RoutesHiking trails & RoutesUnited KingdomEnglandWest Midlands RegionWorcestershireWychavonUpton Snodsbury
Grafton Wood – Grafton Wood Nature Reserve loop from Upton Snodsbury
RoutesHiking trails & RoutesUnited KingdomEnglandWest Midlands RegionWorcestershireWychavonUpton Snodsbury
Grafton Wood – Grafton Wood Nature Reserve loop from Upton Snodsbury
Moderate
4.0
(2)
10
hikers
Grafton Wood – Grafton Wood Nature Reserve loop from Upton Snodsbury
03:47
14.4km
120m
Hiking
Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.
Last updated: April 22, 2026
Waypoints
A
Start point
Parking
Get Directions
1
1.11 km
St Kenelm's Church, Peopleton
Highlight • Historical Site
The church of ST. KENELM consists of a chancel 26 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft., nave 54 ft. by 19 ft. with south aisle 10 ft. wide, south porch and west tower 16 ft. square. All measurements are internal.
The western half of the north wall of the nave appears to be of early 13th-century date. The chancel was entirely rebuilt in the 14th century and the west tower added early in the following century. The south aisle was built during the first half of the 16th century. Considerable alterations were made to the church in the 18th century, when the existing west door was inserted, a west gallery built and a plaster ceiling added. The two latter disappeared when the church was restored in 1873, when a modern south porch took the place of one built in 1815. At the same time the clearstory and the upper parts of the nave and chancel walls were rebuilt.
The chancel is structurally undivided from the nave and has a 14th-century east window of three trefoiled lights with clumsy tracery and a double-chamfered string-course at the sill level. In the north wall is a three-light pointed window of the same date, the central light being carried up to the head. To the east of it is a modern piscina. In the south wall is a blocked priest's door with a moulded external label and further west a three-light window uniform with that on the north. The east wall has been refaced externally and has modern diagonal buttresses at the angles.
The nave has three restored lancet windows in the north wall and between the second and third is a blocked north door with a segmental pointed head. Only the western part of this wall appears to be ancient and two straight joints visible externally indicate the extent of the 13th-century work. On the south side an early 16th-century arcade of four bays opens into the south aisle. The chamfered arches are four-centred and low; they rest on piers with moulded bases and capitals, the latter bearing roughly carved ornaments. On the east respond is a rose and shield, on the first pier a rose, tun, shield inscribed T and two objects resembling dice boxes; the other piers and respond have shields, some charged with crosses and roses. Above this arcade is a clearstory of four square-headed windows, each having two lights with four-centred heads. The south aisle has an early 16th-century east window of two lights under a four-centred head, and in the south wall are two similar windows. Between them is a doorway with a four-centred head with carved spandrels. It is fitted with a more ancient door, cut down to fit its present position. The south porch is a modern timber erection on a stone base. The pent roof of this aisle retains the original moulded principal rafters and purlins, with curved struts against the walls and carved head bosses at the main intersections.
The west tower is three stages high with an axis deflected considerably to the north of that of the nave. It is a large and handsome structure of coursed rubble with ashlar buttresses and is now in a condition of serious decay. The tower arch of two orders is lofty and pointed, the inner order is semi-octagonal with moulded capitals and bases. The pointed 15thcentury west window is of three trefoiled lights with a transom and traceried head. Below it is an 18thcentury doorway. The tower is supported by diagonal buttresses of six stages, stopping below the parapet string, and in the south-west angle is a vice now entered from an external door. The second stage has small single-light openings and the bell-chamber is lighted by a pointed window of two trefoiled lights in each face. It is finished with a plain parapet with small pinnacles at the angles and a low pyramidal tiled roof.
The communion table dates from the 17th century and has good turned legs. Between the nave and chancel is a modern oak screen, but the traceried heads of the side compartments are all of the 15th century. The font in the south aisle is also of the 15th century with moulded base and octagonal bowl; four faces bear the symbols of the Evangelists and the others have quatrefoils, two with a rose in the centre and two with a face. Under the tower is a parish chest with conventional flowers chip-carved on the top and front; it bears the inscription, ' Arrmel Greene Gent, John Gale Chvrch 1681 Wardens.' In the north window of the chancel are some remains of 14th-century glass in the heads of the side lights and a few old quarries remain in the eastern window on the north of the nave. The main roofs of the church are modern and tiled. Covered by the existing chancel pavement are several tomb slabs to John Parkes, 1697, Anne wife of Richard Claridge, rector of Peopleton (d. 1676), and others.
There are six bells: the treble inscribed, 'Armell Greene, John Greene C. W., 1738 R.S.'; the second, 'God save Queen Anne 1703 R.S.'; the third,'Richard Sanders, Bromsgrove made us all six 1703'; the fourth, 'John Rudhall, Glocester fect. 1793'; the fifth by the same founder, 1805, and the tenor inscribed, 'Consider man when you hear me, that I ere long may ring for thee 1719.'
The plate consists of a cup, paten and a silvermounted glass flagon, all modern, the old plate having been stolen.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1577 to 1772, marriages 1577 to 1754; (ii) baptisms and burials 1772 to 1812; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1812.
In the churchyard, near the south porch, is the base and part of the shaft of a stone cross probably of the 15th century.
The western half of the north wall of the nave appears to be of early 13th-century date. The chancel was entirely rebuilt in the 14th century and the west tower added early in the following century. The south aisle was built during the first half of the 16th century. Considerable alterations were made to the church in the 18th century, when the existing west door was inserted, a west gallery built and a plaster ceiling added. The two latter disappeared when the church was restored in 1873, when a modern south porch took the place of one built in 1815. At the same time the clearstory and the upper parts of the nave and chancel walls were rebuilt.
The chancel is structurally undivided from the nave and has a 14th-century east window of three trefoiled lights with clumsy tracery and a double-chamfered string-course at the sill level. In the north wall is a three-light pointed window of the same date, the central light being carried up to the head. To the east of it is a modern piscina. In the south wall is a blocked priest's door with a moulded external label and further west a three-light window uniform with that on the north. The east wall has been refaced externally and has modern diagonal buttresses at the angles.
The nave has three restored lancet windows in the north wall and between the second and third is a blocked north door with a segmental pointed head. Only the western part of this wall appears to be ancient and two straight joints visible externally indicate the extent of the 13th-century work. On the south side an early 16th-century arcade of four bays opens into the south aisle. The chamfered arches are four-centred and low; they rest on piers with moulded bases and capitals, the latter bearing roughly carved ornaments. On the east respond is a rose and shield, on the first pier a rose, tun, shield inscribed T and two objects resembling dice boxes; the other piers and respond have shields, some charged with crosses and roses. Above this arcade is a clearstory of four square-headed windows, each having two lights with four-centred heads. The south aisle has an early 16th-century east window of two lights under a four-centred head, and in the south wall are two similar windows. Between them is a doorway with a four-centred head with carved spandrels. It is fitted with a more ancient door, cut down to fit its present position. The south porch is a modern timber erection on a stone base. The pent roof of this aisle retains the original moulded principal rafters and purlins, with curved struts against the walls and carved head bosses at the main intersections.
The west tower is three stages high with an axis deflected considerably to the north of that of the nave. It is a large and handsome structure of coursed rubble with ashlar buttresses and is now in a condition of serious decay. The tower arch of two orders is lofty and pointed, the inner order is semi-octagonal with moulded capitals and bases. The pointed 15thcentury west window is of three trefoiled lights with a transom and traceried head. Below it is an 18thcentury doorway. The tower is supported by diagonal buttresses of six stages, stopping below the parapet string, and in the south-west angle is a vice now entered from an external door. The second stage has small single-light openings and the bell-chamber is lighted by a pointed window of two trefoiled lights in each face. It is finished with a plain parapet with small pinnacles at the angles and a low pyramidal tiled roof.
The communion table dates from the 17th century and has good turned legs. Between the nave and chancel is a modern oak screen, but the traceried heads of the side compartments are all of the 15th century. The font in the south aisle is also of the 15th century with moulded base and octagonal bowl; four faces bear the symbols of the Evangelists and the others have quatrefoils, two with a rose in the centre and two with a face. Under the tower is a parish chest with conventional flowers chip-carved on the top and front; it bears the inscription, ' Arrmel Greene Gent, John Gale Chvrch 1681 Wardens.' In the north window of the chancel are some remains of 14th-century glass in the heads of the side lights and a few old quarries remain in the eastern window on the north of the nave. The main roofs of the church are modern and tiled. Covered by the existing chancel pavement are several tomb slabs to John Parkes, 1697, Anne wife of Richard Claridge, rector of Peopleton (d. 1676), and others.
There are six bells: the treble inscribed, 'Armell Greene, John Greene C. W., 1738 R.S.'; the second, 'God save Queen Anne 1703 R.S.'; the third,'Richard Sanders, Bromsgrove made us all six 1703'; the fourth, 'John Rudhall, Glocester fect. 1793'; the fifth by the same founder, 1805, and the tenor inscribed, 'Consider man when you hear me, that I ere long may ring for thee 1719.'
The plate consists of a cup, paten and a silvermounted glass flagon, all modern, the old plate having been stolen.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1577 to 1772, marriages 1577 to 1754; (ii) baptisms and burials 1772 to 1812; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1812.
In the churchyard, near the south porch, is the base and part of the shaft of a stone cross probably of the 15th century.
Tip by
2
3.70 km
St Michael's and All Angels Church
Highlight • Historical Site
The church of ST. MICHAEL is an entirely modern building consisting of chancel, nave, north porch and vestry. It is in the 13th-century Gothic style with walls of brick faced with stone, steep-pitched tiled roofs, a stone bellcote at the west end, containing one modern bell, and a timber porch. The chancel has a small credence on the north, the pointed arch over which is apparently ancient. The piscina in the south wall has an old basin resting on a head corbel apparently of the 13th century. At the west end of the nave are preserved six encaustic tiles, found in the churchyard to the north of the church in 1896 and indicating an alteration in the site.
Preserved in the vestry is a small uninscribed bell. The old church was a small rectangular structure with a wooden bellcote and a north porch. Habington gives the arms of Folliott, Stone of Stone, Tracey and Coningsby as occurring in it. The two old bells were sold late in the last century. They were dated 1676 & 1745.
Preserved in the vestry is a small uninscribed bell. The old church was a small rectangular structure with a wooden bellcote and a north porch. Habington gives the arms of Folliott, Stone of Stone, Tracey and Coningsby as occurring in it. The two old bells were sold late in the last century. They were dated 1676 & 1745.
Tip by
3
6.89 km
Grafton Wood
Highlight • Forest
Grafton Wood is a triumph for the conservation of one of Britain's rarest species of butterfly. The brown hairstreak thrives in this mixed woodland, which is jointly owned by the Butterfly Conservation and the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.
August and September are the best months to see the brown hairstreak but the woodland is beautiful all year round.
August and September are the best months to see the brown hairstreak but the woodland is beautiful all year round.
Tip by
4
6.95 km
Grafton Wood Nature Reserve
Highlight (Segment) • Natural Monument
An ancient woodland with coppice and large oaks
Jointly owned with Butterfly Conservation, Grafton has been at the heart of one of Worcestershire’s great conservation successes. The wood is the centre of the only colony of brown hairstreak butterflies in the Midlands. These elusive butterflies, on the wing in August and September, have been the subject of a long-term project to ensure their survival. By working with local landowners and encouraging appropriate maintenance of hedgerows, volunteers from both conservation charities have helped the butterflies to increase in range and in numbers.
Grafton Wood is an ancient semi-natural broad-leaved woodland and, until the 1950s was traditionally managed as coppice-with-standards that provided materials for products such as broom handles, pea sticks, hedge-laying, clothes pegs, spars for thatching and firewood. Our management today aims to replicate this tradition and involves widening the rides through the woodland, coppicing and creating glades. We also ensure that there are scrubby areas containing the young blackthorn bushes that are vital for brown hairstreaks to survive.
The majority of the canopy at Grafton is ash and oak although we also have a small-leaved lime coppice stool that we think must have originally started as one lime tree at least a thousand years ago. In many places there is a dense shrub layer of field maple, hawthorn and hazel. The two compartments of conifers that were planted in the 1960s have largely been removed in 2010.
It’s not just brown hairstreak butterflies that visitors to Grafton Wood should keep a look out for. The wood is also important for other woodland butterflies including silver-washed fritillaries and white admirals. After careful surveying of the habitat and flowering species in the wood pearl-bordered fritillaries were released into the woodland in 2011 in the hope that they would then naturally re-colonise the wood after a 30 year absence. Notable moths include drab looper, rosy footman, Devon carpet and waved black.
Many fungi have been recorded in the wood and it also supports a distinctive flora including herb-Paris, adder’s-tongue fern, violet helleborine, spurge laurel and bird’s-nest orchid. Birds including buzzard, goldcrest, treecreeper, lesser and great spotted woodpeckers are regularly seen in the wood and the adjacent meadows and orchards are important for green woodpeckers. Bechstein’s bats were recently discovered in the wood and the colony is thought to be the most northerly breeding roost in the UK.
Jointly owned with Butterfly Conservation, Grafton has been at the heart of one of Worcestershire’s great conservation successes. The wood is the centre of the only colony of brown hairstreak butterflies in the Midlands. These elusive butterflies, on the wing in August and September, have been the subject of a long-term project to ensure their survival. By working with local landowners and encouraging appropriate maintenance of hedgerows, volunteers from both conservation charities have helped the butterflies to increase in range and in numbers.
Grafton Wood is an ancient semi-natural broad-leaved woodland and, until the 1950s was traditionally managed as coppice-with-standards that provided materials for products such as broom handles, pea sticks, hedge-laying, clothes pegs, spars for thatching and firewood. Our management today aims to replicate this tradition and involves widening the rides through the woodland, coppicing and creating glades. We also ensure that there are scrubby areas containing the young blackthorn bushes that are vital for brown hairstreaks to survive.
The majority of the canopy at Grafton is ash and oak although we also have a small-leaved lime coppice stool that we think must have originally started as one lime tree at least a thousand years ago. In many places there is a dense shrub layer of field maple, hawthorn and hazel. The two compartments of conifers that were planted in the 1960s have largely been removed in 2010.
It’s not just brown hairstreak butterflies that visitors to Grafton Wood should keep a look out for. The wood is also important for other woodland butterflies including silver-washed fritillaries and white admirals. After careful surveying of the habitat and flowering species in the wood pearl-bordered fritillaries were released into the woodland in 2011 in the hope that they would then naturally re-colonise the wood after a 30 year absence. Notable moths include drab looper, rosy footman, Devon carpet and waved black.
Many fungi have been recorded in the wood and it also supports a distinctive flora including herb-Paris, adder’s-tongue fern, violet helleborine, spurge laurel and bird’s-nest orchid. Birds including buzzard, goldcrest, treecreeper, lesser and great spotted woodpeckers are regularly seen in the wood and the adjacent meadows and orchards are important for green woodpeckers. Bechstein’s bats were recently discovered in the wood and the colony is thought to be the most northerly breeding roost in the UK.
Tip by
5
7.43 km
Grafton Wood Nature Reserve – Brown Hairstreak Butterfly Colony
Highlight • Natural Monument
Jointly owned with Butterfly Conservation, Grafton has been at the heart of one of Worcestershire’s great conservation successes. The wood is the centre of the only colony of brown hairstreak butterflies in the Midlands. These elusive butterflies, on the wing in August and September, have been the subject of a long-term project to ensure their survival. By working with local landowners and encouraging appropriate maintenance of hedgerows, volunteers from both conservation charities have helped the butterflies to increase in range and in numbers.
Tip by
6
8.42 km
St John the Baptist Church, Grafton Flyford
Highlight • Historical Site
The church of ST. JOHN BAPTIST consists of a chancel 26½ ft. by 15¾ ft., nave 44 ft. by 21 ft., north chapel, south porch, and west tower 11 ft. square. These measurements are all internal.
The church, with the exception of the 14th-century tower, was entirely rebuilt in 1875, but the old work appears to have been very largely re-used. The modern work is already getting into a very bad state of repair.
The chancel has a 15th-century east window of three lights with a segmental pointed head. In the north wall is a square-headed 14th-century window of two ogee trefoil-headed lights. In the south wall are two square-headed two-light windows and a priest's door, mostly modern. On this side is a single sedile with a cusped head, and near it a pointed piscina with the bowl missing. An internal string-course, largely modern, is carried round the chancel. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders dying into the wall; the voussoirs are small and regular and are of late 13th or early 14th-century date.
In the north wall of the nave is a pointed 14thcentury arch of two chamfered orders opening into a small chapel with a single-light window on the east and west. Further west is a pointed window of the same date with two lights and a traceried head. In the south wall are two windows, each of two lights and similar to that on the north of the chancel; between them is a plain pointed door. All these features have apparently been restored and reset.
The 14th-century tower is faced with ashlar and three stages high with low diagonal buttresses to the western angles of the ground stage. The tower arch is acutely pointed and of two chamfered orders. This stage rests on a deeply moulded plinth and has a pointed 15th-century west window of three cinquefoiled lights. The second stage is lighted by loops only, but the third stage has a pointed 14th-century window of two trefoiled ogee lights in each face. The parapet is embattled, with carved gargoyles at the angles of the string and panelled and crocketed pinnacles rising above them. From within it rises a low octagonal pyramid of stone capped by a truncated pinnacle set diagonally.
The fittings include a 17th-century communion table with turned legs, a 15th-century semi-octagonal pulpit (on a modern base) having a moulded rail and traceried heads to the panels, and a modern font. In the north chapel is a broken marble monument to Roger Stonehall, who died in 1645. Under the tower are roughly designed paintings on boards of the evangelistic symbols with black letter labels, perhaps of the 16th century; here is also a painted achievement of the royal arms of Charles II inscribed 1687 C.R. In the tracery of the east window are some fragments of 15th-century glass tabernacle work and in the north chancel window are two shields, one with the arms of Mortimer and the other imperfect with those of Beauchamp. In the west window are fragments of white and yellow 15th-century glass in the tracery.
There are five bells, all cast by John Martin in 1676: the tenor is inscribed, 'All men that here my roring sound repent before you ly in ground, M. Robert Baker 1676'; the fourth, 'We wish in heven theer souls may sing that caused us six here for to ring, Amell Doxly, Richard Haynes C.W. 1676'; the third, 'Be it known to all that doth wee see John Martin of Worcester, he made wee 1676'; the second, 'All prayse and glory be to God for ever 1676'; and the treble, 'Jesus be our good speed, God Save the King 1676.'
The plate includes a cup and cover paten, London, 1571, and a plate, London, 1679, inscribed 'Grafton Flyford.'
The registers are in one volume as follows: baptisms 1676 to 1813, burials 1676 to 1812, marriages 1678 to 1777.
The church, with the exception of the 14th-century tower, was entirely rebuilt in 1875, but the old work appears to have been very largely re-used. The modern work is already getting into a very bad state of repair.
The chancel has a 15th-century east window of three lights with a segmental pointed head. In the north wall is a square-headed 14th-century window of two ogee trefoil-headed lights. In the south wall are two square-headed two-light windows and a priest's door, mostly modern. On this side is a single sedile with a cusped head, and near it a pointed piscina with the bowl missing. An internal string-course, largely modern, is carried round the chancel. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders dying into the wall; the voussoirs are small and regular and are of late 13th or early 14th-century date.
In the north wall of the nave is a pointed 14thcentury arch of two chamfered orders opening into a small chapel with a single-light window on the east and west. Further west is a pointed window of the same date with two lights and a traceried head. In the south wall are two windows, each of two lights and similar to that on the north of the chancel; between them is a plain pointed door. All these features have apparently been restored and reset.
The 14th-century tower is faced with ashlar and three stages high with low diagonal buttresses to the western angles of the ground stage. The tower arch is acutely pointed and of two chamfered orders. This stage rests on a deeply moulded plinth and has a pointed 15th-century west window of three cinquefoiled lights. The second stage is lighted by loops only, but the third stage has a pointed 14th-century window of two trefoiled ogee lights in each face. The parapet is embattled, with carved gargoyles at the angles of the string and panelled and crocketed pinnacles rising above them. From within it rises a low octagonal pyramid of stone capped by a truncated pinnacle set diagonally.
The fittings include a 17th-century communion table with turned legs, a 15th-century semi-octagonal pulpit (on a modern base) having a moulded rail and traceried heads to the panels, and a modern font. In the north chapel is a broken marble monument to Roger Stonehall, who died in 1645. Under the tower are roughly designed paintings on boards of the evangelistic symbols with black letter labels, perhaps of the 16th century; here is also a painted achievement of the royal arms of Charles II inscribed 1687 C.R. In the tracery of the east window are some fragments of 15th-century glass tabernacle work and in the north chancel window are two shields, one with the arms of Mortimer and the other imperfect with those of Beauchamp. In the west window are fragments of white and yellow 15th-century glass in the tracery.
There are five bells, all cast by John Martin in 1676: the tenor is inscribed, 'All men that here my roring sound repent before you ly in ground, M. Robert Baker 1676'; the fourth, 'We wish in heven theer souls may sing that caused us six here for to ring, Amell Doxly, Richard Haynes C.W. 1676'; the third, 'Be it known to all that doth wee see John Martin of Worcester, he made wee 1676'; the second, 'All prayse and glory be to God for ever 1676'; and the treble, 'Jesus be our good speed, God Save the King 1676.'
The plate includes a cup and cover paten, London, 1571, and a plate, London, 1679, inscribed 'Grafton Flyford.'
The registers are in one volume as follows: baptisms 1676 to 1813, burials 1676 to 1812, marriages 1678 to 1777.
Tip by
B
14.4 km
End point
Parking
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
6.40 km
4.92 km
1.26 km
921 m
388 m
266 m
244 m
Surfaces
9.21 km
2.23 km
1.26 km
1.26 km
446 m
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Sunday 12 July
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