Wom Brook
Flowing south-west, it goes beneath both A449 and the older Stafford-Worcester road that runs alongside it, emerging at the edge of the village of Wombourne.
Flowing under the South Staffordshire Railway Walk and dropping again, the Wom enters the wooded Giggetty section, where it meanders through trees well below the level of the nearby housing.
Walkers take a short detour to find the brook flowing out from the culvert across the road at Longford, still a hazard to motorists after heavy rain.
This required considerable investment, as well as political and legal influence, as weirs or dams, and often small canals, had to be constructed to maintain a sufficient head of water.
[3] The development of coke-fired furnaces in the Industrial Revolution greatly stimulated iron-working along the Wom and other streams in the area, while the construction of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in 1770-72 made it easy to transport both raw materials and finished products in bulk.
The pools that regularised the flow at the Wodehouse were already well-developed by this stage, providing both a steady power source and a striking landscape feature for the estate of the influential Hellier family.
The mill pool was greatly enlarged by diverting the Merryhill Brook into it, and it had to be held back by a large embankment above the small valley of the Wom.
A building at the pool-side, now long gone, gives its name to the large Poolhouse estate, on the western side of Wombourne and to a farm just beyond the village edge.
The mid-19th century marked the zenith of Wombourne's contribution to the Industrial Revolution, with many of the adult population involved in nail-making a similar trades.
The 1889 OS map shows a smithy close to the Pool Dam, one of the many small iron-working concerns that used the Wom for power or cooling water, as well as the larger developments at the Wodhouse and Heath.
From the mid-19th century, water power lost its importance as coal-powered steam engines became more reliable, and coal transported by the canal became more economic as a fuel.
Housing spread on both sides of the brook to the west of the village centre, and industrial estates along the lower course, down to the confluence with the Smestow, but the threat of flooding preserved a green corridor.
[7] Starting off on the western edge of Wombourne near the Pool House estate the walks begins in a small woodland before eventually opening up into grass land with mature trees such as oak and willow.
Finally, the eastern end of the walk is found near Rushford Bridge, which crosses the old Stafford-Worcester Road, now in the shadow of the modern A449 dual-carriageway.
The wildlife of Wom Brook includes kingfishers, dippers and the fast declining water vole along with more common species such as grey herons, long-eared bats, green woodpeckers, bees and butterflies.
It was seen hunting and roosting around the Wombrook on a number of occasions and Daniel Traynor captured the very first image of the bird which was later shown in the Parish News.
The channel and pool fell into disuse and were later filled in, although the route is still traceable as the main public footpath from Wombourne to Trysull.
