The Forest

At least, this bit wasn't as muddy as suspected in SO6396 : That looks like a muddy path - but the next section south looked like a quagmire, so we turned around.

Dating from 1713-14, built for Sir Whitmore Acton, probably to the designs of Francis Smith of Warwick. The pinkish-red brick facade is divided into a 2-3-2 rhythm by giant rusticated pilaster strips. Grade I listed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the C18th architectural hierarchy, Smith (1672-1738) lay somewhere between the London elite and the breed of skilled, provincial builder-architects who created substantial parts of the built fabric of the country that we see today. It's likely that brick dust ran in his veins - his father, also Francis, and his brother, William, were bricklayers, his elder brother Richard was also in the trade, and Francis's son, William, inherited his practice. Centred around Warwick, Francis built up a substantial practice, designing numerous country houses for the Midlands gentry, covering every county in the region except Nottinghamshire, as well as churches and the odd public building. After the catastrophic fire of 1694 in Warwick, he and William were contracted to supervise rebuilding and rebuilt parts of the town themselves. Francis assembled a small band of talented craftsmen to whom he returned time and time again. Whilst not particularly innovative, his commissions were secured on the back of building attractive houses to high standards of craftsmanship, his trustworthiness and reliability. Two members of the London elite, James Gibbs and Thomas Archer, entrusted Francis to execute several of their designs, and it seems likely that in at least one of these cases he modified the building to his own designs.

A modern folly built to disguise a water tank.

A row of old oak trees and a ditch mark the line of a former hedge, now followed by a path from Muckley Cross to Hawthorne Farm.

A particularly fine rural cottage and its outbuildings, just off the A458 road.

The A458 runs for 86 miles between Mallwyd, in the Snowdonia National Park, and Halesowen, in the suburbs of Birmingham. On the way it passes through Welshpool, Shrewsbury, Much Wenlock, Bridgnorth and Stourbridge. Link SABRE