Earlswood Lakes - Clowes Wood - Earlswood Lakes

Richard Wood

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An attractive circular walk around Earlswood Lakes which incorporates part of Clowes Wood and Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre.

Earlswood Lakes are three large and attractive, man-made reservoirs now called Engine Pool, Windmill Pool and Terry's Pool. Created in the early 1820s and costing £297,000, they provide a source of water for the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and took five years to construct (the labour is reputed to have come from Napoleonic prisoners of war). In the early 1900s the lakes became a popular attraction for visitors from Birmingham and its industrial suburbs, being referred to as 'the Scarborough of the Midlands'.

The earliest documented reference to Earlswood is as far back as when King Richard III (1483-1485) granted William Catesby 100 oaks, to be taken from the King's Old Park at Tanworth and Earlswood.
The last water bailiff of Earlswood Lakes was Bill Dolphin from 1958-1974. Bill lived literally on the lakes in the Victorian boathouse which was destroyed by fire in 1978.
The walk incorporates part of Clowes Wood before arriving at Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre. There are at present twenty-three businesses working from the centre-most of these open six days a week.

The walk then rejoins the lakes to follow them in a clockwise direction before returning to the car park.

England - Central England - Warwickshire - Countryside