Moons Moat is one of the oldest, and most historic sites in Redditch. Originally built in the 14th century – or earlier – it was abandoned in the late 17th century and left to be overtaken by its natural surroundings. With the coming of the New Town, Moons Moat was recognised as a site of significant historic interest and was scheduled as an ancient monument, giving it a level of protection similar to that of Stone Henge. Today it is an oasis of green in an otherwise urban residential development.
For over twenty years, volunteers of the Moons Moat Conservation Group, have worked to restore, maintain, develop and promote the site so that today it provides a calm and attractive community asset.
Now, with support from a VCS grant from Redditch Borough Council, they have installed a ten-post Nature Trail around the moat and the adjacent amenity area. The ten posts each have a mounted brass plaque featuring a species of wild life sometimes seen around the moat. These plaques are embossed such that with a sheet of paper and a crayon it is possible to “brass Rub” the images – a fun activity for young and old alike.
On the afternoon of Tuesday 20th June the Group has invited fifty pupils from Moons Moat First School to “Test Run” the Nature trail prior to it official opening in a few weeks time. To help the youngsters, they each will have a Workbook on which to practice their “Brass Rubbing” skills. The workbooks, created with the help of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and the Church Hill Big Local Charity, provide space to practice their techniques of brass rubbing and collect information about the identified wildlife and other interesting facts about wild life more broadly in the area.
As well as being available on the Moons Moat Conservation Groups web site – https://moons-moat.online/ – for downloading and printing at home, printed copies will be available for organised groups for a small contribution to the Groups fund’s,
An A4 trifold information leaflet about the Nature Trail is also available to download from the web site.
