Sunday – Leominster – A blue sky is largely obscured by high cloud splattered like daubs paint. It is close to freezing but the frost is very light. There is little bird song just the chattering of House Sparrows and the odd tweet from a Blue Tit. Silent Jackdaws fly over a slight beat of air from their wings. Just one cherry tree has flowered so far. On to the railway bridge. Chiffchaffs call nearby and a Rabbit scuttles down the track where the old lines used to run. The water level in the River Lugg continues to fall, albeit by just a couple of inches. Easters and Lammas meadows are both pale with frost.
Round to the Millennium Park. Buds are swelling and even a few leaves have appeared on the apple trees. The water level in the River Kenwater has also fallen and it is running clear. Into the churchyard. Wood Pigeons sit silently in the trees and below Blackbirds search the grass. Cloud is thickening.
Along Church Street. Rapid fire call of a Wren comes from the ivy coating the trunk of a tree by the Forbury.
Home – The cold frame was rather abandoned last summer and is now full of dried grass, Great Willowherb and thick mats of green leaves, possibly Violet. It takes quite a while to clear it then Kay puts in some trays of sweet peas. I dig the last, the fifth, potato trench then dig out a pile of mulch made from the diggings from the chicken run. This lines the trenches and then in go the chitted seed potatoes. These are covered and we now wait for them to sprout. Worrying, there is nothing from the rows of peas, parsnip or beetroot sown several weeks ago.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Thirteen Mute Swans fly up from the fields near the lane from the Gloucester road. Although their wings beat powerfully they make slow headway into the strong westerly winds. Along the track at Bodenham lake. Wren, Robin, Great Tit and Chiffchaff are in song. Many trees are beginning to turn green. The herd of Mute Swans have touched down on the lake. They are the only wildfowl on the sailing bay water. A few Mallard, Tufted Duck and an Oystercatcher are hunkered down on the islands. Rain arrives.
Into the meadow. Several Chiffchaffs and at least one Blackcap are in song. Into the Alder plantation where Song Thrush, Great Tit and Blackcap sing. The water level in the hide is still high enough that none of the scrape can be seen. Canada Geese are scattered across the lake, as are the Mute Swans, many of whom still have the brown markings of juveniles. A Green Woodpecker yaffles in the distance. A single Great Crested Grebe is in an empty expanse of water to the west of the lake. A Moorhen is beside the reed bed at the foot of the bank. The nest in the Willow saplings is empty. A few Greylags are present. A Cormorant flies in. The Moorhen seems to be building a new nest in the brown and battered reed bed. A Magpie flies across the lake. About twenty Tufted Duck are on the southern side of the water. No Sand Martins yet.
Blossom is developing rapidly now on some of the cider apple trees (Brown Snout and Bulmers Norman) whilst most the others still look completely dormant. In the other orchard, pink flowers are just opening on a couple of Genet Moyle trees and an unnamed pear is in full blossom.
Home – At last some peas are pushing through the soil, but nothing yet from the beetroot or parsnip. Yesterday I sowed a tray of beetroot in case the first sowing fails completely. The sweet peppers in the bathroom are pricked out into pots and the one surviving chilli is potted on. Some lettuces have germinated at last in the greenhouse. Purple-sprouting and collards are both progressing slowly but the cabbage I sowed seems to have failed. I picked up some chicken pellets on the way home. The price has risen by over a third. Yesterday, the green grocer told me that anything grown under glass has rocketed in price. Welcome to another round of Tory austerity!
Friday – Ashperton-Stoke Edith – A bright, cool morning with a frost. Robins sing around the church at Ashperton. Through the churchyard where Moles have been busy. A large Yew has been drastically pruned, that seems to be the order of the year for trees. The castle moat and mound are both heavily overgrown. Lesser Celandines have yet to open their petals to the morning. The woodland floor is covered in Dog Mercury. Wood Anemones cover the wood floor in places. A Blackbird serenades and a Jay flies off silently. The first Bluebells are coming into flower.
Out of the wood into a field. To the north is a horseshoe shaped artificial fishing lake. Across the field and into the woodland of Ashperton Park. A Robin and Wren sing whilst Chaffinches search the leaf litter. The woodlands consist of a large block of conifers and some maybe half century old Oaks and previously coppiced Hazels. The footpath passes Cook’s Wood and emerges at Upper Poppinger, a 17th century farmhouse, altered in the 19th century and barn conversion. A Song Thrush, Great Tit and Chiffchaff are in song. A track leads to a lane past Little Poppinger, another cottage and 17th century barn conversion.
The lane runs south to the main A438 but my route is north west towards Little Tarrington. A rabbit runs out of the garden of the 18th century Beanfield cottage and into the opposite hedgerows. A Chaffinch sings from overhead telephone wires. An old wooden barn is in an advanced state of decay. A Red Kite flies over. The lane passes through green pastures and modern housing at Wood End. The verge on the north side of the Lane has Lesser Celandines, Primroses, Ground Ivy, Wild Arum and Dog Mercury. The opposite side is almost completely swamped with a few umbellifers and White Dead nettle but mainly large expanses of Cleavers. Further on a small patches of Lesser Stitchwort. Beside a house, Worfield, several dogs are being walked. The excitable smaller dogs and Labrador try to chase a ball but a Border Collie waits and watches quietly before haring off and retrieving it every time.
The lane jinks. Across the fields is a large farm, Freetown, which has a moat. A small herd of Herefords graze nearby. Beyond is Shucknall Hill. Here, the trees in an orchard are laden with Mistletoe. Into Little Tarrington where are a couple of of older properties stand among 20th century housing. Little Tarrington farm house is a substantial older building. The lane turns south. An old barn, an 18th century cider house and stable is attached to a small 18th century timber-framed cottage which is joined to a larger 20th century extension. Beside them is a large brick, wood and corrugated iron barn. Waggoners Cottage is late 17th century. The lane passes under the Hereford to Worcester and Birmingham line. A train passes over. The area beyond the bridge was Little Tarrington Common. Over a dried up mill leat. Modern houses stand on the other side with more being constructed on the junction with the A438.
A pavement runs alongside the busy main road. Past the old police house. Large Victorian houses lead into Tarrington. Several modern houses stand between older properties, one probably 17th century. A milestone states “To Ledbury 7 miles - Hereford 7 miles”. Tarrington House is Georgian, built around 1825, likewise the Old Post House. Opposite is the Tarrington Arms, a fine Georgian inn, formerly The Foleys Arms Hotel. A lane passes a mixture of Victorian houses, one dated 1899 and older buildings including the late 17th century former forge. Brook House is a substantial farmhouse. The brook runs under the road and disappears. Steps and a steep path leading to the churchyard of the church of St Philip and St James.
The Domesday Book records Tatintune or Tatintyne, the manor held by Roger de Laci, and under him by Ansfrid de Cormeilles, who came to England with William. Through marriage to a niece of the de Lacy family, Ansfrid gained twenty manors in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, including Tarrington. The manor of Stoke Edith, which included parts of Little Tarrington, was given to Ralph de Todeni, William’s standard bearer at the Battle of Hastings. In 1350, the manor of Tarrington was owned by Edmund de la Barre. The manor then passed through the Bodenham family to the Lingens, who also owned the manor of Stoke Edith. Henry Lingen, a Catholic, became a Royalist Colonel in the English Civil War, and was knighted by Charles I in 1645. In 1670, Thomas Foley (1616-1677), a highly successful ironmaster from Stourbridge, bought the Stoke Edith Estate. The Foley family had benefited from the Civil War by supplying charcoal and iron needed for making cannon to the Roundheads, and, later, to the Restoration Government. Thomas Foley’s son, Paul, built a new house on the Estate and continued to expand it into Tarrington. He became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1694. A large part of the estate was auctioned off in the agricultural depression of 1919 but the Foley family retained, and still retain, a substantial part.
The church dates to the 12th century, but it was comprehensively restored during the Victorian period and much of the interior furnishings are 19th century, including a finely carved pulpit. The church is composed of a nave, chancel, and west tower and is built of sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings, under a tile roof. There is evidence that the church had a chancel apse until the 15th century. The tower is 16th century, and rises in three stages, with diagonal buttresses on two sides. Two windows in the north wall of the chancel have been identified as late Saxon or early Norman and there is a blocked 12th century doorway in the east side of the north aisle. The font is 14th century. in the north wall is a 14th century effigy of a lady in a side-less gown and cloak. The recess arch is enriched with dogtooth ornament and ball and flower ornamentation on the side pinnacles. The chancel arch is modern but rises from the 12th century piers with carved capitals, possibly by the masons of the Herefordshire School. The crossbeam is an unusual feature in our church, being where a roodscreen might have been. it is made of wood and has the inscription which reads “God so loved the world”. An inscription on the back reads “to the glory of God and is in loving memory of Mary Louise, wife of Alfred Edward Green Price, Rector of Tarrington, who died September 17th 1922”. The 2 manual organ is by Eustace Ingram and is dated 1878. There are a peal of six bells. The oldest bell, the fifth, is more than two hundred years old. The third bell was re-cast in 1898 in Whitechapel. The inscription around this bell is a dedication to Joseph and Esther Carless who are both buried in the churchyard. Joseph was a former mayor of Hereford, he died in 1897. It is believed that his ancestors lived in the Vine at Tarrington.
Another exit from the churchyard leads past the modern rectory to a lane which runs to The Lays Farm. The lane, School Lane was, at one time, the main road through the village. Dunnocks sing and it is getting warmer in the sunshine. A few old properties are linked by modern housing. Tarrington Court, a very large timber-framed late 16th century house stands in extensive gardens. A stone wall, bright purple with Aubrieta, has a probable 17th century stone entrance with a fleur-de-lys at its apex. The house beyond the wall, The Vine, dates to the 15th century but now has a Georgian façade. The Lady Emily Community Hall was erected by Lady Emily Foley of Stoke Edith Park in 1874 as schools and house. It now houses Tarrington Parish Council. The Lay farmhouse is an 18th century double range with attached hop kilns. The barns have all been converted into residences. A Starling makes tapping noises from a young Silver Birch.
A track runs past some unconverted farm buildings. A Ring-necked Pheasant with extensive silver on its back croaks. A Kestrel flies off of wires and across the fields. Besides the track is a large fields with dozens of small shelters with sheep grazing on the middle. To the north of the track is Stoke Edith Park. The woodlands are full of daffodils, still in flower. A pair of Partridges fly up and off across the trees. Under a wooden bridge, built in 1988, linking the pastures with the park. The track joins a lane which runs down to Stoke Edith and the church of St Mary the Virgin.
The church is in poor condition, still privately owned, apparently undergoing restoration and is closed. The west tower is 14th century with a 17th century recessed needle spire capped in 1940. The nave and chancel were rebuilt between 1740 and 1743 by Henry Flitcroft, Clerk of Works to Crown for Thomas Foley in a Georgian style. At the east end of the church yard is a small private graveyard closed to the public. (Added March 2023 – The Bishop of Hereford has approved proposals to close St Mary’s Church for regular public worship and to sell it to a Trust founded by a member of the Foley family). Beyond is the derelict Stoke Edith Hall, destroyed by fire in 1927. To the west of the church is a large former walled garden now planted with fruit trees. The lane continues down towards the main road. The former rectory, now Stoke Edith House, was built in 1740 and is overlooked by the church tower. Just inside ornamental gates with dragons on the pillars is an arch under which is the large St Edith’s Well. Water is overflowing into a drain. On down the road is a 17th century timber-framed building, formerly the smithy and a pair of late 18th century cottages. These are followed by a small extension graveyard. There are more houses on the junction with the A438. Unfortunately the hoped for footpath along the road does not exist so I need to return to the track and back to Tarrington the way I came.
Back up the hill. Chiffchaffs and Nuthatches call. Green Alkenet is in flower. Back along the track towards Tarrington. A Garden Warbler is singing on the edge of the wood. Spits of rain fall. Further on a Blackcap sings. A Small Tortoiseshell visits a Dandelion. A footpath crosses field straight down to the main road. A Kestrel sits on wires. An intercity train passes in the middle distance. Bulging cumulus clouds are building. Partly rotted muck has been spread on maize stubble; not the most pleasant smell on earth. Back through Tarrington. The Tarrington Arms doors seem resolutely shut.
Along the main road. A flock of Rooks search a freshly harrowed field. Up the lane to Little Tarrington. A purple and gold West Midlands Railway train passes over the bridge. Chiffchaffs and Common Buzzards call. At the Mistletoe orchard, a Goldfinch sings from the very top of an apple tree. Into Ashperton Park. The Lesser Celandines and the Wood Anemones have all opened their petals now and shine yellow and white in the sun. Into Cook’s Wood. A Common Buzzard mews and two Jays screech at one another. Young children play at a woodland camp. Route
Sunday – Leominster – A cold morning with a light frost. Most of the sky is covered in a thin layer of cloud. A Starling’s strange gabble of noises comes from its perch on a television aerial. Jackdaws fly about and the call of a Chiffchaff comes from a garden. Over the railway. Rabbits lope down the track where the old rails ran. The calls of House Sparrows come from near the station. The song of Wrens ring out in the woods and the now familiar Chiffchaff.
Onto Butts Bridge. The Dipper is on the mud beneath the bridge. The water level has again dropped a little. Exposed rocks in the water have white caps of Dipper droppings. Back to the railway bridge. The song of a Blackcap is swamped by that of Wrens and Chiffchaffs. Round to the Millennium Park. Leaves are appearing on the apple trees. Another Blackcap sings from the Elder bushes at the bottom of the playing field. The grass has a light dusting of frost. A few handfuls of Wild Garlic leaves are collected for the chickens. A Magpie flies up to a bundle of sticks that will be its nest at the very top of a tall tree. The water level in the River Kenwater is also slightly lower.
Into the churchyard. A molehill has thrown up a small piece of tile. Wild Arum’s sheathed flowering parts having emerged.
Monday – Nymans – These National Trust gardens are in Handcross, West Sussex. The gardens surround a partly destroyed country house. The name probably came from from the family of Robert le Nynweman or Nyman in the early 14th century. The land was bought by William Portyer in 1323-4 then, from 1597 until the end of the 17th century, it was owned by the Gatland family who built on the site of the present house. In 1799 the estate was inherited by Elizabeth Ellyat, subsequently passing through the hands of several owners including, from 1839 to 1852, those of George Harrington who largely rebuilt the house, considerably enlarged the estate and began planting shelter belts of trees and shrubs.
Ludwig Ernest Wilhelm Leonard Messel (1847-1915), a member of a German Jewish family. He was born in Germany in 1847 and moved to England in 1868 and became a naturalised British citizen in 1878. He bought the Nymans estate and set about turning the estate into a place for family life and entertainment, with an Arts and Crafts-inspired garden room where topiary features contrast with new plants from temperate zones around the world. Messel’s head gardener from 1895 was James Comber, whose expertise helped form plant collections of camellias, rhododendrons, which unusually at the time were combined with planting heather, eucryphias and magnolias. William Robinson advised in establishing the Wild Garden. Ludwig’s son Colonel Leonard Messel succeeded to the property in 1915 and replaced the nondescript Regency house with the picturesque stone manor, designed by Sir Walter Tapper and Norman Evill in a late Gothic/Tudor style.
The garden reached a peak in the 1930s and was regularly opened to the public. The severe reduction of staff in World War II was followed in 1947 by a disastrous fire in the house, which survives as a garden ruin. The house was partially rebuilt and became the home of Leonard Messel’s daughter, Anne and her second husband the 6th Earl of Rosse. At Leonard Messel’s death in 1953 it was bequeathed to the National Trust with 275 acres of woodland, one of the first gardens taken on by the Trust. Lady Rosse continues to serve as Garden Director.
Being in the school Easter holidays, the gardens are crowded with numerous noisy children. However, the spring flower displays are magnificent, fields of daffodils, tulips, rhododendrons and camellias. Jackdaws are obviously used to people and watch carefully for any food spillage.
Tuesday – Brighton and Hove – A grey morning although some blue sky shows through. A Herring Gull watches as I leave the house and head to The Level. The trees around The Level are mainly around 35 years old, replacements for those that were blown down during the Great Storm of 1987. A few of the original trees are still present. Three Jays squawk as they fly through the branches. A Great Spotted Woodpecker chips. Juvenile gulls stalk the grass looking for worms.
Into Oxford Street. St Bartholomew’s church looms over London Road, which looks depressing as ever. Two floral displays have been tipped over, their contents scattered across the pavement. Up Ann Street. There is the constant sound of yelping gulls. Into New England Street then Whitecross Street. Trafalgar Street has of course been gentrified, to an extent as it still has a slightly seedy quality about it. Past a pub now known as The Grand Central with copper dome and up Guildford Road. Into Buckingham Street where the terraces of three storey houses are mainly now apartments. West Hill is still rising up Albert Road to Dyke Road.
Down to Seven Dials. Lots of trendy shops, cafés, restaurants and bars. All the banks that surrounded Seven Dials have gone. Into Goldsmid Road which soon becomes Davigdor Road. Some particularly ugly mid 20th century flats face a long terrace of three storey early 20th century houses which give way to more stylish semi-detached. This is now Hove. A street sweeping machine passes although its use in a road lined by parked cars seems pretty limited. Buildings here interwar semis and large hideous square blocks of flats.
The St Mary and St Abraam Coptic Orthodox church. It was formerly St Thomas the Apostle, built by the Brighton based architecture firm Clayton & Black on a site given by Osmond Elim d’Avigdor Goldsmid. The foundation stone was laid in 1901. Opposite is a private hospital in a building built between 1899 and 1904, also by Clayton & Black, for local department store Hanningtons as a furniture depository. It was converted into offices for the Legal & General insurance company in 1972 and then converted into the hospital in 2012. It has a lead dome on its roof. To the west of it is a wholly unsympathetic modern building. By the church, Nizells Lane leads to St Ann’s Well Gardens.
St Ann’s Well Gardens was part of the Wick Estate in the Middle Ages, which was a strip of land that extended inland to the edge of Preston manor originally owned by the de Pierpoints from Normandy who came over with William in 1066. This family died out in the 14th century and the next owners were the Smyths or Smiths from whom it eventually passed to the Stapleys. The Stapley family owned the estate from 1573 until 1701 when it was sold to a family of Brighton brewers, the Scutts. A health spa was established under the Scutts and around 1800 an elaborate pump room was built over the spring. In 1825, Revd Scutt sold off part of the Wick Estate, which became the Brunswick Estate. In 1830 the remaining land in the Wick Estate was sold to financier and philanthropist Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, who moved into the Wick Lodge. Sir Isaac Goldsmid was the first to create the gardens that now exist. When Sir Isaac died in 1859, members of the Goldsmid family that inherited the Goldsmid Estate continued to develop the gardens and surrounding area. George Albert Smith (1864–1959), a pioneer in the film industry, leased St Ann’s Well Gardens from the Goldsmid family. He was devoted to commercially developing the gardens, which he named “St Anne’s Well Pleasure Gardens”. Smith’s pleasure gardens included novelties such as demonstrations of hot air ballooning and parachute jumps, a monkey house, a fortune teller and a hermit living in a cave. He used the pump house as a film laboratory, and produced about 50 short films a year there. Some claim that this was the birthplace of film editing. Later, Smith had a glass house film studio built on the grounds. In 1908, the local authorities bought the gardens for £10,000 and the park was opened to the public on Empire Day in 1908.
The gardens are rather scruffy and have an unsightly brick building in them. The Victorian shelter made of large rocks called The Old Cave has completely disappeared. A muddy patch of water surrounded by brambles at least has tadpoles. A modern brick construction stands where the pump house stood until it fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1935 when the new artesian wells were created causing the well to dry up. It is considered by some that a ley line runs through the well site. The name comes from Annafrieda, a Saxon woman whose lover was murdered. Her tears miraculously became the Chalybeate Spring. A detailed history can be found here.
Out of the park into Furze Hill where seven storey blocks of Art Deco flats stand, Wick Hall and Furze Croft. An earlier Wick Hall stood between 1840 until 1935. This was a magnificent Victorian mansion house commissioned by Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and was built by Decimus Burton. The flats were built in 1936 by Bell Modern Homes. Furze Hill joins Lansdowne Road. Wavertree House stands on the junction. This house was built in 1892 possibly designed by A N Bromley. The house is said to have been built for a German doctor, presumably J C Uhthoff, physician. Opposite is Brunswick Place, either side a long classic terrace of four storey bow-fronted Georgian houses, built in 1825-27 by architects Amon Wilds and C.A.Busby. Beyond is the sea. Into Lansdowne Road. A few early to mid 20th century houses are surrounded by later developments. One early 20th century house has been extended, not particularly attractively and the whole is a synagogue founded in 1935. Lansdowne Place is another street of late Georgian terraces. Lansdowne Street however is Victorian with a more down market look.
On the junction with Holland Road is another synagogue, designed by Marcus K Glass in 1929/30 when the building was converted from a Victorian Gymnasium. Holland Road Synagogue is believed to be the only remaining active synagogue designed by this architect. Across the junction is the modern courts, strangely called Hove Trial Centre. The western side of the road is a long range of apartments, Gwyndyr Court, built in the late 19th century by Clayton & Black. A large red brick building is Palmeira Yard, now apartments but was originally a repository belonging to the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association, the main cooperative business organisation in the area. It was designed in 1893 in the French Second Empire style by local architect Thomas Lainson of the firm Lainson & Sons. Holland Road Baptist chapel and school room were built in 1887 in the Transitional Gothic Style by John Wills of Derby and paid for by the Congreve family. A building is labelled Young Women’s Christian Institute. Holland Road enters Palmeira Square. Palmeira Mansions are huge edifices built in 1883-4 in the Italianate style by architect H J Lanchester and the builder Jabez Reynolds Senior. The floral clock is still here but no longer seems to be working. St John’s church stands on the junction with Church Road. It was built in 1852-4 with the tower with aspire added around 1859, by architects Edward and William Gilbert Habershon. It has knapped flint, stone dressings and clay tile roofs.
Past the end of First Avenue where I had a bedsit in my late teens. In Church Road the Indian restaurant and takeaway that I recall from that time is still there. Buildings along the road are mid to late Victorian. A major exception is Hove Town Hall, now looking dated in its 1960s concrete brutalism. In Fourth Avenue, the Hove Club has a Victorian elegance about it, built in 1897 by Samuel Denman. The Albion Hotel retains its Victorian green glazed tiles. There are many eating places along the street when suddenly a blast from the past – Moss Bros!
Into George Street. This street has a number of cafés and independent shops but also a good number of the national chains. Back to Church Road and east to Western Road and Brighton. Heading east along Western Road past dozens of cafés and bars. Nearer to Churchill Square there are still a couple of major department stores but the rest are either empty or divided into smaller down market units. Down North Street all the cinemas and department stores have gone. Through Bond Street and Gardener Street. Although there is not a single shop I recognise (except oddly the vegetarian shoe shop) from my younger days but at least they are full of interesting independents. In North Street, Infinity Foods is an old friend. Into Kensington Gardens – not a single familiar shop. A few in Sidney Street have been around for a while. The lower half of Trafalgar Street is largely empty and derelict looking. Scaffolding still surrounds the tower of St Peters church. Back past The Level.Route
Easter Sunday – Leominster – A bright morning with high wispy cloud. Blackbirds sing and House Sparrows chirp. Over the railway. The sheaths of Wild Arum, also known as Cuckoo Pint, Lords and Ladies and many other names, are unfurling exposing the brown spike inside. Cleavers and Garlic Mustard are both growing rapidly along with the usual large patches of Stinging Nettles. A patch of Forget-me-nots and a small patch of Bluebells are in flower. Chiffchaff, Wren, Robin and Blackbird are in song. The water level in the River Lugg is still falling.
Into the Millennium Park. Blossom is emerging on the apple trees. A Blackcap sings in the corner. A large patch of White Comfrey is flowering among the nettles in the corner of the churchyard. A White-tailed and a Red-tailed Bumblebees feed on the flowers along with an all black Carpenter Bee with yellow pollen sacs on its legs. Flies rest in the sun on the large leaves, two Greenbottles and what is possibly a parasitic fly, a Beautiful Tachinid, Sturmia bella. A young rabbit disappears into the nettle bed. Brilliant yellow Marsh Marigolds are in flower in the remains of the pond. Purple Ground Ivy flowers on the banks of the River Kenwater which flows quietly.
Into the churchyard. A Great Tit calls. A Magpie watches from the very top of a tall evergreen. The bells ring out from the Minster. A Coal Tit searches the bare ground under another tall evergreen.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – A glorious spring morning of bright sunshine. The usual chorus of House Sparrows and Robins rings out around the car park. Almost every tree is in leaf now, a rich palette of green. Along the track where Chiffchaff and Blackcap sing. A good number of Tufted Duck are on the boating lake along with half a dozen Mute Swans, a couple of Great Crested Grebe, some Mallard and the inevitable Canada Geese. A Common Buzzard passes over high in the sky. Through the meadow where several Blackcaps are in song in the lakeside trees. A Blackbird chases off a rival. At least three Wrens are in song in the Alder plantation although hearing them over the cackling Canada Geese is difficult.
Into the hide. The water level in the lake continues to fall and more of the scrape is exposed. A Mute Swan, a pair of Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe are in front of the hide. Out on the water a Greylag is annoyed by the presence of a Canada Goose. There seems to be just a single Cormorant swimming in the shallows by the island. The resident Robin flies between the Gorse and Field Rose bushes in front of the hide. A Dunnock sings in a nearby thicket. The Cormorant leaves the water and stands on one of the small mud banks and dries its wings. A Moorhen has constructed another nest in one of the Willow saplings. There appears to be a large white egg on the scrape, large enough to be from a Mute Swan, but nowhere near anything like a nest. A Canada Goose at the western end has four small goslings. No sign of any Swallows or Martins.
Back to the meadow and singing Blackcaps. A Small White butterfly feeds on Ground Ivy. In the cider orchard some trees are in full blossom such as Brown Snout, Yarlington Mill and Broxwood Foxwhelp whilst others such as Dabinett, Chisel Jersey and Reinette Obry look totally dormant still. Almost all trees in the dessert apple orchard are showing leaf and some such as the Genet Moyle are in full blossom.
Thursday – Wapley Hill – We visit this hill-fort that stands high above the valley of Hindwell Brook as it reaches the confluence with the River Lugg. To the north west is Presteigne. Birds are calling from conifers. I should know the call but do not. The small birds are moving swiftly through the trees but eventually I pin one down – Redpoll. From the number of calls it must be a fairly large flock. The climb up the hill from the car park is gentle. Drifts of Bluebells are a blue mist where there are deciduous trees, none under the conifers. Wood Sorrel flowers beside the paths. A Blackcap sing loudly from a sapling. Tall Wood Spurges are in flower. A Common Buzzard circles and calls high over the hill. The Bluebells up here towards the top of the hill are at least a week off flowering. There is now a fence around the hill-fort and the entrance is on the far side, so we decide to return down the hill. Chaffinches sing from the trees.
Friday – Gloucester – The weather has changed, the sky is grey and a cold wind blows. Two Goosander fly overhead as I pass Bodenham. Into the northern part of Gloucester, Kingsholm. The A38, a Roman road, leads towards the city centre. Houses here are large, early 20th century to 1930s with modern infill. A substantial Victorian house, Greville House, stands behind a long wall on the junction of the Tewkesbury, Kingsholm, St Oswald and Estcourt roads. Into Kingsholm Road. Here the houses are on mixture of modern, 1930s, Victorian and Georgian.
On a junction stands the turnpike house of 1822. Opposite of two pairs of three storey semi-detached houses of a similar age. On past three storey Victorian houses in either blocks of two or four. A 20th century house of no design value at all stands behind a large gate entrance with a Greek keystone pattern around the semicircular gate. The top of a Georgian house rises above a mid 20th century extension housing a shop. St Mark’s Street is delightfully painted in different colours. The Queens Head pub is mock Tudor, probably late Victorian. Kingsholm stadium is home to Gloucester rugby. It is known as Castle Grim from the estate in which it stands. The road becomes Worcester Road. The White Hart is a fine building of 1898 with a stone tablet depicting a White Hart on the portico and an ornate Ind Coope & Co Ltd stone plaque above the entrance door.
St Mark’s church was built in 1846-7 in the Early English Gothic style by Francis Niblett for the Diocesan Church Building Association. It was altered in 1863-4 and 1888-90, the latter by R W Drew. It now houses the Destiny Temple, a US based “Happy-Clappy” sect. Nearby is a pair of Georgian houses of 1825 and a row of early 20th century houses with mock timber-framing. On Alvin Street is the former Gloucester Co-operative Society, Branch No. 2 building of 1885. The road comes to a railway bridge were train passes over slowly after leaving Gloucester station.
Into Black Dog Way and Gouda Way. A modern office block has been built on top of Tanners Hall, originally a medieval merchants house built in the 13th century. It was taken over by Tanners in 1540 and was used as tannery until the 18th century. Excavations of the site have revealed evidence of 17th and 18th century tanning pits. It was a ruin by the mid 20th century. The entrance to the office block retains a large section of the old building. Into Park Street. A sign on Park Street Mission states “Preaching the Gospel for over 326 Years”. The Society of Friends bought these 2 cottages in 1678, to use as a Meeting House, and they were to occupy them for over 100 years before they moved to a property in Greyfriars in 1834-5. From 1842 the Gloucester Female Mission (an offshoot of the Gloucester City Mission, begun by David Nasmith in 1839) held a weekly meeting here, and in 1848 a congregation of Brethren worshipped here, and by the early 1850s Primitive Methodists were holding meetings here. The present building dates to 1903. Into the city centre. A building was probably erected around 1520 when the street, Hare Lane was the main road from Gloucester to the north before Worcester Street was built. It has been called The Raven Tavern although it is known The Raven Taven was on a different site. It has also been associated with the Hoare family who emigrated to America in the 17th century but again there is no evidence to support this. Opposite is the former Court of Probate, now offices built in 1858. by Fulljames and Waller. An unsightly modern building is relieved by having a rather fine relief on the wall dedicated to Roman Gloucester, Glevum. A fish and chip restaurant is in an early 16th century house.
Into Westgate. The Imperial Inn is a fine Victorian building with a glazed tile frontage. St Aldgate Street was known as the Via Sacra. Opposite is St John Northgate, with a tower and spire of about 1450. The body of the church was redesigned and rebuilt by Edward and Thomas Woodward of Chipping Campden in a provincial classical style in 1732-4. Along the Via Sacra. Northgate Hall is modern. The lane leads to the grounds of the cathedral.
Gloucester Cathedral, known as the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to St Peter. In 1058 Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester at the time, rebuilt the church. The foundations of the present church were laid by Abbot Serlo (1072–1104). Walter Frocester (died 1412) the abbey’s historian, became its first mitred abbot in 1381. Gloucester lay in the see of Worcester until 1541 when the Diocese of Gloucester was then created, with John Wakeman, last abbot of Tewkesbury, as its first bishop. The building is a magnificent example of Gothic architecture. It has has many alterations and additions over the centuries – the rebuilding work in the Perpendicular style between 1331 and 1356; the addition of the Great Cloister in 1360; the tower built in 1450; the Lady Chapel in 1470; an extensive restoration from 1847 by F S Walker and Sir Gilbert Scott and major works by Bernard Ashley in the 20th century. There are the tombs of kings – Osric of the Hwicce, and Edward II – the tomb of the king to be that never was - Robert, Duke of Normandy and son of the Conqueror. Numerous Bishops have their tombs there. The glass is also a wonder. The Great East Window, installed in the early 1350’s, is situated in the Quire behind the high altar and dominates the very heart of the Cathedral. The west window was installed in 1859 as a memorial to Dr J H Monk, Bishop of Gloucester from 1830 to 1856. It was made by the Newcastle firm of William Wailes. In one of the central bays on the south side of the Cloister there are 12 panels and roundels of Tudor heraldic glass. Many windows in the nave are Victorian. The early 20th century the Lady Chapel was largely re-glazed by Christopher Whall with scenes depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and is considered to be the finest Arts and Crafts glass in England. Thomas Denny’s “Ivor Gurney” window was produced in 2014 to commemorate the Gloucestershire composer. Over the choir is the organ, constructed in 1666 by Thomas Harris. It is the only complete 17th century cathedral organ case surviving in this country. Up by the whispering gallery is a 10th century badly worn bust, probably of Jesus, found in the garden of the Bishop’s Palace. It is interesting to note the great curve of a buttress across the entrance to St Andrew’s Chapel. It is part of the system of buttresses holding the weight of the tower.
Into Westgate Street. A steampunk wedding is taking place at the Shire Hall. The Old Crown pub was established in the 15th century. It was the centre of operations for Colonel Massie during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643 and was fired upon by a gun battery in Llanthony Secunda priory. The White Lamp Inn was built in 1900, now offices. Nearby is Hyett house. A building has stood on the site since before 1455 and the present house is timber-framed dating from the 16th century with an 18th century façade probably erected by Nicholas Hyett, a local lawyer. St Nicholas Church is no longer used and is now in the care of the churches conservation trust. It was built in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 13th century and the tower was added in the mid 15th century. It has a leaning, truncated white stone spire because of damage caused by a direct hit by Royalist troops during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643. It is now topped with a coronet. Unfortunately it is locked. The sky is getting darker. Along Archdeacon Street past 20th century housing projects. The church of St Mary de Lode is the oldest in Gloucester, the tower and chancel dating from circa 1190. It is believed to be the church recorded in the Domesday Book as the only parish church in Gloucester in 1086. It was the parish church for the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, now Gloucester Cathedral and stands just outside the cathedral precinct. It was built on the site of a Saxon church, which in turn stood on a Roman building. The chancel was extended by one bay and vaulted in mid 13th century; the nave was rebuilt in 1825-6 by James Cooke, a local mason, in a plain Early Gothic style; the chancel was restored in 1853, with further restorations in 1865, 1869, 1885 and 1912; the west part of the nave was converted to a church hall in 1980.
Into St Mary’s Square. A monument to John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester stands in the Square. Bishop Hooper, a Protestant was burnt at the stake on the spot in 1555. The monument by E W Thornhill was unveiled on the 9th February 1863. Also in the Square, both sides of which have modern buildings, is a town house built around 1690. At the end of the square is St Mary’s Gate, erected in the 13th century, the entrance of St Peter’s precinct. Along St Mary’s Street. St Mary’s Congregational Church is a single storey building started in 1959 when a hall on the site of the Countess of Huntingdon’s 19th century was demolished.
Opposite is a wall which incorporates the remnants of the church built about 900 CE by Æthelflæd daughter of Alfred the Great. Æthelflæd refortified the dedicated Roman town of Glevum and just outside the wall built this church, the New Minster. The bones of St Oswald were taken from Danish held Lincolnshire and placed in a crypt here. For the next century the new Minster of St Oswald was famous for its wealth and miracles and was known as “The Golden Minster”. However its fame and wealth declined in the century before the Norman conquest. In 1152 it became an Augustinian priory which was dissolved in 1537.
Into Gouda Way past flowering cherry trees. The extensive grounds of Kings independent school lay in the shadow of the cathedral. At the junction of Black Dog Way and Northgate Street is a large building, Spread Eagle Court, once a hotel on the site of the Roman Temple Æsculapius. On the opposite corner is the Roman Catholic church of St Peter. A plaque on the church records that between 1585 and 1601, seventeen Catholics with Gloucester connections were martyred. The Revd John Greenway purchased a house here of the church and in 1791 built a small brick Catholic chapel in the garden. The present church, designed by Gilbert Blount, was started in 1859. The church is open! The interior is painted white making it lighter than one would expect. The Stations of the Cross are around the walls. A fine carved reredos is under a stained glass window. A statue of the Virgin stands in the south aisle.
On the third corner with a long red brick building with ornate plaques on the pillars and large windows built in 1894. It was the old rope walk site of a rope making business owned by the Church family. The building became a showroom for the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and is now an architects offices. Across the road a large ugly shopping square on the site of the cattle market has been largely demolished and building works are still continuing. At one end a new bus station has been built. The Station Hotel is a large tatty looking building. The station is modern, built after the earlier, 1977 station was severely damaged by arson.
A tunnel passes under the tracks and emerges opposite Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Royal Lane, once Asylum Lane, is an alleyway running along beside the wall of the hospital grounds. The wall on the other side encloses the gardens of large Victorian houses, although some have been demolished and modern blocks erected. Along Newland Street into London Road. Past the England’s Glory pub. York Buildings are a row of houses built in 1827 for Joseph Roberts, a printer. The Edward Hotel is a former town house of 1790. St Margaret’s chapel stands at an angle to the road. Built as the chapel for the Leper Hospital of St Margaret and St Sepulchre which was founded prior to 1163. It is now the chapel of the United Almshouses. The original chapel was rebuilt early 14th century, altered in 15th century; restored in 1846, and again in 1875 by Waller and Son. It stands next to Almshouses built in 1860-1 by Fulljames and Waller for the Gloucester Municipal Charity Trustees to house the United Hospitals formed after the amalgamation of the St Margaret and St Mary Magdelen and St Kyneburgh Hospitals in 1861.
Up the hill is Hillfield Court Gardens, somewhere to be visited soon. St Catharine’s church, designed by Walter B Wood for the Gloucester Church Extension Society, was built between 1912 and 1915 in the Free 14th century Gothic style, and built by James Byard & Sons. The original St Catherine’s (the present spelling was not adopted until 1886 when the name of the parish was changed from St Catherine to St Catharine) was established after the Dissolution of St Oswald’s Priory in 1538, when the majority of the priory was demolished. Opposite are houses dating from the 1820s.
Along Cheltenham Road to Estcourt Road passed large modern houses. Estcourt Road is a dual carriageway with further carriageways in front of the houses on each side. The houses are a mixture of interwar and 1940s detached. A large rugby pitch stands on its own, part of Denmark Road High School. It seems strange if not miraculous at such a large piece of land has not been sold off to developers.Route, more or less
Sunday – Leominster – A north-easterly breeze keeps the temperature down. Scattered cloud intermittently filters the sun. Male Blackbirds chase through thick white blossom of an ornamental cherry in the street. Down to the station to collect some railway tickets. House Sparrows chatter in the car park hedge. Across the railway to Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg continues to fall. The gravel bank downstream from the bridge is almost exposed. A Dipper stands on a rock a short distance upstream. The turquoise arrow of a Kingfisher races upstream, another Dipper follows it. The resident Chiffchaff starts to call. The Dipper flies under the bridge and alights on the gravelly edge of the river. It wades in and out of the water picking at bits and pieces.
Back over the railway. A Stock Dove sits in a trackside tree. Through to the Millennium Park. Several cider apple trees are in blossom, particularly Tom Putt, which was very productive last year, and Genet Moyle. A Wayfaring Tree is coming into blossom. Eight noisy Lesser Black-backed Gulls circle overhead. Into the Peace Garden. A Wren sings and a Great Tit and Chiffchaff call. The River Kenwater is flowing steadily. Opposite two Rabbits sit on the lawn of the house.
Into the churchyard. Removal of several overgrown trees has revealed a number of graves previously hidden. The broken headstone of Frances Anne, wife of Robert Morrow, leans against its base. Nearby is the headstone of Charles Anderson late of Ludlow who died at Albany, New York, USA in March 1811. The vast majority of headstones have been removed from the churchyard and I wonder if a record of them was kept or whether these people have been lost to the historical record.
Home – Strings are attached to the frame in the greenhouse and tomato plants are transplanted into the bed. Half a dozen large pots are filled with sieved compost and runner, climbing and dwarf French beans are sown. A row of mangetout peas are sown. The apples trees are all in blossom now. The blossom on the pear trees have already gone over. Yesterday a row of lettuces were planted out. The large kale plants are finally starting to bolt. The tops are cut off and fed to the hens. Pak Choi has finally grown to a decent size but is also starting to flower. However, they cook well!
Monday – Croft – Another bright morning with a cool wind. Blackbird, Great Tit and Nuthatch call around the car park. Down into the Fish Pool Valley. Wrens, Chiffchaff, Blackbirds sing and in the distance the less melodious sound of Carrion Crows and Ravens. All over the hillside are plastic tubes protecting the newly planted saplings replacing the numerous Ash trees that have been removed. Across the dam by the old pump house and along the lower path through the Beech wood. Bluebells flower by the side of the path along with Wood Spurge. Above Wood Pigeons coo. The path passes the Victorian rustic shelter and continues up valley. Chaffinches sing in the woods. Mallard quack quietly on one of the pools. Primroses and Dog Violets are in bloom by the path and there are small patches of Wood Sorrel.
The path leaves the valley. A Blackcap sings in bushes. The track rises gently through Lyngham Vallet. A Song Thrush seeks for in the leaf litter by the dried up stream. Most sheep are on the slope up to Bircher Common. Up to Whiteway Head and off along the old route of the Mortimer Trail at the top of Leinthall Common. Swathes of Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort deck the woods. A hidden Garden Warbler sings from the depths of bushes. A Speckled Wood butterfly suns itself on the dry path. Flies are also enjoying the warmth.
Up the path to Croft Ambrey. Below are areas of lime green where tightly packed saplings grow in previously cleared areas. Below the fort to the north out towards Wigmore are acid yellow fields of oilseed rape. The war in Ukraine means that large supplies of sunflower oil have been cut off and farmers will need to replace this with oilseed rape, however this has the very negative effect as the crop is still sprayed with nicotinamide poisons to kill off the weevils that destroy it and these chemicals are lethally dangerous to bees and other beneficial insects. A walker in pristine cricket gear comments I am the first person he has seen on his walk. A young cow moos at me. Down through the west gate of the hill fort. A small animal darts across the path and into a nettle bed, a Weasel? Now unusually several groups of walkers pass me by. The cloud has thickened and sunshine is in short supply.
Back into Croft Wood to the inevitable call of a Chiffchaff. Down the track towards Croft Castle. Years ago on our first visit to the castle and walk up this path there was a conifer growing out of the dead branch on an old tree. Now after all these years the little conifer, maybe only two feet high, has died. Into the Spanish Chestnut field. White candles are coming into flower on the Horse Chestnuts. A male Redstart sings from a dead tree. Down the field on the specimen Spanish Chestnut is another Redstart. Along to the quarry pond past singing Wrens and Dunnocks. Cuckoo Flowers and an early Herb Robert are under flowering Gorse. Down the path past Park House. Opposite, on a broken branch is yet another male Redstart, this a bird I have only seen a couple of times in the last decade.
Tuesday – Home – The weather has been dry and according to the forecast, this is not going to change. We still have a reasonable amount of water in the butts although one is getting low. The tomatoes in the greenhouse seem to have taken well and those in hanging baskets, currently residing in the cold frame, are also looking healthy. Flowers are appearing on the broad beans. The trays of brassicas have been taken out of the greenhouse, they are scorching. Bluebells are now out in all their glory, covering the back section of the garden. Primroses are scattered everywhere. The display of Snake’s Head Fritillaries is coming to an end in our “meadow” but many other plants are coming through.
The Ash tree on the mound is just coming into leaf. It is a magnificent tree, divided into two main trunks – so typical of Ashes – and one trunk divides again. Of course, we worry about Ash Dieback disease, but hopefully it is far enough away from any other Ashes to be safe. One wonders if there is any significance to the old Norse legends that when Askr Yggdrasils, the mighty Ash tree whose trunk rises at the geographical centre of the spiritual cosmos shakes, it will herald the arrival of Ragnarok, the destruction of the universe. Certainly, so many Ashes are shaking now as they fall victim to disease.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Cloud covers the sky but not a drop of rain. It is mild but there is still an easterly breeze. Song Thrush sings loudly in the car park drowning with chattering of House Sparrows. A Rabbit scampers across the track. A Blackbird searches for food. A Blackcap sings and nearby another singing Song Thrush. Hawthorn, called May Blossom, is beginning to flower. A Garden Warbler sings in a Hawthorn bush beneath the tall Lombardy Poplars. Scattered patches of wild Strawberries are in flower. Good numbers of tiny flying insects are in the air above the path. Yet another Song Thrush sings down by the boatyard. The boating lake strangely quiet just a few Tufted Ducks and a pair of Mallard.
Into the meadow. Another Garden Warbler is in full song and is, as usual, impossible to spot. It is singing from a thicket of Elder trees and then suddenly appears for the briefest moment as it drops down into a Bramble thicket. A Blackcap sings in the Goat Willow at the end of the meadow. It is always a source of amazement that such a tiny and delicate little bird can have such a loud and powerful song. Into the Alder copse. A Chiffchaff moves through the branches of a tree turning this way and that, inspecting every inch for any insect available.
A pair of Great Crested Grebe are displaying in front of the hide but, of course, cease as soon as I focus my camera upon them. A Greylag is on the scrape and a few Tufted Duck swim about. There is a scattering of Canada Geese who are, of course, noisy as ever. The Moorhen is still on her nest in the crux of a Willow sapling. Large white egg is still on the scrape and is being investigated by Tufted Duck. The presence of several Greylags suggest it may be one of their eggs but is clearly abandoned. Indeed a Greylag suddenly decides to chase the Tufted Duck away. A pair of Mute Swans stand on the gravel bar off the end of the island. The two Great Crested Grebes, having separated, are back together but seem more interested in investigating underwater than displaying. There is a flurry from one and it emerges with a silver fish, a Rudd I think. A pair of drake Mandarin Duck appear briefly by the island before flying off. A Mallard has a clutch of ducklings in the reed bed. A Great Crested Grebe catches a second fish. A Cormorant glides in. Despite a large hatching of flies and other insects there are still no hirundines to be seen.
Back through the meadow to the orchards. More trees each week come into blossom, some rich rose pink, others almost pure white. The cloud has thickened and it is becoming quite cool in the breeze.
Thursday – Humber – The first round of the annual BTO Breeding Bird Survey. It is early and the sky is still gloomy and overcast. A Wren sings from the foot step of a telegraph pole. Along the lane towards Steens Bridge. There seem to be far fewer Blackbirds than usual. The field to the north is a vast area of ridged red soil. A Whitethroat sings from a telephone wire before dropping down into the hedgerow. A Robin sings from another telegraph pole.
Back to the Roman Road to Humber. Garlic Mustard and White Dead-nettle flower profusely on the verge. A Yellowhammer sits in a newly planted sapling. Skylarks are rising in song. Young black calves are with their mother in the yard of the farm by the Stoke Prior junction. Cow Parsley is coming into flower. Down the road to Humber. Cowslips flower in the burial ground. Into the village. A lot of trees have been felled by the Humber Brook.
As usual that is very little to be seen or heard crossing the fields towards Steens Bridge. Back across Humber Brook. Yellow Archangel is about to flower on the verge. Back along the Roman Road. Overhead flies my first Swallow of the year. The Blackbird count has risen closer to normal. Oddly, no Blackcaps recorded.
Friday – Kidderminster-Wolverton – The sky is covered in grey clouds yet still no rain has fallen. On the north side of Kidderminster. Along the A442 towards Franche. Very large late Victorian and Edwardian houses line the road. Hardly any are now residential, being offices, clinic or a nursery. Some have been demolished to be replaced by a number of modern residences. The older houses cease and now there are mid to late 20th century housing estates. Past the grounds of Kidderminster Carolians Rugby Football Club. The houses are now older interwar properties. A lane leads down to White Wickets Park. On along Franche Road. A row of Victorian cottages are named Clent View although this is now obscured by interwar houses on the opposite side of the road. Kidderminster Baptist church was built in 1971.
The road comes to a crossroads. Franche was recorded in Domesday as an outlying farm or “berewick” of the Manor of Kidderminster. A short distance up the Bridgnorth Road a pair of mid 18th century houses of considerable size. A 20th century pub stands on the junction. On another corner are a pair of Victorian cottages and a large modern garage petrol station on the third. On the fourth corner are modern houses. Off down the Wolverley Road. Past a very large Victorian house. St Barnabas Church was designed by Martin & Chamberlain, in 1870-1. Due to damage caused by a gale the spire was removed in the 1930’s and the tower rebuilt. The interior was re-ordered in 1986, when the wooden chancel arch was removed. It was originally a chapel-of-ease to the Parish Church of Kidderminster, St Mary and All Saints. Opposite is St Barnabas Community Hall, formerly a school. The schoolhouse has a plaque stating it was erected in commemoration of the Victorian Jubilee by Michael Tomkinson of Franche Hall, (after Tomkinson’s death in 1921 a buyer could not be found and the hall was pulled down in 1924) in 1887. Next to the school and schoolhouse is a row of early 20th century houses with mock timber framing followed by the village sports and social club. Franche House is a residence of the very late 18th or early 19th Century. The form of the original house is now very difficult to discern, but it was believed to have been L shaped, with the larger part of the house at the west end and the present southern block forming the bottom leg.
The houses become large developments of the second half of the 20th century. The road turns as it enters countryside and is greeted by the songs of Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Behind a hedge is an extended lodge for Franche Hall. The road turns again entering Wolverley. Swathes of Garlic Mustard flower on the roadside bank. The road drops down to Honey Brook. A large bull wanders across a field to the brook.
Through Fairfield a large 20th century estate of houses of different decades. Starlings and House Sparrows are active beside the road. Dunnocks sing. Rose Cottage is hidden behind trees and bushes. It is early 17th century with 18th century alterations but its original use is unknown. The road comes to a junction of the B4189, Bridgnorth to Stourport road. The junction is the Sebright Trust Elementary School built in 1926. There are modern additions to the school. Opposite is Wolverley pound believed to be early 19th century and used for impounding animals found straying until retrieved by their owners for a fee. Over the junction is the corrugated iron church hall. Next to it is a modern GP surgery, then Bury Hall. Behind the hall is the church.
The name, Wolverley came from Wulfwerdiglea meaning the Leah (glade or clearing) of Wulfweard’s people. The name commemorates the gift of the Manor in AD 866 by Burgred the King of Mercia to Wolfweard, leader of a Saxon warrior band. During the Middle Ages a court was held several times a year in the Manor House (Bury Hall) and its decisions were entered in Latin on rolls, the earliest relating to Wolverley dated AD 1285. In 1881 the Hall was purchased by the Sebright Foundation for use as one of its school buildings. John Baskerville, who became one of our greatest printers, and whose name lives today in the printing and type-making world, was born in 1706 at Sion Hill House. He printed three editions of the Bible, nine Prayer Books, two books of Psalms and two Greek Testaments.
House Martins fly overhead. The church is St John the Baptist. Some believe there was a Saxon church here, but the present building replaced a mediaeval one in 1772. The architect is unknown. Pevsner calls the building “not attractive” but the architect “knew what he wanted”. It was restored in 1882 by Ewan Christian. It still has a full gallery with armorial shields on the gallery walls with the Royal Arms of 1714 on the west wall of the gallery. Below the Arms is a sounding board of 1638, part of a three tier pulpit that stood in the centre of the nave by the south arcade. The font is probably late 18th century. The oak pulpit with brass mounted reading desk was built in 1881. A broken effigy of a late 14th century knight lies legless on the floor, with his feet resting on a lion. He is believed to be Sir John Attwood. A legend states he fought with the Black Prince in Spain against the Saracens but was captured. He eventually returned to England and was found fettered with iron in the meadow beside the River Stour by a maid and the dog belonging to the Lady of the Manor. The dog refused to leave the man and the Lady came to see him. He produced half a ring which had been divided between the Lady and Sir John, thus he was recognised. For many years a pair of shackles hung over the effigy but these have been lost. There are two windows in the chancel by John Henry Dearle, chief designer of Morris and Co, and made by the company. A series of good wall tablets of late 18th to early 19th century date in aisles and chancel, including Helen Knight died 1801 by Flaxman in chancel.
To the east of the church is a steep drop down into the valley of the River Stour and the course of the Worcestershire and Staffordshire canal. A bridge crosses the river. On a tongue of land created by a meander in the river is a mini golf course. A gentle hill climbs and crosses over the canal at Wolverley lock. Next to the lock is a pub inevitably called The Lock. Opposite is a much converted cottage either a toll house or the lock keeper’s house.
Onto the towpath. It dips down to a tunnel underneath the road. Steps once led up to the road but the bridge, number 20, has been extended blocking them off. The towpath heads south towards Kidderminster. The River Stour had divided into two branches and a meander brings one close to the canal, maybe some twenty feet below it. Flowering Ransoms cover the bank. Across the canal is an area that looks some sort of motocross track. Over an overflow channel. At Wolverley Court Lock is a much larger overflow with water pouring into a hole and through a cast iron grid into a channel underground into a flood storage reservoir. A Sedge Warbler calls from near the river. A boat is passing through the lock. The clouds are breaking up and the sun shines brightly. A Blackcap sings from Alders on the far bank. A Magpie flies up into the trees. A motionless Grey Heron stands reflected in the water by the far bank. A painted wooden kingfisher has been carved out of a Willow stump.
A large park, where Flock Mill stood, leads down to the canal at a winding hole. There is a substantial lake for water storage for the canal in the park. A pipe runs under the bank on this side of the canal to deal with overflow. Nearby is the winding gear to regulate the flow from the canal although this gear looks like it has been long out of service. A new housing estate has been built next to the canal on the site of Stourvale Works, an iron and steel works that closed in 1962. A lone Canada Goose slips into the water. A bridge dated 2000 brings cars into the new estate. House Sparrows chirp on both sides of the canal.
To the west is a large retail centre. To the east modern houses on the site of Clensmore Mills. This building is shown originally as a Corn Mill, from 1924 to 1954 as a woollen mill and finally as a carpet factory in 1975. The bells of the parish church ring out. Under Limekiln Bridge. A short aqueduct takes the canal over the River Stour. Immediately after is Kidderminster lock and the canal heads into the centre of the town. A curved railing surrounds the footbridge over canal. A passer-by points out the gap in the footbridge and fencing to allow the rope to be passed through as the boat is towed into the lock.
Into Mill Street past the large block of flats built in 1935. Up the hill past the former Mill Street Infirmary which operated from 1871 to 1995. Back into Franche Road. Route
large expanses of Cleavers. Further on a small patches of Lesser Stitchwort. Beside a house, Worfield, several dogs are being walked. The excitable smaller dogs and Labrador try to chase a ball but a Border Collie waits and watches quietly before haring off and retrieving it every time.
needed for making cannon to the Roundheads, and, later, to the Restoration Government. Thomas Foley’s son, Paul, built a new house on the Estate and continued to expand it into Tarrington. He became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1694. A large part of the estate was auctioned off in the agricultural depression of 1919 but the Foley family retained, and still retain, a substantial part.
recess arch is enriched with dogtooth ornament and ball and flower ornamentation on the side pinnacles. The chancel arch is modern but rises from the 12th century piers with carved capitals, possibly by the masons of the Herefordshire School. The crossbeam is an unusual feature in our church, being where a roodscreen might have been. it is made of wood and has the inscription which reads “God so loved the world”. An inscription on the back reads “to the glory of God and is in loving memory of Mary Louise, wife of Alfred Edward Green Price, Rector of Tarrington, who died September 17th 1922”. The 2 manual organ is by Eustace Ingram and is dated 1878. There are a peal of six bells. The oldest bell, the fifth, is more than two hundred years old. The third bell was re-cast in 1898 in Whitechapel. The inscription around this bell is a dedication to Joseph and Esther Carless who are both buried in the churchyard. Joseph was a former mayor of Hereford, he died in 1897. It is believed that his ancestors lived in the Vine at Tarrington.
timber-framed late 16th century house stands in extensive gardens. A stone wall, bright purple with Aubrieta, has a probable 17th century stone entrance with a fleur-de-lys at its apex. The house beyond the wall, The Vine, dates to the 15th century but now has a Georgian façade. The Lady Emily Community Hall was erected by Lady Emily Foley of Stoke Edith Park in 1874 as schools and house. It now houses Tarrington Parish Council. The Lay farmhouse is an 18th century double range with attached hop kilns. The barns have all been converted into residences. A Starling makes tapping noises from a young Silver Birch.
Works to Crown for Thomas Foley in a Georgian style. At the east end of the church yard is a small private graveyard closed to the public. (Added March 2023 – The Bishop of Hereford has approved proposals to close St Mary’s Church for regular public worship and to sell it to a Trust founded by a member of the Foley family). Beyond is the derelict Stoke Edith Hall, destroyed by fire in 1927. To the west of the church is a large former walled garden now planted with fruit trees. The lane continues down towards the main road. The former rectory, now Stoke Edith House, was built in 1740 and is overlooked by the church tower. Just inside ornamental gates with dragons on the 
pillars is an arch under which is the large St Edith’s Well. Water is overflowing into a drain. On down the road is a 17th century timber-framed building, formerly the smithy and a pair of late 18th century cottages. These are followed by a small extension graveyard. There are more houses on the junction with the A438. Unfortunately the hoped for footpath along the road does not exist so I need to return to the track and back to Tarrington the way I came.
Chiffchaff comes from a garden. Over the railway. Rabbits lope down the track where the old rails ran. The calls of House Sparrows come from near the station. The song of Wrens ring out in the woods and the now familiar Chiffchaff.
The land was bought by William Portyer in 1323-4 then, from 1597 until the end of the 17th century, it was owned by the Gatland family who built on the site of the present house. In 1799 the estate was inherited by Elizabeth Ellyat, subsequently passing through the hands of several owners including, from 1839 to 1852, those of George Harrington who largely rebuilt the house, considerably enlarged the estate and began planting 
shelter belts of trees and shrubs.
Gothic/Tudor style.
attractively and the whole is a synagogue founded in 1935. Lansdowne Place is another street of late Georgian terraces. Lansdowne Street however is Victorian with a more down market look.
Hove Trial Centre. The western side of the road is a long range of apartments, Gwyndyr Court, built in the late 19th century by Clayton & Black. A large red brick building is Palmeira Yard, now apartments but was originally a repository belonging to the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association, the main cooperative business organisation in the area. It was designed in 1893 in the French Second Empire style by local architect Thomas Lainson of the firm Lainson & Sons. Holland Road Baptist chapel and school room were built in 1887 in the Transitional Gothic Style by John Wills of Derby and paid for by the Congreve family. A building is labelled Young Women’s Christian Institute. Holland Road enters Palmeira Square. Palmeira Mansions are huge edifices built in 1883-4 in the Italianate style by architect H J Lanchester and the builder Jabez Reynolds Senior. The floral clock is still here but no longer seems to be working. St John’s church stands on the junction with Church Road. It was built in 1852-4 with the tower with aspire added around 1859, by architects Edward and William Gilbert Habershon. It has knapped flint, stone dressings and clay tile roofs.
Forget-me-nots and a small patch of Bluebells are in flower. Chiffchaff, Wren, Robin and Blackbird are in song. The water level in the River Lugg is still falling.
Mallard and the inevitable Canada Geese. A Common Buzzard passes over high in the sky. Through the meadow where several Blackcaps are in song in the lakeside trees. A Blackbird chases off a rival. At least three Wrens are in song in the Alder plantation although hearing them over the cackling Canada Geese is difficult.
by the island. The resident Robin flies between the Gorse and Field Rose bushes in front of the hide. A Dunnock sings in a nearby thicket. The Cormorant leaves the water and stands on one of the small mud banks and dries its wings. A Moorhen has constructed another nest in one of the Willow saplings. There appears to be a large white egg on the scrape, large enough to be from a Mute Swan, but nowhere near anything like a nest. A Canada Goose at the western end has four small goslings. No sign of any Swallows or Martins.
1898 with a stone tablet depicting a White Hart on the portico and an ornate Ind Coope & Co Ltd stone plaque above the entrance door.
present church were laid by Abbot Serlo (1072–1104). Walter Frocester (died 1412) the abbey’s historian, became its first mitred abbot in 1381. Gloucester lay in the see of Worcester until 1541 when the Diocese of Gloucester was then created, with John Wakeman, last abbot of Tewkesbury, as its first bishop. The building is a magnificent example of Gothic architecture. It has has many alterations and additions over the centuries – the rebuilding work in the Perpendicular style between 1331 and 1356; the addition of the Great Cloister in 1360; the tower built in 1450; the Lady Chapel in 1470; an extensive restoration from 1847 by F S Walker and Sir Gilbert Scott and major works by Bernard Ashley in the 20th century. There are the tombs of kings – Osric of the Hwicce, and Edward II – the tomb of the king to be that never was - Robert, Duke of Normandy and son of the Conqueror. Numerous Bishops have their tombs there. The glass is also a wonder. The Great East Window, installed in the early 1350’s, is situated in the Quire behind the high altar and dominates the very 
heart of the Cathedral. The west window was installed in 1859 as a memorial to Dr J H Monk, Bishop of Gloucester from 1830 to 1856. It was made by the Newcastle firm of William Wailes. In one of the central bays on the south side of the Cloister there are 12 panels and roundels of Tudor heraldic glass. Many windows in the nave are Victorian. The early 20th century the Lady Chapel was largely re-glazed by Christopher Whall with scenes depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and is considered to be the finest Arts and Crafts glass in England. Thomas Denny’s “Ivor Gurney” window was produced in 2014 to commemorate the Gloucestershire composer. Over the choir is the organ, constructed in 1666 by Thomas Harris. It is the only complete 17th century cathedral organ case surviving in this country. Up by the whispering gallery is a 10th century badly worn bust, probably of Jesus, found in the garden of the Bishop’s Palace. It is interesting to note the great curve of a buttress across the entrance to St Andrew’s Chapel. It is part of the system of buttresses holding the weight of the tower.
present church, designed by Gilbert Blount, was started in 1859. The church is open! The interior is painted white making it lighter than one would expect. The Stations of the Cross are around the walls. A fine carved reredos is under a stained glass window. A statue of the Virgin stands in the south aisle.
fall. The gravel bank downstream from the bridge is almost exposed. A Dipper stands on a rock a short distance upstream. The turquoise arrow of a Kingfisher races upstream, another Dipper follows it. The resident Chiffchaff starts to call. The Dipper flies under the bridge and alights on the gravelly edge of the river. It wades in and out of the water picking at bits and pieces.
dam by the old pump house and along the lower path through the Beech wood. Bluebells flower by the side of the path along with Wood Spurge. Above Wood Pigeons coo. The path passes the Victorian rustic shelter and continues up valley. Chaffinches sing in the woods. Mallard quack quietly on one of the pools. Primroses and Dog Violets are in bloom by the path and there are small patches of Wood Sorrel.
dry path. Flies are also enjoying the warmth.
amazement that such a tiny and delicate little bird can have such a loud and powerful song. Into the Alder copse. A Chiffchaff moves through the branches of a tree turning this way and that, inspecting every inch for any insect available.
sapling. Large white egg is still on the scrape and is being investigated by Tufted Duck. The presence of several Greylags suggest it may be one of their eggs but is clearly abandoned. Indeed a Greylag suddenly decides to chase the Tufted Duck away. A pair of Mute Swans stand on the gravel bar off the end of the island. The two Great Crested Grebes, having separated, are back together but seem more interested in investigating underwater than displaying. There is a flurry from one and it emerges with a silver fish, a Rudd I think. A pair of drake Mandarin Duck appear briefly by the island before flying off. A Mallard has a clutch of ducklings in the reed bed. A Great Crested Grebe catches a second fish. A Cormorant glides in. Despite a large hatching of flies and other insects there are still no hirundines to be seen.
junction. On another corner are a pair of Victorian cottages and a large modern garage petrol station on the third. On the fourth corner are modern houses. Off down the Wolverley Road. Past a very large Victorian house. St Barnabas Church was designed by Martin & Chamberlain, in 1870-1. Due to damage caused by a gale the spire was removed in the 1930’s and the tower rebuilt. The interior was re-ordered in 1986, when the wooden chancel arch was removed. It was originally a chapel-of-ease to the Parish Church of Kidderminster, St Mary and All Saints. Opposite is St Barnabas Community Hall, formerly a school. The schoolhouse has a plaque stating it was erected in commemoration of the Victorian Jubilee by Michael Tomkinson of Franche Hall, (after Tomkinson’s death in 1921 a buyer could not be found and the hall was pulled down in 1924) in 1887. Next to the school and schoolhouse is a row of early 20th century houses with mock timber framing followed by the village sports and social club. Franche House is a residence of the very late 18th or early 19th Century. The form of the original house is now very difficult to discern, but it was believed to have been L shaped, with the larger part of the house at the west end and the present southern block forming the bottom leg.
on the roadside bank. The road drops down to Honey Brook. A large bull wanders across a field to the brook.
wanted”. It was restored in 1882 by Ewan Christian. It still has a full gallery with armorial shields on the gallery walls with the Royal Arms of 1714 on the west wall of the gallery. Below the Arms is a sounding board of 1638, part of a three tier pulpit that stood in the centre of the nave by the south arcade. The font is probably late 18th century. 
The oak pulpit with brass mounted reading desk was built in 1881. A broken effigy of a late 14th century knight lies legless on the floor, with his feet resting on a lion. He is believed to be Sir John Attwood. A legend states he fought with the Black Prince in Spain against the Saracens but was captured. He eventually returned to England and was found fettered with iron in the meadow beside the River Stour by a maid and the dog belonging to the Lady of the Manor. The dog refused to leave the man and the Lady came to see him. He produced half a ring which had been divided between the Lady and Sir John, thus he was recognised. For many years a pair of shackles hung over the effigy but these have been lost. There are two windows in the chancel by John Henry Dearle, chief designer of Morris and Co, and made by the company. A series of good wall tablets of late 18th to early 19th century date in aisles and chancel, including Helen Knight died 1801 by Flaxman in chancel.
the lock is a pub inevitably called The Lock. Opposite is a much converted cottage either a toll house or the lock keeper’s house.
below it. Flowering Ransoms cover the bank. Across the canal is an area that looks some sort of motocross track. Over an overflow channel. At Wolverley Court Lock is a much larger overflow with water pouring into a hole and through a cast iron grid into a channel underground into a flood storage reservoir. A Sedge Warbler calls from near the river. A boat is passing through the lock. The clouds are breaking up and the sun shines brightly. A Blackcap sings from Alders on the far bank. A Magpie flies up into the trees. A motionless Grey Heron stands reflected in the water by the far bank. A painted wooden kingfisher has been carved out of a Willow stump.