Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
These days there is a visitor centre with battle re-enactments, jousting, Morris and tea dan-
cing and falconry among the attractions at various times. There is a birdwatching hide at the
edge of the wood, looking down towards the canal, which is edged with gorse bushes here.
The current terminus of the Battlefield Line is at Shenton, which has been in the process of
being restored since 1970. It uses ex-industrial steam and diesel locomotives. The abandoned
route of the railway could see future extension, following the line of the canal. The ticket of-
fice was built in Leicester but moved to Shenton in 1993 as part of a road-widening scheme.
Near the terminus is a very amateur-looking jetty but all its wooden handrail posts are
topped with beautifully turned wooden knobs. A high brick aqueduct carries the canal over
the road from Shenton, which has a Victorian church with a 17th century monument to the
Battle of Bosworth Field. Shenton Hall dates from 1629 and was much rebuilt in the 19th
century.
Market Bosworth has some fine thatched cottages. It was where Dr Johnson taught for a
time. A timber yard is located next to a road bridge. Dredging in 1976 brought up a First
World War bomb in dangerous condition, which had been dropped from an airship and was
intended for the local gasworks. The canal society members placed mileposts along the canal
and one here shows it will be the midpoint of the canal when it has been fully restored.
Rooks circle above their rookery in a wood in the spring. A windsock on the outskirts of
the town marks a landing strip. Beyond is the town itself with the slender spire of the partly
14th century church visible.
From Carlton Bridge, where it passes over the Sence Brook, the canal dances past Conger-
stone with its kingfishers, wrens and water voles.
The aqueduct and listed bridge over the River Sence at Shackerstone station
.
A distinctive brick tower rises above Barton in the Beans. There is a railway museum at
Shackerstone. A Grade II viaduct with delicate cast-iron parapets carries a road over from the
