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Wellington, most people would say in Shropshire, but strictly in the County of The Wrekin, was awarded Walkers are Welcome status in June, 2010.
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| The Wrekin |
The Ercall |
Apley Wood |
News
- Wellington Walking Festival Programme Published . The festival is on October 6th and 7th 2012, please see our new Festival Page
- Our next regular walk will be on Sunday June 3rd at 2 pm starting from outside Wellington Leisure Centre.
Betty will lead a walk looking at the new route of the Shropshire Way which now passes through Wellington.
The walk will last about two hours. If you would like to come
please wear suitable footwear and bring waterproof clothing. All are
welcome.
If you have any queries please contact us.
- April 24th was the 80th Anniversary of the Kinder Trespass. See here
- Advance warning
- Thursday June 14th Our second AGM, more details later.
- Sunday July 1st Probably an away day to the Granville Heritage Trail (7.5 miles, but can shorten to 5 ish).
- Saturday August 4th Kevin will lead a walk to the Huntsman in Little Wenlock as part of
Love British Food 2012 . This will entail a 9.30 a.m. start- see the full details
- Sunday August 4th Probably no walk
- New walk on the third Sunday of each month, which started on April 15th. There is a new Walking for Health walk starting at 2pm outside the leisure centre.
This is a 4 heart + walk, so is at the top end of the Walking for Health walks. See Walkabout Wrekin.
- We have recently joined The Walking Partnership. This new partnership, supported by Ramblers Worldwide Holidays, provides direct financial contributions to local walking groups to help with organising group walks, encouraging people to get out walking, helping to clear and improve footpaths, providing equipment to help walkers etc. Over the past 65 years, Ramblers Worldwide Holidays has given many millions of pounds to assist walking charities and conservation projects in Britain and the countries they visit on their worldwide holidays. Now our group can benefit directly.
Ramblers Worldwide Holidays operate group walking holidays in the UK and all around the world. Each holiday is accompanied by a qualified walk leader.
Holidays are graded in terms of difficulty, and there is a full range from sightseeing right up to hut-to-hut mountain treks. See above.
- Membership cards are now available for our regular walkers.
- New walking shop in Wellington. Walkers can now purchase good quality walking gear in Wellington from the new Wrekin Rambler shop in the town.
- Link to Wellington Town Council's double sided leaflet (warning 3.5MB download), featuring Wellington's history and the town centre map on one side and the walks below on the other, added.
- Link added to the new website for visitors to Wellington Explore Wellington & The Wrekin Forest - visitor information on events, attractions, eating out and accomodation
- Our first AGM was held on Wednesday
June 15th 2011 at 7 pm in the Belmont Hall. We had reports on the first year and on plans for a Walking Festival in 2012. We were pleased to see some new faces there.
- See previous walks page for details of our earlier Sunday walks
- Photos of many of our walks are
on our album page .
- Launch of Wellington Walkers are Welcome - September 26th 2010.
Wellington Town Council's double sided leaflet (warning 3.5MB download), featuring Wellington's history and the town centre map on one side and the walks below on the other, is now printed and ready for distribution.
The Town Council and the Wellington Walkers are Welcome held a joint event to launch the leaflet and celebrate the town having been awarded Walkers are Welcome status.
The launch was on Sunday September 26th. After a short ceremony over 40 walkers went on 3 of the walks on the leaflet.
The distances were 3 miles (Walk D -shorter alternative),
4 miles (Walk C)
and 7 miles (Walk A, but returning via The Ercall)
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Launch-Ross Vickers and George Evans
The authors of the original leaflet that
formed the basis for the new one. |
Launch -Mayor and Town Crier |
Launch -General View |
The launch was registered with Walk4Life
- Local Supporting Businesses Page. We are developing a page containing links to those local businesses who wish to
state that they welcome walkers. If you run a local business and would like to be
included, please contact us by clicking on the appropriate link on this page .
Wellington
Wellington is an historic market town dating back to the 6th century.
There is still a thriving market
which is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The famous local landmark of The Wrekin,
a 407 metre high hill of mostly volcanic rock, lies within a forty minute walk from the
centre of town. There are the remains of an Iron Age Hill Fort to see on the path on
the way to the top and then there is a spectacular 360 degree panorama of the surrounding
countryside from the summit.
Next to The Wrekin is the smaller hill of the Ercall and there is a network of paths
and walks around this beautiful area full of bluebells in May and bilberries higher
up in summer.
The World Heritage Site of Ironbridge
is a two hour walk downhill from The Wrekin
Between Wellington and The Wrekin there is the National Trust
property Sunnycroft, a suburban
gentleman's residence from the late Victorian era.
Links to more about Wellington
- Explore Wellington & The Wrekin Forest - visitor information on events, attractions, eating out and accomodation
- Wellington Town Council for history, photgraphs, maps and much more.
- Wellington Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Group aims to tackle
global and local environment and social injustices
through the action of local people. The site includes a wealth of information about the area.
- Wellington History Group, a mine of information about Wellington's past
complemented by many interesting photographs.
- Shropshire Wildlife Trust
for information about nature reserves and the bio-diversity of the area.
- Shropshire Geological Society
for information about the geology of the area, including a geotrail around The Wrekin.
- Shropshire Tourism
for tourist information.
- Wellington H2A (Heritage & Arts Alive)
is a voluntary group that organises community events.
- All Friends Round The Wrekin An independent
group of individuals who share a love of The Wrekin and a determination to see
it preserved for the good of its communities, landscape, wildlife and heritage.
- Wrekin Museum Partnership whose aim
is to create in Wellington, a dedicated museum space that tells the story of Shropshire's best known landmark,
The Wrekin and the towns and villages that have grown up around it.
- The Wrekin and The Ercall form the northern tip of the Shropshire Hills AONB.
This area is under the aegis of the Wrekin Forest Partnership.
[ Wellington | Walking Locally | Getting Here | Staying Here | About Us ]
Getting here
Wellington's Railway Station
has direct trains from Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Aberystwyth,
Holyhead and Chester. The station at Holyhead gives direct access to
the Dublin ferries. Birmingham International station has a monorail
link to Birmingham Airport.
There are buses from other parts of Telford and elsewhere in Shropshire. National Express coaches stop in Telford Town Centre,
which is a short bus or train ride away.
Wellington is on
National Cycle Route 81 which runs from Aberystwyth via Shrewsbury, Telford and Wolverhampton to Sandwell continuing to
Birmingham on National Cycle Route 5. Currently, the short section between Albrighton and Codsall is only a proposed route.
Wellington is easily reached from Junctions 6 or 7 of the M54.
Transport Links
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Staying here
There are several hotels, inns and B&Bs in and around Wellington.
Accommodation Links
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If you are organising an event and would like details to appear here please use
this link to contact us.
Future Walks
- Our next regular walk will be on Sunday June 3rd Betty will lead a walk looking at the new route of the Shropshire Way
which now passes through Wellington.
The walk will last about two hours. If you would like to come
please wear suitable footwear and bring waterproof clothing. All are
welcome.
If you have any queries please contact us.
- Third Sunday of each month- next May 20th. This is a new Walking for Health walk starting at 2pm outside the leisure centre.
It is a 4 heart + walk, so is at the top end of the Walking for Health walks. See Walkabout Wrekin.
- Second Annual Shropshire Mind Wrekin Challenge June 23rd -24th. How many times can you ascend the Wrekin in 4 hours, 8 hours or 24 hours? See Wrekin Challenge 2012.
- Sunday July 1st Probably an away day to the Granville Heritage Trail.
- Saturday August 4th Kevin will lead a walk to the Huntsman in Little Wenlock as part of
Love British Food 2012 . This will entail a 9.30 a.m. start- see the full details
- Sunday August 4th Probably no walk
- Every Wednesday- Walking for Health. This is a fairly brisk walk at 2 pm for about 60- 90 minutes. The walk starts from outside Wellington Leisure centre.
From November 2011 there is a shorter one hour option too, starting at the same meeting point and time.
See
Walkabout Wrekin.
Some of the routes are here.
Recent Walks
- LA21 walks to celebrate the publication of a new Wild Wrekin cycle guide
- Wednesday 2nd May (2pm-4pm): Ercall geology walk - with Liz Etheridge of Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
- Saturday 5th May (10pm-1pm): Wrekin birdwalk - with local ornithologist Glenn Bishton.
- Our most recent regular walk was on Sunday May 6th
This was a nature walk in Lime Kiln woods with guest leader Chris Hogarth.
- Regular walk on Sunday April 1st 2012
Betty led this walk to Willowmoor which was slightly longer than usual. Here
is where we went.
- Regular walk on Sunday March 4th 2012
We went to Limekiln wood and returned via the golf course. Here
is where we went.
- Regular Sunday walk on February 5th 2012
Betty lead us to Apley to see the snowdrops. We went there last Februray too, it was almost the same distance but a completely different route. Here
is where we went.
- Regular Sunday walk on Sunday January 1st 2012
We went to the top of the Ercall , then via the Dairy Pits to the golf course. Here
is where we went.
- Earlier Sunday Walks are on our previous walks page.
Walks from Wellington
Wellington Town Council, with input from Wellington History Group and
from us,
published a Wellington leaflet. The leaflet
gives a flavour of the history of the town on one side and details some
local walks on the other.
The walks on the leaflet are shown here.
The walks open in a new window. From the walk pages the maps are best
viewed as 'satellite', the scale can be reduced or expanded to suit, and
the area to be viewed can be changed
by using the arrows.
Problems on the Local Paths
We, and the Telford and Wrekin Council, Rights of Way Officer know about:
- There is an electric fence across the path on the newly rerouted Shropshire Way at GR SJ 639 118. Reported March 2012.
- There was a large tree down across the path by the Golf Club House, just North of the point where the Hutchison Way turns sharply right. It can be climbed over. Reported February 2012. Fixed in March 2012.
- It is very difficult to follow the diverted footpath from Mill Lane, Wellington across Wrekin college land. Reported December 2011.
- Grid ref SJ 63049 13716 Footpaths at Moor Farm, Bratton.
3 footpaths are marked on the map but none are evident or signposted. Reported in September 2011.
- Grid ref SJ 61093 13785 Footpath (Shropshire Way) at Isombridge Farm.
Bridleway sign but no footpath sign or Shropshire Way logos were evident. The way from the road to the river Tern through the farm is not at all clear. Reported September 2011.
- The signpost at GR650105 on Golf Links Lane is pointing in the wrong direction. Reported in June 2010.
- In summer the Wrekin Link path from GR634125 at Admaston to GR636123 is overgrown and impassable. Reported in June 2010. We walked this, with a little difficulty, on our regular walk in November 2011.
Apparently the landowner has been asked to remove an obstruction near the Wrockwardine Road end. This is now (March 2012) passable, but not ideal.
- In late summer the path from GR649107 is overgrown. Reported in September 2010. (We walked it easily on Jan. 2nd 2011) This has now been thoroughly cleared.
- There is a tree down over the footpath at GR654093 in Limekiln Wood. It is possible to duck under it if you are nimble but would prove to be a barrier for some people. Reported in November 2010. This is now clear.
Other Problems?
If you find any obstructions or problems on our local paths please
tell us. We can't promise a speedy resolution, but the
more evidence we have of problems, the more pressure we can exert.
Walking Links
Long distance paths passing through Wellington
The Shropshire Way
is a 139 mile (224 km) circular route through Shropshire. It is way-marked using a white buzzard symbol on a black
background. The local section comes through Allscott and Aston and ascends
the west side of The Wrekin. It joins the summit path near the Halfway House.
It then crosses the summit, continues over Little Hill and descends to a minor
road which it follows to Little Wenlock. Following a a successful revision of the
southern part , the northern part is currently being revised. The revised route passes
through Wellington.
The Hope House Way
is a 335 mile (539km) long-distance walk through mid Wales and the Marches.
It is a circular route, with its official start and finish by the Community Clock in the
Market Square in Wellington. The route was created by the Rotary Club of The
Wrekin in order to raise funds for the Hope House Children's Hospices. The start of the route ascends The Wrekin,
and continues down the ridge on the Shropshire Way route. It follows the Shropshire Way towards Little Wenlock.
The end of the route also passes over The Wrekin.
The Hutchison Way
is a 19mile (30km) route from Wellington to Newport. It is named in honour of
late former Chief Executive of (the then) Wrekin Council, David Hutchison. It is way-marked using named
maroon arrows on a white disc. The route starts outside Wellington Town Civic and Leisure
Centre. It goes to the foot of The Wrekin, skirts the base of the Ercall and continues via the Golf course to Steeraway Farm.
It then heads off in the direction of Telford Town Centre.
The Silkin Way
is a 14 mile (22km) walking and cycling route, partly on the line of old railway tracks, running across Telford from
north to south. It starts at Bratton, just north of Wellington and goes through Dothill,
passing just behind the Princess Royal Hospital on its way to Leegomery. It eventually
arrives via Telford Town Centre, at Coalport in the Ironbridge Gorge.
[ Wellington | Walking Locally | Getting Here | Staying Here | About Us ]
About Us
This page has been prepared by
Wellington Walkers are Welcome Management Committee.
This is an ad hoc group of interested local walkers. We are not a party political organisation;
we have supporters of a range of political parties, and none, on our management committee who work effectively together.
The inspiration for the
group came from a combination
of Wellington LA21 group and
Wellington Town Council without whose help this would not have been possible.
[ Wellington | Walking Locally | Getting Here | Staying Here | About Us ]
Wellington Walkers are Welcome Management Committee
contact us
Last updated 12th May 2012