Discover Shropshire Family Friendly: Llanymynech Looniness

Walk directions

1. Start

   Go to the far end of the car park and follow the track along the side of the depot. Turn left and go past the former stables now used as an education room.
   Donkeys and horses were vital to pull the carts full of stone. They looked after them here.

2. Step 2

   Turn right along the track past two large draw kilns and tall chimney on your left. These kilns look like massive castle walls but they are not. They are huge ovens used to turn Limestone into quicklime. The Hoffman Kiln is the biggest oven of all. It burned day and night. The dust in the air mixed with moisture and sweat, burning the kiln workers skin and lungs.

3. Step 3

   Go through the gate, ignore the track turning to your left and carry on across the field along what was once a railway siding.

4. Step 4

   Go through a kissing gate and turn left down some steps. Turn right at the bottom and take the left path through the woods. Follow this woodland path past the plaque commemorating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

5. Step 5

   At the T-junction turn left to follow the surfaced path downhill. The tally house on the left is where the tallyman would weigh the stone coming down from the quarry.

6. Step 6

   After the Tally house look for a gap in the embankment to your left. Follow the surfaced path through this gap and take the higher path leading to what looks like a large barn roof with a chimney at the far end. There’s a good viewpoint of the Hoffman Kiln from here and you can go down the path and explore inside the kiln.

7. Step 7

   From the chimney end of the kiln you can EITHER go down the steep stone steps and turn right OR return to the original viewpoint and follow the track round and turn right past the chimney. Retrace your steps to the car park