Within Warwickshire

Ansley Parish Walk

This relatively easy walk in north Warwickshire takes you through Ansley village and Ansley Common. It is a waymarked route off the North Arden Heritage Trail, a project that has worked with local communities to establish a 25-mile circular heritage route. Ansley Parish Walk links with the varied historical sites of northern Warwickshire: from the Saxon lands of Lady Godiva to the industrial remains of the former coal mining landscape.

General overview of route (please click ‘Download Trail here’ at the bottom of the page for full direction details and distances before setting out):

1. Start from the unusual heritage feature in Ansley village – ‘The Boulder’, a five-tonne sandstone sculpture carved with memories and reflections of Ansley’s heritage and natural environment.

2. Head north along the B4112 Birmingham Road to Church End. Before the Norman Conquest, land here was owned by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his wife Lady Godiva who helped to found the Church of St Laurence circa 1050.

3. The route follows the road and then waymarked paths across the fields. You also briefly join a stretch of the Centenary Way, a 100-mile path across Warwickshire from Kingsbury Water Park in the north to the Cotswolds in the south.

4. Pass a dismantled railway bridge of the colliery railway which took coal from Ansley Hall Colliery to the main line.

5. Waymarked paths across more fields lead you past farms and Thornyfield Wood before returning to your starting point in Ansley village.