Shire Oak Park Local Nature Reserve is a wonderful area of Countryside, about 1.5km (1 mile) from Brownhills town centre.
This 26 hectares (65 acres) site was once a sand and gravel quarry, but is now a haven for wildlife. It has woodland, heathland, meadows, ponds and a good network of footpaths. History Shire Oak gets its name from an ancient oak tree sited on the old Shenstone/Walsall Wood parish boundary. (Shire would probably have come from the Saxon word ‘scyre’ meaning divide). The oak finally came down in the 1890’s. There is a small remnant of it at Shire Oak Community School.
From the 13th century, Shire Oak was part of the Royal Forest of Cannock, a mixture of arable, pasture woodland and heathland, in which the King's deer were protected.
During the 18th century the area was enclosed into agricultural fields and thus it remained for the next 200 years.
Quarrying for sand and gravel started here in the early 1930s, but during World War II the government took over the area for tank testing. After the war, quarrying continued in earnest to supply materials for rebuilding Birmingham .
The quarry finally closed in 1978 although Birch Hollow, at the south end, has not been quarried since the 1940s.
The series contains a variety of cache types and container sizes and I ask that they are returned to their original hide as carefully as possible. The area is very popular with dog walkers so stealth is always required.
Congratulations for first to find - basketcase crew and hazumu.