Lost Village

Kinver Edge is owned by the National Trust, and houses built into the rocks are open to the public all year,  for a very reasonable entrance fee.  Take a short walk along  the Edge,  to discover more rock houses at Nanny’s Rock;  or a short walk to Sampson’s Cave, where an Ice House can be found too.

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Alternatively, local resident RichBoxFrenzy has already done the legwork to reveal the hidden secrets of Kinver Edge.   Here is his report….

And there it was. Hidden amongst the tall fir trees was Samson’s Cave. I’d known of this place, but never found it before, even though it was less than three miles away from where I had grown up. I’ve been to most of these, and reported on various forums about these places – Holy Austin’s Rock, Crow’s Rock, Drakelow Rock Houses, Nanny’s Rock, but this one might just be my favourite. Let’s have a look why. Samson’s Cave by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr I don’t know any particular history of this particular house – I might see a man who will know tonight if he is in the pub, but I probably won’t as I think I am going to go to a different pub after tea. I am not sure. Anyway, luckily I know a lot about these places anyway. It appears on the census in the 1800′s a couple of times. I will try my best to outline what it is that is on the snaps. This is the front, and only way into the house. Hidden house by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr Inside was ace. I have never seen one with an intact fireplace – the cooking would have been done on here in the main part, although I spotted an overgrown oven outside which may have been used from bread, pizza etc. Doorway by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr Local folklore tells of a dog that wanders round here, forever looking for its long gone owners. I saw no sign of any ghost dog on my visit here. Dogface by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr There were three rooms here, probably a kitchen and a bedroom, but this was the biggest room. The walls and ceiling would have been brushed before coats of paint applied, soaking into the soft sandstone. The floors were covered with tiles, some of which remain. Every day these would have been swept to remove the sand. Rag rugs would have covered the floors. Into the rock shelves were cut, and the room would have been filled with some furniture, a dresser, and table. The rock keeps things at an ideal temperature – it’s lovely and cool in the summer, and in the winter is warm, slowly releasing the heat from the summer sun. In the nearby rock houses, the lifespan of the occupants was generally longer than those who lived in the nearby village. The parlour by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr Looking out by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr There would have been windows and doors to here at some point. It is difficult to know when the house was last occupied. Crows Rock was last occupied in the 1930′s, and Holy Austin Rock was lived in all the way until the late 1950′s. I think this is likely to be nearer the 1950′s but I am guessing and don’t really know. The garden would have been used for growing food,and I spotted a couple of crab apple trees on the nearby bridle path. There are probably more here, damsons and other apples, Hobbit by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr I looked around outside for traces of the well. In some ways I was glad not to find it, as they were very deep wells. Many of them dried up when the pumping station a few miles away was built in the late 1920′s, lowering the water table. At nearby Holy Austin Rock houses, the father of the residence of the top layer of rock houses used to twist paper and light it and drop it all the way down their dry well, showing how deep they were. I think they were about 180′ deep, and some of the deepest private hand dug wells in England. I’ve found a few nearby. I will show you, as they are likely to look similar. Here is the well at Crow’s Rock, photographed on previous visits. The well by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr And looking down. Down the well by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr At a ruined house, about one mile from here, this is what the well looked like when I went last spring I think it was. I was lucky at this place to have spotted it. The Well by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr And this is a zoomed in shot down that well. I think this one is brick lined. It looks it. The things at the bottom were sleeves that are put round small trees to stop sheep etc eating them. Down the well by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr A short walk from Samson’s cave was this ice house. It was sealed this time, but used to be open when I was a kid. Perhaps you can see it if you look closely. The ice house by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr It was sad not to be able to go closer. This, like nearby Samson’s cave, was carved out of the soft sandstone. Down the passageway by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr It was filled with ice from the nearby fishponds in the winter so they could do good refrigeration during the rest of the year. This was before Comet and Currys/PC World etc. The drop by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr In case you don’t know what an ice house looks like inside, I have a photograph I took a couple of years ago inside a different ice house to illustrate the points that I am making. This one pictured is more brick, but like the one I went to, once you fall in, it is impossible to get out, unless you have a ladder, rope, cherry picker etc. The bottom of the ice house by richboxfrenzy, on Flickr There are plenty of other pictures from richboxfrenzy’s Flikr account wwhich can be viewed here:  http://www.flickr.co…49088@N08/sets/