Major's Leap walk - circular
Major Smallman, a loyal supporter of King Charles I, was fleeing the Roundheads on Wenlock Edge. With his captors closing in, in a final act of bravery, he ran his horse off the edge. Looking over the edge, the Major's enemies thought there was no way he could have survived the leap. Hours later, the King's army launched an attack on the Roundheads at Wilderhope Manor. The 'ghost on horseback' had survived the leap and succeeded in quashing the enemy.
Map
Start:
Much Wenlock National Trust car park
1
Follow the path from the car park and turn left up Blakeway Hollow.
This narrow sunken lane is the old packhorse route from Much Wenlock to Shrewsbury and is probably medieval.
2
Walk along the path until you reach the woods. Once in the woods, turn left and immediately left again back out into the fields. From here a track runs south along the narrow ridge with the steep wooded scarp slope of Wenlock Edge on the right, and the deep workings of Lea Quarry on the left.
Wildflowers
Yellow-wort, pyramidal orchids and common gromwell flourish in the short limestone grassland.
3
Here an open viewpoint looks out towards Caer Caradoc and the Long Mynd.
This view point is called Major's Leap, from where a Royalist major is said to have jumped on horseback to escape pursuers during the Civil War.
4
Here is another viewpoint which looks out at the Wrekin.
5
Continue along the quarry lip and take a broad track that cuts back down to Blakeway Coppice.
Coppicing is an ancient form of woodland management still used on Wenlock Edge. New growth shooting from hazel deliberately cut at ground level provides straight branches for fencing, hedge laying, charcoal and firewood.
6
Ignore the track leading off to the left almost a mile later, and carry on to emerge at the junction with Blakeway Hollow. Then follow the sunken lane back to the car park.
Along this track wild garlic (ramsons) flourishes in Spring and Summer. The pungent smell is unmistakable.
End:
Much Wenlock National Trust car park