Category: Walkspace Erratics

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Walking the Watershed for Terminalia

Photo © Josh Allen

A geographical quirk of living in the middle of the country is that half of our rivers flow northeast towards the Humber estuary and the other half flow southwest towards the Bristol Channel. The natural boundary that separates the two catchments is called a watershed. In the West Midlands the watershed lies along the ridge of the Lickey, Waseley, Clent and Rowley hill ranges. Rainwater that falls on the eastern side of these hills ends up in the North Sea via the Trent, whereas rain landing on the western side ends up in the Atlantic Ocean via the Severn.

For Terminalia 2024 we will celebrate this quietly mind-blowing feature by walking from the source of the river Rea to the source of the river Stour. The river sources are only 2.5 miles apart but the Rea springs on the east face of the hills and the Stour springs on the west so the two water courses have drastically different journeys, ultimately reaching the sea over 200 miles apart.

Source of the Rea in the Waseley Hills. Photo © Andy Howlett

Josh Allen of Walk Midlands (and co-facillitator of this walk) argues that the watershed also forms a significant cultural boundary between the rural southern Midlands, “a land of Morris Dancers, part-timbered buildings, ancient earthworks, 12th Century churches and cider orchards”, and the industrialised northern Midlands, “pockmarked by former collieries and industrial sites, redeveloped as warehouses, retail parks and Barrett houses”. This is reflected in the very different mythologies associated with the two waters: the Rea as Birmingham’s founding river, and the Stour’s role in the fantastical legend of St. Kenelm, Prince of Mercia.

St Kenelm. The source of the river Stour is a holy well dedicated to the boy prince. Photo © P L Chadwick

Meet Andy and Josh outside the visitor centre of the Waseley Hills Country Park (B45 9AT) at 12pm, Friday 23rd February. No need to book, just turn up. This is a four mile walk via Romsley and finishing up at Hagley Road on the southwest tip of Halesowen (B63 1DT). This is a walk in the hills so be prepared for some steep sections and muddy conditions. Walking boots advised! Bring a packed lunch and some water. Due to the time of year we can’t recommend ritual bathing but feel free to bring a votive offering of some sort. We aim to be finished by 3pm.

There are toilets and a cafe at Waseley visitor centre and there’s a Harvester at the end of the walk. We can stop half way for a toilet break in Romsley too.The 63 and 61 buses get you close to the Waseley Hills Country Park entrance for the start of the walk. The 4H, 142A and 192 buses can be picked up at the end of the walk for connections to Hagley Station and Halesowen Bus Station. We can advise anyone who needs to get back to Birmingham!

This walk is part of Terminalia, a one day festival of walking, space, place and psychogeography on 23rd February. Terminalia was the festival of Terminus, Roman god of boundaries and landmarks. See what events are happening in other parts of the country here.

Terminus, god of landmarks and boundaries

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Upcoming Events Walkspace Erratics

Minimal Traffic Meander: in and out of the city with Badnote Choir

Birmingham is still a city very much dominated by the car. It may not be the most pedestrian friendly place but if you go out looking it is possible to discover a parallel, car-free city of towpaths, alleyways, green corridors, piazzas and footbridges. On this walk, Simon Jefferies (AKA The Badnote Choir) will share how his search for traffic-free dog walking routes led him on an unexpected creative journey.

First I was a musician

Then I was a musician with a dog

Dog got me interested in photography, and between us we devised a method of getting into town and back to take pictures of buildings, and random items, whilst avoiding as many roads as possible

Dog (Siri) is sadly no longer with us, but I may borrow one for the occasion

Join us, and enjoy this artist/dog created circuit

Bring a camera

Bring a dog if you want

And your explore boots

I hope even the most avid investigative walker will discover some new aspect

We will traverse; parkland, alleyways, underpasses, footpaths, towpaths, squares, bridges, piazzas, damwalls and stairs (sorry not wheelchair friendly)

Meet outside the Deaf Cultural Centre on Ladywood Road (B16 8SZ) at 11am on Saturday November 25th.

As this is a lengthier route than usual (approx 5 miles), we’ll be splitting it into two halves with a lunch break in Centenary Square. The full route is a circular one, ending back at the starting point in Ladywood. Those who prefer a shorter walk are welcome to come just for the first 2.5 mile section and leave us in the city centre. For those joining us for the full circuit, we aim to be finished by 2:30/3pm. Then there’s the option of going to The Vine Inn for a post-walk pint.

No need to book, just turn up!

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Skull Walk 4: Widdershins

One good thing about moving into the dark half of the year is that it brings with it the opportunity for some night walking. On our own we may feel apprehensive about venturing out after dark, but with the power of collective presence we can overcome this and take back the night for some seasonal celebration.

As per Walkspace tradition, we shall be observing the beginning of night walking season with a walk around the Stirchley Skull this Halloween. We created the Stirchley Skull three years ago by overlaying a skull image onto a map of the neighbourhood and then walking its outline. We’ve continued to walk the skull every year since but this time we’re going to add a little twist…

Up to now we’ve always walked the skull clockwise but this year we’re going to see what happens if we reverse the direction and go “widdershins” or against the way. To walk widdershins means to walk in a direction contrary to the course of the sun (as it appears from the Northern Hemisphere). In British folklore it’s considered bad luck to walk widdershins around a church. In the fairytale Childe Rowland, a young girl does so and is transported to Elfland where she is held captive by the Elf King. It remains to be seen what happens when you do the same around a neighbourhood skull.

The possibility of moving between worlds is increased on Halloween, it being the time of year when the veil between the physical world and that of spirits is at its thinnest. As such we shall be keeping an eye out for otherworldly apparitions and messages from the beyond.

If people have any of their own traditions, objects or costumes* that they’d like to bring to the walk then we encourage you to do so. In the past we’ve had jar lanterns, crow costumes, soul cakes and an anatomical skull model thrown into the mix. Whether Pagan, Christian or none of the above, this time of year means lots of different things to different people and we embrace this multiplicity. To quote Weird Walk, “if the magic feels real, then it is”.

Join us on Tuesday 31st October at 7:30pm outside Stirchley Library on Bournville Lane. This is a gentle circular route lasting no more than 90 minutes. The terrain will mostly be pavement and roads, with a bit of grass and a gravelly track. Prepare for muddy conditions and the first gales of winter. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather. No need to book, just turn up.

*while costumes are welcome, they are by no means obligatory

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Walk Report: Wandering Rocks 2

For the second walk in our Wandering Rocks series we visited Birmingham city centre for more glacial boulders, geological curiosities and further examples of “beached heritage”.

The “wandering rocks” of the title refers to the erratic boulders which travelled to Birmingham from Wales on an ice sheet 450,000 years ago. The catalyst for this walk came when I discovered one of these peripatetic stones hiding out in my front garden beside the footpath.

© Andy Howlett

After receiving confirmation of its erraticness from the experts at the Erratics Project, I met up with Robson in the pub and we started plotting the next walk. Taking after the artist Alyson Hallett who travels the world with large stones, we decided to take the garden erratic for a tour of its adopted home city.

© Andy Howlett

Appropriately enough the walk started in the Jewellery Quarter, a place full of precious stones that have travelled from all over the world. Eleven people came to share this tiny chapter of our stone’s journey by taking a turn pulling the cart.

Our first stop was the War Stone which has given its name to the cemetery in which it now resides. An inscription reveals that it once marked the meeting point of the parish boundaries of Birmingham, Aston and Handsworth and that its name is a corruption of “Hoar Stone” meaning boundary stone.

It was an emotional reunion for the War Stone and its smaller cousin who for several millions of years would have been neighbours in the Arenig Mountains.

© Jay Mason-Burns

Next up we visited a flagstone in St Paul’s Square which appears to be a petrified slab of riverbed.

© Jay Mason-Burns
© Jay Mason-Burns

As is often the case on our Erratic walks, many of the best revelations came from our guests. On our visit to the Badger/Heap memorial in Cathedral Square (or “Pigeon Park”), Phil revealed that in funerary architecture a truncated column symbolises a life cut short. The monument commemorates John Heap and William Badger, two stone carvers who were killed by a falling truss during the construction of the Town Hall in 1833. It has since become a focus for International Workers Day to commemorate all workers killed in the workplace.

© Jay Mason-Burns

Curiously this monument isn’t the only “spare part” of the Town Hall to have strayed from its mother building and taken on a new function. In our first Wandering Rocks walk we visited Cannon Hill Park where two of the building’s capitals (the topmost part of a column) enjoy new lives as flowerbed ornaments. How many more architectural “erratics” are out there living incognito? Could you construct an entire building out of them?

© Andy Howlett

In Counter-Tourism: The Handbook Crab Man introduces the concept of “beached heritage” to describe any sort of artefact that has travelled (geographically and/or temporally) and washed up on alien shores.

Birmingham’s most striking example of this is surely the Grazebrook Beam Engine of 1817. Built to the design of local inventor and Steam Age pioneer James Watt, the beam engine was used for blowing blast furnaces at the Grazebrook foundry in Dudley. It’s the largest steam engine ever built in the Birmingham/Black Country area and it remained in operation for close to a century. It now sits on a busy traffic island overlooking the Aston Expressway.

Screenshot

The engine is accessible via pedestrian subways but there is no information board to explain its historical significance. Its mute grandeur speaks volumes enough. Just over the way though is a shiny black plaque commemorating the Matalan development of 2001.

The traffic island itself, Dartmouth Circus, is something of a monument to Birmingham’s motorcity age when the planners reimagined roundabouts as sites for green space and relaxation. In fulfilment of this vision we stopped here for a picnic.

© Andy Howlett

We visited several examples of public art: some for their nomadic history (William Pye’s Peace Sculpture), others for their geological intrigue (Vincent Woropay’s Wattilisk), but perhaps the most pleasing stop of this sort was the one we didn’t plan.

As we passed through Aston University campus one of our party (Phil again) spotted one of John Maine’s Aston Stones which he remembered from his time as a student there. Phil told us how originally there were five of these stones (we only saw one) positioned along two axes in the shape of a cross. They weren’t fastened to the ground though and if several drunk students put their backs into it, the stones could be manoeuvred around the campus in the middle of the night. This earned them the nickname “The Rolling Stones”.

Those other four stones must be out there somewhere. Photo © Brianboru100

Thank you for joining us on this journey, whether that was in person or by screen. If you’d like to join us on future walks and hear about other Walkspace activity please sign up to our mailing list.

For now I shall leave you with an on-theme poem from one of my favourite writers, Joel Lane:

Don't Go

You said, stone dies like us.
They knocked down that pub 
off Deritend, close to the viaduct
that'll be the next thing to go.
I said, but stone doesn't live:

just sweats it day after day,
holding on, but not feeling,
slowly growing a coat of ash
while the lime drips from its pores.
You said, that's not living?
© Charlie Best
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The Wandering Rocks – walk two

Last year we began our Wandering Rocks series of walks by visiting some of the erratic boulders that travelled here from Wales on a glacier 450,000 years ago. While most of the boulders are to be found in the suburbs to the south and west of Birmingham, for this walk we’ll be heading to the city centre where an outlier erratic can be found disguised as a parish boundary marker.

In Counter-Tourism: The Handbook Crab Man introduces the concept of “beached heritage” to describe artefacts that have travelled and washed up in unlikely places. “Once you become sensitive to these ‘erratics’ you will begin to navigate a landscape from which such anomalies, large and small, repeatedly pop up.”

On this walk we’ll be visiting other examples of beached heritage including an architectural spare part repurposed as a workers’ memorial and a piece of Birmingham’s industrial heritage literally marooned on an island.

We’ll also be joined by a very special guest of the mineral variety: our very own “wandering rock”. If you fancy it then you may take a turn in carrying the guest for part of our city centre tour.

Book your place
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Metaphysical Treasure Hunt: a group drift in Stirchley

For June’s Erratic we’re trying out a classic walking game devised by Morag Rose and the Loiterer’s Resistance Movement. We’ve long been wanting to try some more experimental approaches to our public walks and the Metaphysical Treasure Hunt seems like a great way to start.

The Loiterers Resistance Movement is a Manchester based collective of urban wanderers founded in 2006 by Morag Rose. Over the years they’ve developed an array of playful techniques “to nurture an awareness of everyday space, (re)engaging with, (re)mapping and (re)enchanting the city.”

Exploring Manchester with Morag and the LRM © Andy Howlett

The Metaphysical Treasure Hunt is a game in which participants respond to a series of playful prompts which encourage new ways of engaging with space. The game is played as a group, with participants responding collectively and improvising the route of the walk in real time. We’ll be starting ours in Stirchley Park in Birmingham but who knows where we might end up?

These are some examples of prompts used in past LRM treasure hunts:

  1. Start with something light. Look for the brightest yellow thing you can find.
  2. Look down at the flotsam and jetsom. What are traces and rubbish trying to tell you?
  3. Can you find evidence or rumour of the supernatural or mythological in your landscape? Do ghosts linger?

Each prompt gets around ten minutes dedicated to it before moving on to the next one. For our own Metaphysical Treasure Hunt we will source all of the prompts from the ever-growing Walkspace membership. Whether you’re familiar with Stirchley or if you’ve never visited before, you’re guaranteed to see and experience the world in new ways.

Meet in the centre of Stirchley Park (B30 2JX) at 11am, Saturday 24th June. No need to book just turn up. The route of the walk will be improvised on the day so the terrain is unknown but expect tarmac, paving, lawn and moderate inclines. Steps will be avoided. After the walk there’s the option of heading to Artefact Gallery for refreshments and to see the Walkspace 23 exhibition.

The route, distance and speed of the walk will be determined collectively based on the preferences and mobility requirements of all taking part. In general though you can expect a leisurely stroll of around 1.5 miles lasting 100 minutes. Children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. The walk shall go ahead whatever the weather.

Any questions email: walkspace.uk@gmail.com

Other Walkspace events in June

These events are all part of the Walkspace 23 group show which runs 3 June to 1 July at Artefact in Stirchley, Birmingham

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On Return: Seeking Solace in a City of Trauma

For May’s Erratic Rachel Henaghan takes us on an early morning walk through the shadows of her past. Looking for solace in a city of trauma and austerity, this “return to station” maps a personal story of recovery and reflection after a career in the NHS.

Rachel Henaghan moved to the area thirty years ago but only became truly familiar with Birmingham after commencing her career as a paramedic.

“I had a backstage pass to the city, the privilege of accessing its hidden subterranean spaces, restricted areas, vistas from many high rises. This is costly: there are places I cannot pass without remembering, I know the stories of maintained roadside shrines and flowers, some places I would never venture to again, and I have lost the freedom to explore or travel alone.” 

The walk starts at sunrise, a liminal time when the day closes for some and begins for others. Henaghan invites you to witness the waking hour in the workplace that inspired her to re-establish her art practice. It is a journey of radical cartography, where places are defined by memory and experience.

Meet at 5:30am, Saturday 6th May on the pavement outside Highgate Fire Station, Moseley Rd, B12 0DP. Please note this is an active fire station so PLEASE DON’T BLOCK ANY OF THE ENTRANCES! The fire station is on both the number 50 and 8 bus routes, both of which operate at this hour.

Don’t block access to the station!

The walk is about 2.7 miles long and will last around 2 hours, finishing at the Gun Quarter. The terrain will mostly be pavement and road with only minor inclines. Steps will be avoided. After the walk you are welcome to join us for breakfast or coffee in a cafe. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather.

Due to the early nature of this walk please email andyhowlett@hotmail.com to book a place so that we know how many to expect.

Rachel Henaghan was a paramedic and first responder in Birmingham with West Midlands Ambulance Service for 20 years. In 2020 she was diagnosed with autism and PTSD, and decided it was the right time to become a full-time artist. She is a resident at BOM (Birmingham Open Media) and is currently on the STEAMhouse create program researching the potential for VR to improve the health and wellbeing of frontline staff.

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Layers of Landscape: a suburban stroll with Robson

Robson has been compulsively walking and exploring southwest Birmingham and its rich surrounds for many years. In that time he has developed an expansive knowledge of the local topography: its winding lanes, ancient trackways and snaking valleys. A walk with Robson reveals a layered landscape of geological, animal and human interventions that form the backdrop of our suburban existence.

Robson out and about

For our first Erratic of the year Robson will take us from Bournville Green out to Manor Farm Park and back again, peeling back the layers of the natural and human landscapes to reveal the magic of the everyday. The route takes in old pathways that once crossed farmland, a brook with multiple identities, a 400 year old hedge, a chunky piece of 1960s street infrastructure, a portal to the Elan Valley, ripples from an ice age flood and a recreation of a 14th Century Serbian Byzantine church.

Meet by the Rest House on Bournville Village Green at 11am, Sunday 26th February. This is a circular route of 3.5 miles, finishing back at the Rest House. We’ll walk at a gentle pace and aim to be back by 1pm. The terrain is pavements, roads and grass. We’ll be crossing a footbridge which has ramp access. Steps will be avoided. No Need to book, just turn up. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather.

Meet here. Photo © Steve Cadman
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Photos from Winter Solstice sunrise walk

For the final Walkspace Erratic of 2022 we visited Bordesley Henge in Birmingham to mark the Winter Solstice. Bordesley Henge is a municipal stone circle situated in Kingston Hill Park and is believed to date back to the 1990s. Six standing stones form a ring on top of a mound, up which a spiral footpath winds its way from the park’s entrance just off the A4540 Middleway. The park is the very definition of a hidden gem and from above it looks like a giant ammonite.

Andy first piloted this walk three years ago in the days before Walkspace but this time around he was joined by Charlie who helped flesh-out the idea with a lamp-lit procession and Yule Altar. Being a sunrise walk we weren’t at all sure how many people to expect but we were delighted to be joined by some friendly faces including the Deer Mother and Holly King.

After making our offerings at the altar and enjoying an impromptu singalong, some of us made our way onto the Grand Union Canal and followed the towpath north to Spaghetti Junction for a cup of tea in Salford Circus – a very different type of stone circle.

We hope you enjoy these pictures from the day and here’s to many more Erratics in 2023. It gets lighter from here!

Photos by Andy Howlett unless otherwise stated

Photo: © Charlie Best
Photos: © Charlie Best
Photo: © Roo Hocking
Photo: © Roo Hocking
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Winter Solstice Sunrise Walk

The Winter Solstice is the midnight of the year: the point at which the sun is furthest away and daylight hours are at their lowest. It’s the shortest day, the longest night but it also marks the beginning of lighter days to come. In the cycle of the year, it’s a time between death and rebirth and so is a time for rest, reflection and dreaming.

The clamour and strain of city living can make it difficult to feel connected to these cosmic cycles but fortunately Birmingham does provide some unorthodox sacred sites that suit the purpose. One of these is the council-commissioned stone circle at Kingston Hill Park in Bordesley Village, believed to date back to the 1990s. This is where we will welcome the sunrise with a silent, lantern-lit procession up the spiral footpath to the stones. Here we will create a Yule altar* and watch the first of the sun’s rays hit the city skyline.

From there we will make our way onto the Grand Union Canal towpath and head north through Saltley towards Gravelly Hill. We’ve already spoken about the significance of Spaghetti Junction as a confluence of confluences and it is here that we shall end our walk with a visit to some very different standing stones: the concrete columns of Salford Circus. If we’re lucky with the weather then the sun will provide us with a natural light show across this mighty colonnade and the surrounding scenery.

Meet Andy and Charlie outside The Rainbow pub on Bordesley High Street at 7:45am, Wednesday 21st December.

The route is three miles long and will likely take upwards of two hours including the procession. For those who just want to come for the sunrise but not the towpath walk you are welcome to do so – we’ll be finished at the Bordesley stones by 8:30. For those carrying on to Spaghetti Junction there are regular trains back from Aston Station and buses into town from Lichfield Road.

The route will mostly be pavement and towpath with some steep and uneven sections. Steps will be avoided. Wear sturdy footwear and wrap up warm. We recommend bringing bottled water and something to snack on. No need to book, just turn up. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather.

*You are welcome to bring a contribution for the Yule altar eg. holly, mistletoe, pinecones, candles etc.