Leamington stop

After a week of railway photography, and hanging about on platforms waiting for something to happen, where better to end it than at Leamington Spa which is probably my favourite station to visit for a number of reasons. One of the main ones being that there is a seat at the end of platform 2 where you are far enough away from the tannoy that you can't hear the endless announcements about unattended baggage and light refreshments! You can see my photos here.

Back to Lapworth

I really enjoyed my first visit to Lapworth last year, a lovely Warwickshire village where the Stratford and Grand Union Canals meet. I returned yesterday this time to walk the Stratford Canal back up in the Birmingham direction (i went the other direction last time).

My walk took in Lapworth Wharf, the Lapworth Lock Flight and made it as far as the cricket club. You can see my photos here. I plan to return to Lapworth later in the year and explore more of the Grand Union which i only briefly visited last time.

Back to Stratford (at last!)

There was a time, when i was doing my masters dissertation, i was visiting Stratford-upon-Avon nearly every week but since then my visits have become much less frequent in fact last year i only went to the town once. That was just over a year ago so it was high time i returned to the town as i did today.

I really should visit more often though it is getting harder to see things and do things i haven't done (many) times before. Today though i did cross the Avon using the road bridge which gave me a good view of the boatyard, oddly never been that way before. You can see my photos here.

More Leamington trains

A day off on Tuesday gave me the chance to see some railways on a weekday, there are generally more freight and interesting workings on a week day compared to a weekend. I went to Leamington Spa which always has plenty going on and you can see my photos here. Another good point about that station is the good quality of the station canopy, important when the weather forecast was not very promising!

Lapworth

I've been meaning to go to Lapworth for some time, having travelled through it a lot on the train. Well finally i stopped off at this North Warwickshire village at the weekend and what a lovely place it is too.

I went mainly for a canal walk, its where the Stratford and Grand Union Canals meet so there are plenty of locks, junctions and other waterway items of interest. You can see my canal photos here, plus some photos taken at the railway station too.

A Thumper in Leamington

On a lovely sunny day i headed to Leamington Spa for some train thrash and a bit of canal walking. The main reason to go was to check out a preserved Class 201 diesel electric multiple unit which was running on a railtour from Hastings to Stratford-upon-Avon. I've never seen a "Thumper" (as they are nicknamed) before and certainly never thought i would see one in my beloved Warwickshire! You can see my railway related photos here. I must go on a railtour myself one day...

Walking Wootton Wawen

On a glorious Summer's day there is no better place to be in South Warwickshire, as i was on Saturday in the village of Wootton Wawen and walking along the Stratford Canal. Several years ago (2011 in fact) i walked up from Wilmcote past the Edstone Aqueduct as far as Changeline Footbridge 55 but turned back short of Wootton Wawen. In 2013 i walked up from Wootton Wawen as far as the Yarningale Aqueduct.

But there is a canal stretch South of the village i have not walked yet... well until now of course. I walked as far as Farm Bridge 56 and you can see the canal photos i took here and other photos from the lovely village here.

Yarningale Aqueduct

The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal has 3 aqueducts of which the Yarningale is the first (if you are heading to Stratford from the North, or the last if the other direction of course!) The very short Yarningale Aqueduct spans the Kingswood Brook near Claverdon and dates from the early 19th century. Yarningale itself is a hamlet of the Claverdon parish.

The original aqueduct was made of wood but it was washed away in 1834 during the flooding of the canal and the nearby Grand Union Canal. A new aqueduct was made from cast iron at Horseley Ironworks and this is the structure that remains today. Like the Edstone and Wootton Wawen aqueducts further down the canal the Yarningale Aqueduct is unusual in that the bottom of the towpath is level with the bottom of the canal.

Return to Leamington

I like Leamington Spa a lot so returned last weekend to do some more photography at the station as well as a little bit along the canal. You can see my railway photographs here. You may notice that some of them are not square! I have decided to not crop photos taken with my DSLR anymore, its a pain having to crop dozens of photos!

Some of the photos are square but that is because when i got to Leamington i thought the battery in my Nikon DSLR was flat so started taking photos with the iPhone instead, actually it turned out the battery was fine but had got slightly knocked out of alignment in my bag so once the battery was restored to its proper position the photoshoot was finished using the Nikon.

Curdworth Tunnel

Curdworth, a small village in North Warwickshire, has the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal run by it. Part of the canal (just over 50m of it) runs underground through the Curdworth Tunnel. The tunnel is about 120m north east of the centre of the village and was built along with the rest of the canal in the late 18th century, being a fairly early canal tunnel.

The tunnel has a towpath running alongside the canal as well as brick ridges which originally would have been to help prevent horses slipping while pulling the canal barges. Curdworth itself dates from the 6th century and was originally settled by Anglians. Despite being only 8 miles from Birmingham and lying near to the motorway (and one day HS2) the village retains its rural charm.

The Coventry Canal

The Coventry Canal is a 38 mile long canal that stretches from Fradley Junction near Lichfield, where it is connected to the Trent & Mersey Canal, to Coventry.

The canal terminates at Coventry basin just North of the city centre though before that there are connections to the Lichfield (originally the Wyrley & Essington), Ashby, Birmingham & Fazeley and Oxford canals along the way. Work on the canal began in 1868 with Coventry Basin opened the following year. Construction was rapid though of a high standard and the canal reached Atherstone within a year. However financial troubles began to dog the project and the final connection to the Trent and Mersey was not completed until 1789.

One complication with the Coventry Canal is that while in reality it is a continuous stretch of waterway some maps treat it as two separate sections connected by part of the Birmingham & Fazeley canal. This confusion dates from the days of private ownership of the canals, but now the canals are all owned by British Waterways the canal should really be treated as it physically is.

Marston Green

Marston Green is a village in Solihull near to the NEC and Birmingham Airport and was part of the parish of Bickenhill which dates from the time of Edward the Confessor. The village itself is listed in the Domesday Book as Merestone but probably dates from before the Norman conquest. Merestone was divided into two in the 12th century, Marston Culy and Wavers Marston. The former changing its name to Marston Green by the early 19th century.

Marston Green lies between two brooks (Low Brook and Hatchford Brook which flow into the river Cole). The village's population has been, for most of its existence, concerned with agriculture but it is now mostly populated by people who work in Birmingham and Solihull. Some agricultural land still exists around the village though much of it has been eaten up by post-war developments including the airport. The village saw a great deal of residential growth in early 20th centuries. A station on the LMS' London-Birmingham line was opened in 1838, this and new roads helped make Marston Green accessible and appeal to workers in the city though interestingly it was not until the 1920s that new house building was begun in earnest.

A Canadian Airforce base was located in Marston Green during the Second World War. Post-war the site was used to build a maternity hospital catering for the east side of Birmingham (even though the hospital wasn't actually in Birmingham). Thousands of babies were born there, until maternity services were moved to Heartlands Hospital, including the author. The hospital was demolished in 1999 with houses now built on the site.

Until boundary changes in the early 1970s Marston Green was part of Warwickshire but is now part of the Solihull Metropolitan Borough.

'Parishes: Bickenhill.' A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred. Ed. L F Salzman. London: Victoria County History, 1947. 34-39. British History Online. Web. 9 March 2015. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol4/pp34-39.

Dargue W., 'Marston Green, Marston Culy/ Marston Culey, Wavers Marston', A History of Birmingham Places and Placenames from A to Y. http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-m/marston-green/ [accessed 11/03/15]

Church of St Peter, Wootton Wawen

The Church of St Peter in Wootton Wawen is Warwickshire's oldest church and one of the county's oldest free standing buildings with parts of the tower being of Saxon origin dating from the 11th century or earlier. Much of the current church dates from the 12 and 13th centuries with the nave and chancel, where most services take place today, being rebuilt from the original state. Other additions like the porch coming later on in the following centuries. The church contains a well preserved example of chancel screen-work and chancel seats dating from the 16th century. The oak pulpit is of a similar vintage as are a number of monumental brasses.

Wootton Wawen itself dates from at least the early 8th century with the original church established at the same time. This church was destroyed sometime in the late 10th century or early 11th. The current church of St Peter was established by the Anglo-Danish landowner Wagen (Wawen). Although a number of other stone churches were built in the late Saxon era Warwickshire only St Peter's church retains any substantial masonry in the county.

'Parishes: Wootton Wawen.' A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3, Barlichway Hundred. Ed. Philip Styles. London: Victoria County History, 1945. 196-205. British History Online. Web. 8 March 2015. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol3/pp196-205.

Bloom J.H., Warwickshire (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1916)

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford, well its like a second home. Mind you i only visited twice last year so must try and up that in 2015. So the first visit of the year, it was a nice dry day so i spent most of it walking along the river and through the old town. I also took a closer look at the former railway carriages on the Greenway. One is a bike hire shop and the other a cafe. There is another one further along the Greenway i must try and get to later in the year. As usual i took some photos.

Leamington Spa

There was time for one more trip this year and it was to Leamington Spa for the first time in ages. I had a walk along the canal and the town but mostly the station. Its a great place to see freight trains and i finally photographed a mighty class 70 and also a class 37 hauled departmental train - no doubt doing some track analysis with its specialised sensors.

My canal and town photos are here and my railway ones here. It was rather cold as you will be able to see but the clear skies also mean clearer air.

Back to the Grand Union

Its been a while since i've visited the Grand Union Canal at Hatton, which is strange as its so easy to get to and there is a lot to see. I went up the towpath as far as Shrewley tunnel, so ground covered before but somewhat haunting in the mist and fog that was plaguing Warwickshire yesterday. You can see my photos here.

Back to Hatton station

Hatton in Warwickshire is somewhere i have visited a number of times basically because of where the station is. To get onto the canal i literally cross the road from the station. I took a lot of photos (to be uploaded later) along the Grand Union Canal as far as Shrewley Tunnel but also took these photos at the station itself. Unfortunately there were no Freightliner trains or unusual workings but a solid Chiltern fest. You can see my photos here.

Wilmcote

Wilmcote is a lovely spot near Stratford-upon-Avon.

End of the line

The end of the railway line in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Stratford grave stones

Grave stones in Stratford-upon-Avon Holy Trinity Church.