Mysteries of Mercia Folklore
Back into the Wyre Forest, where the Forestry Commission have been laying more ammunition can geocaches. Familiar paths, from the Visitor Centre, down to Dowles Brook and back for the bus in Bewdley Town.
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| A Forest |
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| Dowles Brook |
My next guidebook for walking inspiration is going to be from Hugh Williams. He has two Mysteries of Mercia books and one Magic of Mercia. They are not walking books but detail the locations in the Midlands that are shrouded in folklore. Exactly the sort of thing to tide me over until the Worcestershire Section of the Good Beer Guide gets its annual September update.
Two reasons have stopped a purchase. A) I am still working through several guidebooks and the shelves are rather groaning. B) Hugh posts some detail on the locations on Facebook, telling all you need to know.
This week's post was about St Andrew's Church, located where Dowles Brook meets the Severn and on the route home today.
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| Date unknown - before demolition in 1956 |
There is no sign of the Church today, but the gravestones remain in an overgrown wood. This is a truncated version of the text from Hugh, detailing a ghostly vicar and a horned lady.
A lost graveyard and ruined chapel, hidden deep in the Wyre Forest near Bewdley—peaceful or spooky? I stumbled upon this overgrown site on a long walk. Gravestones barely rose above the undergrowth, leaning as if in surrender to nature. Only an arch and fragments of wall remain of St Andrew’s, or Dowles Church.
I’ve seen a few abandoned churches, but this one felt different—maybe it was the wild garlic scent or the green cast over everything. Beneath a great yew lay something chilling: what appeared to be a mortsafe, a metal cage once used to stop grave robbers. This one was only a metre long—possibly for a child.
Local folklore adds to the eeriness. A ghostly vicar is said to pace the path by the ruins, vanishing at the gate. Brave campers have reported flying bricks, groans and ghostly shouts. One grave, belonging to Susan Wowens—rumoured to be a witch—was said to grow horns she removed each year. A local supposedly mounted one pair in silver and sent them to the Ashmolean Museum—who deny any record. More likely, she suffered a fungal condition, later mythologised.
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| Very Michael Jackson Thriller |
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| The Mortsafe - a foil for grave robbers? |
Some find the place spooky, and although I am unsure whether I would spend the night there, it does make a quiet spot for a sandwich break. Just ask the Ramblers - they took me there a few months ago.
Folklore itch scratched, it's time to engage in my usual hobby. It's a toss-up between the mug house for TT Landlord or the Horn and Trumpet for Bathams. Choice decided by the place that is open on a Monday lunchtime.
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| The riverside Mughouse |
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| For first-class Timothy Taylor |
Walk Details
Distance - 6 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Walk Inspiration - Hugh Williams Mysteries of Mercia Facebook Post
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