Country diary: a curious tower sends me over the edge

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire It couldn't be the power-station chimney, it was in the wrong place. And it was too late in the year to be a stack of hay

As the match-flare of a November afternoon dimmed in the trees, I caught a glimpse of a tower. Peering through hazel branches I could make out a tall structure that looked like the power-station chimney - except that was north and this was west. It could have been a stack of hay bales, but harvest was over long ago.

Curious to discover what I had seen, I wandered down the wooded bank, losing the long view, crossed the road and went through the gate on to a green lane, now used only by dog-walkers, sheep and an occasional tractor, but once the thoroughfare over the Edge to a hamlet on common land below.