The Staffordshire Way: Day 7 Seisdon to Kinver Edge

Like the Barcelona posts, this post and its companions are a Covid lockdown project. The walk actually took place in 2005/6.

For an introduction to the Staffordshire Way, see Day 1.

Day 7 Monday 28/08/2006

The End of the Road

Participants: Francis, Mike, Alison C, & Myself

Staffordshire

There had been a longish gap since Day 6, but in early summer Francis was busy with the Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions, then there was the small matter of summer holidays - and finally along came the August bank holiday Monday, the perfect day to finish the walk. This was our third day on Section 3: Parkland Staffordshire and the Southern Uplands. It is not as flat as some of its predecessors and finishes on the sandstone ridge of Kinver, Edge, but I am not totally convinced that a ridge rising to a dizzying 164m can really be described as 'southern uplands'. Still, it was a fine day's walk and brought the project to a pleasing conclusion.

Section 3: Parkland Staffordshire and the Southern Uplands

Seisdon To Highgate Common

August was distinctly warmer than April and it was not just Mike in shorts when we returned to Seisdon. We had our boots on and we were ready to go by 9.30.

Almost ready to leave Seisdon

Abbot's Castle Hill

We left the village on gently rising field paths which headed west, then south onto Tinker’s Castle Lane. This took us onto a ridge called Abbot’s Castle Hill (according to the OS Map), though the blog Lucy’s Wednesday Walks says it is locally known as Tinker’s Castle Ridge. There is no genuine castle, Abbot’s or Tinker’s though there is a Romano-British earthwork - not that we spotted it.

The ridge (it is not a hill whatever the OS say) runs SE-NW some 60m above the surrounding countryside and for several kilometres marks the Staffordshire/Shropshire boundary. Not so far back we were flirting with the outskirts of Wolverhampton, but our route drifted south west and we had crossed Staffordshire’s narrow tail without realising it. The scarp on the Shropshire side is steep, but summer foliage obscure the view.

Abbot's Castle Hill (really a ridge)

Halfpenny Green

Halfpenny Green Brut

The ridge became steadily lower and peters out around Halfpenny Green.

In 1983 Martin Vickers planted a ½ acre of vines just north of the hamlet and founded what was (I think) Staffordshire’s first modern commercial vineyard. Halfpenny Green Wine Estate now has 30 acres (12 ha) under vines producing 50-60,000 bottles a year, making it by far the largest of the county’s 5 current commercial vineyards.

On the other side of the village was RAF Bobbington, which after the war became became Halfpenny Green Airport and now describes itself as Wolverhampton Airport. At an air race here in 1972 Prince William of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, clipped a tree with a wing of his Piper Cherokee; he and his passenger died in the ensuing crash. When we walked past in 2006 the then owners had a plan to start commercial flights handling 500,000 passengers a year. After local opposition they gave up and sold the airport in November 2006. Halfpenny Green now concentrates on private aircraft, flying schools, helicopters and microlights.

Halfpenny Green airport

We headed south towards Highgate Common. En route we encountered some members of the local hunt. The hunting of wild animals with dogs became illegal in 2005, though drag hunting is still permitted. They looked shifty – as shifty as expensively dressed men on very large and expensive horses can look. They also seemed suspicious of us, carefully watching as we moved off their patch. I have no evidence that anything unlawful was taking place, maybe it is just my prejudice…..

Towards Highgate Common (deliberately with no huntsmen in shot)

Highgate Common to Enville

130 ha of mixed heath and woodland, Highgate Common was returned to its natural state after being cultivated during World War 2. With 140 recorded species of fauna of which 36 are rare either nationally or regionally, it became a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 2004 when under the care of South Staffordshire District council. Since 2009 the common has been owned and managed by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

Highgate Common

It is now said to be well equipped with benches and picnic sites, but perhaps there were fewer in 2006 as we had our coffee seated on the ground.

Coffee break

Working our way south west me must have passed near to Mere Hall, a mid-18th century listed building with later additions which now advertises itself as a ‘glamping site’. I do not remember it nor the two fish ponds the maps says we walked between.

Continuing to Lutley Lane we encountered the second of the two emus on this walk at Salters Park Farm – I thought it odd to find one emu is Staffordshire, but there were at least two in 2006. There are more now, and should you require an ostrich or a rhea, they too are available. Salters Park also had a llama, though it failed to cooperate with the camera.

The Salter's Park Farm emu

We turned south down Lutley Lane, leaving it after 300m to continue south where the road curls off to the west.

Leaving Lutley Lane

Following the path south we crossed Philley Brook, rounded Bendey’s Wood and after a couple of kilometres emerged on the A458 just outside Enville.

Bendey's Wood

Enville

We stopped for a snack and a pint at The Cat at Enville, something of a favourite watering hole at the time. It has been CAMRA’s South Staffordshire Pub of the Year in six of the last eight years so perhaps I should have made the effort to visit it since 2006. Back then, at least, The Cat did not look much from the outside, but the interior was comfortable, the management welcoming and the beer came (and still comes) from the estimable Enville Brewery, which has been operating in the nearby hamlet of Cox Green since 1993. Enville Ale, their signature brew since the start, is well worth seeking out, particularly as a summer beer. Based on a 19th century beekeepers’ recipe, the use of honey gives it a beguiling sweetness and a ‘bouquet of floral summer’ (their words) well balanced by a dry hoppiness.

Francis and Alison outside The Cat, Enville

At the south end of the village, we passed Enville Hall. Something of the original Tudor Farmhouse lurks within the current hall which is largely rebuilt after a fire in 1905. The Enville estate was acquired in the 15th century by the Grey family and in 1628 Henry Grey became Earl of Stamford. The Earls of Stamford also acquired Dunham Massey Hall on the edge of Greater Manchester which became their main seat. When the 7th Earl died childless in 1883 the estate was split, Dunham Massey going to the 8th Earl – a distant cousin of the 7th - and Enville passing to even more distant relations. The 10th Earl died childless in 1976, the Earldom went extinct and Dunham Massey passed to the National Trust. Enville Hall remains a private residence and is still owned by descendants of the Greys.

Enville Hall

A track took us round the Enville parkland and into Lyndon Covert. As a ‘covert’ is by definition ‘a thicket in which game can hide’ this is or was Enville Estate pheasant shooting territory.

Through Lyndon Covert

From Lyndon Covert a sunken lane…

Along the sunken lane

… and another covert took us almost to Kinver…

Nearing Kinver

…where we turned right and climbed Kinver Edge, a sandstone ridge south of the town which marks the boundary between Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

Kinver from Kinver Edge

Kinver Edge is noted for dwellings hollowed into the soft stone. The Holy Austin Rock Houses, were inhabited until the 1960s, making them the last inhabited troglodyte dwellings in the country. Much of Kinver Edge is owned by the National Trust, some of the cave dwellings have been tarted up and are open to the public. They were close to our route, but I do not remember seeing them and have no photos, so presumably we missed them.

The high point of the edge, 164m, is marked by a trig point where we paused for a photo….

Alison, Francis and me, Trig point, Kinver Edge (so Mike took the photo)

….before continuing to the spot where Staffordshire become Worcestershire and the Staffordshire Way ends. Mike and Alison were completing this walk for the first time and this is how they looked at the end.

Alison and Mike at the end of the Staffordshire Way

Francis and I had also completed the walk nine years previously with Brian (absent today) and Dino and this is how we looked then. Dino was a companion on many walks in the 1990s and early 2000s, but sadly not in 2005/6.

Dino, Brian, Francis and me at the same spot in 1997

A descent of the edge to a car left in one of the National Trust car parks brought the Staffordshire Way to its conclusion.

It is, to be fair, not one of the great walks, the start and finish are good, but some of the middle section is a little dull. But overall, there is great variety, hills and rivers, hamlets and small towns, canals, railways and industrial archaeology. Above all, it is always green and there is abundant fresh air – and in seven full days we saw only 20 minutes rain.

Today's distance: 19km
Total distance completed: 150km

The Staffordshire Way - start to finish

The Staffordshire Way

Day 1: Mow Cop to Rudyard Lake
Day 2: Rudyard to Hawksmoor
Day 3: Hawksmoor to Uttoxeter
Day 4: Uttoxeter to Shugborough
Day 5: Cannock Chase, Penkridge and Lapley
Day 6: Lapley to Seisdon
Day 7: Seisdon to Kinver Edge

THE END