Wilnecote

Heading north towards Hockley.

St Paul's church, Dosthill with a coating of snow. The main wrought iron gates are dedicated to Kate and William Perry who had eleven children in nearby Whateley. Kate's maiden name was Andrews, another family with extensive connections to the area, for example Horace Andrews was for many years the organist at this church.

Dating originally from the C12th or late C11th this little building was originally a wayfarer's chapel, i.e. a chapel for travellers to use. It was later used as a school room before SK2100 : Dosthill School was built. After this it was and still is used as a Sunday School and Parish Room. It is EH Grade II* listed (see Link )

This wonderful old barn has large stones at the base. These were most likely quarried from the hill locally.

Until I drove down this lane I did not know that there was a church here. The lane only leads to Freasley and so is very quiet.

This must be one of the more unusual places for a post box to be.

A lovely cottage in Freasley. As it happens, I know this cottage well as one of my aunts used to live here.

More attractive properties hidden behind high hedges and trees. Freasley is a very quiet backwater.

These "pie" kilns are long gone. I took this series of photos in about 1975 with a Black & White Polaroid camera hence the lack of quality, which has not been helped by their gradual degradation over time. These kilns were off Rushy* Lane which ran from south of Dosthill up to the hamlet of Whateley, and were situated near to where that lane crossed the railway. They were used to fire industrial ceramics such as sewerage pipes which had been made in the nearby (and also long gone) Stoneware factory. There was considerable brick and pipe industry around this site up until the mid seventies, but these kilns had not been used for many years even then. I hope that there are higher quality photographs of these remarkable little examples of industrial heritage in existence somewhere, because I know of no examples of the actual kilns themselves anywhere these days. *Rushy lane has subsequently lost its final "y" and is now known as Rush Lane. This is probably because on an early OS map the word "Rushy" was written along the route of the lane such that the "y" was round a corner. I think that on the next map this "y" was missed by the cartographer and so the lane got itself renamed. Photos 2 & 3 : SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 2 SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 3

These "pie" kilns are long gone. I took this series of photos in about 1975 with a Black & White Polaroid camera hence the lack of quality, which has not been helped by their gradual degradation over time. These kilns were off Rushy* Lane which ran from south of Dosthill up to the hamlet of Whateley, and were situated near to where that lane crossed the railway. They were used to fire industrial ceramics such as sewerage pipes which had been made in the nearby (and also long gone) Stoneware factory. There was considerable brick and pipe industry around this site up until the mid seventies, but these kilns had not been used for many years even then. I hope that there are higher quality photographs of these remarkable little examples of industrial heritage in existence somewhere, because I know of no examples of the actual kilns themselves anywhere these days. *Rushy lane has subsequently lost its final "y" and is now known as Rush Lane. This is probably because on an early OS map the word "Rushy" was written along the route of the lane such that the "y" was round a corner. I think that on the next map this "y" was missed by the cartographer and so the lane got itself renamed. Photos 1 & 3 : SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 1 SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 3

These "pie" kilns are long gone. I took this series of photos in about 1975 with a Black & White Polaroid camera hence the lack of quality, which has not been helped by their gradual degradation over time. These kilns were off Rushy* Lane which ran from south of Dosthill up to the hamlet of Whateley, and were situated near to where that lane crossed the railway. They were used to fire industrial ceramics such as sewerage pipes which had been made in the nearby (and also long gone) Stoneware factory. There was considerable brick and pipe industry around this site up until the mid seventies, but these kilns had not been used for many years even then. I hope that there are higher quality photographs of these remarkable little examples of industrial heritage in existence somewhere, because I know of no examples of the actual kilns themselves anywhere these days. *Rushy lane has subsequently lost its final "y" and is now known as Rush Lane. This is probably because on an early OS map the word "Rushy" was written along the route of the lane such that the "y" was round a corner. I think that on the next map this "y" was missed by the cartographer and so the lane got itself renamed. Photos 1 & 2 : SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 1 SP2199 : Pie Kilns : Photo 2

Dosthill's Victorian church (c.1870) does have a spire - but from this angle only its very top can be seen peeping above the chancel roof about halfway along.

Quite unusually the spire of St. Pauls, Dosthill, rises from ground level alongside the chancel.The base of the spire is used as the vestry. The church dates from 1870 and has a spectacularly powerful heating system of metal pipes on the rear of the pews that I used to burn my knees on as a lad !