Brewood Walk: Part II--the village and its pathways at dusk

   Our first foray into Brewood was expressly for the purpose of getting a few groceries. I went back into the village by another route, climbing a tall, narrow staircase up from the cut where we were moored.

   The stairs took me up to the top of the cutting to a car park (parking lot) for a local canalside pub. From there I turn left, away from the canal, following the main carriage road through the village where I discovered a different foot path past the cemetary. Here then are my impressions of Brewood at dusk...

As I climb the stairs up the side of the cutting, a crow flies overhead.

A rookery of thirteen nests lies in the trees above the cutting where we moored.

Bargate street is the main carriage way through the village. Horse drawn coaches used to travel this route.

Would you like to live here?

This is a newer brick cottage painted to resemble an old oak beamed ancestor...

...with tiny, jewel sized gardens peeping from between cottages, beckoning one to stop and savor their beauty.

This is a view of Brewood village center. Church Road leads up to Market Place where Bargate street curves around to meet with Sandy Lane. The Cooperative food store seen in the previous Brewood blog post is just out of sight, behind me, which is the way I am walking. This path will take me down hill...

..looking back up Sandy Lane toward The Swan Hotel and the village high street.

Public toilets fascinate me! America has nothing like this to provide for public sanitation. Stateside you better go before leaving home, or hope the shops you visit will let you use the facilities. All toilets in America are linked to an abode, business, or shopping center. The only thing that comes close are the toilets at the local park! Here in the U.K. public facilities stand alone, clean and tidy, lacking graffiti and other items one would not like to contemplate while using the toilets.

Further down the lane I find these amazing steps. I have no idea where they will take me...but another public footpath sign beckons!

A long straight view to the other end piques my curiosity.

Intrigued by this path with its low stone wall bordering one side and tall hedges draped with swags of Hydrangea Petiolaris and swathes of Ivy, I continue my Brewood walk.

Ah! This path cuts across the top of the village, passing by the cemetary which sits adjacent to and behind the church and the High street. It begins on Sandy lane and comes out at the other end of the village on Dean Street.

The back side of the church with old gravestones planted alongside.

St.Mary and St. Chad's church in the gathering dusk.

I've reached the far end of the path. Looking back from whence I came.

The gate leading to Dean street, and a cottage with blue doors across the lane.  The Admiral Rooney pub is on the left outside the gate.

Old smithy cottages dating from the 14th century. One is for sale--available for £545,000. If you are interested click on this link to view the interior.

Private drive to swank housing which is named after the Apple Yard which is no longer there due to swank housing.

A public footpath appears just past the old Smithy cottages. The arrow indicates one walks through the driveway of this home and continues to follow the dirt lane around...

Where I wonder does this lead? For a small village there are sure a lot of public foot paths crossing thither and yon. It makes me wonder what the villagers were getting up to back when, eschewing the main streets for footpath and back lane.

An old and expertly laid hedge, laying bare in the February weather, waiting for spring to give it growth and fill in the spaces with green.

Aha! The church spire hoved into view and I suddenly realized this lane took me around from the opposite direction, to the foothpath Les and I used earlier to come into the village! It is named appropriately, "Dirty Lane!"

The lane at dusk...Brewood would make a great film location for a "brooding" mystery film.

Back up the lane the way I came through the drive of the large cream colored house and across Dean street at an angle from the old Smithy cottages sat this bench overlooking a wood along a road on the back side of Brewood called The Pavement.

Down the Pavement I walked, past homes lit up in the gathering dusk. I came across this lovely tiny walled back yard of another 14th century pocket cottage on the corner of the Pavement and the lower end of Sandy Lane. According to historical websites it dates to the 1600's and was a buttery added on to the end of a wood timbered home.

Old stone steps stack up, leading beyond large double doors to the blue front door of the Old smithy...

...which was re-faced in brick in the 1800's. This was the site of the actual town Smithy with a forge at one time.

Up Sandy Lane, past the footpath steps behind the cemetary...

Back around Bargate street towards the canal which came through in 1772...

passing by the Lion pub, lit up for the evening, on home to NB Valerie, where Les waited in the gathering dark for his wandering wife to re-appear!