Day trip to Wolverhampton and Brewood to Bridge 8 (Shropshire Union Canal)

St Peter's Collegiate Church

Inside the Church

Yesterday (Friday) we got the bus to Wolverhampton.  It is only a short bus ride.  Near where we got off the bus was a lovely church which we hadn’t seen before, St. Peters Collegiate Church so we crossed over the road to have a look.  It was open so we had a look inside.  It was really lovely and quite big although not as big inside as it looked from the outside.

Cross Shaft

Bargaining Stone

In the gardens was a large stone with a circular hole through the top.  Many generations ago this stone stood in Queen Square and when the farmers sold cattle, or did deals of other kinds, the transaction was clinched by the seller and the purchaser, in the presence of a witness, shaking hands through the bargain stone.  Long ago, this historic stone was removed from the square and placed by St Peters church where it can be seen today.

Also in the gardens is a cross shaft which dates back to the 9^th Century A.D. and is all that remains of the Anglo-Saxon Monastery that used to stand here.

 

We then went and had a look around the shops, had some lunch and another browse around the shops then got the bus back.

This morning (Saturday) it was raining when we got up.  There was a craft and produce fayre in the Community Hall in the village so we walked up there to have a look.    There was a few stalls so we had a look around then went back to the boat.  The rain had eased off and almost stopped so we decided to move on a couple of miles to a nice open spot where we have moored before in the middle of nowhere.

Lovely view of Brewood Church

Avenue Bridge

We chugged on and there is a nice view of Brewood Church from the canal.  We went under a few bridges, one of them is particularly nice, it is called Avenue Bridge.  It is a private ornate balustrade bridge which carries the driveway to Chillington Hall, owned by the Giffard family since the 12^th Century, across the canal. This type of ornate bridge was constructed for powerful landowners who would only grant permission for a waterway to cross their land if such a structure was built for them.

We chugged on and moored just after Bridge 8.  There were quite a few boats there but room for us and we almost got there in the dry, it started raining harder as we moored up, if we had only left 10 minutes earlier we would have got there in the dry, never mind, we didn’t get too wet, just damp really.

It then rained for most of the afternoon and as it was also quite chilly, we decided to have our first fire since last Winter and it lit first time!

We are staying here tomorrow as well and then we will be leaving the Shropshire Union Canal and turning onto the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal.

Moored near Bridge 8