Anth Rowley

Saw it the other day and thought 'that's one for Marc'

Looking down the Incline Plane where the Shropshire Canal met the Wombridge Canal in Donnington Wood

Looking up towards the Cockshutt from where the Shropshire Canal once came

From Howard Williams's 'A Tour of the East Shropshire Canals' - 1962

Joining in with #gritsaltbinmonday & #mapsonmonday - sitting proud on the upper reaches of the Wrockwardine Wood Incline Plane of the (once) Shropshire (tub-boat) Canal

The Wrekin’s Danger Zones When you stand at the Wrekin’s summit, the hill’s military connections & history aren’t obvious. Pedants may state that the summit’s Ordnance Survey’s Trig Pillar …

A new blog about the history of the Wrekin's Rifle Range from it's establishment because of the threat of French invasion in 1859; it's connection to the Olympic Games; the drive to close it from the 1970s; and fun & frivolities in the 2000s.

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Morning Marc, thanks for the suggestion and it has been duly accepted. Submission to the IWM has been made.

St Georges ‘Forgotten’ War Memorial Standing on Church Street, St Georges in Telford is the former Primitive Methodist Chapel that was opened in 1860. Its adjacent neighbour is the Chapel’s Jubilee Sunday School that was added …

A new (short) blog that highlights a 'forgotten' WWI memorial hidden in plain sight on Church Street, St Georges, Telford

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No probs David - I've got a query open with them about digitising an item. MACE's advice is to leave it till after April when they have moved to a new site. They may be able to offer different £££s options after then.

Have a look at the Media Archive for Central England. Here's a sample of what is available featuring your dad > www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...

I searched against Tony Butler

Another MACE video about Telford - this an ATV piece from 1979 on the (largely) positive work of TDC in Ironbridge to rejuvenate the town

It includes interviews with Eustace Rogers; the director of Blists Hill; and the late, great Billy Wright

www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...

Sept-1865 – An Excursion to the Wrekin On 23rd September 1865, The Illustrated London News carried an article that reported on the excursions of the British Association from Birmingham to Malvern and the Wrekin. Below is a transcript of…

A new blog providing a transcript of the Illustrated London News Article that reported on a visit to the Wrekin (Shropshire) in Sept-1865 to study the Silurian Period geology and to sample the food & beer at the Wrekin Cottage

rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/s...

Hosted by the Media Archive for Central England: 'Dawley: The New Town Before Development'

Filmed in 1963, it is 22-mins of silent footage of the area around Dawley, Madeley & Ironbridge, towns that would subsequently form the southern extent of Telford New Town

www.macearchive.org/films/dawley...

Oakengates Fellowship FC The photo below was published in the Telford Journal in May 1986 under the ‘Do You Remember When?’ regular feature. It shows two local football teams from 1936 – Wrockwardine Wood…

Oakengates Fellowship FC - an amateur football team that competed in the Wellington League before WWII

The linked blog contains a selection of the team's match reports from '37 & '38 when subs weren't allowed & goalies could be shunted over the goal-line

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A new blog - this one is about a hidden Ordnance Survey Bench Mark in Oakengates, Telford and how it is a part of & a witness to the ever-changing development & rejuvenation of my home town

rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/o...

A selection of the Christmas trees within @nationaltrust.org.uk Attingham House - photos from last weekend

The 'LD' on the surface of the Boundary Stone probably stood for 'Leighton Estate' with 'WO' (on the hidden underside) standing for 'Wellington Orleton'. Grid Reference: SJ 63649 08530 W3W ///gashes.pizzeria.meanings

An extract from the OS 25-Inch map 'Shropshire XLII.4' that was published in 1882. The location of the Boundary Stone is shown by the red circle in the bottom right-hand corner

On the lower slopes of the south side of the Wrekin (near to the Permissive Path) lies a toppled Boundary Stone that dates from at least the C19th

The BS marked the boundaries between the Duke of Cleveland's estate (now managed as the Raby Estate) to the west and the Orleton Estate to the east

Not a 'ghost sign', more a 'ghost instruction' - noticed this on the wall in the courtyard at Attingham Park "DRY SWILL | TEA LEAVES | PEELINGS| WET SWILL" which presumably went down the drain to be collected as food for the animals or used as compost.

A Short History of Ordnance Survey Benchmarks and the Pheon The Broad Arrow & Line cut into the wall on the side of a building – you may have seen one wondering what it was. It is an Ordnance Survey Bench Mark. There are those of us who wander to …

rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2022/11/28/a...

The Wrekin’s Half-Way Stone In their account of a climb of the Wrekin that was published in The Examiner on 5th June 1875, under the title ‘Original Sketches by G.T.L – No.3 The Wrekin’, the correspondent wr…

The Wrekin's Half-Way Stone - a blog about a piece of the Wrekin's history that is forgotten, if not unknown, that could one day return to its former standing...

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The Bench Mark cut into the side of the toppled Boundary Stone. Grid Reference SJ 63290 08848 - W3W ///evenly.verb.wants.

The potential Pivot Mark in the Stone's top surface

The toppled & forgotten Boundary Stone. When toppled from its original position, rather than be carried down the hill, it was simply pushed down the Wrekin's north-face

An extract from the 25-Inch map 'Shropshire XLII.4' that was published in 1881. Circled, in it original position, is the Boundary Stone with Bench Mark

For #benchmarkmonday on the Wrekin's north-face, adjacent to the hill's Sentry Path is a Boundary Stone dating that dates from C19th that originally stood on the hill's lower ridgeline

Cut into the Boundary Stone is a Datum Line Bench Mark and (potential) Pivot mark

See Photo ALT for more details

25th October St Crispin's Day - along with his twin brother Crispinian - the Patron Saints of Shoemakers & Cobblers

Should probably be known as Saviours Day in Shrewsbury

The South Prospect of Bridgnorth, in the County of Salop by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck - 1732

The numbers of the eleven features detailed in the Index are circled

The Index

Best viewed in Landscape

From 1732 the South Prospect of Bridgnorth by Samuel and Nathanial Buck

Eleven features are picked out & numbered - the Index is in the bottom right-hand side of the picture's text

Panpudding Hill is on the left-hand centre side of the picture

The gate-post of the Enginuity car-park into which the cast-iron plaque is set

For #benchmarkmonday the cast-iron 'Cut Mark' at the Museum of Iron in Coalbrookdale - soon to be run by the National Trust. No evidence that its an official OS Bench Mark but I'd happily buy one if they were on sale at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums - Grid Reference SJ 66760 04705

A mosaic of the Wrekin, created by The Arts Society Wrekin in 2018 to mark the Gold Anniversary of The Arts Society that was established in 1968 by Patricia Fay as the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS) The mosiac is mounted in Weston Park, Staffs

Wellington (Shropshire) – An OS Benchmark Walk The Arrow & Line cut into the wall on the side of a building – you may have seen one or more of them, wondering what it or they are. Some of us wander to find them. The Wellington (Shrops…

A new Telford based OS Benchmarks walk, this one based through & around Wellington.

Many thanks to the Wellington Walkers are Welcome group who gave me the opportunity to lead people around the route on Monday as part of the September Walking Festival

rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/w...

An interesting article on OS Benchmarks in Ireland and their link to ownership, authority and, from that, folklore. "benchmarks and particularly the broad arrow, can be seen not only as tools of measurement... but also authority and ownership"

Link > amp.rte.ie/amp/1525673/

1. The Shrewsbury Canal that ran from Ditherington to Trench Lock 2. The Ketley Canal 3. The Wombridge Canal 4. The Marquis of Stafford's Canal - aka the Lilleshall Canal 5. The Shropshire Canal (not to be confused with the Shropshire Union Canal) 6. The Dawley Canal The Incline Planes of the system are shown in red and the three Tunnels of the Shropshire Canal in yellow.

For #mondaymaps an extract from Plate-V of Robert Baugh's 1808 map of Shropshire showing the various Tub Boat Canals and the Incline Planes & Tunnels of what is now Telford.

Not showing is the Newport Canal - this wasn't constructed until 1835.

More details of the Canals are provided in ALT

Just finished reading the excellent 'Church Going - a Stonemason's Guide to the Churches of the British Isles' by @old-church-going.bsky.social I found this an absorbing read describing the features & their history that you may find on the outside or inside of a medieval church - recommended!

Scratch Dials – St Peter’s, Norbury In my blog Grooves are on the Church I mentioned that one of my pastimes is Church Crawling – a phrase coined by Sir john Betjemen for those who visit churches not for ecclesiastical reasons …

A new blog - this one about the latest round of Church Crawling and medieval Scratch Dials (simple sundials) on the Grade-I Listed St Peter's Church in Norbury, Staffs.

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#churchcrawling #scratchdials

I was on the Wrekin this morning for the Solstice Sunrise - here the rising sun is seen looking over the summit's Trig Pillar's Spider

For #benchmarkmonday the Cut Mark within Exchange House in Oakengates, Telford. The Cut Mark dates from 1961 while the former Labour Exchange, aka Dole Office, was built & finished in March 1938 and officially opened in May of the same year #localhistory #oakengates #telford

Grooves are on the Church The phrase of ‘church crawling’ was coined by Sir John Betjeman to describe visiting churches not for religious reasons, but in appreciation of the art that lies within the buildings, t…

A new blog - Grooves are on the Church - highlighting some local churches (Telford, Shropshire) which have evidence of the medieval practice of using holy & sacred dust in potions & medicines - click the link below

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