Pattens Rock

Today's walk will see us walk over old ground to discover Patten's Rock in Benthall Woods Near Ironbridge in Shropshire, Patten's rock is an area of outstanding beauty overlooked by may people who walks the woods near Ironbridge, but to me its is just has importance as the other attractions in the Ironbridge Gorge Because the Rock are millions of years old and hold some Geological interest with Geologists visiting the Rocks from all over the world to appreaciate their significance.

The Rocks are Limestone which is found in many parts of Shropshire, and is found all along the Ironbridge Gorge area with many limekiln's and Quarries dotting the landstape from the industrial Revolution when the Ironbridge area was at the front of the new industrial age.

So lets first start our walk, firstly the walk is mostly over woodland paths and steps with a steep climb up to Pattens Rock's and should last around 1-2 hours, we start on the Broseley side of the Ironbridge parking in the car park by the Station Hotel, this is a pay and display car park costing £1.00 for the day, 50p for up to two hours there is no charge for disable blue badge holders.

From the car park we turn right and follow the old railway line/ Shropshire way passing under the brick bridge we walk along with the River Seven on our right and the Benthall woods on our left, After about 500 yards we will notice a small clearing to our left, here there is ruins of the old limekiln's that dot this area and althought just off the main path are well worth a look by following the short pathway thats leads to them.

After seeing the limekiln's we rejoin the main pathway and continue along the old railway track with wildflowers and ferns lining both sides of the path while Hazelnut, Sliver Birch,Oak and Beech trees provide shade on a warm summer evening walk until we come to the cooling Towers of the Buildwas power station which is right in front of us, The power station was build in the 1960s as a replacement for the old B power station which was also on the site ( this sadly was pulled down during the 1990s), Here passing through a sile we walk up an steep incline for about 20-40 yards untill we come to a clearing where we will find another gate and sile with a post way marker pointing the way.

From here its forward and upwards as we pass through the sile and start to climb the first of many steps leading to Patten's Rock's ( notice this is a very steep climb and there is alot of steps to climb) but the steps are new and are all in first class condition and are well managed by the woodland trust who does some great work to keep the area in top condition, While climbing we pass under many trees that make up this woodland ranging from Oaks, Beech, Ash, and Chesthut while under foot there is many Mosses and grasses filled in spring/ Summer with flowers such as wood anemone, wood sorrel, Herb Robert and violets as well as the Fox Gloves, dog roses, white flower enchanter's nightshade and perfumed honeysuckle,

Here you'll also find butterflies such as Speckled Woods, Black-Veined Whites, and large Tortoiseshell as well as summer migrant birds such as the Wood Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Cockoo alongside the more common woodpeckers, pigeons, finches and Blackbirds, while in the late evening in summer you may be lucky to hear the lotal Tawny Owls.

While climbing up the step look out for some of the many differance fungi that grows on the dead wood that has fellen down as you dont know what you'll find from one day to the next as you make your way up the steps until you reach the top where we are able to look back and see over the Ironbridge Gorge and the valley of Coalbrockdale while away to our right we over look the River with Ironbridge and Madeley Bank clearly seen from the top of Patten's Rock which is in front of us, here you'll find a bench that as been placed there in memory of a Mr Dave Jones with the words 'He Loved This Place' writen onto the backrest of this bench placed over looking the rocks and the Ironbridge Gorge. Dave was a we known Broseley lad and rose Grower who lived in Broseley all is life and passed away at the age of 53 years of age, I knew Dave very well myself and I have never known a better rose grower in my 49 years he was up with the very best.

After having a rest and taking in the beautiful views seen from the top of Patten's Rock and the Quarry we containue our walk by following the pathway leading away from the rock's into the woods passing more limestone workings along the way until the path we are on meets another running left to right ( Note the way marker post) , here we can turn left and follow the path leading to Broseley add spout lane or like we did turn right and head towards Benthall along the old Shropshire way following the path through the woods under the Oaks, and beech trees we can enjoy views over looking the Seven Gorge and Buildwas while looking down upon buildwas power station going under the power lines we turn left and walk up an incline untill we top out by the white Gamekeepers cottage, passing the cottage we follow the path/road as its swings left until we find ourselfs in the lane by Benthall edge farm passing the farm and graveyard on the right we walk untill meeting the main road leading to Benthall Hall with we can now see in front of us.

Benthall Hall was build in the 1700s by the Benthall Family and is the home of Edward and Sarah Benthall who opens the hall and gardens every Easter to late october for the public,

the home is a national trust listed building and is well worth a visit as indeed is the little white Church of St Bartholomew's along side the Hall.

Passing the Hall and entering the field through the wood gate we cross the field keeping the hall on our left untill we meet another wooden gate, here on our right we will find a avenue of 33 old chesthut trees with many well over 200 years old, theses trees look bril in late spring when covered with their white blooms from their flowers while in the early autumn every young lad from the nearby village of Benthall and Broseley would spent many an afternoon filling his pockets with bright brown conkers ready to play a game of conkers we anybody who wanted a game.

Carrying on through another gate we meet the land/path coming from Benthall woods we turn right here walking along between the fields untill the path ends and we start walking on the road down spout lane passing as we go the water spout on our left, the water spout runs all years and comes from an under ground spring, this water is pure and is safe to drink by both dogs and humans it is ice cold even in the hottest of summer months and is a very welcome drink after a walk.

Passing the water spout that give the lane its name we containue downhill untill we meet another road this is Bridge Bank turning left here containue downhill we will pass after 500 yards or so on our right in the trees the old water mill, this has a bit of history with my family as there was an write up about in the paper a few weeks ago, sadly the watermill isnt there anymore being pulled down in the 1960s by my father because it was unsafe with the metal from the wheel being sold for scrap, but it used to have the biggest water wheel in England, passing the watermill we containue down the bank with the Ironbridge in front of us untill crossing the road we find ourselfs back at the car park where we started from at the end of our walk.