On the slow, inch, by inch creep, of turning The Wrekin into a city centre central park, our hill is being tarted, groomed, tidied and trimmed. Straightened, on the road to 'sustainability.'

Here, I show some of the new things happening to the old hill. Watch as the wild, rough, old girl looses her edge and charm.

I first went up 15 years ago.Taken up by my then love. A local girl, proud of the hill. We parked next to a burned out car in a muddy spot under the cliffs, graffiti on the faces, litter around. Walking up seemed to take ages, as we neared the first gate, on the plateau this was far enough for me, a great view. But, she insisted we go to the top. Waving her arms about to show me the defences of a great lost hill fort. It was a delight. A secret gem. A rough diamond. I felt this was also a lost place, quiet and undiscovered. Sure, it was quite busy, though nothing like as Sunday busy as my then local park, in the heart of Walsall. I loved that roughness, the wilderness, the solitude.

Now, I morn the arrival of wolves in sheep's clothing. The Shropshire Wild Places Development Board. Who are tasked to bring in tourists, guide them about, keep them to paths, inform them that SWPDB are helping them, just so they'll get more money to help them more. To help them more. And more. A juggernaut of grants and signage and tarmac and

Bring in buses of deprived inner city children, show them mud, real mud. A good thing? Sure. Of course. I'm a good anarcho-socialist. Unfortunately, I'm a NIMBY when it comes to The Wrekin. It's so unspoiled. It was so unspoil. There are plenty of other places for the great unwashed, all ready spoiled. Go there, where there's the necessary access, signs and health and safety compliance and interpretation centres and car parking. You're very welcome on the hill, but don't expect the 21st century's taming here.

Save The Wrekin...

Here's some of the new features since we fell out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Ercal

There's more plaques up the top of the Ercal, that I've not photographed. Also plans for a school learning centre and improved access.

Main car park

Cleaned, tidied and now tarted and owned by The Shropshire Wild Places Development Board. As you can plainly see.

Main track

Luckily, the main track is owned by Peter Holt, who will not allow anything new. He now owns the toilets as the council stopped paying rent for several years. Oddly, they've restarted paying rent, even though they don't own it. Also plans for the regrassing of one of the hill fort's gates. Cutting of the too square pine tree patch below the mast, and the cutting back of the ferns on the top.

Cleaning and tidying is one thing. But turning the old girl from rough diamond into a tarty whore is another.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/11/08; 2:48:06 AM
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Wild Wrekin, being tamed

There’s a curious demise of rationality adrift in the world today and who really knows who or what is to blame. Whomever or whatever, there are, I am mightily sure, Salopians and non-Salopians who alike have trundled up the naturally entertaining pathways leading to the Wrekin’s summit to brest and gaze and ... dream.

Many of those will have gone on to become part of some project or another that took away forever a once familiar and loved part of inherited natural surrounds. Some may have just made a living out of doing so, while others might have amassed small fortunes.

On that mystical summit, others may have found the space to dream visions that led them to wider pastures in life while others may simply have enjoyed the naturalness of it all.

Building a car park and entertainment complex of any sort near the Wrekin would destroy forever the reality of what the Wrekin is. True Salopians know that. There is no regular bus service to the Wrekin, no hourly Wrekin tour bus. You make your own way there by hook or crook and that is all part of the fun and pleasure of the visit.

However, not all Salopians, bless ‘em, know the Wrekin like a Wrekinite, or Wrekinonian who lived within its view.

In a trip about the Wrekin’s nooks and crannies and summits there is for young and old alike an infinite world of natural enjoyment free of the MacDonald Burger King supermarket plasmodified lifestyle of the 21 century, though just how no-one thought of the idea of putting a pay gaming machine on the summit that lit up the old red beacon when you did the right thing I cannot quite fathom.

The naturalness of the Wrekin is its very beauty and it is that very commodity that should be retained for future generations. It provides a respite from the human world of struggle, greed and daily inanities and insanities that we somehow call life.

Imagine – a grand complex nearby, soon filling up with fast food joints and all kinds of clutter for sale and young fat kids unable to climb one third of the way up the first segment of the hill before having to be rescued by emergency workers.

As a tourist attraction – the fact that it is there is attraction enough. To plan for ‘catering for the tourists’ to the Wrekin is to plan for nothing other than cashing in on that catering. If you try to tell me otherwise, I will simply say I am sorry, I am a Wrekinite, but you can call me a Wrekinonian if you wish.

The Wrekin is older than the Himalayas by many millions of years. It has a streak of granite rock at its core that rises to the surface nowhere else on the planet except the Falkland Islands.

Let those who wish to find the Wrekin find it, and find it as it is. That is part of the spiritual journey. And that is the heritage we should be bequeathing to future generations.

# Posted by Keith Harris at 9/11/08; 1:31:02 AM
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In Defence of The Old Woman Of Shropshire

Must be the new fashion. I try to put myself in their shoes, in their mind as they do this. Still, for the life of my I cannot see the reasoning. Do they expect someone else to gather these? We're they supposed to pick them back up on the way down, or next time? Do they think it's tidier?

Please add your suggestions as to why someone would do this to the comments below.

# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/11/08; 1:20:52 AM
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Dog mess in trees