08/06/26 - On the Trail of.... George Eliot

No Access

Considering I have never read any of her books, it seems strange that this is the second George Eliot themed walk I have completed. With Middlemarch coming in as the second-best book of all time - as voted by Guardian readers over the weekend - maybe this is something to be addressed.

Previously, I've traipsed around South London looking out for where she lived. Today, it's Nuneaton, her birthplace. Apart from being the most populated town in Warwickshire, they don't appear to have much else to shout about. The hospital and a pub named after her. The pub possibly responsible for putting people in the hospital. Strangely open - but with pumping music, so it cannot be a 'spoons - at 10am on a Tuesday.

Random St George's flags replacing a flat roof (with dog on) as a warning sign

The route is from a 1951 guide book. The maps, and associated descriptions, have always presented a challenge to decipher. The theme is where George (Mary Ann Evans) was raised and some of the real locations that became fictional places in her works.

The lass herself

She was born at South Farm on the Arbury Estate - which in the 1950s was open to the public. The map cuts through this estate and even discusses an obelisk next to the farm in celebration. Public access is no longer available, so I have to adapt the route significantly. I do manage to track down the aforementioned obelisk, moved to the one nice part of town, the riverside park.

Previously next to South Farm

Griff House was her childhood home. I would have visited this too, but the public footpaths I need take me away from what is now a Beefeater/Premier Inn. Progress, hey.

Closest I get to Arbury Park - inspiration for Cheverel Manor in "Scenes from a Clerical Life"

My (replanned) route takes me around the northern side of the estate. "Private" signs are in abundance in case I get any ideas. Dull road walking along Astley Road to a proper, ruined castle with connections to Henry VIII.

A first glimpse across a pool

Up close - maybe too close, as you will find out.

Astley Castle, near Nuneaton in Warwickshire, was originally a 13th-century fortified manor house and later the seat of the Grey family. It is closely linked to Lady Jane Grey, the “Nine Days’ Queen”, who was the great-niece of Henry VIII through his sister Mary Tudor. Following Jane Grey’s failed claim to the throne in 1553 and her subsequent execution, the Grey family’s influence declined and the estate eventually passed out of their hands. The castle also has a literary link to George Eliot: it is generally identified as the inspiration for Knebley Abbey in George Eliot’s novella Mr Gilfil's Love Story, part of Scenes of Clerical Life.

There are plentiful information boards, direction arrows and even a sign saying "please respect the residents' privacy". Which leads me to think I can investigate the ruins in a little bit more detail. I get as far as identifying that a modern conversion is housed inside the ruins and it doesn't take long before I am hollered at as to what I am doing. The cleaners are in. This is now a holiday let owned by the Landmark Trust.

And can't cleaners shout when they spy middle-aged ramblers approaching their patch.

I apologise and try to explain the misleading signage that suggests it's open for public access. I am still not entirely sure it isn't.

I beat a hasty retreat to the church next door, having done my research into alabaster effigies and medieval misericord paintings of the apostles.

It's "doors locked".

Back to the walking. The guidebook wants me to head south to Corley and ultimately Allesley. There is little in the way of interest and a lot of it is lane walking. This might have been pleasant in the fifties but a look on Google Maps shows no verge and a lot of traffic.

I can escape North-West, through a damp wheat field with a narrow path (hello wet trousers and socks) and a golf course.

A revisit to a quite bonkers nautically themed pub - the Lord Nelson - which is almost as far as you can get from the sea in England.

Gah! I had just dried out

Bass in the Lord Nelson - Good Beer Guide Regular

"Get it at sea, take a ship / I'd christen her 'Victory', she'd make it."

Walk Details

Distance - 8.25 miles

Geocaches - 8

Walk Inspiration - Fifty Weekend Walks Round Birmingham - Walk 5

   

20/01/26 - Beerbohm Lichfield

The Hanging Tree of Hatch Hall

Lichfield is a fine place to start/end a walk.  Plenty of historical interest, a pleasant town centre and a smattering of decent pubs - most of which are within spitting distance of each other.

Lichfield's Crown Jewell 

It's just the countryside around it is a bit dull. If it wasn't for the mud, there would be little to remember this walk by.

The route is from my 1951 Guide book, 50 weekend walks around Birmingham. Understanding the hand drawn map is tricky at the best of times.  Let's look at what it hints at;

Elmhurst - nothing there at all.

Kings Bromley - just before arrival, the route heads west to Handsacre. The text provides no indication as to whether it is worth the detour.

Handsacre - The pub, the Crown, is still going strong.  Alas, I arrive at 11:30am and its not open. The text also discusses Handsacre Hall. This has been knocked down for a very dull housing estate. The guide text states that of the Hall "you may hear some surprising stories from local residents". And that is it. Such a tease. There are no locals to ask - as as it was knocked down in the early 1970s, they might not remember. The internet suggest it may be referring to the ghost story of the Grey Lady.

Trent and Mersey Canal delivers me to the Crown at Handsacre

One of the few photos of the Handsacre Hall before demolition

Longdon - again, the guide book is vague. Described as a delightful village but the route seems to be taking me east and away from whatever charms it may possess. It does appear to be in a bit of a dip, as only the top of the church tower is visible from my paths.

I am keen to track down the location of the Hanging Tree of Hatch Hall. A chestnut tree, that marked the parish boundary and according to folklore, has a ghost dog and was used as the place of execution. It took a little hunting for the exact location but in case this blog comes up on future google searches for wannbe ghost hunters - it's at grid ref SK 100 140.

Looking it's age now.... 300 years old.

And grid ref's are important to this blog. The route guide suggests returning to Lichfield along what is now the A515. Obviously a lot less traffic in 1951 and kust a grass verge that makes this totally unsafe.

Instead there is one footpath running parallel and south. But it looks like the farm has removed footpath signs, installed CCTV and super high gates and padlocked the PROW shut. Staffordshire Council have been informed. It makes you wonder what they need to protect so badly.

A handy bus-stop and only 10 minutes for the on-time hourly bus stops the monotony of more agricultural fields to cross.

And where to go in Lichfield? Today, it is the turn of Beerbohm - a lovely beer cafe, run by enthusiasts and specialising in Belgian and German brews. Oh, and the man was fixing a Bass sign to the handpull.

A fitting reward

Walk Details

Distance - 10 Miles

Walk Inspiration - 50 Weekend Walks near Birmingham, Walk 3

Geoacaches - 6

24/09/25 - Icknield Street - Lifford to Beoley

Roman Roaming

The walk's premise is to trace the line of Icknield Street as it drives, arrow straight, through Birmingham.

Walk 2 from my 50 year old Guide Book

Before we get onto that, I have a simply perfect day, when everything aligns. Sometimes this happens with psychogeography. Unexpected finds and things tying together nicely, small and large. Let's detail the good luck;

• I made the connecting train to Kings Norton with 30 seconds to spare
• Kings Norton Church only opens on a Wednesday/Saturday at 10am. I arrived at 9:58am. On a Wednesday.
• The Coach and Horses is passed. It opens at 11:30am. I arrive at 11:27am.
• Through Geocaching, I find the tale of the only murdered policeman on active duty in Worcestershire. A change to plans, and I have found his final burial spot.

The walk is set to start at Lifford. This is the original name for Kings Norton Railway Station, so I alight there. It takes a bit of time to get through the housing estates of Walker's Heath before I pick up the trail, but there is time to explore the largest collection of Medieval buildings left in Birmingham.

The Grammar School and Kings Norton Church

Doors open to admire the Medieval Effigies

Icknield Street is a 2000 year old Roman Road that ran from Glevum (Gloucester) to Templeborough (near Rotherham).  In Birmingham, it linked Alcester and Studley, through Kings Norton and onward to Sutton Park. Previous Birmingham AZ Walks had shown me the Roman fort at Metchley

Plotting the walk proved much easier on an AZ Street Map than the OS Map. The arrow straightness becomes obvious and it's still called Icknield Street (and occasionally Ryknild Street) for the entire route. Its surprisingly car free and although completed on tarmac, a better walk than I could have really hoped for.

Street name

And it looks like this today

The Good Beer Guide perennial, the Coach and Horses is bang on route. First through the door and actually served 3 minutes before regulation opening hours. I have a named beer to compliment the walk. 

Country drinking at the Coach and Horses

Named Beer

A bit of local colour

Even the guide book states this is not necessarily a walk for the connoisseur, claiming the walker's first impression will be one of "surprise and disappointment". A geocache offers an alternative piece of local history for those interested in the macabre.

Lying on the side of the road is a simple memorial, containing initials and a date. There is no doubt I would have missed it and even if by some miracle I had spotted it, it would have meant nothing without the geocache to explain.  

JD 1885

PC George Davis holds a grim distinction – the only Worcestershire policeman ever killed on duty. In 1885, patrolling Icknield Street near Redditch at 3am, he challenged a man he suspected of poaching. The encounter turned deadly: Moses Shrimpton drew a knife and cut him down, leaving Davis bleeding in the road. Caught and tried, Shrimpton was condemned, and in 1886 he went to the gallows as the last man hanged at Worcester Gaol. Even that end was botched – the hangman misjudged the weight to drop ratio, and Shrimpton’s head was torn from his body.

Moses Shrimpton - with his head

Quite the tale. And imagine, a February night at 3am in the morning and there is a policeman actually patrolling. When was the last time you saw a policeman patrolling? At any time?

A little in-the-field research and I can slightly amend the route to find PC Davis' final resting place at Beoley Church. Located not far off route and atop a hill. Finishing the walk here avoids going through Redditch, which is something that should always be encouraged.

Beoley Church

The only murdered Worcestershire Policeman

A fitting location to complete the walk. With a nearby bus stop, I am whisked to travel connections in Redditch. Since my last visit - the Good Beer Guide Wetherspoons has closed. The Black Tap is still as bizarre as ever. 

It's best to return to Birmingham.

Walk Details

Distance - 9 Miles

Geocaches - 13

Walk Inspiration - 50 Weekend Walks Near Birmingham, Walk 2

Previous 50 Weekend Walks - Walk 1

20/08/25 - Claverdon, Wolverton and Norton Lindsey

Warwickshire's First Community Pub and Churches Aplenty

This is what I love. Finding ancient guidebooks and seeing what has changed and what still exists.

My latest eBay find - a 1951 book called "Fifty Weekend Walks round Birmingham". Walks will be tackled sequentially. Walk 1 is from Hatton. I can ignore the bus route instructions, as I don't have 1s 7d for the bus fare. I can adapt the hand-drawn map for my own needs.

North goes at the top - with little indication of distance

This is a good advert for completing research. The walk itself - through Warwickshire countryside and along rather too many roads (traffic not an issue in 1951) - would have been as dull as ditch water. By carefully reading the walk text and a little bit of googling, I was able to have something to look for at every turn. And there was even time for a spontaneous find.

Claverdon is the first sleepy village. Pinley Abbey was more interesting on the map than on the ground - as there was little to see of a nunnery founded in the reign of Henry I. In 2025, I was forced to concentrate on poorly maintained paths. On the village approach, there is an architectural oddity that looks out of place.

The Stone Building looks like a fortified tower. It was part of a grander building built by Sir Thomas Spencer, whose tomb can be investigated in the church. Once you pass the smithy, with its unusual horse-shoe front door.

Pubs, not the only thing to be converted to flats

The horseshoe fronted old Smithy

The Tomb of Sir Thomas Spencer - 1586

The guide book points out a grave with a wonderfully bleak inscription. Memorialising John Matthews, who lived during the reign of Henry VIII, and gave the land for the church to be built on. It's part of a longer sonnet that starts;

"Altho’ John Matthews under this stone lies rotten,

His deeds and name by us shall never be forgotten"

My book claims the text is still decipherable. The only other reference I can find on the Internet is from a C19th book - Shakespeare's Land - which states the tomb is near the South Porch. A good mooch around, but no success in locating it. The clue "Tomb" - and the fact he is the church benefactor - led me to believe it would have been one of the grander memorials. Maybe the text has deteriorated in the last 50 years.

South Porch, lots of text, sadly indecipherable

Wolverton is a very sleepy hamlet. A manor house and a very simple church, notable for its Norman origins and my observation, the walls are bowing outwards. No gaudy iconography here.

Wolverton Church

I'm back on the wider blog topic at Norton Lindsey. A village that has a pub. First the church, to see a Saxon font that is much older than the mainly Victorian building that houses it. Some fine stained glass windows.

The clock ticks very loudly, somewhat disrupting the internal ambience

Saxon Font - shaft wider than the bowl it supports

God is Love, Love One Another

I knew that the New Inn was Warwickshire's first community owned pub, sharing space with a shop and a cafe. I did not realise it is in the 2025 Good Beer Guide. Unexpected ticks are always the best. Especially when they are open at 2:30pm on a Wednesday afternoon.

As expected from a pub owned by 200 members of the community, the patrons were all locals. Three ladies laughing so hard they had to announce that they hadn't even had a drink. A couple of solo fellas on lout. A rather important looking fella - who I am convinced is the community ring leader - sat at the bar end on a gin and tonic. Further evidence that he is in charge from the Wi-Fi password - "haveagin", all lower case. He might have been responsible for commissioning the pub poem;

A ballard for boarded-up boozers

This lack of cask activity left me slightly concerned that the TV Screen showing the available ales, with a detailed description of each, listed six different choices. I wondered who was the last person to have ordered an Old Hooky.

I had nothing to fear. It was in fine condition.

Old Hooky

Having had my fun, I ensure I return home a hero. Carrot cake from the adjacent shop for Mrs M and the boy.

Walk Details

Distance - 10 miles

Geocaches - 10

Walk Inspiration - Fifty Weekend Walks round Birmingham, Walk 1