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Walk 2 - Dark Lane
Down an ancient track, around fields and along roads. Easy walking although some sections may be muddy after rain. Stiles and steps to climb. Distance 2 miles.
1. In the Y&CC car park, face the Post Office and follow Hall Lane to the right.
2. At the bend, take Church Lane up to the church.
3. Keep the church on your left and enter Dark Lane straight ahead.
4. Follow this around as it bends to the right and then left between hedges.
5. As the hedges end, follow the edge of the field straight ahead and then left to the stile and cross the railway.
6. Go over the stile and immediately ahead is another stile. Climb this and keep the hedge on your right.
7. The official footpath then cuts across the field to the A5, but a more interesting route has been left around the field. Please use this if possible.
8. Climb the stile and follow the pavement along the A5 (Watling Street) up the hill to the left. This road is very busy and walking on the verge is advised.
9. Turn first left into Lions Den. Although this is a narrow lane, cars use it frequently so please stay alert.
10. At the bottom of the hill by the farm, turn left into Station Road and go over the footbridge. This can be slippery.
11. Follow the path directly ahead up to the churchyard.
12. Go through the churchyard and back down the hill to the Y&CC.
Points of Interest
A. Between the Y&CC and Church Lane is the former site of the village post office (now occupied by two dormer bungalows). In a room behind this was the original schoolroom, run on the 'dame school' principle. Two teachers, Miss Scuffham and Miss Mence with 40 pupils were transferred to the new school building in 1872. One of the village pumps stood near the fence on the left of the photograph.
B. In the field on the left of the road up to the church, village cricket used to be played. The large house before the church, known as the Old Rectory, was the house of Robert Gordon who was the priest from 1858 to 1890. He was responsible for organising the building of the church and for the establishment of the Board school. He was related to Gordon of Khartoum.
C. The present church of St. John the Baptist was built in 1873 and is distinguished by a seven- sided apse and flooring with Minton tiles. Some kind of worship has occurred on this hill since medieval times; the earliest priest recorded was Geoffrey de Homerwych in 1238. The churchyard contains the remains of Dr. Thomas Harwood, curate of Hammerwich from 1800 to 1840, who edited one of the earliest surveys of Staffordshire and wrote several plays. In the church car park there used to be a sign - Public Footpath - Chemical Hill & A5. This referred to the chemical works on the B4155 in Brownhills which made acids and other coal-based products and also re-cycled damaged aircraft bodies for the war effort. It dominated the skyline for many years.
D. The walk continues down past the house beyond the church, into 'Dark Lane'. This is clearly marked on the Tithe map of 1844 and probably gets its name from the high hedges and tall, overarching trees. On either side of this ancient lane are some of the oldest hedgerows in the Parish. Hazel catkins can be seen in January, the native Bird Cherry displays its long white flowers in Spring, and the Field Maple its bright yellow leaves in Autumn. Wych Elm with its corky bark is common, and the thick hedges towards the end of the lane are favoured habitats for Yellowhammers and Whitethroats.
E. The railway line here cuts through Bromsgrove sandstone (formerly Keuper). This is a hard sandstone which has been used for building the church, local walls and rockeries. Just beyond the railway, the rock changes to Wildmoor sandstone (formerly Upper Mottled sandstone), which is a softer rock followed by the M6 Toll and used for its embankments. Both these rocks were laid down at much the same time, about 180 million years ago, during the arid conditions of the Triassic geological period.
F. This point is close to where the very old meets the very new. The Watling Street, the routeway built by the Romans is crossed by the M6 Toll. The Watling Street crossed the Ryknild Street near Wall where travellers could change horses and obtain lodgings. The A5 (London to Holyhead Road) follows the straight line of the ancient Watling Street here. In springtime a modern invasion of Danish Scurvygrass carpets the salty conditions at the edges of the road. The M6 Toll was the first toll road of the present time although under the turnpike system, those who used the roads were made to pay for them - from 1789 in the case of the A5 from Muckley Corner to the Chester Road. Along the route of the motorway, one million young trees will help replace the 12,000 that had to be felled. Culverts have been constructed beneath the road to allow for movement of wildlife and the Crane Brook has been modified and a variety of habitats created to encourage White-clawed Crayfish, Water Voles and Kingfishers.
G. Lions Den, known as Elder Lane in the late Middle Ages, was possibly renamed after Thomas Lyon who lived at the South end of it in the 1840's. In the middle of the road surface, various lichens can be seen, growing in size and number as the air gets cleaner. The flora of the banked verges is special in Spring and early Summer, and includes the unlikely companions of Gorse and Bluebells. Comma butterflies enjoy feeding on the flowers of the Ivy in the autumn and birds on its berries in the Spring. This reversal of the norm makes Ivy a most valuable larder for wildlife. Lapwings may be seen in the fields either side of the lane.
H. The railway line linking Walsall (up platform) with Lichfield Trent Valley (down platform) opened in 1849. The station's appearance was such that it won prizes in the Midlands Region. Some of the plants from the well tended garden which was beyond the waiting room, can still be seen, having now spread onto the banks. Time-tables included through trains to Birmingham and Derby and excursions were available to resorts such as Blackpool (for 2/11d before the war) and Rhyl. Sunday services were known as the 'Cathedral Express' and special trains were put on for Sunday School outings and to take people to the Lichfield Bower. Milk in churns, racing pigeons, coal, and machinery were carried by goods trains which were loaded up in a siding behind the station building. Freight services, mainly carrying coal and steel, continued until the 1980's.
I. Up the hill across 'station fields' towards the church, look out for the Speckled Wood butterflies patrolling the hedgerow beneath the isolated Scots Pine with its distinguishing orange bark. Listen for the call of the Green Woodpecker often heard in the vicinity of the old pine trees near the edge of the young wood which was planted in 2003.
J. The churchyard is perhaps the largest area of unimproved grassland, probably derived from ancient meadow land, in the Parish. Native flowers such as Pignut, Cuckoo Flower and the more unusual Bulbous Buttercup support much insect life. Springtime brings a show of Snowdrops, Daffodils and Bluebells. The long grass provides cover for numerous mammals and amphibians and brick and wood piles have been created to supply further cover. The trees with long white flowers are False Acacias (Locust Trees), native to North America but naturalised here. Over 30 lichen species have been recorded on the gravestones.
Walk 2 was researched and edited by Wendy Taylor
