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Hermits and hermits caves

Phil your post 25, yes thats in Red House Park near the Scott Arms, as i remember there where two low tunnels only, used to visit as a kid, last time there think they both filled in, not conected to the Hermits Cave
 
Red House Park these are only small tunnels, not filled in on Feb 2009

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I went to blessed john wall in the early 60,s .I remember this cave was a strugle to get in and out .Also the rope swing across the stream
 
You can see a dog but if you look a different way you will see that it could be a tunnel & what you are looking at that appears to be a dog is infact the ground beyond the tunnel.......
 
If you put into google earth52 31 56.06n 1 56 19.o9w it will put you in woodend handsworth wood park there walk to river tern right walk along path by river about 100 ydsand you will see were cave is if you take a spade you can dig it out as i did in the 60ties
 
By the Hermit'a cave there was an RSJ over the river which I believe was used to carry coal tubs from Hamstead colliery up to a coal yard be Beauchamp Avenue. The Hermit's cave I believe was used by a watchman.

Further to the Hermit's cave can anyone remember a gliding club on the end of the chestnut wood and they flew over the cornfields (some of which is now built on) the rest is now Sandwell Valley. The hanger was on the edge of the wood as far as I can remember.

Ron Chiles
 
I remember the hermit's cave very well. You could get to it via the driveway that ran from The Croftway behind the houses of Parkside Road. The woods were on your RHS as you went down the driveway. You would go diagonally right until you joined the path which ran above but alongside the river Tame. The cave itself was in the sandstone side of the riverbank. At the same spot was a swing from one of the trees which was on top of the bank. It was a piece of thick rope with a stout stick put through a knot at the bottom. We used to swing over the river Tame which had a heck of a current. Mind you, it was said that the pollution of the river would kill you before you drowned! Oh and the smell!! Engraved on my memory. It is such a shame that children nowadays are not given the same freedom to climb trees, play hide and seek and generally explore their local surroundings......
 
Caves are ancient Paul, I guess there might always have been a fissure in the rock and made bigger by our ancestors, they lived in them!!
I'm sure there will be other, more informed answers than mine.
 
The so-called 'Hermit's Cave' in both Bluebell Wood, Handsworth Wood and Redhouse Park are ice houses or ice boxes. In Bluebell Wood there is actually two ice houses: one is a circular hole in the ground resembling a conventional brick-walled water well about two metres (2 yards) in diameter - the other is the colloquially known hermit cave, as recalled by Master Ingram from his nefarious youth, that cave is no more than a substantial youth-sized hole dug out of the sandstone bank slope to the River Tame...and it does indeed resemble a cave. As tourist spots the Bluebell Wood ice houses would be a subjective choice to consider an actual visit...a bit like the Tate or the tat Modern: not much to see!

In days of olde the landed gentry sent forth their servants to dig deep'ish holes in the ground, and in this ground they would collect and deposit and make in the winter months, ICE. Ice that has been frozen multiple times over multiple years in a freeze/thaw/freeze cycle is quite resilient to actually thawing out completely at the warmer times of the year - think the resilience of the frozen tundra and/or glaciers to thawing and ice houses and ice boxes are of that ilk. An ice house in use was visually portrayed in the television series of 'Cranford', when 'Lady Ludlow' played by the delicious, Francesca Annis arranged a summer picnic for the village and at this picnic the villagers consumed (in the height of summer) ice cream made from m'lady's very own ice box that resembled a coal-shed...artistic licence perhaps?

Access to the ice-house and ice-box, Bluebell Wood, Handsworth Wood: Drive along Parkside Road then turn into Woodend (a small cul-de-sac). Park car and walk towards River Tame. Walk downstream for 100 metres and there is the 'Hermit Cave' on your side of the river. The ice hole is situated on the small path that runs through the small Bluebell Wood. If you are parked on Woodend, take the path through the wood and the ice hole is 30 metres on your left.

Just to reiterate, save for childhood memories and/or historical curiosity, there is not much to see of these Handsworth Wood landed-gentry relics!
 
BOBBY77 said:
Hey i know where it is i'm a wood boy right let me begin hamstead hill coming from city centre turn left on to friary rd then right on to grestone ave (my old road) past grestone school road turns changes to craythorne ave down to the end you will come to hamstead hall school round the bend before you get to acfold shops it's first left (can't remember the name) left again then the woods are on your right take path into the woods and the cave is on the left bank next to the river (get some pictures up dudes) last time i looked cave was filled in kids kept making fires in the entrance good luck bob the wood boy
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Thank you for your very clear description of where one of the Hermit/Ice Houses can be found. I live 200 miles away in Cumbria now, but will definitely be taking a look next time I am in Brum. I had friends that lived by that bit of wood I think their road was called The Greenway or something similar.
 
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