Some Walks Around Shifnal – Coppice Green & Lodge Hill

Walk directions

1. Start

   WALK 1 : COPPICE GREEN

   From the start point at the Village Hall take the alleyway past the Co-op store into the Town Centre, and then turn right up the main street. Just after Broadway Close take the alley on the left down and across the Wesley Brook, turning right to follow the brook.

2. Step 2

   When you reach the road go straight over and past the children’s play area to reach a small bridge. Go over this bridge and up the path to the main road. Bear left, and after 200 yards bear right and then immediately left along the service road, keeping the tall hedge on your left. Continue ahead along the footpath through the wood to re-join the road and go underneath the motorway.

3. Step 3

   Take the path up the bank on the right to the field stile and follow the path along the field for about 600 yards, to reach the wooden bridge.

4. Step 4

   Cross the bridge and then turn left along the field, with the hedge now on your left, until you reach a stile on the left. Cross this, taking care to keep to the way marked path across the front of the white house until you reach the lane.

5. Step 5

   From here, turn right to follow the lane across the motorway. There are pleasant views from here over the town towards the Shropshire hills. Continue back towards the Town Centre, passing the football ground and the school. At the road junction bear left and then immediately right to follow Aston Street to return to the start point.

6. Step 6

   WALK 1 EXTENSION : CRACKLEY BANK

   Follow Walk 1 as far as step 5, where you should turn left for 50 yards to reach a stile on the left. Cross this into the field.

7. Step 7

   Follow the path across the field ridge until you pass a small pool to reach the lane again. Turn left, and left again across the stile into another field, crossing this to reach Nanny Murphy’s Lane, named after a local woman who is reputed to have walked to London in the 18th century.

8. Step 8

   Go straight across and over the stile up into Dog Wood, following the track until you reach a stile. Cross this into the field and then follow the path diagonally across the field and down alongside the hedge to reach the ‘Hare & Hounds’ public house at Crackley Bank.

9. Step 9

   To return, either turn left and then left again to follow the road back towards Shifnal (not recommended – this is a busy road with no pavement!) or just retrace your steps back to Nanny Murphy’s Lane and Coppice Green House, from where you can re-join Walk 1 at point 5.

10. WALK 2: LODGE HILL and WESLEY BROOK

    Start: From the start point at the Village Hall take the alleyway by the Co-op store into the Town Centre, and then turn left to go under the railway bridge. Follow Park Street past the half-timbered buildings as far as the road junction.

11. Step B

    Bear right into Park Lane for about 800 yards until you reach a track on the right. Go along this, over the stile and along past the fields towards Lodge Hill.

12. Step C

    At the end of the track cross the stile into farmland. From here there are good views over the Shropshire countryside towards the Clee Hills.

13. Step D

    Go down the field to the stile, keeping to the fence on the right. Go over the stile and follow the path through the wood and down the steep steps towards the Wesley Brook. These were named ‘George’s Steps’ after our group’s founder George Wilcox.

14. Step E

    Cross the wooden bridge over the brook, turning right up the track and then right again just before the top along another track.

15. Step F

    After 400 yards, go up the steep path on the left to reach the service road. Turn left and then immediately right, following the path round until you reach a gate and a bridge over a small brook.

16. Step G

    Follow the path up the slope, through the gate and past the barn conversions. The big house on the right is Shifnal Manor which dates from the 15th century.

17. Step H

    At the end of the path you will reach another gate. Go through this and turn left along the track, and then bear left again when you reach the paved drive. On your right is the former Mill pool, now woodland.

18. Step I

    On reaching the main road, bear right towards Shifnal, and then into Church Street past St. Andrew’s Church. This is Shifnal’s parish church, and parts of it date from the 12th century. It has a fine 14th century east window and a hammer beam roof constructed in the 1590’s. Continue straight ahead into the Town Centre and return to the start point.

19. WALK 2 EXTENSION : GRINDLE FORGE

    Follow Walk 2 as far as Step C , but this time bear to the left down the field to reach the stile by the farm. Go straight through the farm and along the farm drive past a bungalow to a stile on the right.

20. Step J

    Go over this stile and the next into the wood, following the path down the bank with the Wesley Brook below you on your right. In spring this path is noted for its wild  flowers. At the bottom of the path go over a stile and past the small buildings to reach the lane.

21. Step K

    Turn left along the lane and past Evelith Mill, constructed in 1847 as a flour mill and then right to follow the track through King Charles’s Wood. King Charles II passed through Evelith when escaping from Cromwell’s forces after the Battle of Worcester, eventually seeking refuge in the oak tree at nearby Boscobel House.

22. Step L

    At the end of this track, bear right to cross the small bridge and sluice gate to reach Kemberton Mill. Bear left at the fingerpost to follow the path below the cottages and then through the gate into the field.

23. Step M

    Continue across the fields, keeping the brook below you on your left, crossing a number of stiles to reach Kemberton Gorse, a steep-sided valley with many steep steps on the path. When you reach the top again, cross the stile and then go straight ahead down the meadow, still keeping the Wesley Brook on your left.

24. Step N

    When you reach the wood, cross the stile on the right and follow the path through the wood to the lane at Grindle Forge.

25. Step 0

    Turn left across the bridge and follow the lane up the hill past Hinnington Brewery.

26. Step P

    After 400 yards, turn left into the hedged drive leading to Hinnington Grange, and at the end of the drive go straight ahead along the track to the bungalow, then turning sharp left along the path and over the stile into the field.

27. Step Q

    Keeping to the right down the field you will reach Kemberton Mill again. From here retrace your steps back to Evelith, turning left at the lane to cross the brook.

28. Step R

    Go through the gate on the right to follow the path alongside the brook until you reach the wooden bridge. Here you will re-join Walk 2 at step E.