19/10/26 - On the Trail of...... Joseph Chamberlain

Hit The City

To complete the Wyre Valley Line Railway Stations Walk, I need to plot a short walk between the Jewellery Quarter and Moor Street, via Snow Hill Station. A short city walk, with plentiful distractions. To avoid turning it to a lengthy pub crawl, I'll combine my investigations with the latest History West Midlands Podcast.  The political dynasty of the Chamberlains is the topic, with my walk concentrating on Joseph.

The Chamberlains were one of Birmingham’s most influential political dynasties, built on industrial wealth rather than inherited aristocratic privilege. Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) made his fortune in the screw-manufacturing business before entering politics, becoming Birmingham’s reforming mayor in the 1870s and later a national politician. His sons followed him into public life: Austen Chamberlain became Chancellor of the Exchequer and won the Nobel Peace Prize, while Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister. Their story is unusual because their political influence grew out of the wealth and status created by Victorian industry, rather than an established landed family inheritance. Joseph’s municipal reforms transformed Birmingham through improvements to housing, sanitation and public services, helping establish the modern civic identity of the city. The family’s legacy illustrates how Birmingham’s industrial success created a new kind of political elite, capable of shaping both local government and national affairs.

Meet the gang

In an unusual turn of events for a politician, the Birmingham's population appeared to adore Joseph. There are no end of monuments and squares dedicated to him. As I am at the Jewellery Quarter - I start at the end of the story. Like all the Birmingham greats, he is buried at Key Hill Cemetery. 

Joseph Chamberlain’s funeral in July 1914 was a remarkable demonstration of his standing in Birmingham. Although he had been a major national politician, his family declined the offer of a burial at Westminster Abbey. Chamberlain had expressed a wish to be laid to rest among his 

own people, and the family chose a relatively modest Unitarian burial at Key Hill Cemetery in Hockley.

The grave takes a little hunting, even with the information boards.  Section K, plot 610. Next to an obelisk, but a simple stone marker.

Understated

Off to the Civic celebrations - the Chamberlain Clock outside the Rose Villa Tavern. No point stopping for a drink. The windows are gorgeous, the cask ale - if there at all - awful during recent visits.

All the details

Wharstone Lane meets Frederick Street

Dedication

Drinks stop - the 1000 trades is not open on a Monday Lunch, so I am all the way to Summer Row before I make a stop. It's rare to walk past The Shakespeare, so I feel a revisit is in order. My wallet winces as I spot the Nicholson's brass plate on the entrance.

Lime Bike Central

To be fair, if you are after lunch, a bargain can be had. A club sandwich - with chips and a pint - for a tenner. Makes the £6.30 for a Proper Job look like this week's biggest mistake - even if it was in absolutely perfect condition.

Onwards, to Chamberlain Square for more Joseph Joy. When you see those "Birmingham is not all crap" social media posts, the photos are invariably from here.

Chamberlain Square

Chamberlain Fountain

Chamberlain Fountain

I'm right in the City now. Our newest bar, the Boiler Room, had to be checked out. I thought craft beer was so last decade, but this cocktail bar is all craft keg. 10 on, admittedly from interesting breweries but when a Cloudwater 5%'er is £8 a pint, I refuse to do their marketing for them. Good luck competing with the far better Colmore around the corner - where excellent cask is half the price.

One of Chamberlain's biggest successes was the slum clearance and development of Corporation Street - as a boulevard of modernity. Alas, things have gone full circle and in another 10 years it will be back to slum status. I find it terrible that the current Birmingham Council cannot look after nice things. Photos too ugly - unless you like urban decay and trees growing out of the upper floors of beautiful buildings with boarded up windows.

Moor Street Station marking the logical end of this section of the Rail Trail. I'm about to enter Bandit County, as I make my way down the Shakespeare Line.

Selfridges, behind Moor Street

Walk Details

Distance - 3.25 miles

Geocaches - 2

Previous Stages on the Wyre Valley Line - Worcester to Droitwich, Droitwich to Hartlebury, Hartlebury to Kidderminster, Kidderminster to Hagley, Hagley to Stourbridge, Stourbridge to Cradley Heath, Cradley Heath to Old Hill, Old Hill to Langley Green, Langley Green to Smethwick Galton Bridge, Smethwick Galton Bridge to The Hawthorns, The Hawthorns to Jewellery Quarter

14/10/26 - The Grafton Flyford Hairstreak Butterfly Trail

Church Crawling

Walk 23 from the new Cicerone book finds me on a butterfly trail. Seems a bit cheeky stealing the council's work to put in a walking book. Just like blogging about it, I suppose. A publicly available PDF showing the exact same route.

Conservation

Information on the ground

The PDF tells you all you need to know about the Brown Hairstreak - including the conversation work to perfectly maintain their required environment. Hawthorn hedgerow management taken seriously in this part of East Worcestershire.

If only I had read it. The butterflies are out from July to September. Even with global walking, not a single butterfly was observed during an unseasonably warm October.

The walking can only be described as dull. Despite a long stretch on the Wychavon way - this is green field after green field, all flat and little to see. 

That leaves the two churches.

Staring at the doors locked Grafton Flyford.

Car parking availble.

Better investigations found at Himbleton Church - the doors open policy rewarded with a place geocache - requiring information from a war grave to find the final co-ordinates.

Clock added to the wooden tower in 1910

Queen Elizabeth I Coat of Arms on the chancel wall - celebrating a visit, perhaps?

Walk Details

Distance - 7 miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Cicerone Worcestershire, Walk 23

Previous walks from the book;

Walk 2

13/10/26 - Sefton Park and Penny Lane, Liverpool

Magical Mystery Tour to the first 2027 GBG Tick

Two walks close together in the Liverpool A-Z book of City Walks. Parklife in Princes and Sefton Parks - functional but with nothing much to write home about. The second walk in nearby Wavertree fixes that in spades.

My walking life has many inspirations - history, murders, pubs, folklore and so on - but this must be the first walk inspired by a song. Fighting the hordes taking coach trips to take photographs of road signs. Only a special kind of idiot does that.

Penny Lane - in my ears and in my eyes

The parks are OK - easy tracks, moms with pushchairs and large bodies of water.

Easy walking in the park

A replica of Piccadilly Eros

I've never really paid attention to the lyrics of Penny Lane. Released at the same time as Sgt Pepper - but not on the album - it's a jaunty number where the boys whimsically recount real-life places in a small area where they grew up.

I give you;

a barber showing photographs

The corner where there's a banker with a motorcar

The shelter in the middle of a roundabout

I only sing when I'm walking. Whilst in this part of town, I take the chance to see 50% of the childhood homes. I have to say I am impressed with how neat and tidy the little terraced streets are. A million miles away from similar areas of Birmingham (my home town), which can no longer be described as leafy.

Lennon's goes for anonymity 

Harrison gets a blue plaque

And the fun doesn't stop there. Once I have finished the southern half of Sefton Park, I am delivered into Larks Lane. What a wonderful place. A few strategically placed plant pots encourage traffic calming and every building appears to be dedicated to the pursuit of Bacchanalian pleasure. 

Including my first new tick from the recently published Good Beer Guide.

The Masonic Arms

It's one of three pubs in Larks Lane owned by the Pub Co. Presumably in the Good Beer Guide for the extensive collection of cask ales - but quantity doesn't equate to quality - especially when there are no other customers. There is simply no need for three different pale ales and my Kirkstall Three Swords was disappointingly on the turn.

At least it was handsome.

Tastebuds saved directly over the road at the Green Man. A perfect Timothy Taylor Boltmaker washing down Tayto smoky bacon crisps. I've eaten a lot of crisps. I declare these the king.

Scouse CAMRA got it wrong - this is where you want to be.

Finally - and because I can't resist a pub crawl - Bookbinders. I'm unsure what it is from the outside, so I ask the waitress (note I don't use bar staff) if it's a pub or a café? She replies "it's a bar/eatery". We agree on all things to all men.

To help you make up your mind - an extensive breakfast menu has beans on toast for £7.

The beer - an excellent White Rat - offers better value at just over £4.

Thoroughly enjoyed in the autumn sunshine.

The other Bookbinders I know offers free Monkey Nuts...

Walk Details

Distance - 9 miles

Geocaches - 20

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walks 14 and 15

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7, Walk 8 and 9, Walk 10, Walk 11 and 12, Walk 13

26/09/26 - Abberley, St Michaels

Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas

Two dates very close to each other on the Pilgrimage calendar.

The Autumn Equinox marks the point when day and night are approximately equal, a moment of balance before the long slide towards winter. It sits neatly alongside Michaelmas, celebrated on 29 September in honour of St Michael the Archangel, traditionally seen as a protector and a figure of strength and courage. Michaelmas was one of the four quarter days of the English year, marking the end of the agricultural year and the beginning of a new one. For an Autumn Equinox pilgrimage, the two traditions make a useful pairing: walk through woodland, fields, orchards and old lanes, looking for the signs of harvest and the changing season, before finishing at a St Michael's Church if there is one nearby. The walk becomes a small journey from the balance of the Equinox towards Michaelmas, combining the seasonal landscape with the Christian tradition of the archangel whose feast marks this turning point.

I know just the church - The Norman St Michael's in Abberley - fallen into ruin in the 1850s, with just the chancel and chapel remaining. A proper explore to be had, before the walk gets going.

Gillet on, marking the transition to winter

Flying buttress failing to save the church

Doors Open...

The last feast, cracked

The walk is straightforward and for large parts, on the Worcestershire Way - woodland up onto Abberley Hill, where the occasional (wonderful) view appears through the trees.

Woodbury Hill, from Abberley

Just to round off the day  - lunch at the Manor Arms. Over 300 years old and the building has doubled up as the local court. Over the years, we have seen it come and go - from a village local to its current guise as a posh gastro pub with rooms.

At least it's open.

The parking needs to be paid for.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Adventurous Pub Walks in Worcestershire - Walk 

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas