Anth Rowley
@anthrowley.bsky.social
Exploring locally on foot & bike. Cartophile, worryingly obsessed by toposcopes, trig stations & benchmarks. Tendency to wander & wonder - supporting The Harry Johnson Trust
https://rowleyanth.wordpress.com/
https://rowleyanth.wordpress.com/
A new blog - this one about helping to preserve a C19th Ordnance Survey Bench Mark in Telford, Shropshire
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/p...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/p...
Preservation
Late last year, I gave a Talk & Presentation to Shropshire’s Newport History Society about Ordnance Survey Bench Marks. The Talk was based on a walk that had created that used OS Bench Ma…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
August 7, 2026 at 1:01 PM
A new blog - this one about helping to preserve a C19th Ordnance Survey Bench Mark in Telford, Shropshire
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/p...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/p...
The 2026 Wellington Walking Festival takes place in September. For the third year I'll be leading a walk based around Ordnance Survey Bench Marks
This year's Bench Mark Walk is is centred on, up & around the Wrekin
For details on all the walks see > www.wellingtonwalkersarewelcome.org.uk/festival
This year's Bench Mark Walk is is centred on, up & around the Wrekin
For details on all the walks see > www.wellingtonwalkersarewelcome.org.uk/festival
July 19, 2026 at 8:01 PM
The 2026 Wellington Walking Festival takes place in September. For the third year I'll be leading a walk based around Ordnance Survey Bench Marks
This year's Bench Mark Walk is is centred on, up & around the Wrekin
For details on all the walks see > www.wellingtonwalkersarewelcome.org.uk/festival
This year's Bench Mark Walk is is centred on, up & around the Wrekin
For details on all the walks see > www.wellingtonwalkersarewelcome.org.uk/festival
Church Crawling and Bench Mark bagging mean that I spend alot of time looking at walls, which means that any help in deciphering the multitude of shapes on display is always welcomed..
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
No evidence for ‘witches’ marks’ claims at old English buildings, historian says
Author argues symbols such as daisy wheels are no more than the working marks of stonemasons
www.theguardian.com
July 10, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Church Crawling and Bench Mark bagging mean that I spend alot of time looking at walls, which means that any help in deciphering the multitude of shapes on display is always welcomed..
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
Top of the Wrekin for this morning's Solistice Sunrise. It was stunning! I used the Toposcope for some reflection photos of the rising sun; then there was an added bonus of mist lying over the town to the east that provided a spectacular natural reflection of the sun when walking through Heaven Gate
June 21, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Top of the Wrekin for this morning's Solistice Sunrise. It was stunning! I used the Toposcope for some reflection photos of the rising sun; then there was an added bonus of mist lying over the town to the east that provided a spectacular natural reflection of the sun when walking through Heaven Gate
Balls to Telford
A blog on social and local history based around the tale of a destroyed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/20/b...
A blog on social and local history based around the tale of a destroyed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/20/b...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
June 20, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Balls to Telford
A blog on social and local history based around the tale of a destroyed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/20/b...
A blog on social and local history based around the tale of a destroyed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/20/b...
BARKSY - drawn by an unknown artist onto the exposed collar of a tree on the Cockshutt, Oakengates.
With a nod to the Street Artist, Midlands' Brewery (shame its not Banks), the tree's Cortex and some of the local wildlife.
#Banksy #ansellsbrewery #oakengates #cockshutt #forestart
With a nod to the Street Artist, Midlands' Brewery (shame its not Banks), the tree's Cortex and some of the local wildlife.
#Banksy #ansellsbrewery #oakengates #cockshutt #forestart
June 18, 2026 at 3:44 PM
BARKSY - drawn by an unknown artist onto the exposed collar of a tree on the Cockshutt, Oakengates.
With a nod to the Street Artist, Midlands' Brewery (shame its not Banks), the tree's Cortex and some of the local wildlife.
#Banksy #ansellsbrewery #oakengates #cockshutt #forestart
With a nod to the Street Artist, Midlands' Brewery (shame its not Banks), the tree's Cortex and some of the local wildlife.
#Banksy #ansellsbrewery #oakengates #cockshutt #forestart
A new blog - detailing the Deconstructed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark on the High Street Bridge in Coalport, Telford.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/c...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/c...
Coalport’s Deconstructed Bench Mark
There is no definitive record of the Bench Marks that are located in the United Kingdom – even the Ordnance Survey’s own records aren’t complete. There are plenty of Bench Marks t…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
June 11, 2026 at 7:15 PM
A new blog - detailing the Deconstructed Ordnance Survey Bench Mark on the High Street Bridge in Coalport, Telford.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/c...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/c...
For #benchmarkmonday two for the price of one - Rivets within the towpath of the Grand Union Canal between Cape Lock and Hatton Locks near Warwick. The Rivet at the Budbrooke Junction has lost its accompanying Pheon with the crumbling of the edge of the towpath
June 8, 2026 at 5:40 AM
For #benchmarkmonday two for the price of one - Rivets within the towpath of the Grand Union Canal between Cape Lock and Hatton Locks near Warwick. The Rivet at the Budbrooke Junction has lost its accompanying Pheon with the crumbling of the edge of the towpath
For #postboxsaturday the Victorian Pillar Box sited alongside St Peter's Chapel in Warwick. Cast in 1856 in the shape of a Doric Column by Smith & Hawkes of Birmingham
Grid Reference: SP 28400 64987
W3W ///lime.taken.tiger
Grid Reference: SP 28400 64987
W3W ///lime.taken.tiger
June 6, 2026 at 7:15 PM
For #postboxsaturday the Victorian Pillar Box sited alongside St Peter's Chapel in Warwick. Cast in 1856 in the shape of a Doric Column by Smith & Hawkes of Birmingham
Grid Reference: SP 28400 64987
W3W ///lime.taken.tiger
Grid Reference: SP 28400 64987
W3W ///lime.taken.tiger
Accepted the opportunity for a late-morning slow amble along both sides of Sabrina's banks at Coalport.
Familiar stomping ground, but no less enjoyable because of that and maybe more so as the area is quiet with the Museums still closed
Familiar stomping ground, but no less enjoyable because of that and maybe more so as the area is quiet with the Museums still closed
June 6, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Accepted the opportunity for a late-morning slow amble along both sides of Sabrina's banks at Coalport.
Familiar stomping ground, but no less enjoyable because of that and maybe more so as the area is quiet with the Museums still closed
Familiar stomping ground, but no less enjoyable because of that and maybe more so as the area is quiet with the Museums still closed
The petition is live to save our Trig Pillars and make them protected status.
Please consider signing and sharing the linked petition to reach the required 100K signatures!
PETITION > petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
#saveourtrigs
Please consider signing and sharing the linked petition to reach the required 100K signatures!
PETITION > petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
#saveourtrigs
May 20, 2026 at 4:35 PM
The petition is live to save our Trig Pillars and make them protected status.
Please consider signing and sharing the linked petition to reach the required 100K signatures!
PETITION > petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
#saveourtrigs
Please consider signing and sharing the linked petition to reach the required 100K signatures!
PETITION > petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
#saveourtrigs
A new blog - this one discussing why the 255-metre Snedshill Tunnel of the C18th & C19th Shropshire Canal wasn't located where one of the newishly built housing estates in Telford might suggest
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/w...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/w...
What’s in a Name – The Snedshill Tunnel
To one side of the Holyhead Road (B5061) in Snedshill, Telford stand some newish housing estates. Two of these are William Reynolds Way and Tunnel Close. A extract of the Ordnance Survey’s Ma…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
May 12, 2026 at 7:10 PM
A new blog - this one discussing why the 255-metre Snedshill Tunnel of the C18th & C19th Shropshire Canal wasn't located where one of the newishly built housing estates in Telford might suggest
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/w...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/w...
A new blog about a section of the 18th Century tub-boat Shropshire Canal that can still be found - nearly 200-years after it closed - in front of the Cockshutt, Oakengates in Telford next to the Silkin Way.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/t...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/t...
The Shropshire Canal – Oakengates, the Silkin Way & the Cockshutt
Within this blog I hope to describe how (on a section of the Silkin Way that runs near Oakengates) that you are not passing along the route of the of the former Coalport Railway – which the S…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
May 10, 2026 at 12:50 PM
A new blog about a section of the 18th Century tub-boat Shropshire Canal that can still be found - nearly 200-years after it closed - in front of the Cockshutt, Oakengates in Telford next to the Silkin Way.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/t...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/t...
For #benchmarkmonday Flush Bracket S5429 that is set into Trig Pillar TP1879 on Callow Hill that overlooks Craven Arms in Shropshire. The Pillar's neighbour is Flounders Folly tower that was an OS Trigonometrical Station in the C19th
April 6, 2026 at 2:04 PM
For #benchmarkmonday Flush Bracket S5429 that is set into Trig Pillar TP1879 on Callow Hill that overlooks Craven Arms in Shropshire. The Pillar's neighbour is Flounders Folly tower that was an OS Trigonometrical Station in the C19th
Coalbrookdale - standing on the edge of the village green is the memorial to the workers of the former Coalbrookdale Company 1709 - 2017
The Memorial is easily missed by visitors to the area, but it is worth a stroll off the main tourist route to see - ///canyons.dolly.restrict
The Memorial is easily missed by visitors to the area, but it is worth a stroll off the main tourist route to see - ///canyons.dolly.restrict
March 1, 2026 at 8:24 AM
Coalbrookdale - standing on the edge of the village green is the memorial to the workers of the former Coalbrookdale Company 1709 - 2017
The Memorial is easily missed by visitors to the area, but it is worth a stroll off the main tourist route to see - ///canyons.dolly.restrict
The Memorial is easily missed by visitors to the area, but it is worth a stroll off the main tourist route to see - ///canyons.dolly.restrict
One of two 19th-Century Board of Ordnance iron troughs that sit on the edges of the Museum of Iron's car-park in Coalbrookdale.
Now used as planters for crocus, they would have been used to hold & store more potent materiel in the past... ...swords to ploughshares
Now used as planters for crocus, they would have been used to hold & store more potent materiel in the past... ...swords to ploughshares
February 28, 2026 at 8:17 AM
One of two 19th-Century Board of Ordnance iron troughs that sit on the edges of the Museum of Iron's car-park in Coalbrookdale.
Now used as planters for crocus, they would have been used to hold & store more potent materiel in the past... ...swords to ploughshares
Now used as planters for crocus, they would have been used to hold & store more potent materiel in the past... ...swords to ploughshares
A new blog highlighting the wanderings of the Overley Hill Trig Pillar, how it's new position links in with Telford's industrial heritage and a little known connection to a South Wales village's sports teams
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/a...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/a...
A Wandering Trig Pillar, a Lost Trig, a Welsh Village’s Cricket & Football Teams and Woodscrews
Overley Hill stands 2-miles west of the Shropshire town of Wellington, between the famous Wrekin Hill to the south & the village of Wrockwardine to the north. The historic Roman Road of Watling…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
February 23, 2026 at 5:51 PM
A new blog highlighting the wanderings of the Overley Hill Trig Pillar, how it's new position links in with Telford's industrial heritage and a little known connection to a South Wales village's sports teams
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/a...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/a...
Joining in with #gritsaltbinmonday & #mapsonmonday - sitting proud on the upper reaches of the Wrockwardine Wood Incline Plane of the (once) Shropshire (tub-boat) Canal
February 16, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Joining in with #gritsaltbinmonday & #mapsonmonday - sitting proud on the upper reaches of the Wrockwardine Wood Incline Plane of the (once) Shropshire (tub-boat) Canal
A new blog about the history of the Wrekin's Rifle Range from it's establishment because of the threat of French invasion in 1859; it's connection to the Olympic Games; the drive to close it from the 1970s; and fun & frivolities in the 2000s.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/t...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/t...
The Wrekin’s Danger Zones
When you stand at the Wrekin’s summit, the hill’s military connections & history aren’t obvious. Pedants may state that the summit’s Ordnance Survey’s Trig Pillar …
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
January 31, 2026 at 7:42 AM
A new blog about the history of the Wrekin's Rifle Range from it's establishment because of the threat of French invasion in 1859; it's connection to the Olympic Games; the drive to close it from the 1970s; and fun & frivolities in the 2000s.
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/t...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/t...
A new (short) blog that highlights a 'forgotten' WWI memorial hidden in plain sight on Church Street, St Georges, Telford
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/15/s...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/15/s...
St Georges ‘Forgotten’ War Memorial
Standing on Church Street, St Georges in Telford is the former Primitive Methodist Chapel that was opened in 1860. Its adjacent neighbour is the Chapel’s Jubilee Sunday School that was added …
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:00 PM
A new (short) blog that highlights a 'forgotten' WWI memorial hidden in plain sight on Church Street, St Georges, Telford
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/15/s...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/15/s...
Another MACE video about Telford - this an ATV piece from 1979 on the (largely) positive work of TDC in Ironbridge to rejuvenate the town
It includes interviews with Eustace Rogers; the director of Blists Hill; and the late, great Billy Wright
www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...
It includes interviews with Eustace Rogers; the director of Blists Hill; and the late, great Billy Wright
www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...
www.macearchive.org
January 10, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Another MACE video about Telford - this an ATV piece from 1979 on the (largely) positive work of TDC in Ironbridge to rejuvenate the town
It includes interviews with Eustace Rogers; the director of Blists Hill; and the late, great Billy Wright
www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...
It includes interviews with Eustace Rogers; the director of Blists Hill; and the late, great Billy Wright
www.macearchive.org/films/atv-to...
A new blog providing a transcript of the Illustrated London News Article that reported on a visit to the Wrekin (Shropshire) in Sept-1865 to study the Silurian Period geology and to sample the food & beer at the Wrekin Cottage
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/s...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/s...
Sept-1865 – An Excursion to the Wrekin
On 23rd September 1865, The Illustrated London News carried an article that reported on the excursions of the British Association from Birmingham to Malvern and the Wrekin. Below is a transcript of…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:29 AM
A new blog providing a transcript of the Illustrated London News Article that reported on a visit to the Wrekin (Shropshire) in Sept-1865 to study the Silurian Period geology and to sample the food & beer at the Wrekin Cottage
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/s...
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/s...
Hosted by the Media Archive for Central England: 'Dawley: The New Town Before Development'
Filmed in 1963, it is 22-mins of silent footage of the area around Dawley, Madeley & Ironbridge, towns that would subsequently form the southern extent of Telford New Town
www.macearchive.org/films/dawley...
Filmed in 1963, it is 22-mins of silent footage of the area around Dawley, Madeley & Ironbridge, towns that would subsequently form the southern extent of Telford New Town
www.macearchive.org/films/dawley...
www.macearchive.org
January 8, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Hosted by the Media Archive for Central England: 'Dawley: The New Town Before Development'
Filmed in 1963, it is 22-mins of silent footage of the area around Dawley, Madeley & Ironbridge, towns that would subsequently form the southern extent of Telford New Town
www.macearchive.org/films/dawley...
Filmed in 1963, it is 22-mins of silent footage of the area around Dawley, Madeley & Ironbridge, towns that would subsequently form the southern extent of Telford New Town
www.macearchive.org/films/dawley...
Oakengates Fellowship FC - an amateur football team that competed in the Wellington League before WWII
The linked blog contains a selection of the team's match reports from '37 & '38 when subs weren't allowed & goalies could be shunted over the goal-line
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/o...
The linked blog contains a selection of the team's match reports from '37 & '38 when subs weren't allowed & goalies could be shunted over the goal-line
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/o...
Oakengates Fellowship FC
The photo below was published in the Telford Journal in May 1986 under the ‘Do You Remember When?’ regular feature. It shows two local football teams from 1936 – Wrockwardine Wood…
rowleyanth.wordpress.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Oakengates Fellowship FC - an amateur football team that competed in the Wellington League before WWII
The linked blog contains a selection of the team's match reports from '37 & '38 when subs weren't allowed & goalies could be shunted over the goal-line
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/o...
The linked blog contains a selection of the team's match reports from '37 & '38 when subs weren't allowed & goalies could be shunted over the goal-line
rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/o...