Distance: 3.2 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: easy

Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Walk along the road running along the crest of a high part of the Midlands Watershed Ridge in the Black Country from Sedgley in the north of Dudley Borough into the heart of Dudley town centre.

Traversing the Heart of Dudley’s Highlands

Steadily sloping downhill from over 200 metres above sea level at the top of the Midlands Watershed Ridge, in its geographical context within Great Britain, Dudley town centre could hardly be further from the sea.

Yet the town of around 100,000 people, which alongside Walsall and Solihull is amongst the largest in West Midlands county, has numerous qualities which resemble the seaside. Especially parts of the Dorset and Yorkshire coast.

Like those areas, Dudley is rich with fossils. During Victorian times workers in the areas limestone quarries and coal mines used to find fossils, including the famous “Dudley Bug”, frequently in the course of their work. These prehistoric remnants were then sold by a thriving fossil trading industry which saw numerous shops and catalogue sellers set-up in the town.

Fossil tourism to Dudley is now largely an artifact of the distant past. Though initiatives like the recently established UNESCO Black Country Geopark which highlights and celebrates the region’s unique geological richness are shining a light upon it in a manner rather more sustainable than the fossil hunters of old. It is said that the once ubiquitous “Dudley Bug” is now a rare find thanks to the sheer number which were unearthed over a century ago.

The reason for the rich fossil record around Dudley is the existence of a prehistoric tropical sea containing a wealth of chain coral which was crushed by the weight of rock over the course of an aeon into the lime and coal which formed the basis for the growth of industry which formed the basis of Dudley’s growth from the Early Modern period onwards.

It is the remains of this sea which also forms the limestone cliffs at sites like Wren’s Nest and the steep narrow hill where the ruins of Dudley Castle stand. This and the resort-like zoo attraction which surrounds it also gives Dudley an inland seaside resort feeling. Akin to Corfe, Conway or Scarborough Castle on the coast, or Matlock Bath the ur inland seaside resort in mid-Derbyshire, with its bizarre Victorian follies.

Zoos, cliffs and castle ruins aside, Dudley is also home to a branch of the small Teddy Gray’s sweets chain of shops, the proudly old fashioned Black Country confectionery maker. They remain cash only, but handily there is a cash machine more or less opposite the front door.

Route Notes

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

This walk along the road running along the crest of a high part of the Midlands Watershed Ridge in the Black Country from Sedgley to Dudley begins from Sedgley town centre.

Upon alighting the bus in Sedgley town centre turn and walk towards the junction just south of the town’s branch of Morrison’s. On reaching the junction turn right.

Walk straight along the road which runs right all the very top of the Midlands Watershed for a couple of miles heading south towards Dudley. To the right into the Severn catchment area there is a spectacular view out across south Staffordshire towards the north Worcestershire hills. To the left into the Trent catchment area there are views out across the Black Country and to nearby Mons Hill and Wren’s Nest, pockmarked by centuries of limestone quarrying and now a National Nature Reserve.

Nearing Dudley town centre you keep to the right remaining on a narrower road, called the Wolverhampton Road, on top of the ridge rather than following the main road down towards the castle. You pass the now closed Anglican church of St. James and enter the top of Dudley town centre passing through a windswept vista of car parks and grassy municipal parks fringed by minor civic buildings.

Upon reaching the still open Anglican church of St. Thomas and St. Luke, Dudley’s parish church, turn left and head downhill along Dudley’s high street to the market square.