Attractions and Places To See around Hartshill - Top 20

The church in Kingsbury was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, also known as the "Prince of the Apostles." Their common feast day in the calendar of saints is June 29th for all major denominations. * Simon, nicknamed Peter (Rock), was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee when he, along with his brother Andrew, was called by Jesus Christ to be a "fisher of men." In works of art, Peter is almost always depicted holding two keys; this attribute refers to the biblical passage in Matthew: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Chapter 16, Verse 19) * Paul was initially an opponent of the Christian movement and, unlike the other apostles, was not called to the apostleship by Jesus Christ during his lifetime. Instead, he was converted later through the famous "Damascus Experience." His attribute is the sword with which he was executed. Such a sentence was a "privilege" under Roman law at the time (a quick death, not a long, painful agony like other forms of execution) reserved for the citizens of Rome.

beautiful place to ride by, especially at sunrise or sunset. the greyhound pub is on the junction for a half time stop as well. can either head to Bedworth/nuneaton, back into Coventry Central or round to Longford.

A nice quiet spot, it was the dead centre of my walk

Shustoke Reservoir is managed by Severn Trent. The reservoir was completed in 1884 to provide water for Birmingham. Nowerdays the reservoir supplies Nuneaton and the surrounding area.

Hawkesbury Junction is a major waterways place at the junction of the Coventry Canal (Main Line - Coventry to Hawkesbury) with the Coventry Canal (Main Line - Hawkesbury to Fazeley) and the Oxford Canal (Northern Section - Main Line).   Coventry Basin (Canal Terminus) is on the Coventry Canal (Main Line - Coventry to Hawkesbury), 5 miles and 4 furlongs to the southwest. Hawkesbury Engine House is on the Coventry Canal (Main Line - Hawkesbury to Fazeley), ½ furlongs to the northeast. Sutton Stop is on the Oxford Canal (Northern Section - Main Line), ½ furlongs to the east. It is the centre of Hawkesbury Junction. The nearest place in the direction of Coventry Basin is Hawkesbury Services; ¼ furlongs away. The nearest place in the direction of Hawkesbury Engine House is Hawkesbury Junction Gauging Stop; ¼ furlongs away. The nearest place in the direction of Sutton Stop is Hawkesbury Junction Bridge; a few yards away.

Sutton Stop is a major waterways place on the Oxford Canal (Northern Section - Main Line) between Wyken Arm Junction (Old Colliery Branch) (1 mile and 3½ furlongs to the southeast) and Hawkesbury Junction (Junction of the Coventry Canal Main Line with the Oxford Canal Northern Section.) (½ furlongs to the west)  It is part of Hawkesbury Junction. The nearest place in the direction of Wyken Arm Junction is Sutton Stop Changeline Bridge; a few yards away. The nearest place in the direction of Hawkesbury Junction is The Greyhound Inn; ¼ furlongs away.

The history of Shustoke Why were the reservoirs created here?  In 1870 the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, as was the birthrate and the need for clean water was becoming more pressing.  The Birmingham Water Works Company therefore applied to Parliament for  permission for water to be taken from the Rivers Bourne and Blythe, whose gathering grounds in rural areas to the East of Birmingham were declared to be away from pollution, and to impound the water from the Bourne in a reservoir which was built at Shustoke.   A pumping station, filter beds and another small reservoir was also constructed at Whitacre. What was here before? Before the reservoir was built, the land was occupied by Whitacre Lodge which was part of the Hams Estate. This was sold by Lord Norton in 1879, for the building of Shustoke Reservoir.       How long did it take to build the Reservoirs? The time-scale granted for this work was 10 years and although most of the work at Whitacre was completed in the time scheduled, an extension of five years was applied for in 1879 as the reservoir at Shustoke had hardly been started; the eventual completion was around 1884.         What is the Reservoirs role in the water supply network? When the reservoirs were built they were to supply water to the nearby Whitacre Treatment Works, which was to provide 28 million litres of water daily to Birmingham. As the city grew this soon became inadequate and with the completion of the Elan Valley scheme in 1904 Whitacre was relegated to standby duty. In 1908 Whitacre was recommissioned to supply water to Coventry to supplement the local borehole supplies. In the 1050’s Whitacre also started to supply Nuneaton and now about 10% of the water from Shustoke supplies Coventry with the rest going to Nuneaton and the surrounding districts of Bedworth and Atherstone. Where does the water come from? The water is gravity fed by the nearby River Bourne which runs along the north of the two reservoirs. How deep and big are the reservoirs? The reservoirs consist of a settling pool of 7.8 acres and a storage reservoir of 92 acres.  Combined they have a capacity of around 460,000,000  gallons.

The sedge bed has two species that are important to Warwickshire and not found much in our county - Brown sedge and Marsh horsetail. Look out for evidence of otters in the area and fish in the brook. If you're here at dusk you might see pipistrelle bats.  The swamp habitat here is great for bees, dragonflies and hoverflies and the wildflowers include great burnet - spot the crimson lollipop flowers!