Madeley Loop

“With your back to the main entrance of The Anstice, walk to your left. Follow the road as it turns left and bear slightly left to go down Court Street (High Street is on your right) . When you reach the major road (Parkway) use the pedestrian crossing on your left and continue in the same direction, still on Court Street. Continue until just before number 61 Court Street, which is on the right. Look down Court Street and you will see the road sign for Thomas Parker drive, Thomas Parker was a very interesting man, who invented , in Wolverhampton, the world’s first electric car. He was born, educated, and first employed in Coalbrookdale . Turn right and follow the tarmac path until the Silkin Way where you turn left. (In his later years, Thomas Parker bought and revitalised the Court Iron Works, you can see the site of these works off on the right of the Silkin Way (the site is now the Court Industrial Estate) together with the remains of the Madeley Court Colliery on your left.) Follow the Silkin Way as it veers right, away from the line of the old railway. Very shortly , turn left, joining the (clockwise) T50 as it goes downhill past the remains of the wind powered Madeley Court corn mill (The Court mill, an early 17th-century brick building with stone dressings, a stone gable and adjoining stone wall, and heavy internal timber framing, was ruinous in 1980. It had ceased working between 1820 and 1847; the wheel had gone by 1880, and the pool was covered by industrial spoil.– source https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol11/pp40-56#h3-0003 ). Continue under the old railway bridge. Very shortly, leave the T50 to turn right along Rough Park Way, go past the pool and -join the (anticlockwise) T50 to turn sharp left, initially through trees, then across a metal bridge. On this section you should see Madeley Court (now a hotel) . (Madeley Court is a 16th-century country house which was originally built as a grange to the medieval Wenlock Priory. The house is built in two storeys to an L-shaped plan and is a Grade II* listed building. To the south west of the house is a 16th-century gatehouse which is separately Grade I listed) Continue to follow the T50 waymarks (going straight on, then turning left over another bridge) until you reach the approach drive to the Hotel. Here you turn right ( the T50 continues straight) Follow the approach drive until it bends right. Here you fork left along a very obvious path. Follow this path until it meets another, very close to a road, where you turn left. After a very short distance, take the left fork., passing behind KFC. Follow the main path as it bends right, cross over the entrance to the Aldi car park and continue on the pavement to the main road (Parkway), Turn slightly right to the light-controlled pedestrian crossing , and cross the road. Once safely over, turn to your left for a few yards, then turn right into Maddocks. Continue in the same direction ignoring the turn into Park Avenue (the first mini roundabout). Just before the second mini roundabout , cross over into Church Street, on the corner observe the old Congregational Chapel (Built 1874. Later the United Reform Chapel, which closed in 1985) Continue down Church Street passing Madeley Hall (This was a high status red brick building of 18th century date. It is now a sheltered housing scheme owned and managed by Wrekin Housing Trust. ) Turn left (still on Church Street). Take care here as there is no pavement on the left and the one on the right is very narrow. After a short distance you will see Upper House & ‘King Charles Barn on your right . (Upper House was built around 1621 as a farmhouse The adjoining 17th century barn is famous for being a hiding place for King Charles II after the battle of Worcester in 1651. It was used as a local market in the 18th century, it has now been converted into private flats) . At this point you will encounter the way marking for route 23, we have tried to distinguish the routes by using numbered stickers where they meet. Continue along Church Street, bending right, then, at the junction with Coalport road , bend left then cross the road to enter the church yard, (You will see the Old Vicarage just a little further down, this is a 17th century high status red brick building. John Fletcher lived here from 1760 to 1785.) In the church yard but before reaching the church, on your left there is the grave of Thomas Parker and several of his relatives. He was related, via his mother, to the Fletchers) Note: there are no waymarks in the church yard ot the Community orchard. Although there has been a church on this site since Norman times, the present octagonal building was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1796. The church remains largely as Telford designed it, apart from the addition of a chancel in 1910. ”