Images

September 3rd – out briefly in the late afternoon, I shot out to Chasewater, but the security fencing from Anglesey Basin had been secured again and there was no way through. Doubling back, I headed off the canal at Wharf Lane and noticed that a new gate had been erected to stop cars getting down by the canal. This is probably a good thing – there’s been a lot of flytipping and some antisocial behaviour there – but I do wonder how long a wooden gate will last before some rogue sets light to it. I wonder who erected it?

September 3rd – The old flour mill on the canal at Catshill, Brownhills, was converted into flats a long time ago. I keep meaning to research the history, but never quite get round to it; I know it milled flour for years, and then was a factory for a while. I think it made some kind of pressings which were sprayed, as I remember the extraction vents having different coloured paint around them when I was a kid – sometimes red, sometimes navy blue. The house nearby, just visible beyond the fence – looks really quite old.

September 2nd – one of the joys of Autumn, once I’ve got over the shock and low mood created by the end of summer, are cyclamen. To me, these autumn flowering plants are the last gasp of floral joy. I’m not sure if they’re native or not, but delicate shades of purple, blue, cream and pink will dot the hedgerows, verges and churchyards for the next few weeks. Beautiful, delicate little flowers. This is the first I’ve spotted this year, growing in the hedgerow at Forge Lane, Little Aston.

August 31st – There has been some discussion in the Stonnall History Group on Facebook about the old garage that used to be on the corner of Main Street and Cartersfield Lane. It was an old fashioned affair, and I don’t think it was self service but relied on an attendant to fill your car for you. It lasted until the late eighties or early nineties I think, and I can remember buying sweets there when out riding as a kid – it was the only such place open on a Sunday afternoon in those days. Jayne Preston remembered her relatives, the Lawless family owning it back then. the main building is the cream house with the fantastic barley twist chimneys, now fully converted back to a hose. The forecourt was to the left, where there now stands a new house built in the space.

August 30th – The Chester Road between Shire Oak and Stonnall forms quite a steep hill. The sandy soil on this side of the ridge, coupled with the presence of an open demolition site and a landfill access way on the brow of the hill mean that when it rains, sand and detritus is washed into the local drain gullies, most of which are permanently blocked as a result. This one has been in this state for several years, and I think is now beyond recovery. It’s worrying because when it rains, surface water flows down this road like a river as a result, lowering traction, reducing braking and soaking the determined cyclist….

August 30th – Castlefort is a very old hill topped by a recognised ancient hill fort. Forming the south eastern flank of Shire Oak, this green, wooded hillside has a small, very old hamlet of houses. Occasionally referred to as Upper or Over Stonnall, from old maps it seems to have been called Castle Gate at one point. Prospect House, the White three storey classically Staffordshire cottage at the junction of Castlhill and the Chester Road, is a well known landmark for miles around. Pictured from the fields to the south, I doubt that this view has changed much in a century or so.

August 29th – I don’t know if this is the result of a natural process, a disease or a parasite but all the sycamores I’m seeing at the moment have these brown/yellow scabs on the leaves. This one was on the canal at Hopwas Hays Wood, but I’m seeing it everywhere. I’m aware of the leaf miner problem with horse chestnut trees, but didn’t think that affected sycamores. Any ideas, anyone?

August 29th – The ford at Hints, where the Black Brook crosses Rookery Lane is highly seasonal and is currently dry as bone. In dry weather,the brook ru s in a series of culverts around the site of the former mill and forge, remnants of which can still be seen from the beautiful pedestrian footbridge nearby. As I stood on this bridge, a Kingfisher flew under the arch. Far too fast for me to catch on camera, the cobalt blue flash is still a heart stopper.

August 27th – A slightly windblown day of showers and patchy sun. The harvest now mostly complete, the fields have got their autumnal cloak on; bare earth, stubble and huge straw bales are the order of the day. Even the potatoes, formerly lush and verdant, are dying off and yellowing. Here at Home Farm, Sandhills, summer’s cauldron seems to be distinctly off the boil now.