U3A WTT Congerstone Stuart Galloway

Route Summary

A circular Route starting in Congerstone. Park in the village or the Horse and Jockey if you are eating there.

Route Overview

Category: Walking Length: 6.870 km / 4.29 mi Parking: On street in Congerstone Last Modified: 15th April 2016 Difficulty: Medium Rating: Unrated Surface: Average Refreshments: Horse and Jockey Date Published: 15th April 2016

Description

Congerstone is a small village north of Marcket Bosworth. This walk also takes in Shackerstone, and the .

Waypoints

Horse and Jockey (52.64261; -1.45730)

The walk starts in Congerstone Walk up Main street until a path on the left at the top of the street that takes you

1 / 6 through a small play area over the onto Mill Lane Bilstone

Bilstone (52.64546; -1.46371)

As you cross the river you will see a former water mill on your left, in the tiny hamlet ofBilstone.

In 1801 a short distance from here, John Massey an agricultural labourer, lived in KeepersCottage with his new, second wife and her 10 year old daughter. He was described as a hard drinking, short tempered, wrestler. After a drinking bout in the Curzon Arms, , he returned home and had a violent row with his wife.

He threw his wife into the mill race, where she drowned. Her daughter who tried to intervene was also thrown in but escaped with the help of the mill keeper. Massey was arrested, charged with murder and convicted at Assizes.

He was hanged at Redhill, Birstall. His body was taken to a gibbet post about half a mile south of Bilstone on Gibbet Lane. According to the custom ofthe day, the body would be wrapped in chains and hung from a metal ring on the gibbet post. Apparently, John Massey's skeleton could still be seen on the gibbet at Bilstone as late as 1818!

2 / 6 The practice of displaying convictedmurderers in gibbets - an iron-framed cage which kept the body from falling apart- was abolished in 1834

Walk to the end of Mill Lane and turn right into Main Street. Walk along the road until you see castle farm in front of you. At the junction turn left onto the track towards Hall Farm

Gopsall Hall (52.65132; -1.47092)

Gopsall Hall Farm was built on the site of the former Gopsall Hall. By 1952 most of the buildings of the hall had been demolished. Gopsall Hall was erected for Charles Jennens around 17 5 0 at a cost of £100,000. The Hall was set in several hundred acres of land and included two lakes, a walled garden, a Chinese boathouse, a Gothic seat and various garden buildings.

In 1818 a grand entrance (modelled on the Arch of Constantine) was added. Queen Adelaide was a frequent visitor to the Hall during her long widowhood. She was popular with the locals, being remembered in many of the surrounding villages.

Gopsall Hall remains; include parts of the walled garden, the electricity generating building, an underground reservoir, the treelined avenue, the gatehouse and the temple ruins associated with Handel.

During the 1920s and 1930s Gopsall hosted a motor racing circuit and part of the woodland is still named “The Racecourse”

Notable guests who stayed at the estate included King Edward VIL Queen Alexandra, Queen Adelaide and Winston Churchill.

From 1932 Gopsall Hall and estate has belonged to the Crown. Between 1942 and 1945 the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) made use of the Hall as an experimental radar base during the Second World War.

Land around Gopsall was considered as a possible site for Airport. Between 1873 and the 1930s Gopsall was served via the Ashby to railway line and the nearby station at Shackerstone.

Charles Jennens was a librettist and friend of . It is reputed that in 17 41 Handel composed part of , his famous oratorio, inside a garden temple at Gopsall.

3 / 6 To view the Temple ruins tum left onto the footpath through a ploughed field into the woods and the Temple can be seen on the right hand side

The Temple and Race Course (52.65027; -1.47443)

IIn 2002 the temple was part of a restoration project and it is also a Grade II listed building. A statue of Religion by Louis Francois Roubiliac stood on the roof of the temple and was erected as a memorial to the classical scholar (and Jennens 's friend) Edward Holdsworth. The figure was donated by Lord Howe to the City of Leicester and is housed in the gardens of Belgrave Hall Museum.

The wooded area in front of you is The Race Course.

Retrace your steps back through the woods and field cross over the track and follow the footpath that skirts the field (with the woodland on the left) towards Shackerstone. Tum left onto Congerstone Lane then right onto Church Road, pass the Rising Sun then tum right onto Station Road. At Tum Bridge go down onto the towpath, turning right under bridge no. 52.

Shackerstone (52.65743; -1.44649)

Shackerstone Castle is located in the village centre, off Station Road. During World War 11 the remains of the motte and bailey castle in Shackerstone had an air raid shelter dug into it.

Shackerstone is probably best known nowadays as the home of the , a preserved steam and diesel museum, that runs trains to Bosworth Battlefield. The railway came to Shackerstone in 1873 and continued providing passenger services until 19 31 after which only freight ran on the rails of the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway.

4 / 6 Continue walking towards the canal

Ashby Canal (52.65709; -1.44454)

The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal is a 31-mile long canal which connected the mining district around Moira, with the Canal at Bedworth. It was opened in 1804, and a number of tramways were constructed at its northern end, to service collieries. The canal was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1846, but remained profitable until the 1890s, after which it steadily declined.

Follow the towpath to bridge No. 49 (Terrace Bridge) and exit the towpath onto Poplar Terrace. At the end of the this road tum left onto Barton Road, keeping to the left until you get back to Main Street in Congerstone.

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