A good days walk on the Shropshire Way… about 9 miles and ending with a visit to a well preserved fortified manor house (not quite as big as a castle). The path was fairly easy on the feet, no steep uphills or downhills, nor any areas torn up by vehicles or grazing animals. It was a very peaceful walk along pastures and through woods and generally protected from the northwest wind.
I defer to her descriptions, my job today has been to find the path, and keep us on the right track when there are no markers and the trail splits in many places… oh, and I took a lot of photos too.
She Said:
Colin, our driver from Arms Taxis, dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, just where we like to start our walks. R and Colin did study the Ordinance Survey map (twice) before finally deciding on a particular stretch of narrow country road for our start point.
The road was bordered by the highest hedgerows I had ever seen - 15-20' tall?
Once we found our trail, and climbed up to the top of the ridge, the trees were rustling and swaying in the wind - we were on the Shropshire Way.
We passed a walker with his very happy and friendly dog, who greeted us enthusiastically. The dog wore a bright orange "safety" vest, probably to keep him from getting shot, mistaken for a rabbit.
We walked through wild bluebells, wild primroses and wild garlic.
We crossed Dunston's Lane, an anxiety Saxon lane.
In a few hours we only saw that one dog walker, one runner and one thru trail walker. Again, just how we like it.
The Shropshire Way took us through the Harton Hollow Nature Reserve - and all the unspoiled beauty that goes with a nature reserve. The reserve is full of Oak and Ash trees. The birds were quite chatty and sang the whole day long.
We met 4 people who were manning the 90 mile marker stop of a 100 mile run through the countryside. They had been camped since 9 am the previous morning (when the run started) and would finish their duties at 9 pm tonight. They said that last night they had seen the Northern Lights and many shooting stars. They knew our next town (tomorrow - Bishop's Castle) and said we might see the Northern Lights from there, too.
While we were talking with them, a runner came through. Since this stop was a medical stop, and the runner had quite cold hands, they made him sit and rest and eat something. He was keen to finish the last 10 miles, and would do, but not until he was given the all clear by this crew.
We could see a tower at the top of the near hill - Flounders Folly. Benjamin Flounders was a wealthy entrepreneur in 1838, and true to his time, he spent some of his money building a "folly", a useless, but elaborate tower on a hill on his property. The British countryside is dotted with such follies.
Across from the folly info placard was a field filled with cows. Some had black faces and black legs. One followed us along the fence for a few hundred meters. The rare curious cow. One buddy did run down from midfield to also check us out. I felt bad - they seemed to want a bit of company and attention and just something different from their probably pretty boring life - eat, poop, eat, poop, sleep, poop, eat, poop. We fed them some sweet grass from our side of the fence and talked to them for a bit, then off we went, their big, brown eyes watching us leave. Sigh.
Five Hawks playing in the thermals - beautiful.
We sat on a bench on the very top of a hill and ate some lunch, surrounded by views all around and sheep all around.
Through some fields, down some country lanes, a few woods - such a beautiful day's walk. We ended at Stokesay Castle, a National Trust property and, supposedly, the finest example of an intact medieval manor castle. I opted for the audio tour and was not disappointed.
(Luckily, in 1850, the owner at the time, the Earl Craven, was shamed (by a woman) into stepping up and taking care of this historic property.)
Walking through the Tudor-style gatehouse, we crossed the moat and entered the courtyard of a very grand home with a central manor/castle house and towers on each end.
Originally, the courtyard would have been surrounded by very high walls, or "curtain" walls. Since the castle was quite isolated, it would need to be self sufficient, so the courtyard would be noisy and messy and smelly and filled with everything needed to make, grow or raise supplies.
The Grand Hall was an amazing 13th century room. It has a triple span roof, that is, a "cruck" roof. By using three huge, naturally curved beams and bracing them with stone wall brackets, the roof was unusual for its time as most roofs were single span. This is truly a Grand Hall. The tall windows (4 on each side of the hall) would have only had glass in the very upper reaches. The rest of the windows would just have shutters. (It must have been freezing at times - today was a brisk Spring day and the wind blew strong through those windows.)
Glass was so costly (hence the upper windows only were glassed) that it was taken down when the Lord of the Castle went away, for safekeeping.
Entering the Grand Hall would take some adjustment - first, your eyes adjusting to only torchlight, then your lungs adjusting to the heavy smoke from the central fireplace. There does not seem to be a smoke escape in the roof, and it is thought that the smoke escaped, willy, nilly, through gaps in the walls and the roof. More wind rushing throughout.
Stokesay Castle was an obviously very wealthy home.
The Buttery and pantry and scullery would have been very busy (and also very hot and smokey.). Meals would have been played on Silver and Gold platters and the meal would be announced by great fanfare - trumpets!
In one room, there is actual, original wall paintings as decoration - red paint in scrolls and flowers.
When the Bishop of Hereford visited, with 30/40 horsemen, they consumed 3 shillings worth of bread, 2 whole calves, 3 kids, and 15 head of poultry. This was partly paid for and partly gifted by the Lord.
In one of the towers, the soldier's quarters had a water closet (toilet) that emptied directly into the moat. Eewww.
Middle 15th c., Lawrence of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant/trader, began to rent the property from John deVerdun's son (the original owner) for the noteworthy and unusual sum of one juvenile sparrow (hen) hawk. It is said that Lawrence's family continued this arrangement for over 300 years.
Lawrence and his wife made huge improvements to the house. They covered the floors with elaborately painted tiles. Tiles were usually reserved for the walls and floors of large Royal castles and Cathedrals, so it is telling of Lawrence's wealth that he would contract to have these tiles fabricated, painted and fired. Some tiles still exist, though the colors are greatly faded.
(Medieval and Elizabethan people were very fond on bright colors, and painted all their plaster and wood and furnishings.)
Unfortunately, Lawrence did not enjoy the fruits of his house labors for very long. On a sailing trip to Flanders, to raise money for the King, his ship sank and he died.
In the 17th c., Charles Baldwin rented the house and made some comfortable changes - more glass in the windows, wood paneling covering some of the plaster, toilets in most family rooms. A family room - The Solar - remains intact, though the paint has worn off the wood paneling. The large carved mantle piece was probably carved by a famous English tradesman of the times, copied from a catalogue of decorating ideas. This was a popular practice at the time - the catalogs would make the rounds and wealthy families would copy the designs they liked.
The basement was used to store food and brew. It was packed solid - there are still indentations/impressions on the plaster walls of the round barrel ends.
Stairways to the towers were generally placed on the outside of the castle, to keep the family more secure and to make entry to the tower more difficult as the sentries could see anyone coming up. This is the case with Stokesay Castle. However, there is the outline on the outside wall of the castle that shows where a eaves would have covered the stairway, at least up to where the family would have entered the upper floors of the castle, to give them shelter when climbing the stairs.
In the late 18th c., Lord Alcroft acquired the property and willed it to the National Trust on his death.
This was a fantastic way to end our walk today - we could have stayed longer, but our driver was to pick us up at 5 and he was on time.
Back to our B+B. Walked up the street for take away Fish and Chips. A fine, fine day.
Near the start of our path
Along the Shropshire Way
Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms
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