The best cycling routes around Stottesdon

Cafe opposite side to the Lock pub

Cofee break

Billingsley Colliery was the furthest from Highley, at a distance a little over 2 miles to the west. Mining on the site began during the late 18th century, almost 100 years before Highley, but a number of companies successively failed to make a go of the venture. In 1910 the Billingsley Colliery Company was formed to buy the colliery. At the time the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News reported that the new company was ‘about to lay down a line of railway to connect its mineral property with the Severn Valley Line at Eardington’. In the event, the route of the line joined the existing Kinlet Railway, connecting to the Severn Valley Railway via the same sidings as Kinlet Colliery. In 1915 the colliery was sold to the Highley Mining Company. The government increased its control over mines and mineral resources during the First World War and while under government control, wages, hours and safety improved. By 1921 around 250 were employed at Billingsley. Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s decision to return the mines to their original owners in 1921, with the likely reversal of these benefits, brought about a miners’ strike. During that strike, Billingsley Colliery closed.

let the little ones finally use up any remaining energy to encourage a quiet drive back.🤣

excellent family ride though a little steep for my boys.

Sculpture of miner standing in colliery lift cage under a clock tower in the former colliery. Sculpture created by David Howorth 1999.

Highley Church is the oldest building in the village. The earliest parts were built when the creation of the Domesday book was still in living memory, in the early 1100s. The Normans built most of the present chancel and nave . Although within 150 years there were complaints that the building was falling down, much of this early work does survive, especially some of the windows and doors. In the 1300’s a series of bad harvests and epidemics devastated much of England. Shropshire took several generations to recover and it was not until the next century that major work again took place on the church. The tower was put up, the walls were raised and finally, perhaps in the early 1500’s, a fine new wooden ceiling was installed. These events took place against the background of the Wars of the Roses; Highley belonged to the powerful Mortimer family and eventually became the property of the victorious Tudor kings. In spite of the violence of those times there must have been prosperous farmers and gentry in Highley who could spend money on the church. Over the following centuries the roof was altered, the interior was remodelled, a gallery was fitted and removed and the church has been repaired and restored. Every age has left its mark. The church can be reached by a walk of about 15 minutes, up the road from the Station (see the Guided Walk leaflets). It is usually open and visitors can explore its history in more detail, or simply enjoy its tranquillity.

The Burwarton Estate between Ludlow and Bridgnorth covers 11,000 acres of Shropshire countryside near to Brown Clee Hill which, at 540m, is the highest point in the county. The gravel estate track is a great vantage point from which to admire the views.