OK, one more, Hike in Warwickshire 3.

[A.W.U.K.]

This walk is a circular walk starting and ending in the hamlet of Temple Balsall. "Temple" Balsall because it was once a major centre of operations in England of the Knights Templar of Jerusalem.

St Mary's Church was built by the Templars.

The old Templars hall was repaired and clad in brickwork in the eighteenth century but the wide, low-eaved roof shows that inside this is a medieval hall, built around 1180. It is a near-unique survival in having timber aisle posts.

This is where the footpath leaves the hamlet. The temperature was a degree or two above freezing but there was a significant wind chill factor and I hadn't walked far before I crammed a hat on my head in an attempt to keep my ears warm!

It was a bleak day and pretty claggy underfoot in places...

I emergerged onto a lane at this dilapidated stile.

And set off up the lane.

I passed what looked like an old marl pit, abandoned a long time judging by the size of the trees. Then I forked off down Sparrow Cock Lane

Past this old oak barn

And it's old oak farmhouse.

Followed this signpost...Along here!

 

[A.W.U.K.]

I emerged onto another lane, Green Lane.

In which there was a little ford. (On edit) Hmm, just done some reading and it turns out that the Shakespeare family originated in the 14th century at Oldeditch Farm House, 200 yards from this ford. It is still standing.

When the time came to take to the fields again it was only to confront some very rare steak! Some serious horns there!

Fortunately they were more nervous than I was and mostly trotted into the adjacent field. The land around the open gateway was ankle deep in a mixture of mud, water and bull poo...

This old and decrepit oak tree is at the summit of a small eminence and the junction of 2 footpaths. I turned left here onto the Heart of England Way (It gets everywhere!)

The Heart of England Way.

It was pretty claggy down there in the dip. The field opposite had pools of standing water in it in spite of being on a slope. The reason it hasn't been ploughed yet I suspect. There is a big, deep marl pit behind the clump of trees in the distance. It is possible the farm to the left of it was built with bricks fired on site from clay dug out there.

Shortly before I stopped for lunch I saw an actual gleam of sunshine!

Temple Balsall from across the fields. The buildings in the centre are almshouses, on the right a school. As I walked back into the hamlet I came across a small birch tree which had been cut down and rescued some of the bark. Once it has dried out a bit I'll see how good it is for firelighting!

There is no pub actually on this walk so I drove a couple of miles to the Tipperary at Meer End, so named because the writer of the song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" lived here. Unfortunately the fire hadn't been lit yet!

Oh, the beer was Morland Old Speckled Hen
Nearby is Honiley, once the location of an RAF fighter airfield and reputedly the haunt of Puff the Magic Dragon.

 

[Rockywolf]

I love it. England is beautiful. Thanks again for the pics.

 

[pitdog]

Quit teasing me with the cask ales buddy, Old speckled hen was another of my favourites !!!!
Great pics and write up as always. For future info, those Bulls look like Angus cows, if they ae then they are very docile and nothing to worry about !!!

Ps. The old oak tree looks to have grown over the fence wire, I used to find that facinating when I ever found them like that !!!!

 

[HikingMano]

Ps. The old oak tree looks to have grown over the fence wire, I used to find that facinating when I ever found them like that !!!!

Yes, I was wondering about that; did the tree actually grow right through the fence wire? If so, that is indeed very fascinating. I thought the wire was strung through the oak deliberately. Great pics and thanks for sharing the hike with us :thumbup:

 

[A.W.U.K.]

Ps. The old oak tree looks to have grown over the fence wire, I used to find that facinating when I ever found them like that !!!!

I did wonder about that myself and took a closer look. The wire looks fairly new and the fence doesn't carry on past the tree. It looks like someone stapled the wire directly to the tree and drove the staples deep in to get a good bite. The bark has healed over the staples giving the impression that the wire just emerges from the tree. I've seen a tree somewhere that has grown around Iron railings, I'll see if I can get a pic.

 

[kvaughn]

The cattle look like Scottish Highlander's to me. The Yuppie hobby farmers around here in northwest Ct. are fond of them. Both sexes have horns--KV

 

[A.W.U.K.]

The cattle look like Scottish Highlander's to me. The Yuppie hobby farmers around here in northwest Ct. are fond of them. Both sexes have horns--KV

Yeah, but none of these had udders!

Pitdog, I took a pic of that tree and the railings, the snow gets in the way a bit but you get the idea!