Lichfield Branch

pleasant to meet up indoors for a change. Local resident, Sally Naylor, introduced us to the ‘yards’ of Atherstone. Access to a ‘yard’ was through an ‘entry’ and little did we expect that the hotel foyer itself was one such access point. We stepped out into Long Street and Sally explained that there were once more than 50 ‘yards’ along the main street in Atherstone. However, we soon learnt that the ‘yards’ were effectively little more than unpoliced, overpriced industrial slums, in parts three and a half times more crowded than the worst parts of Birmingham at that time. The last ‘yards’ were demolished in 1965 but many of the ‘entries’ remain and, once you know where to look, they are quite easy to spot. We turned left in Long Street and walked past a couple of ‘yards’, which have been preserved. Many thanks to Sally for enlightening us on this aspect of local history. After posing for a group photo near The King’s Head we joined the canal below lock 5. The pound above was very low, and we saw several stranded fish. Thankfully the remaining pounds appeared to be at normal levels. We continued past Ruby’s yard (a former hire boat wharf) and along a wide towpath, which was muddy in places. We left the canal by bridge 36 where there is a redundant canal wharf adjacent to an iron bridge, which once carried stone from the local quarries on a mineral line. The Mancetter quarry is still active, extracting road aggregates, but nowadays the material is transported by HGVs. We headed for Rose Hill Farm and crossed the main railway line on a footbridge.