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New England

Located on the confluence of the Bind and Borle Brooks, between the villages of Highley and Billingsley, New England is a beautiful wooded valley, where the only things to be heard is the babbling brook, the buzzing of insects, and a variety of bird song. However, life has not always been so peaceful. Over the last 300 years New England has been an important transport route, an industrial area and home to numerous families.

This colourful history has been researched and, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Highley Initiative, key historical features have been uncovered, enhanced and interpreted.

View full details of the site history and recent enhancement works.

History of the Site

Donkey Bridge

The story of New England begins with building of the Donkey Bridge in the early 1700s. The exact date is not known, but the bridge is shown as 'New Bridge' on Roque's map of Shropshire of 1753. According to local tradition it was built in 1709 by Sir Lacon William Childe for the benefit of the High Churchman, Henry Sacherevel, who had been prosecuted for rabble-rousing by the Whig government with little success. There is no doubt that Childe was politically sympathetic to Sacherevel. Roque's map does not indicate any road leading to the bridge from the Kinlet side but there are traces of a track leading to the main Bridgnorth-Cleobury Road and its branch into Highley. A Kinlet estate map of 1783 marks this track as the "old road from Bridgnorth". It seems clear, irrespective of the truth of local tradition, that the bridge had some economic importance, probably on packhorse routes from the Rea Valley to the River Severn.

The Plateway

Coalmining became increasingly important around New England from the middle of the Eighteenth Century. In the 1790s Messrs Johnson and Co., a consortium of Newcastle-upon-Tyne based businessmen, opened up coal and ironstone mines in Billingsley and in 1796/7 they constructed a plateway from the River Severn at Brooksmouth to their works in Billingsley. The abutments that carried the plateway over the brook are still present. The west abutment was rebuilt as part of the enhancement project to create a seating and viewing point. When the river is low, you can walk down onto the river bank to get a good look at the restored abutment. From here the line of the plateway roughly follows the path towards the damson thicket, and then across a dry ravine. The entire route of the plateway can be traced back to Brooksmouth where a house built for the managing partner remains. The remains of the mines and the blast furnace are visible in Billingsley.

The Cottages In 1807/8 two rows of stone cottages were built, at right angles to each other, to house workers at the blast furnaces in Billingsley and later colliery workers. During the 1800s the cottages and surrounding land had several owners as successive coal and ironstone businesses fell into financial difficulty. You can see the footprint of one cottage. They were simple stone cottages with a living room and pantry downstairs and a landing and bedroom upstairs. A separate washhouse was built between the two rows of houses. Colliers, shoemakers, labourers, woodsmen and their families all lived here. Sometimes 6 people all lived in one small cottage, so it would have been very cosy!

Read further history of New England families.

The Railway In 1880 work was started by Messrs Drewitt and Pickering, on behalf of the Severn Valley Colliery Company, on a railway from the Severn Valley in Kinlet to Billingsley, following the Borle Brook through Kinlet and Billingsley, to transport coal from the Billingsly mine to the River Severn. The earthworks reached just as far the Kinlet parish boundary, opposite New England but the Severn Valley Colliery Company than ran into financial problems and eventually was wound up. In 1910 a new company, the Billingsley Colliery Company, revived the idea of a rail link to Billingsley Colliery. An office for the contractors, Messrs Caffin and Co., was built at New England and close by a stone quarry was opened, under the management of a Mr Trentham. At New England two bridges were built as part of the head-shunt needed to direct the line to Prior's Moor. The line was finished in 1913. Billingsley Colliery was not a success; it was sold in 1915 to the Highley Mining Company and was closed in 1921. However, the railway remained until 1937, taking coal from Kinlet Colliery to a wharf at Prior's Moor operated by the Burwarton Coal and Trading Company. The two bridges forming the head shunt are still here, although not in the best condition! The bridges are owned by a private landowner and not accessible to the public.

The Sewage Works In 1913 the Billingsley Colliery Company took out a lease of land for a settling tank and filter bed for the treatment of sewage from the houses on Clee View, Highley. The brick structures at the picnic area show the shape of the sewage works. The round area was a settling tank, from where the remaining water was piped to the rectangular filter bed. As the population of Highley grew, a larger water treatment plant was needed and in 1915 work began on new filter beds close to the cottage gardens. The construction of the sewerage works lead to the demolition of New England Cottages in 1917. By 1959 the plant had been abandoned and replaced by a modern facility elsewhere in the village.

The last defence

In the Second World War, New England was the site of a Home Guard defence point. It featured in at least one major exercise. The road by the ford is reputedly reinforced by anti-tank defences dating from this period.

Reclaimed by nature

With the railway, cottages and sewage works gone, the site has been reclaimed by nature and is home to lots of plants and animals. Look out for wild garlic and celandines in the spring, dippers and kingfishers on the river, tawny owls roosting in the trees and deer and badger tracks.

Uncovering the past

In 2004, The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the District Council £34,000 to conserve and interpret the historical features on the site. The Highley Initiative and the District Council each contributed £2000 and the Highley Initiative acted as the steering group to see the project through. During the last two years, lots of volunteers from Highley and beyond have cleared undergrowth, planted trees, put up fences and taken part in archaeological digs. Children from Highley school also made a model of the site as it might have looked in 1901.

Location

There are no parking spaces, so the site is best visited on foot or by horse. Parking can be found in Highley at the Severn Centre followed by a 15 minute walk through the village and down Bind Lane towards Billingsley; or at the start of the Jack Mytton Way bridleway, opposite Rays Farm Country Matters, Billingsley. Follow the Jack Mytton Way to New England with the entrance just before the Borle Brook ford.

Picnic tables are available at New England, or you can pick up refreshments at the Severn Centre café, Highley, or Rays Farm tea room.

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