Spring walk, Wooton Wawen to Aston Cantlow.

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Sep 27, 2002
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This day was actually almost hot! Sorry about all the photos but there was quite a lot of places of interest en route. Interesting to me anyway!

Wooton Wawen is a very ancient place. It was once much more important that the little village today that people zoom through, impatient to get from Birmingham to Stratford, or vice versa.
A priory church was established here in the 730's AD and the manor is mentioned in Domesday. It's Saxon holder was Wagen, who's name is perpetuated as Wawen in the current village name.
Ancient documents indicate the presence of a castle and the imposing classically-styled Wooton Hall, in it's landscaped gardens, can still be seen.
The Stratford-on-Avon canal crosses the main road here on an aqueduct and the erstwhile Great Western Railway has a station here.

The entrance to Wooton Hall
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This track was the main road to Stratford, many years ago.
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This unassuming, cement-rendered house is actually a substantial, ancient oak-framed building. The overhanging gable-end gives the game away. The massive purlins, just visible under the eaves, large central chimney-stack and irregular window placement are other clues.
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This unimpressive mound is the motte of Wooton Wawen castle.
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The earthen castle rampart, from the inside.
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The castle rampart from the outside.
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The silted-up mere. This castle had water defenses, like Kenilworth.
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The footpath crosses the river Alne here.
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Field Farm: An old Morris Minor. Beyond is an old oak-frame farmhouse in a very sorry state.
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Cottages: Probably 18th century.
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Here we pick up the towpath of the Stratford-on-avon canal.
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In the foreground: Mallard ducks. On the horizon: A mock Elizabethan mansion.
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The towpath changes sides at this point, over this bridge. The tow rope would have been guided up the bridge by the parapet that curves down to the ground, then dropped down through the slot in the bridge. The bridge consists of 2 cast iron cantilevers with a small gap down the middle.
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The slot in the bridge.
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The iron guide on the bridge parapet. The stone and even the iron have had grooves worn into them by countless tow ropes.
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The tow path goes under this bridge, where we leave the canal for now.
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Nearly walked past this kissing gate in the hedgerow!
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Buds on an old oak tree.
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After crossing some fields and the railway line, we come out onto the main road here.
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The main road.
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After a short walk, we reach the canal again, though a bit lower down: The Edstone aqueduct, constructed in the years around 1800, from massive cast=iron sections carried on brick piers.
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The towpath side. That's a police car there. I think he stopped for lunch.
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The tow path is level with the bottom of the water.
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This is the longest canal aqueduct in England.
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Detail of the cast iron.
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View from the aqueduct.
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We leave the canal at this bridge.
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A stile! A lot of them have been ripped out round here.
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Very prominent medieval ridge and furrow in this field.
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Into the little hamlet of Newnham: A parcel is being delivered to this old oak-framed cottage.
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An increasing rarity: An oak-framed barn that hasn't been converted into executive housing.
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We leave Newnham around the bend into this bridle path.
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This is where I stopped for lunch. I heard a steam-hauled train pulling away in the distance but the line is out of sight from here.
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Flower recognition please!
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Ne'er cast a clout till may is out! This hedge includes hawthorn, which produces leaves first and flowers later, and blackthorn or mayflower, which flowers as soon as the weather warms up then produces leaves later.

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Aston Cantlow lies in the valley ahead.
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Cottages in Aston Cantlow.
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Village hall, Aston Cantlow.
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The King's Head, 500-year old hostelry in Aston Cantlow. William Shakespeare's parents got married in the church next door and legend has it that the wedding reception was held here. I popped in for a pint of Abbot Ale and met a very talkative Australian gentleman! He had been staying locally for 3 weeks and told me that he was astounded that the world at large knew nothing of what this region has to offer the visitor. I'm doing my best chum!
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The humps and bups in this field are the remains of Aston Cantlow castle. This has to be the most vestigial castle I've come across yet! The hedge line beyond represents the line of an abandoned railway.
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My battery ran out on the way back to Wooton Wawen, lol. I took a different route though, along the river Alne. Saw an awful lot of sheep.
Wooton Wawen church from the south west. The tower is Saxon up as far as the string course below the present belfry. You can only see a small part of the Saxon work from this angle.
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The west door. The Nave was built shortly after the Norman conquest on footings laid down some 20 years earlier by Wagen. This little doorway looks Saxon though.
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The Saxon tower from the north. The original, now blocked, Saxon belfry opening is just visible below the string course. The original Saxon church was cruciform, with the tower at the centre standing on four arches. On the north and south sides stood small chapels or porticus. The north porticus was still standing in the 18th century when an engraving of the church was made.
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The Saxon tower from inside the nave.
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The tower and the chancel arch from inside the chancel.
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The south porticus arch and nave arch from inside the tower.
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South porticus arch.
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A late medieval tomb. The poor knight has lost his sword though.
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The medieval parish chest.
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Medieval pew ends.
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Hope you like!
 
Always enjoy your pics! This is probably the only way I will ever see your part of the world, and I appreciate them.
 
Cool pics, a lot of history there. Makes me wonder if any of my many English ancestors had a hand in it.
 
Thanks for the comments.

great pics, I really like the way that the house's are built over the pond!!!!!!
The old houses can be infinitely interesting. Modern houses are pretty much the same as houses anywhere unfortunately :(

I recently acquired a 1/2 litre stainless steel mug and on this walk I tried boiling water for tea in it directly, rather than using a pot. I did find I had to handle the mug quite gingerly to avoid burning my fingers, and the tea was too hot to drink for some time after making it. A problem made worse by using powdered whitener rather than fresh milk probably. I think I'll stick to boiling the water in a pot and pouring it out, as I usually want to get the tea down fairly quickly so I can crack on with the walk.
 
Nice pics, is it hard to find places to hike in England?
By no means, there are probably tens of thousands of miles of ancient public footpaths forming a spiders web across the countryside. Some of these have been used to form named long-distance footpaths such as the famous Pennine Way.
There are also thousands of miles of canal tow path and some of the 8,000 miles of closed down railway have been made into footpaths or cycleways.
The problem really is choosing!
All of the walks I have posted photos of here are between 15 and 30 minutes drive from my house in the city. In fact they are all in the same area and within about 15 minutes drive of each other.
The area is very accessible by public transport too, there are railway lines from Birmingham to Stratford and to Warwick, and between Stratford and Warwick all with stations about every 2 miles. There is also a network of bus routes.
 
Thanks for sharing! I always enjoy the historic commentary you provide. Do you carry a knife with you? Which one?
 
Thanks for sharing! I always enjoy the historic commentary you provide. Do you carry a knife with you? Which one?

I normally carry a folder or two, usually SAKs, occasionally a Laguiole, Opinel or British Army clasp knife.
On this occasion I forgot to pack a teaspoon to stir my tea so my Locksmith did sterling service.

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awesome pics... looks like some beautiful countryside... i neeeeed to make over the the U.K... one of these days...:)
 
I really enjoy your pictures and commentary. Thanks for posting! You have a gift for narrative. Very captivating. You make me want to visit!
 
That was a very enjoyable post, thank you. I love how the UK (and Europe as a whole) still has a lot of old buildings around.
 
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