Tuesday – Leominster – A warm breeze blows under a pewter grey sky. Wood Pigeons watch from the rooftops. Over the railway and onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg is as low as I can recall. A train races through the station. The wind is rising. The local birds are keeping their heads down, not a single squeak or chirp is heard. Back to the railway bridge. Lesser Black-backed Gulls are using the wind as they glide over the town. A Manchester bound train leaves the station.
Into Pinsley Mill. Rosebay Willowherb is in flower alongside the railway track. In the Millennium Park fruits are beginning to ripen on the Spindle trees. Common Hemp-nettle and Common Cranesbill are flowering in the flower meadow strips. The water level in the River Kenwater is also very low and flows sluggishly. A Brown Trout is close to the far bank. Into the churchyard. The Polish hero’s grave has been cleaned again.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Light showers of rain have ceased. It is warm and very humid. A House Martin flies over twisting this way and that. A Robin ticks from a willow. The grass is brown and parched. An eight foot high Teasel has now turned brown. Thistles now have white fluffy seed heads. The Dark Mullion have also gone to seed. Tufted Duck, Mallard, Mute Swans and Coot are on the boating lake. An egret is on one of the islands. It is hunched up for a while then moves behind vegetation. There have been reports of all three common European egrets being in the area. This one could be either a Little or Cattle Egret but no positive identification could be made.
Into the hide. Over twenty Mute Swans are around the lake. A couple of Great Crested Grebes are a long way apart. Canada Geese are scattered around. Another egret is on the spit. This one is a Little Egret. Nine Cormorants occupy the island trees. The water level has fallen even further; the channel between the reed bed in front of the hide and the scrape has now dried out. Greylags are at the western end. Three more Cormorants fly in. A Grey Heron flies across the reed beds in front of the hide. House Martins are very high in the sky, only visible through the binoculars. A young Common Buzzard is on the osprey platform. The wind is getting stronger. All the Cormorants fly off the spit and out of the trees. There must be a couple of dozen in all.
A Comma butterfly is on Stinging Nettles outside the hide. Through the Alder plantation where a rather dull Gatekeeper rests in the sunshine. Into the meadow where sloes are ripening on the Blackthorn, although the crop is not particularly heavy this year. House Martins are twittering and chasing over the dessert apple orchard. The clouds have now thinned and the sun is very warm although it is darker in the west.
Home – The afternoon is hot. The newly planted out lettuces are looking unhappy; hopefully a good watering tonight may resurrect them. A small number of greengages are picked. There are several more bunches that have some time to go before ripeness. A few plums have a purple tinge, again a while before they are ready for harvest. A young Coal Tit alights above me in the greengage tree and searches for bugs.
Sunday – Leominster – I am driven out of bed early by an acute pain in my back. The dawn is cool, the sun yet to rise above Eaton Hill. Wood Pigeons have been calling persistently for over an hour now. A Collared Dove flies overhead before landing upon a rooftop with a little yelping call. Jackdaws strut around the road searching for crumbs before being scattered by an oncoming car. On to the railway bridge. Cockcroft Lane at Ryelands is lit up by the rising sun, shining gold fields and green trees. A single Robin sings in the riverside trees. Rabbits are out on the site of the old railway track. The water level in the River Lugg remains very low. A branch has come down off of one of the great Black Poplars by Butts Bridge bringing lots of smaller ones down with it. It lays down the bank and out into the river resting on the base of one of the gravel spits.
Back round into the Millennium Park and the churchyard. There is a long platform of gravestones laid on top of one another three deep. It seems a tragedy that all these memorials have been discarded in such a callous way. On to the Grange. The sun has now risen above Eaton Hill casting long shadows across the grass. The marquees and fencing of yesterday’s music festival still occupy half the site.
After breakfast I set off for the market. Down The Priory to the Priory Bridge. The water level in the River Kenwater is still very low and the water crystal clear. It is still deep enough however for a Brown Trout, maybe nine inches long, to be in the flow. Along Mill Street. Yelping Lesser Black-backed Gulls fly south. The usual gathering Pond Skaters are on the Lugg beneath Ridgemoor bridge, (is there a collective noun for Pond Skaters? Probably not). Some of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls are on Brightwells’ roof whilst others circle noisily.
The market is far larger than any this year. Cars of vendors are being slotted in all around the edge and now overflowing out into the car park. I am still unable to find anything to buy! Umbellifers, probably Lesser Water-Parsnip, fills Ridgemoor Brook. A Kingfisher flashes up the River Lugg. Cheaton Brook is still flowing and has a mass of Pond Skaters.
Along the path to Easters Meadow. Yarrow is in flower. A Dipper is in the centre of the confluence of the rivers Lugg and Kenwater. The water is so shallow it merely dips its head under the surface to seek food. A pair of Mallard glide past, sadly a fairly rare sight here these days. A Meadow Brown butterfly flits over the grass. The Minster bells toll the hour. Now a Small White butterfly flies through the grasses but it is the only one in sight.
Home – Petty Spurge is rampant across the vegetable beds. I pull a lot out but it will probably come back quickly. The vines are given their weekly trim. Something, probably a Grey Squirrel, has been in the greenhouse digging through a trough of basil. A few peas, French beans, carrots and beetroot are gathered for dinner.
Thursday – Weoley Castle, Birmingham – Boiling in Brum. In a former council housing estate in the west Birmingham district of Weoley Castle. The sky is completely cloudless and the temperature rising. The drought conditions continue and an amber heat warning has been issued. A row of small bungalows stand opposite a park rising up the hillside. The grass is a mottled green and brown. Behind the bungalows is Weoley Castle. The origins of the castle are Anglo-Saxon. The name indicates a “willow clearing”. The Saxon earl who held the manor was Alwold. Archaeological evidence suggests there was a simple timber building within a protective ditch and wooden fence. The ruins here date from the 1270s when the Lord of Dudley, Roger de Somery, was licenced to crenellate a castle in the manor of Northfield. Although called a castle, the site was a mediaeval moated manor house with all the features of a castle, a wide moat, drawbridge, turrets and arrow slits. By the middle ages Weoley was at the heart of a deer park covering nearly 1000 acres. The remains consist of the moat, which is of course dry, and the base of the walls which are substantial. A pair of Magpies strut across the ruins.
A path climbs up the park to Jervoise School. On to Castle Road which rises, descends then rises again. To the east is the large Lodge Hill cemetery and crematorium. A sign warns that disturbance and damage is being caused by badgers. The cemetery was first opened by King’s Norton Rural District Council in 1895, and during the 1930s became the site of Birmingham’s first municipal crematorium. The crematorium and chapel, which first opened for use in 1937, cost £9,000 and was designed by the Arts and Crafts architect Holland W. Hobbiss. A large cross and altar marks a War Memorial listing the 498 soldiers, who mostly died from their wounds at local hospitals during the First World War.
Castle Road comes to a large roundabout. Opposite is another of the many parks and green spaces here with numerous trees. The houses are good, solid, if plain, council houses. On another side of the roundabout is the modernist Catholic church of Our Lady and St Rose of Lima.The foundation stone for the church was laid on 18th July 1959. The building with seating for 500 people was designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott. The adjoining hall was built in 1933 before becoming part of a school in 1936. Up Weoley Castle Road to the centre of the district that takes its name from the castle. Many of the houses, particularly those on corners, have pedimented bays to the front, clearly a local design feature. Weoley Castle Square surrounds a very large traffic island and during the 1950s prefabs were on this central island. Today it is a recreation area with benches, trees and grass. The surrounding shops are mainly 1930s buildings with a vague Arts and Crafts look. The still open bank is Art Deco. There is a decent selection of shops, maybe too many takeaways, a modern library and happy clappy church. Beckbury Road takes me back to Castle Road and the car.
My accommodation is on the far side of Lodge Hill cemetery in the local club. Up Weoley Avenue, one side the cemetery, the other more former council housing. Into Gibbins Road, Selly Oak.
Selly Oak – The houses here look like 1930s private build. A funeral procession passes, it is a bit of a conveyor belt service. Into Lodge Hill Road. Here the houses are early 20th century to one side and later 20th century to the other, built on the site of allotments and a recreation ground. These give way to houses which are difficult to date, particularly as all their doors and windows have been replaced with plastic.
Into the churchyard of St Mary’s. It is wonderfully overgrown and I imagine the very spooky at night. There are several mid late Victorian chest tombs. The church was built in 1861, funded by the manufacturer George Richards Elkington and by Joseph Frederick Ledsam. The architect Edward Holmes designed the building in a Gothic Revival interpretation of Decorated Gothic. Both externally and internally, there are contrasting bands of stone, Weoley Castle stone and Bath stone. To my surprise the church is open but this is just because, as a man of the cloth tells me, an architect is inspecting the building. So my visit is brief. I am told that the font was placed by the builders in a most inconvenient position at the base of the tower which is on the corner of the building. This means it is near impossible to have a christening with people gathered around because there simply is no room, so the font is never used. The glass is by Hardman and Co. By 1897 there was a ring of eight bells which were re-founded by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1932. At the end of the drive to the church are mock-timber frame houses. These are Evans Cottage Homes, built in the mid-Victorian period for “declined” women by Alfred Smith Evans, born in Birmingham in 1802 and died in 1870.
The area has been occupied from Neolithic times. Roman roads passed through the area, with forts to the north. The Saxon Lord was Wulfwin. Selly Oak is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Escelie or Eschelli. It was owned by Fitz Ansculf who lived in Dudley Castle. There are many theories how Selly Oak received its name, they range from “salt ley” or saltway through the meadow because of salt traffic from Droitwich to the North Sea to Sele leah meaning a clearing with a hall on it or a clearing on a shelf of land. Some later sources claim that the name refers to Sarah’s oak (later Sally’s oak) after a local witch who was either hanged from it or was buried under it with an oak stake through her heart, which later it was claimed grew into an oak tree.
Onto a large dual carriageway, Bristol Road, the A38. On the far side is a modern happy clappy church. Opposite is a large 1930s block of flats. The shops are in a mixture of late Victorian and modern buildings. Oak Tree Lane joins the Bristol Road at the site of Sally’s Oak, which was removed in 1909. Onwards along the Bristol Road. There are now large modern blocks and retail parks built on the works of the Birmingham Battery Company, constructed in 1871. The site expanded with the addition of a copper refinery, a tube mill, a rolling mill and a canal wharf on the Dudley Canal. Sadly, the Grade II listed historic office building was razed by Sainsbury’s over the 2009 Easter Bank Holiday despite considerable opposition. A bridge crosses the Worcester and Birmingham canal. Beyond Selly Oak station is a sad modern affair. It opened on 3rd April 1876 on the Midland Railway’s Birmingham West Suburban Railway branch to serve the burgeoning suburbs of Selly Oak and Bournbrook. Leaving the station, the line crosses the Selly Oak Railway Bridge of 1931 then a viaduct of arches. By the arches is the canal basin.
The basin was occupied by Goodmans, a successful builders merchant from 1842 until 2000. In 1798 this was a junction of the Dudley Canal and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and at this time was Whitehouse’s wharf. There were three lime kilns here. A cast iron bridge crosses the canal. Under one of the railway arches. On the other side is a red brick building, the Selly Oak Well and Pumping Station, built in the 1870s by the Birmingham Corporation Water Department in the 1870s and formally opened until July 1879 by Joseph Chamberlain. The well was 12 feet in diameter and with a total depth of 300 feet. The engine was built by Messrs James Watt and Co. The lane comes out by a late 19th century red brick house with a plaque containing a shield and the word “Forward”, the Arms of Birmingham. On the other side of the entrance is the boarded up Free Library of 1905. It was a Carnegie Library built on land donated by Emma Cadbury. Opposite is a row of Victorian cottages. Next to them is the Selly Oak Institute, now the furniture showroom. It was built in 1894 by George Cadbury as a meeting place for Quakers, an adult school, and a recreational centre for local residents. The building was gifted to the ward for educational use, and remained in Birmingham City Council’s ownership until 2012 when it was sold. Opposite is another red brick house, also with a Birmingham Arms plaque. Streets of the main road are lined with Victorian terraces. Side streets date from that late 19th century. A pause, rather a long one, in The Bristol Pear, a pub that was originally The Station, a Mitchells and Butler house.
Back under the railway arch over the canal. Across the supermarket car park and over the A38. Around the corner at the start of Gibbins Road is Selly Oak park, on land donated by Emma Gibbins, nee Cadbury. Opposite the entrance are two houses, one dated 1904, the other 1914. Past the Scout hut and onto a path beside the remains of the Dudley Canal. In 1775, Lord Dudley had started a cut from the Birmingham Canal at Tipton into his coal and limestone mines. An Act of 1785 allowed Dudley Canal which opened in 1793. The next development was for a canal, commonly known as the Dudley No 2 Canal from the original canal near Netherton, via Halesowen, through Lapal Tunnel (3,794 yards) to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak. By the time it reaches the first canal bridge it is completely choked up and is now filled in. Beyond the bridge the canal is dry. The path disappears into a thicket but continues after. Someone walks past with a particularly annoyingly loud model car. The footpath now seems to be on the bed of the canal. It reaches Lodge Hill and a path leads to the a terrace of shops opposite my accommodation.
Sunday – Farnham – Waverley – A dusty track leads to a lake in front of the large Palladian house. It was constructed in 1725 for Sir John Aislabie, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, to a design by Colen Campbell, possibly for the use of John’s brother William, who had recently returned from India. William died the same year and the house was sold to Charles Child of Guildford, who in turn sold it to Thomas Orby Hunter in 1847. He added wings, with further additions by Sir Robert Rich, 5th Baronet before 1786. It was bought around 1796 by the merchant John later (Poulett) Thomson, from Sir Charles Rich, 1st Baronet. He sold it about 1832 to George Thomas Nicholson. Nicholson was Florence Nightingale’s uncle and she was a frequent visitor to the grounds, and often spent Christmas at the house. During the First World War the house was the first country house to be converted into a military hospital, treating over 5,000 soldiers.
A young Coot follows the adult whilst continuously bleating. A small island is completely taken up with a glorious Great Weeping Willow. The sun is ferocious, the temperature over 30°C. Large clumps of Great Willowherb are turning to fluff. Various flowers bloom beside the lake – Common Fleabane, Spear Mint, Gypsywort, Meadowsweet and Woody nightshade. A panting Cormorant, its throat throbbing, stands on a dead tree branch stuck in the water. A bridge crosses the stream that flows out of the lake. A few Yellow and White Water Lilies are still in flower. Across the paddock are the ruins of Waverley abbey.
Waverley abbey was founded in 1128 by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, the first Cistercian abbey in England. There were 12 monks and an abbot from Aumone in France. The abbey stands on a flood-plain, surrounded by current and previous channels of the River Wey. It was damaged on more than one occasion by severe flooding, resulting in rebuilding in the 13th century. Despite being the first Cistercian abbey in England, and being mother-house to several other abbeys, Waverley was “slenderly endowed” and its monks are recorded as having endured poverty and famine. The monks and lay brothers farmed the surrounding land, were active in the Cistercian wool trade and provided shelter for pilgrims and travellers and an infirmary for the sick. The abbey was suppressed in 1536. It was then largely demolished and its stone was reused in local buildings, such as Sir William More’s house at Loseley. The remains include the fine 13th century vaulted refectory for the lay brothers.
Over a dozen Canada and nine Egyptian geese are in a field next to the site. At long last the sky is beginning to cloud over. I am then asked to take a picture then a video by two children. Whatever! A pair of Mute Swans has sailed on to the lake.
Farnham – Into Farnham town centre. In West Street nearly every building is a listed Georgian house. One has a plaque to Harold Falkner 1875-1963) was an architect who had a profound influence on the architectural style of the town in the first half of the 20thcentury. The Lion and Lamb Inn previously had a stuccoed facade. It is dated 1537 on a brick panel built into the wall of the central yard entry. Next to it is an 18th century three storey building of E W Langham, Printer and office of Farnham Herald. Into an alleyway, Church Passage that leads to the church. There is the delight cast iron inspection plate in the ground. At the end of the alley are two cottages of 1860, formerly the schoolmaster’s and schoolmistress’s houses, built by architect Colston of Winchester. Next to them is the old school. It backs on to the churchyard. By the church porch is the tomb of William Cobbett, MP and political writer, and his wife.
The church of St Andrew dates from 1150-70. There is evidence of a 7th century Saxon church here. Work on the chancel and the east end of the church was finished in 1399. A chantry chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built on the north side of the church. In the early 16th century, a new tower was built at the west end of the church; it was quite small, rising up no more than a couple of metres above the roof of the nave. Later, with Henry VIII’s Abolition of Chantries Acts in 1545 and 1547, the chantry chapel was abolished, the objects it contained were sold off, and it was turned into a school room. In 1758, it was sold off and demolished to pay for church repairs. There was a major restoration in 1865, when the current tower was built. Pews have been replaced by chairs. There are brass plates on the wall, one dated 1597 and a stone plaque of 1570. Some wall plaster had been removed revealing the painted wall underneath. The font is 15th century. The east window was designed by Augustus Pugin, and made by Hardman & Co. in 1851. There is a plaque to Cobbett under the tower and nearby one to George Strut, author and wheelwright, lettered by Eric Gill.
The heat is getting to me and I decide to drive to my hotel and have a drink or three.
Sunday – Leominster – The sun is bright but there is a cooling breeze. Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws call constantly. Robins sing on either side of the railway. Last week’s rain has had no effect on the low water level of the River Lugg. There is now a weir of rocks right across the river upstream from Butts Bridge. The sibilant call of Long-tailed Tits comes from one of the great Black Poplars. Leaves are falling from the trees as they respond to the stress caused by a lack of water. An Oak has a good crop of acorns. Tiny mushrooms in a cluster of over 50 in the grass. They are Fairies’ Bonnets or Trooping Crumble Cap, Coprinus disseminatus.
The market is somewhat smaller than it has been. Onto Ridgemoor Bridge. The River Lugg is so low and slow flowing that the Pond Skaters have moved out into the middle of the stream. The water in the River Kenwater is crystal clear and very low the Brown Trout seem to have moved on.
Tuesday – Home – The tomato crop is doing well, a large number are now ripening, the chilli crop less so. The few that have ripened have been chomped down one side. All the plums are gathered as Brown Rot is rampant in them. We have gathered a decent quantity of blackberries off the collapsed bramble in the bottom corner, but they are now getting rotted by fungus. This warm, damp weather is perfect for fungal diseases! The last two cucumbers are thrown into the compost – the variety is very bitter. All the lettuces have now bolted. Many of the greens have suffered caterpillar attack, although only a few Small White and one Cabbage White caterpillars have been found. There are large empty spaces in the vegetable beds where seeds have failed to germinate in the drought.
Friday – Bishop’s Castle-Lydham-More – Earlier the sky look like had clouds applied with a palette knife but now it is all melted into monotonous grey. There is drizzle in the air. A white dove stalks the auction yard. Opposite a public hall for the community has a simple Art Deco look. Into Station Street. Modern industrial units stand on the site of the station and goods yard. The railway run from here to Craven Arms between 1865 to 1935. A small building, part of the railway, is now the Weighbridge Railway Museum. A Congregational chapel built in 1913 stands on the corner of New Street.
New Street comes to the junction of High Street and Church Street beside the former school of 1875 and a large house. Up the hill to the Town Hall. Across the Market Square, which is a narrow street, into Welsh Street. Black Lion House was formerly The Old Club from 1762-1990. Welsh Street contains a mixture of two and three storey Georgian houses. Into Castle Street and up steps to the site of the Castle. There is little left of the fortification, although one suspects that local walls are built from stones scavenged from the site. A grey, pebble-dashed house opposite is a former Nurses Home.
Just before the edge of the town the Shropshire Way heads north through woodland. It then enters an open field with a partially collapsed corrugated iron barn. A Red Kite cries overhead. The path passes along the back of a garden. past a large model of an elephant and a Buddha. It then enters a campsite. The hills ahead have crowns of cloud. Down a steep hill what is being harrowed to turn in the stubble from a wheat crop. Composted dung has been spread on the field creating ammoniac stench. Rosebay Willowherb on the edge of Heblands Coppice has turned to fluffy white seed. Dock and Hogweed has turned brown. In the short time it has taken to walk down the field the cloud has lifted from the hilltops.
The Way continues along the road from Montgomery. It crosses a field at Upper Heblands Farm which has a fine L-shaped farmhouse, a probable Victorian wing on an older building. The name comes from the Old English heope meaning lands where rose-hips or brambles grow. Past some large old Oaks. Into relatively young woodland. A pen holds daft young pheasants rushing this way and that. A Jay squawks overhead. Down the side of a field and onto a track. Several Red Kites fly around, a Kestrel wings past and a Common Buzzard circles high above.
Into the village of Lydham. There is a market in the village hall selling a wide range of goods. Across the road is the church of the Holy Trinity. The path to the church is lined with Yews topiaried into balls. The church is 13thcentury, restored in 1642, 1885, and 1891-2. The keys are held by a local Wholefood store whose owner kindly comes across the road to unlock the door – not an easy job! The restored 15th century three-bay nave roof has struts from arch-braced collars, double purlins, and windbraces. Box pews date from the 17th century although they have been cut down in size at a later date. The wooden pulpit is 17th century in a plain octagonal shape with a gadrooned frieze. The stone font is octagonal with a chamfered stem on a step. A hatchment hangs on the south wall of the chancel. There are a number of monuments to the Oakley family of Lydham Manor, whose male members were either army, government or the church. There is a 19th century double bellcote on a medieval corbelled projection. To the west of the church is the plot of the Oakley graves in a wrought iron enclosure. There is a motte and bailey beyond, the manor held in demense by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury.
The Shropshire Way passes through a field of calves who watch inquisitively as I pass. Then across a mown meadow. The next field is rough pasture being grazed by older cattle. Another venerable Oak stands on the edge of the field its base full of holes and tall staghorn dead branches reaching for the sky. The traces of More motte and bailey are in the field. A single stone lies partly buried. The path crosses may have been a moat although there is an oak tree growing beside it which is at least 300 years old. More originally lay within the manor of Lydham, and probably during the reign of Henry I it became a separate manor. A document of 1215 mentions a castle at Moretoin, thought to refer to this castle, and in 1368 a licence was granted to Hugh Cheney allowing him to celebrate Mass in the oratory (private chapel) at his mansion house here. An excavation undertaken in 1959 demonstrated that the castle was initially a ringwork, a circular area occupied by buildings, surrounded by a bank and an external ditch, probably constructed in the late 11th century. A little later, in the early 12th century, the enclosed circular area was filled in and heightened to form the motte. It is thought the More family arrived with Duke William and Richard fell at Hastings. A later More was Robert, friend of Linnaeus, and returned from the Tyrol with the first Larches to be planted in England. A flock of Linnets twitter. The path is now passing through what looks like another motte and bailey. The path joins a lane which enters the village of More.
The old rectory is a part stone, part timber-framed house with tall brick chimneys. It dates from the late 16th to early 17th century. St Peter’s church is 13th century, The north transept was added as a burial chapel for the More family in 1640 and extended in 1871, and the body of the church was largely rebuilt in 1846–47. The tower is 13th century and capped by the double pyramidal top, characteristic of the area which probably dates to 17th century with roughcast belfry with two lines of wooden louvres. Although locked, a view through a window shows box pews, a medieval parish chest, a 17th century pulpit and reading desk and a mediaeval tub font. Church Farmhouse to the east of the churchyard is 17th century and the Malthouse and farmhouse to the southern are late 18th century.
There is a somewhat strange story regarding the More family. Samuel More had married his cousin Katharine in 1611. They had four children, who all looked like a local yeoman, James Blakeway, in More’s eyes. Accused of adultery, Katharine declared a pre-contract (betrothal) with Blakeway, but she had no witnesses. The declaration of the marriage contract was then deemed to be an admission of the adultery which Katharine did not deny. In April 1616, Samuel arranged a separation from his wife. Katharine may have moved to stay with relatives in London. The children were sent to live with tenants of his father, near Linley. Katharine sued for an annulment of the marriage because of her pre-contract but, there being no witnesses, she lost the case. Samuel responded with a charge of adultery against Jacob Blakeway. Jacob lost the case and fled in the face of large fines. No more is heard of him. Samuel sued again, this time against Katharine for a judicial separation which gave him control of the children. Katharine’s appeal failed. More now Samuel paid £80 for double shares for the four children aboard the Mayflower with the Pilgrim Fathers, and they were allocated guardians. Ellen (8) was placed with Edward Winslow; Jasper (7) with John Carver; Richard (5) and Mary (4) with William Brewster. Severe illnesses caused the loss of nearly half of the passengers. Of the More children, only Richard survived. Jasper and Ellen died on board; Mary died soon after landing. Richard More had a successful career as a sea captain, trader and privateer.
House Martins chatter overhead. The lane runs around the side of the churchyard and then heads south out of the village. To the east is Long Mynd. A bridge crosses the West Onney which is very low and sluggish. Onto a larger minor road. Another bridge crosses the West Onney again which has looped round and now heads east to join the main river. Another bridge crosses a drainage ditch which flows out from Lydham Heath but it is currently dry. A milestone stands by the road, marked – Miles B.Castle 2 Shrewsbury 18. A large compound with a stone wall is deserted leaving just two old trailers. There are a large number of fields of maize in the area. Road closures around here seem to be causing a fair degree of confusion to the traffic. A sign on the gate states that landowners and farmers are working with the police to combat hare coursing, which is good news. On past Lodge Farm.
The road meets the A48 at Lower Lodge, a gatehouse for Lydham Manor. A side road at Foul Lane End now turns into Bishops Castle. Dark clouds are building in the west. Along School House Lane. Into Salop Street past the Three Tuns Brewery and pub.Route
Sunday – Leominster – The sun shines through high thin cloud. The air is warming rapidly. Robins are in full flow singing their autumn song. A Great Spotted Woodpecker chips from the trees beside Lammas Meadow. The water level in the River Lugg has risen slightly. The rocks in the weir upstream from the bridge have moved, one suspects children have been playing here. A Dipper moves through the water, head down searching for insects. Dark rusty brown Docks stand across Easters Meadow. Hogweeds stand to over ten feet tall, brown arms stretched out. The Great Spotted Woodpecker moves into one of the Black Poplars, calling continuously. Hawthorns have heavy crops of scarlet berries. Hips are turning vermillion.
The market is large and crowded. Despite the reservations of fruit and vegetable producers, East Europeans appear to have returned in large numbers to pick the crops. The number of Pond Skaters on the River Lugg by Ridgemoor Bridge has increased. Despite the very low water level in the River Kenwater, there are still several Brown Trout motionless, except for twitches of their fins and tails, in the flow. The bells of the Minster ring out.
Home – The “meadow” is strimmed down. The cut grass and flowers will be left for a while to let the seeds fall, then it will all be removed. The strimmer is then used on the patch behind the vegetable beds. There was an idea, in my mind anyway, that this could be another wild flower meadow, but it has not worked, so it will be mown from now on. The bottom area of fruit trees is also cut down, lots of Stinging Nettles slashed down. A number of the Cox apples have fallen, all showing signs of damage. The plums crop was also badly damaged by moth despite pheromone traps being set for both apple and plum moth. A couple of ripe figs are plucked, another couple were missed and have now been well pecked by birds and have attracted fruit flies.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Dawn feels like autumn, cool and the sun yet to rise. Into the morning it warms up but there is still a breeze keeping it comfortable. A patch of Catmint is one of the few plants still in flower. A Speckled Wood butterfly flits down the hedges by the track. Sloes are ripening turning a matt dark blue. Tufted Duck and Coot are on the sailing bay. A wader is on one of the islands, a Green Sandpiper I think. The westernmost island hosts three Little Egrets. A pair of Great Crested Grebes are on the water nearby.
Birdsfoot Trefoil flowers on the meadow. A sound like the tapping of two pebbles signals the presence of a Blackcap. The water level in a lake is still very low. The scrape is now as large as I have seen it. Two Grey Herons stand at each end of the spit. Half a dozen Mute Swans are out on the water along with another Great Crested Grebe. Twenty six Cormorants are in the trees and another flies past. At the western end is another Great Crested Grebe and several Mallard. Two more Grey Herons fly across the lake. More Mute Swans sail into view from different parts of the lake. Wasps fly into the hide to investigate then leave. A Carrion Crow, black as an undertaker, with a bright eye, stands on the fence post outside the hide. The cloud is thickening.
A pair of Common Buzzards are feeding on something out on the wildlife refuge. There appear to be only two rare breed sheep in the paddock and the geese have gone. Another female Blackcap is ticking in the hedge at the top of the meadow; she then moves quietly down the hedgerow. There were a few shoots of Blackthorn growing out into the meadow a few years back. There is now a dense thicket over ten feet tall here now.
Into the orchard. A pear tree just inside the gate is heavy with fruit. A Wildlife Trust pick-up arrives with large containers of water to irrigate the young trees planted earlier in the year. There are some windfall apples that are good to eat.
clear. It is still deep enough however for a Brown Trout, maybe nine inches long, to be in the flow. Along Mill Street. Yelping Lesser Black-backed Gulls fly south. The usual gathering Pond Skaters are on the Lugg beneath Ridgemoor bridge, (is there a collective noun for Pond Skaters? Probably not). Some of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls are on Brightwells’ roof whilst others circle noisily.
nearly 1000 acres. The remains consist of the moat, which is of course dry, and the base of the walls which are substantial. A pair of Magpies strut across the ruins.
council houses. On another side of the roundabout is the modernist Catholic church of Our Lady and St Rose of Lima.The foundation stone for the church was laid on 18th July 1959. The building with seating for 500 people was designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott. The adjoining hall was built in 1933 before becoming part of a school in 1936. Up Weoley Castle Road to the centre of the district that takes its name from the castle. Many of the houses, particularly those on corners, have pedimented bays to the front, clearly a local design feature. Weoley Castle Square surrounds a very large traffic island and during the 1950s prefabs were on this central island. Today it is a recreation area with benches, trees and grass. The surrounding shops are mainly 1930s buildings with a vague Arts and Crafts look. The still open bank is Art Deco. There is a decent selection of shops, maybe too many takeaways, a modern library and happy clappy church. Beckbury Road takes me back to Castle Road and the car.
Victorian chest tombs. The church was built in 1861, funded by the manufacturer George Richards Elkington and by Joseph Frederick Ledsam. The architect Edward Holmes designed the building in a Gothic Revival interpretation of Decorated Gothic. Both externally and internally, there are contrasting bands of stone, Weoley Castle stone and Bath stone. To my surprise the church is open but this is just because, as a man of the cloth tells me, an architect is inspecting the building. So my visit is brief. I am told that the font was placed by the builders in a most inconvenient position at the base of the tower which is on the corner of the building. This means it is near impossible to have a christening with people gathered around because there simply is no room, so the font is never used. The glass is by Hardman and Co. By 1897 there was a ring of eight bells which were re-founded by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1932. At the end of the drive to the church are mock-timber frame houses. These are Evans Cottage Homes, built in the mid-Victorian period for “declined” women by Alfred Smith Evans, born in Birmingham in 1802 and died in 1870.
arches. On the other side is a red brick building, the Selly Oak Well and Pumping Station, built in the 1870s by the Birmingham Corporation Water Department in the 1870s and formally opened until July 
1879 by Joseph Chamberlain. The well was 12 feet in diameter and with a total depth of 300 feet. The engine was built by Messrs James Watt and Co. The lane comes out by a late 19th century red brick house with a plaque containing a shield and the word “Forward”, the Arms of Birmingham. On the other side of the entrance is the boarded up Free Library of 1905. It was a Carnegie Library built on land donated by Emma Cadbury. Opposite is a row of Victorian cottages. Next to them is the Selly Oak Institute, now the furniture showroom. It was built in 1894 by George Cadbury as a meeting place for Quakers, an adult school, and a recreational centre for local residents. The building was gifted to the ward for educational use, and remained in Birmingham City Council’s ownership until 2012 when it was sold. Opposite is another red brick house, also with a Birmingham Arms plaque. Streets of the main road are lined with Victorian terraces. Side streets date from that late 19th century. A pause, rather a long one, in The Bristol Pear, a pub that was originally The Station, a Mitchells and Butler house.
the use of John’s brother William, who had recently returned from India. William died the same year and the house was sold to Charles Child of Guildford, who in turn sold it to Thomas Orby Hunter in 1847. He added wings, with further additions by Sir Robert Rich, 5th Baronet before 1786. It was bought around 1796 by the merchant John later (Poulett) Thomson, from Sir Charles Rich, 1st Baronet. He sold it about 1832 to George Thomas Nicholson. Nicholson was Florence Nightingale’s uncle and she was a frequent visitor to the grounds, and often spent Christmas at the house. During the First World War the house was the 
first country house to be converted into a military hospital, treating over 5,000 soldiers.
Aumone in France. The abbey stands on a flood-plain, surrounded by current and previous channels of the River Wey. It was damaged on more than one occasion by severe flooding, resulting in rebuilding in the 13th century. Despite being the first Cistercian abbey in England, and being mother-house to several other abbeys, Waverley was “slenderly endowed” and its monks are recorded as having endured poverty and famine. The monks and lay brothers farmed the surrounding land, were active in the Cistercian wool trade and provided shelter for pilgrims and travellers and an infirmary for the sick. The abbey was suppressed in 1536. It was then largely demolished and its stone was reused in local buildings, such as Sir William More’s house at Loseley. The remains include the fine 13th century vaulted refectory for the lay brothers.
century. The Lion and Lamb Inn previously had a stuccoed facade. It is dated 1537 on a brick panel built into the wall of the central yard entry. Next to it is an 18th century three storey building of E W Langham, Printer and office of Farnham Herald. Into an alleyway, Church Passage that leads to the church. There is the delight cast iron inspection plate in the ground. At the end of the alley are two cottages of 1860, formerly the schoolmaster’s and schoolmistress’s houses, built by architect Colston of Winchester. Next to them is the old school. It backs on to the churchyard. By the church porch is the tomb of William Cobbett, MP and political writer, and his wife.
rain has had no effect on the low water level of the River Lugg. There is now a weir of rocks right across the river upstream from Butts Bridge. The sibilant call of Long-tailed Tits comes from one of the great Black Poplars. Leaves are falling from the trees as they respond to the stress caused by a lack of water. An Oak has a good crop of acorns. Tiny mushrooms in a cluster of over 50 in the grass. They are Fairies’ Bonnets or Trooping Crumble Cap, Coprinus disseminatus.
scavenged from the site. A grey, pebble-dashed house opposite is a former Nurses Home.
walk down the field the cloud has lifted from the hilltops.
century, restored in 1642, 1885, and 1891-2. The keys are held by a local Wholefood store whose owner kindly comes across the road to unlock the 
door – not an easy job! The restored 15th century three-bay nave roof has struts from arch-braced collars, double purlins, and windbraces. Box pews date from the 17th century although they have been cut down in size at a later date. The wooden pulpit is 17th century in a plain octagonal shape with a gadrooned frieze. The stone font is octagonal with a chamfered stem on a step. A hatchment hangs on the south wall of the chancel. There are a number of monuments to the Oakley family of Lydham Manor, whose male members were either army, government or the church. There is a 19th century double bellcote on a medieval corbelled projection. To the west of the church is the plot of the Oakley graves in a wrought iron enclosure. There is a motte and bailey beyond, the manor held in demense by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury.
the body of the church was largely rebuilt in 1846–47. The tower is 13th century and capped by the double pyramidal top, characteristic of the area which probably dates to 17th century with roughcast belfry with two lines of wooden louvres. Although locked, a view through a window shows box pews, a medieval parish chest, a 17th century pulpit and reading desk and a mediaeval tub font. Church Farmhouse to the east of the churchyard is 17th century and the Malthouse and farmhouse to the southern are late 18th century.
Richard More had a successful career as a sea captain, trader and privateer.