Ramblings

Friday 2^nd December – Presteigne – A chilly, damp, foggy morning. From Greenfield Road I head back to the bypass roundabout. Very large houses, Carmel Court and Mortimer House, stand on what works once have been the edge of the town but now modern developments lie across the bypass. Carmel Court is an early 19^th century house which from the 1940s to 1988 was used as a Carmelite Monastery. It is attached to the Catholic church of the Assumption of our Lady and S^t Thérèse. The church was designed in 1954 by Francis Pollen who went on to design notable buildings at Worth Abbey and Downside Abbey. The church is in a very simple Mediterranean style. A Song Thrush and Great Tit fly up from the grass into the trees beside the pavement. At the next roundabout my route heads south on the road to Walton. The railway ran on the western side of this road. The Kington & Presteigne Railway opened on 9^th September 1875, commencing at Titley Junction, where it joined the Leominster and Kington Railway, through Staunton on Arrow, in front of the Rodd farm at Roddhurst, via Corton into Presteigne. The passenger service on this line ended in 1951, but a freight service continued to run every other day until the line was finally closed for good in September 1964.

Carrion Crows call from the trees and wet sheep graze in a meadow. At another roundabout near Captain’s Barn, the road divides one to Kingston, one to Walton and a small lane that continues south. Here the railway was in a slight cutting beside the lane. At King’s Turning there is a modern house. Samuel Lewis’s A Topographical Dictionary (1848) suggests the name comes from “from the circumstance of the king having turned thence over the hill to Newtown, in Montgomeryshire…”. There is now a low embankment beside the lane on which the railway ran. The lane turns and runs alongside Hindwell Brook. An old cast iron bridge takes the track over the brook. Across the brook and a meadow is Wegnalls Mill. The lane is private and leads into a group of buildings around Wegnalls farmhouse, a timber-framed L-plan house dating from about 1600.

Back to King’s Turning. Across the field by the Walton road is the very extensive Corton House. During WWI Corton was variously a home for Belgian refugees and then a VAD hospital. Gwendolyn Evelyn, a noted breeder of daffodils, lived here. Onto the railway. Great Tits flit to and fro across the track. A weir diverts the brook into the mill leat which leads to the old water wheel which is still attached. A bridge carried the railway over the leat. A reproduction Great Western Railway sign states “Wegnalls Mill Presteigne Titley Junction”, (there was not a station here however). Back to King’s Turning. An Oak tree, maybe only 20 years old, has ivy growing up it, lichen and Moss on its branches and copper leaves pitter-pattering down.

Back to the bypass and on towards Presteigne town. Pair of Fieldfares are in the trees. An old route into the town from Caen and Nash Woods called Broadaxe passes and modern leisure centre and the old County Intermediate School building. Onto Greenfield Road which becomes Hereford Street. The War Memorial stands on the junction with Clatterbrook Lane. The brook is canalised and the road crosses over a small bridge. The day is brightening but there is still thick mist on the hills. Towards the town centre past Victorian, Georgian and even older dwellings. The Baptist chapel was built in 1845 and enlarged in 1889. The chapel hall is now a youth centre. Harford House was a private girls school run by Miss Blackburn between 1860 and 1870. An old petrol pump outside suggests it was at one time a garage. Unfortunately the front is now being held up by wooden scaffolding.

I wander around the town. There are a large number of antique and stuff shops. Down Back Lane. It has a mixture of 20^th century and a few old properties. The lane turns south past a large area of concrete festooned by buddleia. This was the site of Kaye Presteigne, a car parts manufacturer which closed in 2011 with a considerable loss of local jobs. The lane turned back towards Hereford Street. The fire station stands silent. A ginnel runs behind the police station. It runs past extensive empty tarmacked areas to emerge beside the medical centre. Lugg View leads back to Greenfield Road.

Sunday 4^th December – Leominster – A cold damp morning with a fine mist of drizzle. It is quiet, even the calls from Jackdaws are tentative. A pair of swans fly over. Down to the White Lion. Four cackling Canada Geese fly over. On to the railway bridge. Two Carrion Crows fly up from the track. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen slightly. Two Dippers are on a rock by the bank and fly off upstream.

Back round to the Millennium orchard. Over a dozen Blackbirds and an unknown number of Redwings fly up from the cider apples laying on the ground. Several Fieldfares are chattering nearby. Great and Long-tailed Tits are in the track-side hedgerow. Into the Peace Garden where a tree, possibly an Acer species, has shed many of its leaves in one go covering the ground in lime green. The drizzle turns to rain. The grey-green River Kenwater speeds by.

Wednesday 7^th December – Bodenham Lake – Jack Frost bites. The early sun has been hidden by clouds. Leaves and branches are crystal white with rime. Mallard, Canada Geese and a Moorhen are on the boating lake. A small flock of Long-tailed Tits fly through the trees. The meadow is pale green with frost but it has not penetrated, the ground remains soft. A flock of around twenty Redwings fly over.

The water level in the lake has risen again and the exposed area of the scrape has greatly reduced. Fifteen Wigeon are on the water. At least a dozen Greylags and a good number of Canada Geese are on the south side. Eight Mandarin Duck, a good number of Mallard and a single Mute Swan are at the western end. The Greylags and a number of the Canada Geese depart towards the Wellington gravel pits and surrounding fields. There is no sign of any Cormorants. More Mandarin Duck are beyond the island. A twitching Blackbird, chattering quietly, lands in the large rose-briar and takes a single hip before departing for the bramble patch at the bottom of the bank. On the other side of the bank, Gorse is still in flower. A Green Woodpecker yaffles as it flies across to the island.

Back to the meadow. Field Maples are holding on to their leaves creating bright yellow patches along the hedgerow. Hawthorns have been thoroughly stripped of their berries. Fieldfares are in the cider orchard.

Friday 9^th December – Ludlow – On the eastern edge of Whitcliffe Common. There has been a sharp frost again overnight. A bramble droops but sparkles in the sunshine. A Great Spotted Woodpecker jinks as it flies overhead. Sound of rushing water comes from the River Teme below. A path heads down the hillside covered in crunching Sweet Chestnut and Oak leaves. A Blackbird is in a Hawthorn with a berry in its beak. The river comes into view, falling over the long weir that stretches across its entire course. The path cuts across a steep cliff of Silurian limestone.

A few Mallard stand on the weir whilst others fly rapidly up and down stream. Above the weir the river is quiet and flows gently. Water drains down from the common dropping over layers of limestone. Icicles hang from the mosses. Onto Dinham Bridge. The castle rises into a pure blue sky. Another weir stretches across the river. A Robin visits a buttress on the bridge where bread crumbs have been scattered.

A path climbs the castle hill. It passes through a gate on the walls and past an outer part of the castle. Through another archway into Dinham. The road bends around with the walls of the castle past a bronze by Seren Thomas. Opposite is The Croft, an 18^th century house named after Christ Croft, a wide mediaeval ditch at right angles to the street. Past Dinham Hall built in 1792 by Samuel Nash, agent of Richard Payne Knight of Downton Castle. It is under restoration. Number 2 Dinham was built in 1656 after the previous building was destroyed by burning in the Civil War. Dinham enters the castle forecourt and the market place.

Through the market around the shops then back down Broad Street. Under the gate into Lower Broad Street to Ludford Bridge. I can hear a Dipper on the river and after a few moments it is located on a rock from where it plunges under the water. Another is on an overhanging branch from which it dives into the river. Everywhere not in direct sunlight is still white with frost.

Sunday 11^th December – Leominster – Snow started to fall at midnight but it did not last long. This morning there is thin coating over everything, enough to provide a winter wonderland feel. Wood Pigeons are calling. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen. A Dipper flies off downstream. The sky is steel grey and it seems to be getting darker.

Round to Pinsley Mill. Three Redwings fly off from track-side bushes. A Sparrowhawk flies over. A Magpie and Blackbirds are feasting on apples in the Millennium Orchard. The River Kenwater flows steadily. Through the churchyard where I fall flat on my face over a recumbent gravestone hidden by the snow! A thaw is beginning.

Wednesday 14^th December – Bodenham Lake – Thin grey cloud covers most sky. It is several degrees below freezing and frozen snow covers much of the grass, paths and fields. Wood Pigeons are flying in every direction. Every haw and nearly every hip had gone now. Old Man’s Beard is bedraggled white threads. However the promise of Spring is shown in the Hazels which have fresh catkins hanging. The lake is largely ice free. A couple of dozen Mallard are on the boating lake but nothing else. A Little Egret stands on the far side bank. A couple of Tufted Duck are on one of the islands.

Along to the meadow. A Wren darts across the path. Twenty two Goosander are in the north eastern corner of the lake. Into the hide. Five Wigeon and a couple of Mallard are on the scrape. Forty Greylags are on the water. Half a dozen Cormorant are on the spit and at least another thirty five on the trees. Just a single Mute Swan is at the western end. Two Grey Herons fly across, the following one croaking continuously. The far side of the water is misty. There appear to be no Canada Geese present. A couple of Moorhens are pecking at the water around the scrape. The sun emerges glaring blindingly off the water. A Great White Egret appears, the first I have ever seen as far as I recall. A Kingfisher arrows across the lake. A Ring-necked Pheasant struts out onto the bank below the hide. A pair of Little Egrets fly to the south end of the water. A third Little Egret and the Great White Egret join them; the size difference is pronounced.

Back to the meadow. Many of the trees in Westfield Wood still have the copper coloured leaves. Into the cider orchard where Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares are all feasting on the fallen apples.

Saturday 17^th December – Home – A Tawny Owl hoots from somewhere, possibly the great Horse Chestnut tree, at four o’clock in the morning. The weather remains bitterly cold; the temperature has fallen to -7°C overnight. Off to Brighton. Fields are covered in snow all across the country but a thaw is on the way. Predictably, traffic is heavy.

Sunday 18^th December – Saltdean – Across the main A27 to the cliff top. There is a bitter easterly wind. The sea seems empty apart from a few gulls, mainly juveniles. A fair number of people are promenading on the cliff underwalk. We watch Kitty act the part of a King in a nativity play in the local church, then head home. It rains nearly the entire journey and predictably, the M25 is almost at a standstill.

Tuesday 20^th December – Leominster – The temperature has risen by over 10°C in the last two days. All the snow and ice has thawed. This morning there is a little light cloud and bright sunshine. A female Blackcap and a Dunnock are in the apple tree behind the fence along the ginnell by the White Lion. The latter squeaks continuously. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level has risen a little in the River Lugg. The resident Dipper is preening on a rock below the bridge.

Back to the railway bridge. Robins are singing in every direction. A Dunnock sings in the garden of the pub. Through Pinsley Mill. Extraordinarily, a five carriage train heads south into the station. Into the Millennium orchard. The Lady’s Finger apples have finally fallen and lay in a rotting pile at the base of the tree. A similar pile is underneath the Dabinett. Blackbirds and a single Redwing are feasting on them. The milder air has brought out gnats which hover at head height. A pair of Ravens fly over, heading west followed by a third. Another heads north. The Kenwater is flowing steadily.

Into the churchyard. A small flock of Chaffinches flies up into the trees. A Nuthatch calls from a conifer.

Wednesday 21^st December – Bodenham Lake – The weather remains still relatively mild and damp. It is the solstice and the morning seemed to take forever to get light. A number of Cormorants fly off from the northeastern corner of the boating lake along with two Little Egrets. Several Goosander are on the south side and Mallard asleep on the islands.

Into the meadow. A flock of over 20 Fieldfares drops down into the cider orchard. Moles have been busy beside lakeside trees. A Green Woodpecker yaffles from the west end of the meadow.

Through the Alder plantation. The yellow leaves of the Alders that carpeted the path in autumn have turned black and shine wetly, making the path look like it has been laid with freshly knapped flints. Into the hide. About twenty five Wigeon are scattered around the water. Several Mandarin Duck are at the west end. A Little Grebe is in open water. Thirty nine Cormorants are in the trees. More Mallard and a few Tufted Duck are on the south and west sides. It starts to rain. The Great White Egret is on the south side. A pair of Mallard are mating by the scrape. A mist rises above the River Lugg and thicker mist lays over the fields towards The Vern. There appears to be no Canada Geese present at the moment. A Black-headed Gull flies past. Now a thin mist is forming over the lake. The Cormorants leave the trees one by one and congregate at the western end of the lake. The Little Grebe is joined by three others. A Great Crested Grebe appears in front of the southern hide.

Back to the meadow. A Red Kite flies over Westfield Woods. A few Redwings are in the hedgerow and at the top of the taller trees. Into the cider orchard where there are good number for fallen apples and even some still on the trees. The air is filled with the harsh chatter of Fieldfares. More winter thrushes are in the dessert apple orchard. A Common Buzzard mews loudly as it and a companion fly out of Westfield Wood.

Christmas Day, Sunday 25^th December – Leominster – A quick constitutional. It starts to rain almost immediately. Around The Grange and down the children’s play area. Plenty of dog walkers are out this morning. There are no thrushes on the fallen apples, although a dashing, bouncing spaniel may have something to do with this! A Robin sings in the hedges. The River Kenwater is flowing swiftly. Along the path through Pinsley Mead, past the old priory buildings. Talk of enhancing this area has all come to nothing. The old building, possibly used to control water flow to the fish ponds in mediaeval times, remains in ruins in a grove of trees.

Wednesday 28^th December – Bodenham Lake – Rain falls from a leaden sky. Even the House Sparrows around the equipment shed are silent. A wind growls through the trees. Three Little Egrets and a Grey Heron are on the islands. A number of Mallard, Moorhens and Goosander swim past them. On to the meadow. Many of the trees in Westfield Woods that were still holding their leaves a couple of weeks ago have now shed them. A Common Buzzard flies out of the wood and circles high above the valley.

Into the Alder plantation where a female Bullfinch flits through the undergrowth. Into the hide. The water level in the lake has risen and there is little of the scrape above water. A few Mandarin Duck are on the south side with Mallard. A pair of Tufted Duck glide across the water. There seems to be only a couple of Cormorants present. A single Mute Swan is at the western end. Several Goosander glide into view. A pair of Wigeon fly in. Four grey Goosander dive in unison by the edge of the island. It starts to rain harder.

Back to the meadow. Ravens and Carrion Crows rise and fall in the wind above the woods. A lichen-coated, dead Hawthorn has collapsed. The rain eases. There are a good number of Redwings, Fieldfares and Chaffinches in the orchards.

Friday 30^th December – Dawley, Telford – The jet stream is sending waves of rain-bearing depressions across the Atlantic. The rain at the moment is light but it is dull and gloomy. Telford was created from the merger of other settlements and towns. Little Dawley is largely late 20^th century housing estates. Its Anglo-Saxon name meant “the clearing in the wood of Daella’s people” the wood was the huge Wrekin forest also known in Norman times as Mount Gilbert forest (Mount Gilbert being their name for the Wrekin). Along Holly Road. A short terrace of Victorian houses is surrounded by modern homes. There are several larger Victorian buildings as the road approaches the Holy Trinity Church. The churchyard is extensive, rising up the hill on which the church is situated. A couple of tombs have cast iron railings around them. One beside a pear tree has a cast iron cover with names of eight young miners in the Springwell Pit Community Grave who lost their lives when a triple-linked chain snapped plummeting them to their deaths on 6^th December 1872. The church is locked. It was built in 1845 by H Egington in the Perpendicular style. There are several badly eroded stones in the wall of the church yard, one is dated from 1652 with initials D over T.A. and two crudely carved heads. Beyond the north end of the churchyard is The Old Vicarage.

Along Old Vicarage Road and into New Road. A conifer covered hill stands behind the junction. It was part of the Parish Colliery. A row of semi-detached houses are dated 1928 in a small plaque on the front, then 1927. There are more houses from the same era and more recent builds. All the houses in streets off this lane date from later in the 20^th century. The lane comes to Finger Road. The small hamlet of Portley stood here. This is now Dawley. Opposite is a large school and sports centre on the site of Portley and Paddock collieries. Into New Street. A similar mixture of buildings continues. Some are clearly by the same builder as before and dated 1931. The lane rises, coming to Dawley Town Hall, built as a Temperance Hall in 1873. At the top of the hill is the Lord Hill, a former of pub; commemorating the one of Shropshire’s most famous soldier and commander in chief of Wellington’s army Lord Rowland Hill. It is now an Indian restaurant. Opposite is a drinking fountain dated 23^rd October 1909, dedicated to Captain Webb who was born in a house which formerly occupied a site a few yards away. He was famous as the first person to swim across the English Channel. The High Street is a mixture of shops, none being chain stores, although many are service industries.

On down the hill, King Street, is a terrace of Victorian cottages. Back to the High Street. There are three barbers shops in just half a dozen shops along the street. The Methodist church was built in 1978 replacing a Wesleyan chapel built in 1819. Dawley High Street was formerly known as Dawley Green. The market hall was constructed in 1867 with a clock tower and bell presented by Lieutenant Colonel William Kenyon Slaney. It is now a bookies and fish and chip shop. The Elephant and Castle is believed to have been a pub since the mid 18^th century. It belonged to the Market Drayton Brewery Company in 1896 and included ten rooms and stables for seven horses. Great Dawley Town Council is housed in a modern building. On the junction with Doseley Road is a closed down pub, The Royal Exchange. Modern houses stand on Brewers Terrace. Across the road is an old building that was the police station.

Into Station Road. Past modern dwellings then older buildings. One semi-detached is dated 1936. Opposite another couple of tree covered mounds. To the west and north were numerous collieries. Station Road joins Springhill Road, a 20^th century road bypassing the town centre. An underpass rejoins Station Road beside an area of woodland called The Brandlees, once clay pits. The road runs along the slope of a steep hill. Prospect House is early 19^th century. Other houses in the street range cross various decades of the 20^th century. Station road becomes Bridge Road; the bridge crosses the Telford Steam Railway. Below is the station. On the other side are carriages, wagons and a steam shunter, two saddle tanks and piles of rails sleepers and other pieces of railwayana. The old loco shed was built in 1863 as exchange point for goods from the Coalbrookdale Company plateways narrow gauge system to the standard gauge of the Great Western Railway which ran from Wellington to Craven Arms. The Wellington and Severn Junction Railway was authorised in 1853. A short single-track line from the main line to Horsehay was opened in 1857 and extended as far as Lightmoor in 1859. Although the Company was leased by GWR, initially most of the goods traffic was run by the Coalbrookdale Company.

Behind the railway yard is Horsehay Pool. It was created by the construction of a dam at a nearby stream, which provided power to the Horsehay Ironworks. A good number of Mallard and a few gulls are on the water. A long row of cottages faces the pool. They were built from 1750 onwards to families of workers at Horsehay ironsworks. Some of the cottages with built with great bricks, much larger than normal, possibly because of the Brick Tax of 1774. Across the road is an industrial estate. A pair of cottages have columns of green enamelled bricks at either end of the row.

Back onto Bridge Road. Across the road were the ironworks, now part of the industrial estate. They were begun in 1755, by Abraham Darby II with coke-fired furnaces. They closed in 1985. The ironworks offices still stand, built in 1830, now residences. A Georgian cottage stands across the road. Down the road short distances the Horsehay Village Hall and bowling green. Bridge Road continues, passing a housing estate standing on the site of an old reservoir. A cottage has an extravagant set of chimneys picked out, as are the windows, in white brick.

Into Woodhouse Lane. Prospect Terrace is Victorian and adjoining houses are early 20^th century. The housing estate behind them stands on former quarries. The lane drops down into a small valley where the Travellers Joy pub stands. It is shown on old maps as a Beerhouse rather than public house. Public houses were issued with licences by local magistrates under the terms of the Retail Brewers Act 1828, and were subject to police inspections at any time of the day or night. Proprietors of beerhouses simply had to buy a licence from the government costing two guineas per annum. Woodhouse Lane becomes Frame Lane. Another modern estate stands on site former quarries. A reservoir lays a long way down from the road. A Great Tit is calling loudly from woodland. The road descends, passing houses of various ages.

At a junction, Frame Lane become S^t Luke’s Road and is joined by a road which passes under a tall bridge, built in 1858, carrying the railway. A graveyard contains a good number of modern graves, rising up a slope with two War Graves at the top. An ivy covered gate leads into a cobbled lane leading to S^t Luke’s House. Just before is the church, now apartments. It was built in 1845 by R Griffiths in the Norman style. The road continues past mainly modern houses. S^t Luke’s Road becomes Holly Road. There are still rails in the road where the old railway crossed. A lane leads down to track which leads to a Holy Well. I ask a passing dog walker if the well is worth visiting. He states he is a local and didn’t even know there was one there, so probably not.

On down Holly Road to Little Dawley. Woods rises to one side of the road lays on the other. Ivy farmhouse is an early 17^th century box timber framed building, altered in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The wall outside is made of stones almost large enough to be called boulders. The lane comes to a junction beside the war memorial. Across the road is the Wesleyan chapel of 1857, now apartments. In an auto repair yard is a store, possibly built as a Sunday School. Route

New Year’s Eve, Saturday 31^st December – Home – Another dark, wet day. The hens continue to lay well, except for Emerald who has regrown all her feathers but not yet back in lay, I assume she will start again. The brassicas have suffered from the cold weather earlier in the month. All the chard is dead and the large purple-sprouting plant looks dejected. Annoyingly the wind blows the netting around exposing some of them which are immediately chomped by the local Wood Pigeons. The bean trenches have been filled with kitchen waste and the newspaper linings from the hen house and recovered. I need to get on with pruning the fruit trees but cannot face the cold and damp at the moment.

Another year ends. Politically, one of utter farce and the outlook is not good. Meteorologically, it has been the hottest on record and there still seems to be no urgency from our rulers, who prefer squabbling and killing. Maybe that will be a quicker way to rid the planet of the pestilence of mankind!