Short-ARS at Loggerheads

A Short-ARS walk is planned for this coming Saturday, 24th November. 

The scheduled route is from Loggerheads with a 6 – 7 mile circuit taking in woodland, open fields and quiet country lanes. This walk passes near the site of the battle of Blore Heath in 1459. 

In September of that year, the armies of the House of Lancaster and the House of York met on a damp Sunday morning at Blore Heath and fought the battle which would begin the English Wars of the Roses.

Thousands of men from across England fought and died in a bloody battle, which lasted for the rest of that day.

It has been suggested that Woodhouse Lane in Kinsey Heath was originally called Widows Lane as many women that had watched their Lancastrian husbands lose their life in the battle retreated northwards along that lane. 

Legend has it that Queen Margaret of Anjou watched the battle from the nearby Mucklestone church tower, only to flee when she realised her army had lost. 

When she fled, and to disguise her route, the local blacksmith was ordered to turn the shoes backwards of her horses, and those of her entourage. For his troubles, he was killed so as not to give away this cunning plan.

A stone cross still stands on Blore Heath to this day, to mark the spot where the Lancastrian leader is said to have been killed.

This walk should have taken place at the end of September but the route was changed to the drier Sandstone Trail after very heavy rain in the second half of that month.

A recce of the Loggerheads route is planned for tomorrow and, hopefully, conditions underfoot will be somewhat better.

Meet on Audlem car park at 9.30am on Saturday. The walk will be led by John Tilling

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