Granville Nature Reserve

Our walk today is around my lotal Nature Reserve in Telford, the walk will take around an hour to two hours, and is mostly on the flat through woodlands paths.

Firstly i would like to inform you all about the reserve, Granville has a complex history that is deep in lagacy of past mining and ironmaking thats dates back to medieval times when monks at the nearby Lilleshell Abbey mined coal and worked an iron smithy.

The land was mostly deer forest was acquired by the Laverson Family after the Dissolution on the Monasteries and used as a Hunting park. In 1562 wood from the deer park was used to fuel one of the Earliest charcoal furnaces in Shropshire-Evidence that the shallow seams of coal,ironstone and stone were worked on an incresingly large scale from the sixteeth century onwards.

Today the deer are long gone, but foxs,Badgers still live in the newly regenerated woodland as over the years the deer forest was gradually cleared as the mining intensified, greater quantities of waste material were brought to the surface and large spoil heaps were formed.

Theses steep-sided,flat-topped pitmounds are characteristic of the Telford Landscape.

Theses later became colonised by a succession of differance Vegetation types ranging from mosses and lichens to grassland, scrubs, Oak and birch woodland.

The mine at Muxton ( Granville) closed in 1912 but the remains of the winding house are still to present with the remain of the up and down shafts marked with a ring of bricks to the East can be found in the wooded pitmound called The Freehold in the reserve just off the Donnington Wood Roundabout. Also found nearby is the remains of an early pumping engine house, Scheduled as a momument by Engish Heritage.

Sometimes the pitmound contained calcareous clays which in turn provided idea conditions for a wide variety of wildflower to grow especially where past grazing has pervented woodland from forming. Two sites worth looking at are the Waxhill Meadow and Barnyard Pitmound where a diverse range of wild flowers, including species of Orchid, Oxeye Daisy and Hay rattle can be found during the Months of June and July.

Also found around here are species of Butterflies such as the Dindy Skipper and Green Hairstreak which can be seen taking Nectar from the many wildflowers found.

So lets start our walk today....

Firstly Granville Nature Reserve is Found just off the B5060 Donnington Wood Way in Donnington Telford turning into Granville Road at the Roundabout following the Signs to The Shropshire Goft Course follow the road for about 1000 yards untill sign shows the main carpark.

( Warning here this carpark is locked during the winter months at 5pm so ensure you are back at your car before then or you'll be locked in for the night but its stays open untill 8pm in the summer) So once at the carpark we head left meet a wide path,(Bridle) here we can go forward keeping to the wide flat path thats spits the mounds or climb the 10-15 steps up the Barnyard to the top from the top of the barnyard Pitmound you are given a great vantage point in which to look over the surrounding countryside as on a clear day you could see the clock tower of the church in nearby St Georges to the south, with the hills of the Wrekin,and Ercall, Hawkstone, Chetwynd and Lilleshall. At the other end of the top we come to a kissing gate pasting through this we how have to climb down the barnyard ( here there are more steps and it is a little Steeper ) getting to the bottom we again met the wide Bridle path turning right and following the path we walk on along the old canal line towards Muxton Bridge Colliery Pit Mound Here you will find the remains of the winding house and shafts and pass the remain of the pumping house near to the carpark in Muxtion Lane turning left we walk along keeping to the main pathway untill after a time we come to the road this is MarshbrookWay turn right and walk along a little bit looking for the pathway on the Opposite side of the road and picking it up walking along it into the Freehold Colliery Pit Mound we follow this path around the pool untill its meets a path from our left here we turn right keeping the water on our right through the woodland along the path before turning Right at the second path from our right this takes us through the woodland untill is bears left at Muxtion Marsh. Muxtion Marsh is an SSSI--- Site of Special Scientific Interest formed as a resuilt of the water from the canal flowing into it via Culvert and along Ditches near Donnington Wood Roundabout. The Marsh is unusal as its contains a variety of Habitats ranging from dry to wet conditions here there is a attractive wildflower meadow with Orchids and other Interesting plants,marshy grassland, wetter areas of reed bed dominated by sedges with willow woodland and Oak behind on the mound. This Area is not accessible to the Public because the land is used for grazing but can be viewed from the footpaths nearby. Walking along the wild path ( Bridle way) we again meet the Marshbrook Way road crossing it we again pick up the path of the old canal and follow it walking along side the mound of waxhill Meadow the path (Bridle way) can be muddy around here passing the flower meadow on our left along side of the barnyard again untill we see the gate back into the carpark we can now return to the car or continue along the bridle path to the end and crossing the road (Granville Road) following the path around past the Reservoir and the LODGE Furnaces... This is a very atmospheric area of Granville Nature Reserve with its sandstone walls rising Mysteriously out of the secluded woodland Reminiscent of a lost Inca city hidden in a Jungle, it is indeed hard to imagine that on this spot stood the Furnaces which were once the most Productive in Europe.

The earliest furnaces were built around 1825 by the Lilleshall Company and had expanded to 5 furnaces by the time they closed in 1888. The forty-foot walls are all that remain of the charging ramps that would have allowed the materials to be tipped into the top of the furnaces, of the farnaces all that remain are the two rings of melted firebricks at the base of the ramps. Passing the old canal basin we now continue untill we again meet Granville road turning right we how walk along the road before crossing into the carpark again and end back where we started.

The walk is mosly along a flat Bridle pathway and takes you through some beauitful countryside were there is lots of intrest to be found. Its is one of my most Favourites walking areas being near my home, somewhere i can find inner peace.