ hairdressers and on the opposite side of the road can be found the local sub-post office.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Walk 2– A circuit from the High Offley/ boundary on the Newport Road, via the “Water Bridge” and Grubb Street.

This walk is two miles long and there are eight stiles. If you would like a longer walk, this walk can be linked to Walk 1 to make a walk of 3.5 miles, or linked to walk 4, to make a walk of 5.5 miles. To link walk 1 and walk 2, start at 1.1. To link walk 2 and walk 4, start at 2.1

The walk starts near to the field-gate on the right-hand side of the Newport Road, going towards Newport, just beyond “Pool House” where the road bends to the left. There is space to park one or two cars on the verge but please be careful not to block the field entrance or the adjacent bridleway.

2.1 Walk along the track that starts at the side of the field-gate, and in less than 100 metres turn left to cross the via the Water Bridge [see note A]. Immediately across the bridge, turn right to descend the sloping path to the canal– “The Shroppie” [see note B]. Walk along the tow-path with the canal on your right for a little over half a mile to reach the next bridge. Pass under the bridge and take the path on the left that slants up to Grub Street. [see note C]

{If you are linking walk 4 to walk 2, then follow the instructions from 4.1}

2.2. Cross the road and turn left to walk over the bridge. In less than 100 metres, opposite the driveway of the first house, there is a stile in the hedge.

2.3 Cross the stile and enter the wood. Follow the path through the wood, keeping close to the stream, to arrive at a wooden bridge.

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2.4. Cross the bridge and climb the stile into a narrow field. Cross the field half right to a stile in the hedge opposite. Cross the stile and walk over the field towards the left of two tall trees. In the corner of the field there is a bridge that has a stile on each side. Cross the bridge and walk across the field heading to the left of an electricity pole that appears to be standing in front of a line of trees. Walk to the corner of the field.

{If you have linked Walk 1 and walk 2 then, when you reach the corner, continue along the broad track to a gate and a stile on its left. Cross the stile and at the next junction turn right and follow the instructions from the second sentence of 1.2.}

2.5 When you reach the field-corner, go through the gateway and turn right to follow the hedge along the right-hand margin of the field for approximately 300 metres to a stile in the hedge on the right.

2.6. Cross the stile and walk over the shoulder of a little hillock to a footbridge in the hedge opposite. Cross the bridge and its stile and enter the field. Ahead are the outbuildings of “Pool House”. Just beyond the buildings, the trees of Moss Nature Reserve reach their greatest height. Cross the field, heading slightly to the right of the highest trees. On the other side of the field you come alongside a hedge on your left. Follow the hedge to a gate by a stream. Go through the gate, closing it again after you if you had to open it, and walk down the field to the field-gate giving access to the road where the walk started. {If you linked walk 1 and walk 2, continue to follow the instructions from 2.1}

Local history notes: [A] When the canal was built, the water table was higher than its present level and the water bridge carried water from a stream on one side of the canal to Blakemere Pool on the other side. Blakemere Pool now forms part of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Loynton Moss Nature Reserve that it purchased in 1969. [B] The canal was built by Thomas Telford and completed in 1835, but he never saw it completed because he died six months earlier. The length of canal between Grub Street and was particularly difficult to construct; high embankments and deep cuttings were needed. As you walk down the canal you will notice that some of the embankment has been cut a long way back. This is because the bank collapsed into the cut in 1834 when 10,000 cubic yards of rock and marl came thundering down the bank. [C] Grub Street, sometimes appears locally as Grubb Street, and it is interesting to speculate about the origins of the name. The word “street” in country villages often implies a former Roman road, Watling Street for example, and Roman coins were discovered along the Roman Road that was traceable in the fields to the north of High Offley Church at the beginning of the twentieth century, before it was ploughed out.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Walk 3 – A circuit from St Mary’s Church, High Offley, via Park Mill.

This walk is 2.5 miles long but it has 15 stiles. It can be linked to walk 4 to make a walk of 5.5 miles but then it would have more than thirty-five stiles.

The walk begins from the entrance gates of St Mary’s Church in High Offley. [see note A]

3.1. With your back to the church gates look cross the road and diagonally to the left you will see the start of Garmelow Road. Walk down Garmelow Road for 150 metres where the road bends to the right; follow it for a further 100 metres to where it bends to the left. Do not go round the bend but cross the stile next to the field-gate and enter the field. Ahead, there are four houses grouped together in a line. Cross the field heading for the left-hand corner of the second house from the left. Soon you will see a stile in the hedge ahead. Cross the stile and descend into Park Lane. Opposite and to the left there is a farm lane between houses. Enter the farm lane and after forty metres cross the stile next to a gateway on the left and enter the field. Walk across the field diagonally to the right, to reach the foot of a large oak tree where there is a footbridge over the ditch. Cross the bridge into the field. Diagonally to the left, the hedge at the other side of the field appears to end. In fact it is a hedge corner. Walk to the hedge corner and follow the hedge to a stile. Cross the stile into the Garmelow Road.

3.2. Turn right and walk along the road for 150 metres where on the right, there is a gate. Go through the gate and walk down the bridleway between a hedge on the right and a square-mesh deer fence on the left but beware of rabbit holes! [See note B] Thirty metres after the deer-fence bends slightly to the left, there is a bridle-gate in the hedge on the right. Go through this gate and walk up the field, keeping the fence on your right. When you reach a bridle-gate, go through it and turn half-left to reach another bridle-gate on the left of a barn. Go through this gate and continue up the hill to cross a concrete track. Follow the

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018 bridleway between two barns, where there is another bridle-gate. Go through this gate and walk up the field with the hedge on your left to another bridle-gate in the field-corner. [See note C] Pass through the gate and, keeping the hedge on your left continue up the field. Just before you reach the field-corner, turn half right to a bridle-gate at the end of a concrete lane between “Home Farm” on the left and “Hollies Farm” on the right.

3.3. Walk down the lane for a few metres to where a track leaves the lane on the left. Opposite the track, there is a stile. Cross the stile into a field. Cross the field going half right to the corner of the hedge and walk down the field with the hedge on your right. Ignore the gate and the stile in the hedge on your right and continue to the field corner where there is a stile. Go over the stile and cross to another stile opposite. Go over this stile and walk past the four large trees ahead, keeping them on your left, to reach an old holly hedge at the edge of the field. Turn left, keeping the hedge on your right and at the top of the field, turn right into Park Lane. Turn left and walk up to the junction with High Offley Road. Cross the road and go over the stile on the other side. Walk down the left side of the field to cross a stile in the fence ahead and follow the pathway to another stile. Cross this stile and follow the path as it passes to the right of a duck pond. Walk along the left edge of a private car park to reach a stile giving access to a field. Enter the field and walk to the left of a large tree a few metres ahead. Go past a field entrance just to the left of the tree, and draw level with a kissing-gate a few steps beyond it. Do not go through the kissing gate If you are linking walk 3 to walk 4, continue from 4.5

3.4 Turn to the right and walk across the field to a stile next to a field-gate. Climb over the stile and continue with the hedge on your right to a stile in a cross-hedge. Go over the stile and continue in the same direction to a stile in the hedge opposite, climb the stile and go down the steps into Grub Street. [See note D] Cross Grub Street and climb the bank opposite to another stile. Cross this stile and continue in the same direction for 120 metres before making a three-quarter turn to the right. In the hedge, 50 metres ahead, there is a stile that gives access to the churchyard of St Mary’s. [See note E]Cross this stile and follow the path to the entrance gate where the walk began. [See note F].

Local history notes: [A] St Mary’s Church is an ancient Gothic building that was built from local stone at the end of the twelfth century. The two upper stages of the tower were added in 1667. [B] Prior to 1980, when this bridleway was officially diverted on to its present route, it used to pass along the side of Lonco Brook, 100 yards to the left. In the days when Park Mill was a working mill, long before it was converted to a private house, local farmers would bring their corn to the mill, perhaps once a week, to have it ground. The mill drew its power from the waters of Lonco Brook and was an example of an undershot mill. The mill pond, now a home for waterfowl, can still be seen ahead on the left. If you walk quietly along this length of bridleway you might be fortunate enough to see a herd of deer in the field on the left.

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St Mary’s Church, High Offley

[C] This is a good place to pause to look at the view behind you. On a clear day you can see the Maer Hills and in front of them, the former windmill at Croxton. [D]Across the road on the left is a private house that was converted during the seventies from the former High Offley School. [E] On clear days from this vantage point you can enjoy wide views of the Shropshire hills extending from the Clees in the south, to the Wrekin, Wenlock Edge, Long Mynd, Caer Caradoc, and the Stiperstones in the south-west. Beyond them you can see into the Welsh Hills. [F] The House next to the church on the corner of Grub Streeet, used to be the “Royal Oak” public house which was first mentioned in 1829, when it was sold for £5.00.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Walk 4. A circuit from the canal bridge on Grub Street via Shebdon.

This walk is almost 3.5 miles long and has more than twenty stiles. It is best considered to be for stronger walkers as an extension to Walk 2 or to Walk 5, or as a circuit that links the two walks to make a longer walk of 8 miles. Another possibility is to divide the walk into two separate, easier walks each having approximately 10 stiles, by using the canal to link points 4.1 and 4.3.

The walk begins from the Grub Street canal bridge where there is parking for one car, or possibly for two small cars.

4.1 Stand next to the bridge with your back to the bridle-gate as though you had just climbed up from the canal towpath. Turn right and walk along the road to where, opposite the first house on the left, there is a field-gate which has a stile next to it. Cross the stile and enter the field. Walk up the field with the hedge of your left and continue to follow the hedge as it turns to the left and then to the right and, a little later, slightly to the left again. Thirty metres after this last turn, there is a stile in the hedge. Cross the stile and the plank bridge over the ditch on the other side, and turn right to follow the hedge into the field corner where there is another stile. Cross this stile. There are two oak trees in the field ahead. Head slightly to the right of the left-hand oak and continue past it in the same direction to reach a stile in a cross-hedge. Go over this stile and, heading in the same direction, cross the field to another stile with a footbridge beyond that gives access to a lane, Pegg’s Lane.

4.2 Turn left and follow the lane for thirty metres to a stile in the hedge on the right. Cross the stile and walk up the field with the hedge on your right to reach a stile in the field-corner. Go over this stile and look across the field ahead. The ground rises in front of you and there are two houses on the higher ground at the far edge of the field. Walk towards the left corner of the house on the left. As you approach the house, you will see a stile in the hedge. Cross the stile and turn right to pass between the house and the hedge. Near the right-hand corner of the house, there is a stile. Cross the stile to re-enter the field that you have just left. You might think that it would have been more sensible to stay in the field. Follow the hedge to the left keeping it on your left for a few metres, to another stile that gives access to a paddock. Walk through the paddock with the hedge on your right. Go through two gates in quick succession, closing them behind you, to gain access to a house drive. Follow the drive to the road.

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

4.3 Turn right and walk along the road to the canal bridge. On the far side of the canal bridge, there is a stile in the hedge on the right. Cross the stile and descend the steps to gain access to the field. Walk along the field margin with the canal behind an earth embankment on your right. Continue to follow the hedge as it moves further from the canal. You reach a cross-hedge with a stile close to the field-corner. Go over this stile and cross the field ahead aiming in the direction of the houses on the hillside just to the left of the tower of St Mary’s, church, High Offley. Ahead, in the cross hedge, there is an oak tree and thirty metres to its right, there is a stile. Cross the stile and walk through the field in the direction of the church tower. This will bring you to a wooden bridge across a stream. Cross the bridge and continue towards the church tower. This will bring you alongside a fence on your left. Follow the fence into the field-corner at the side of a pond. In the corner there is a field-gate with a stile on its right. Cross the stile and immediately go through a gap in the hedge on the right, into the adjacent field. Walk up the field, with the hedge on your left to reach Pegg’s Lane.

4.4 Cross the lane and climb up to the stile on the other side. Cross the stile into the field. Ahead, on top of the slope there is an electricity pole. To its left you can see the roof of a house, the former High Offley School. Head for a point that is mid-way between the electricity pole and the house.

If you are linking walk 3 to walk 4, then, after approximately 120 metres, make a quarter turn to the left. In the hedge, 50 metres ahead, there is a stile which gives access to the churchyard of St Mary’s. Cross this stile and follow the path to the entrance gate where the walk began.

When you reach the the top of the slope, you can see the hedge that separates the garden of the house from the field. Head for the right-hand end of the garden-hedge where it meets the road. Here there is a stile. Climb the stile and descend to the road, Grub Street. Cross the road and climb up to the stile on the other side. Cross the stile. Ahead, across the field, there is a hedge which ends and continues to the left as a fence. Walk to the stile which is just to the right of the end of the hedge and cross it. Walk up the edge of the field, keeping the hedge on your left, to a stile next to a trough in the field corner. Cross this stile and continue in the same direction towards a field-gate next to an electricity pole. There are two large sycamore trees standing near to a building. When you draw-level with the first sycamore, turn to the right.

4.5 Head towards a double electricity pole which is to the right of the highest point of the tree-line in the distance. To the right of the double electricity pole there is a stile. [See note A] Cross the stile and make your way half-right for a few metres over rough ground to reach a track. On the other side of the track, there is a stile that gives access to the corner of a field. Cross the stile and turn half-right towards a field- gate that has a stile on its right. Walk to this stile and cross it. Standing with your back to the stile, there is a hedge opposite and slightly to the left there is a field-gate next to which there is a stile. Walk to the stile and cross it to enter Grub Street.

4.6 Turn left and walk along Grub Street towards the canal bridge where the walk started.

If you are linking walk 2 to walk 4, then walk only as far as the first house on the right. Opposite the driveway there is a stile in the hedge. Now continue from 2.3

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Local history notes: [A] The next field was, until recently, owned by the parish church and in it was an ancient red-brick Glebe Barn. Unfortunately, the barn was demolished by a developer between 2007 and 2012, without planning permission.

Grub Street sign – see note C, walk 2

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Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018

Walk 5. A circuit from the former “Wharf” inn, at Shebdon passing Offley Grove Farm.

This walk is slightly more than 2.5 miles long but it has no stiles. It could be extended to a walk of 6.5 miles without stiles by starting at 2.1, following the canal for two miles to Shebdon Canal Bridge to join walk 5 at 5.4. Then you could walk the last stage of walk 5 and continue round from the start of walk 5 as far as the canal bridge at Shebdon again before returning by retracing the outward walk along the towpath. This version has the advantage of passing the canal-side refreshments at the “Anchor” on both the outward and the return legs!

The walk begins from the bridleway in Shay Lane near to the aqueduct that carries the canal across the road. There is parking for about four cars on the road-side verge where the bridleway begins. [See note A]

5.1 Turn off the road and follow the bridleway with your back to the road for about thirty metres to a junction of bridleways. Follow the right-hand sweep of the bridleway before turning left to pass alongside the foot of the embankment. After 350 metres approximately, the bridleway passes between the embankment and a house, and then, in a further 350 metres, as it comes level with another house, it turns right and passes under the canal to emerge in the fields on the other side. [See note B].

5.2 There is a bridle-gate in the right-hand hedge ahead. Walk to the bridle-gate and pass through to the field on the other side. Turn left and follow the hedge to the field-corner where there is another bridle- gate. Go through this gate. Ahead, slightly to the right, there is a wood. Walk into the field for approximately 130 metres, in the same direction as before. This will bring you level with the far corner of 14

Walks in High Offley Parish – Jan 2018 the wood. Turn right and walk to the corner of the wood and then along the field margin with the edge of the wood on your right. Continue along the edge of the field to the field corner, where there is a bridle- gate on the right. Go through the gate and follow the edge of the field, keeping the hedge on your left. Pass through the field-gate ahead and continue up the track which passes between the buildings of Offley Grove Farm before it ends at the road. Turn right and walk along the verge for 100 metres to the gates of “Offley Grove”. Here, cross the road to the bridle-track and follow it for almost half a mile to reach the junction of three roads.

5.3 Take the road to the right and follow it for half a mile to the bridge across the Shropshire Union Canal. Cross the bridge and then descend the concrete steps on the right to reach the tow-path.

5.4 Follow the towpath, with the canal on your right, until you reach the “winding hole” [see note C] and the parapet of the aqueduct that takes the canal over the road. Do not cross the aqueduct but take the path on the left that descends to the road back at the starting point.

Local history notes: [A] The building at the foot of the aqueduct that carries the Shropshire Union canal above the road used to be a canal-side public house called the “Wharf Inn”. It is now a private house and the bridleway has been diverted away from the buildings. The walk description follows the new route.

[B] The main line of the Shropshire Union runs from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Autherley Junction in Wolverhampton. It now forms part of the “Four Counties Ring”, an important circular, holiday route for canal boat enthusiasts.

[C] A winding hole is a specially widened part of the canal where boats can turn round.

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