Beers, Boats and Boozers, 2018. No.33

It seems that after Gnosall Heath I had a dry period and a few days before our next visit to a public house. Purely for the purposes of research you understand. We had a nice trip down the rest of the Shropshire Union and then right onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

Just outside the village in the Cowley Tunnel hacked out of the sandstone but two way and with a tow path.  Cowely is a little hamlet to the east of the canal. I always  wonder why they called it Cowley rather than Gnosall. The tunnel is only 81 yards long but was supposed to be much longer, 690 yards, but it was found the rock was much faulted so even during the construction they decided to open it out.

At High Onn there are two wharfs. This one was built in the 1830 for Lord Talbot, the local land owner. The other side of the bridge is another that was built for Cadbury's in the 1920's and is now a private house.

The trees of Lapley Wood on the Stretton Spoil Banks make me think of  a 'Lord of the Rings' set as they lean in and seem to either intimidate or protect you, depending on the weather, or your mood.

 At the Stretton Aqueduct over the Telford engineered Turnpike London to Holyhead Road, seems to have the same railings as the aqueduct at Nantwich, but with rounded stone pillars instead of squared ones.

We got to the end of the Shroppie and the shallow stop lock at the junction with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal with it old toll house at Autherley.

We turned right to head towards Kidderminster and the Severn and ignored the Wolverhampton 21 at Aldersley Junction and worked down the several narrow locks. At the bridges at the foot of the locks you could see the erosion caused by the ropes to the horses being passed under the the bridge and wearing it away so that the brick work looked like lace trim, or icicles.

We were in damson land and in the right season so every stop was taken advantage of to get supplies in for jam making etc.

The keepers at Bratch told us that they had been quite quiet for the season, and not much had passed us going north. Bratch is one of those gongoozlers places, so you very rarely get to pass through without a crowd, and as we passed on a beautiful day we had a few watching us do our thing.

It is always quite surprising how rural you feel even though you are very close to the industrial areas. I suppose this area, around Wombourne was once industrial, with a big steel works a little ahead of us, long gone of course. The tow path changes sides for a short distance as it had to dodge around the steel works wharves.

At Greensforge we went for a little walk and found an old mill. There are two Roman forts just to tghe east of the lock one from the early days of the occupation and the larger from 60-80 AD. Greensforge gets its name from a forge that was here. The forge replaced an earlier mill on the Smestow Brook below the canal. It changed again to a blade mill for sharpening tools and then in the 19th century to a corn mill. In 2008 it was changed to flats, in a nice quiet location.

After a walk who can resist a pint in the sun. We settled on the Navigation just next to the lock at Greensforge. Apparently the original pub from 1767 was over the road, where the car park is now. The present building must have been from the mid 1800's but has got nice thick walls and little rooms that have been knocked into one. They had four hand pulls on and it was busy with people on their way home after a day at work. Poor them, having to work!?

I first tried the XXX from Three Tuns Brewery. The brewery is the oldest working brewery in the UK and is in Bishop's Castle on the Shropshire/Welsh border. It was first licenced in 1642 and part of the old brewery forms part of the 'new' brewery. That is a small Victorian tower brewery built in 1888. In the mid 1970's times were hard and after a series of closures plans were drawn up to convert it to flats in 2002. However in 2003 it was bought and brought up to modern hygiene standards and brews some quality ales, if my Triple X was anything to go by. The 4.3% packed a beautiful pale bitter that had sweetness from the malts but enough of an interest from the hops right down to the last drop. Very Nice indeed at £3.20.

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I next tried a pint of Golden Glow, 4.4%, from Holdens of Woodsetton, near Dudley. Brewing started in the back of the Park Inn but has extended since then. They now have around 20 pubs too. It was another lovely pale, smooth and thick bitter with a sweet finish.

I was now on a roll, and not far to get back to the boat, so was allowed another. I went for the local brewery Enville. It is not very far away, on the way to Stourbridge. The original brewery was behind the Stamford Arms in the village but it was closed down in 1919 and the building knocked down in 1950. In 2002 on a Victorian farm a new brewery was set up and has grown over the years. Over half their production is for their Enville Ale 4.5%, or beekeepers ale as it has added honey and is from a recipe from 1908. Again it is a pale beer with a touch of sweetness from the to compliment the bitterness. Surprisingly despite being the only beer tied today to have added honey it wasn't as sweet as the other two. I do love these Black Country beers and they were all well kept in a nice friendly pub that also does food. It is handy for the moorings, nothing too flash, but by heck I enjoyed the beers.