Author Topic: The Wrekin - worth a wander up?  (Read 4171 times)

Mel

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Re: The Wrekin - worth a wander up?
« Reply #15 on: 10:42:41, 02/04/18 »
Cheers Hillhiker1  :)   There's so much more to walking than just walking  O0

barewirewalker

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Re: The Wrekin - worth a wander up?
« Reply #16 on: 11:57:28, 06/04/18 »
Being a local lad, born an bought up in sight of the Wrekin and having done much of my local walking within it's view. I have not only heard many of the myths and legends, also used it as a viewpoint to take friends to describe my understanding of my county, there is one attribute, the Wrekin has that may be undiscovered.


It is connected to a topic I started elsewhere, straying from the righteous way and standing on a small hill, the Wrekin was in full view on the horizon. That hill was a small patch of savannah, among the scrub remains of an old hedge was a knarled and ancient, Yew, hardly large enough to call a tree, the name on the OS was Church Hill Wood.


You may not see, Church Hill Wood from the top of the Wrekin but if you were looking a few degrees south of west, you will see the distinct outline of Earls Hill, often called Pontesbury Hill. Church Hill Wood is in the lea of this profile.


Further west, there is a feature well recognized throughout Shropshire, called the Callow, a circular planting of Scots Pines on a pronounced knoll. It can seen as far west as Caersws, without the need to find a high hill to stand on. You just have to be following old ways towards the west.


Medieval travelers, without the aid of compass, map or even written guide, would use spoken word, passed on within a family to follow routes to important destinations. Without many of the scientific comforts we have, they relied on religious faith to boost confidence, ward of ills to self and livestock.


Drovers herded cattle down from Anglesea to feed the population of London, was there a meeting point for drovers bringing cattle out of mid-Wales?
So how historical is the feature the Wrekin provides on the Shropshire plain.


For the walker today trying to cross Shropshire, a continuous way of countryside, which does not conflict with major highways or busy lanes is difficult.


Walking west from the Wrekin, the approach to Cressage bridge, over the River Severn, there is no clear way, cattle would not have been driven over the top of the hill on their way to London, but from Cressage a route does go west. I originally thought it was an old way to the now defunct Cressage train station. I goes for several miles and would go further if a lostway had made it onto the Definitive Map, then it is possible to join onto other rights of way that appear to converge on the closed Dorrington Station, again interrupted by the loss of a lengthy section of old way.


This routes touches on some of the real beauty of the Shropshire countryside, not the major beauty spots that hit top spot in the promotional blurb.


There is perhaps 2 miles of lostway could it be that there really is 100 miles of lostway.
« Last Edit: 12:02:23, 06/04/18 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Mel

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Re: The Wrekin - worth a wander up?
« Reply #17 on: 17:24:54, 06/04/18 »
Glad you enjoyed my trip report BWW  O0

 

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