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Baddesley Clinton Sample Walk

From Birmingham and the Heart of England Walks, Short Walk guide 22

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Start: Kingswood Junction

Distance: 51⁄4 miles (8.4km)

Time: 3 hours

Parking: Car park at start of walk

Route Features: Mainly canal towpaths and field paths, which may be muddy after rain

There are many grand manor houses and stately homes in the Midlands, but Baddesley Clinton, surrounded by a moat and with an ancient church for company, is surely one of the prettiest. But first, this walk takes you along the Grand Union Canal, which until 1895 was known as the Warwick and Birmingham Canal.

The canal by the car park is actually the Stratford-upon-Avon. Turn right along it to the first bridge, cross to the island at the centre of the junction and bear left past a lock. Cross another bridge and follow a short linking canal beneath a railway bridge to the Grand Union.

The Church was built in the 13th century, but was considerably extended some 200 years later by Nicholas Brome, whose family held the manor before it passed to the Ferrers. It is said that his lavish generosity to the church was in expiation of his guilt for killing a priest, whom he discovered ‘in his plor chockinge his wife under ye chinne’. Brome requested that after his death he be interred upright beneath the doorway, so that ‘people may tread upon mee when they come into the Church’. The church was originally dedicated to St James, but changed to St Michael following its restoration in 1872.

A Head right along the towpath. If you want somewhere to eat, try the Tom o’ the Wood on the opposite bank at the second bridge. Otherwise, carry on along the canal, shortly entering a cutting. At the far end, go beneath another bridge and then climb the bank to cross it. Continue up the lane to the main road at Rowington.

Public Transport: Bus and train service to nearby Kingswood

Refreshments: Navigation pub by Kingswood Bridge, Tom o’ the Wood at Turner’s Green and café for visitors to Baddesley Clinton

Public Toilet:S Beside car park and at Baddesley Clinton for visitors to the house

Ordance Survey Map: Explorer 220 (Birmingham, Walsall, Solihull & Redditch)

BCross to the churchyard opposite and follow a path around the northern side of the church to a stile beneath a large yew, waymarked ‘Heart of England Way’. Go forward at the top of a field below the old vicarage and over another stile. Turn right and walk beside the hedge, continuing in the same direction when you reach the next field. At a stile on the far side, instead of crossing, turn left. Follow the hedge on your right until it turns away and then keep going across the open field. Over a stile in the far fence, a contained path leads out to a lane.

CWalk right and, at the end, go right again. A little distance along, however, turn off left onto a gated track, again signed ‘Heart of England Way’. Walk ahead, passing Lyons Farm and on, shortly beside a wood. Beyond, where the track then turns left, leave ahead through a small gate. Keep going in the same direction from field to field, eventually emerging onto a wooded drive near Baddesley Clinton church. Left leads past the Church and on through trees o a drive at the entrance to the house.

Foxgloves near Baddesley Clinton

D Follow the drive away from the house and past the visitor car park. A little farther on, where the private drive from the house merges, go over a stile on the left. A track heads away to follow the outer boundary of the gardens. Carry on over a stream and, later, a crossing track, eventually entering a large, sloping paddock. Bear right across to a gate and stile in the bottom corner by a stable at Clinton Farm, where a track leads out to the road

E Go right past the Navigation pub and over the bridge, immediately dropping left onto the Grand Union Canal. Turn right, back to Kingswood Junction and, after crossing a bridge over the linking arm, double back beneath it to retrace your steps to the car park.

The Grand Union Company was formed in 1929, amalgamating canals owned by at least eight independent companies to form a unified waterway connecting Birmingham with London. It was conceived as a broad gauge canal capable of carrying 70-ton barges, but initially the 7-ft (2m) wide barges could travel only as far as Braunston. A programme to widen the narrow-boat canals of the Birmingham system was begun, but the cost proved prohibitive. With the outbreak of World War II, all development ceased and within 10 years, virtually all freight had moved onto the railways.

What decorates the massive chimney-piece in Baddesley Clinton’s Great Hall?

Passing through the locks at Kingswood Junction