Friday – Churchdown Hill – This hill is to the east of the city of Gloucester. On the way I pass a septic tank emptying vehicle with the name “Stool bus”, well, it made me laugh.
The sky is mostly cloud and it is warm and humid. I start in Hucclecote on the Ermine Way, the great Roman Road from Silchester to Gloucester. The name, Hucclecote probably means the cot or manor of Hucel’s people. The manor belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury before the Conquest and the Archbishop of York afterwards. Housing is from the early 20th century onwards, with the very occasional large, late Victorian house. The road passes under the M5 motorway. Hucclecote Methodist church, dating from 1929 and designed by William Leah, has a modern extension, built around 2000, of glass with a pyramidal lead roof.
Into Churchdown Lane, possibly that called Court Lane in 1451 and Green Street in 1598. The land to the east was known as Palmer’s Farm. At the beginning of the lane are a few early 20th century houses then some interwar residences followed by a good number of late 20thcentury buildings. The OS map is in need of updating – a modern housing estate stands on the site of a former school, closed in 1988, and a rugby pitch is on the site of a Roman villa, excavated by Canon Bazeley in 1911, and more thoroughly by E.M Clifford and W.H Knowles in 1933. It had a corridor plan with bath buildings and mosaic pavements. Below the centre of the building was a Late Bronze Age habitation site with a surrounding ditch containing flints and fragments of Deveril-Rimbury ware, and beneath another room was an occupation trench, with a spear-head, Iron Age pottery and an iron object thought to be a brooch. Churchdown Lane crosses a small stream, Horesbere Brook, a former mill race, where little fish dart around in the slow current. The bridge was recorded as wooden in 1451. Under a slip road for the M5, then the A417. Fragrant Orchids are in flower alongside the footpath. In one patch they are prolific along with Lady’s Bedstraw and Ox-eye Daisies. Into Stump Lane. Past Noakes Farm which seems to now concentrate on a large scale landscaping business. Overhead high voltage electricity cables buzz. The lane sides now are Brambles, Hedge Woundwort and Stinging Nettles. The adjacent field are horse paddocks and in one case turkeys are on the other side of a high gate.
The lane now climbs Churchdown Hill, also known as Chosen Hill. It is said that Churchdown Hill comes from the Celtic word Cruc, meaning hill, the Saxon word dun meaning hill and the modern word hill, thus Churchdown Hill means hill hill hill. The clouds overhead are thickening. A Magpie chuckles in the trees and a Yellowhammer wheezes across the fields. Passed a large modern house and on up the hill. Onto a footpath which leads to the summit of the Hill. A Raven soars overhead. The hillside is nettles and brambles with a few scattered Elders. A Whitethroat sings from one of them. Surrounding this area are woods from which Chiffchaffs call. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly flits along the path. At a path junction there is a Meadow Brown and Ringlet butterfly. Himalayan Balsam is spreading out from the woods swamping everything in its path.
Into the woodland. A Song Thrush and Blackbird sing loudly. A Treecreeper climbs the bark of a large, old Field Maple. Nearby a tree has a heavily crop of small plums or greengages. At the top of the hill are reservoirs and telephone masts. A path runs around the largest of the reservoirs. It passes into a grove of tall Scots Pines. A good number of new bird and bat boxes are attached to trees. Around the far side of the reservoir is another patch of Fragrant Orchids. More Scots Pines are on the steep hillside which leads down to Chosen Hill House hidden by the trees. The path comes onto a lane here is the entrance to the Churchdown high-level reservoirs. Two Victorian buildings stand above them. The reservoirs stand in the site of an Iron Age hill-fort. The hill is an outcrop of Charmouth Mudstone Formation, formed approximately 183 to 199 million years ago in the Jurassic Period.
Through the modern cemetery around the back of the other large reservoir. The area is a maze of footpaths, many well maintained with gravel. From the footpath I am following, there is a magnificent view over Gloucester. Fairy houses have been built into the root of a tree. Off the track and deep in the woods is Mussel, or Muzzel, Well. The well is a rectangular basin with an overflow. It is said that it used to flow clear but is now rather murky, allegedly because a local farmer has capped the spring and drains it illegally. There are vague stories regarding the spring, well and fairies, but little substantive historical information. A large old Ash tree stands over it.
Back up the path which leads to the church of St Bartholomew. Ancient worn steps lead up to the mound on which the church is built. The view is breathtaking sweeping around over the hills. Sadly the church is locked despite an old sign stating that this ancient shrine is open for prayer. The church is said to have been built on a Bronze Age burial mound. Canon Bazely in 1921 considered that “the Saxon work here” probably belonged to a church provided for the tenants of her Royal Manor by Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians and daughter of King Alfred, and then granted to the priory at Gloucester, which she and her husband founded. However, the building here dates from around 1175 almost certainly built by Roger du Pont-L’Eveque, Norman Archbishop of York from 1154-1180, the lord of the manor and Barony of Churchdown and implicated in the murder of Thomas Becket. It had many adaptions and additions over the years and was restored in the 1880’s by Ewan Christian. Outside, on the south wall are the ends of two chest tombs built into wall, John and Edward Cummins, died 1706 and 1714 with leaf and scroll carving, carved figures in half relief with momenti mori.
Chosen Hill was a favourite haunt of the early 20th century composers Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells. It was the direct inspiration for Howells’ Piano Quartet in A minor and his “Chosen Tune” (the latter dedicated to his fiancée who lived at Churchdown). Gerald Finzi spent New Year’s Eve 1925 at the Sexton’s Cottage by the church, and the ringing in of the new year inspired two works – the orchestral Nocturne (New Year Music) (1926) and his choral work In Terra Pax (1954). Showing Ralph Vaughan Williams the hill in 1956, Finzi visited the cottage, but caught chickenpox from children living there. Already dying from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the illness brought about Finzi’s death two weeks later.
Round past the reservoirs to the triangulation point, which stands at a height of 510 feet. Jays fly through the woods. A Blackcap sings. Again the views from the triangulation point are wonderful. A toposcope indicates surrounding hills. Steps descend the steep side of the hill. The path leaves the wood and crosses a rough meadow of flowering umbellifers and thistles. Yellow birds foot trefoil is scattered through the grasses. Three Goldfinches fly up into the trees. The top leaves of some thistles have turned white. Beyond the large patch of St John’s Wort. Next to the path of Teasels, Common Mallows and Burdock. On the other side of the path are Docks. Ringlet and Gatekeeper butterflies feed on clover. The cloud now seems to be breaking up and it is getting even warmer. A tiny moth with a complex brown and white pattern is on a Woody Nightshade leaf.
The past drops down onto Stump Lane. Down the lane. Two oak trees both probably heading for 200 years old stand next to each other on either side of the Lane. The branches twist sinuously, some are dead, but others carry a canopy of leaves which shades the ground. A Wren sings explosively next to me. Down to Noakes Farm. An Oak sapling has a fine “crop” of Oak Apples. Over the brook where are a pair of Beautiful Demoiselles are mating. Route
Sunday – Leominster – Yet again the skies are mainly cloud although it is still dry. Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons call from the rooftops. Numerous cherry pits are scattered under the flowering cherry trees. Rabbits and Wood Pigeons are on the railway. More Rabbits are on the site of the old track. Evening Primrose flowers on the vegetation covered former platform 3. The water level in the River Lugg is still very low; a shingle bank has now emerged in the middle of the stream south of Butts Bridge. There is no bird song, just a few squeaks and chirps until Wrens let rip on either side of the river.
Micro-moths fly up from the grass as I pass along the edge of Easters Meadow. A Bloodsucker, the Common Red Soldier Beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, is on a Field Buttercup. A Dipper is on a shingle beach just below the confluence of the Kenwater and Lugg.
The market is even larger than last week. Back along Mill Street to Paradise Walk. The Kenwater is flowing steadily low but very clear. A decent size Brown Trout is facing the current whilst drifting backwards downstream. Small fry dart under a tangle of tree roots on the edge of the river. Another smaller Brown Trout swims upstream. A Robin flies to and fro across the water. The bells of the Minster start to ring. Swifts scream over Bridge Street car park.
Home – The broad beans are cleared and the last of the crop will do for dinner. The plot is then weeded. Weeds are also pulled from most of the other beds. One of the rows of peas are also cropped although another variety is cropping so they are all left in. The first row of potatoes are completely dug now and the leeks that have been in a trough in the greenhouse are planted out. Because it has been so dry, one of the butts is filled from the tap – annoying but everything needs watering. The first courgettes are appearing.
Monday – Leominster – Sunlight glares off the bases of the clouds which cover most of the sky. Into the short passage into the Caswell estate. House Sparrows chirp from the eaves of the houses. Jackdaws stalk an area of grass. Swifts scream overhead. I weave through the streets of the estate. House Sparrows are frequent which is good news as they have reduced in number considerably over the years. Through Sidonia Park. Footpaths criss-cross through the estate. I follow one that runs along the back of the secondary school. Enchanter’s Nightshade flowers in a corner. A large swath of Horsetail grows along the school fence. Horsetail is the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of late Paleozoic forests. Gulls are circling lazily high above the town.
The ditch running past the footpath as it approaches the industrial estate, once seeming to come from around the area of the old town pumping station and running south to eventually join the River Arrow, has little water in it yet there are still tiny fish gliding and hiding beneath the vegetation. On through the estate and eventually on to Hereford Road. Into Passa Lane. A patch of spongy earth is on the bank caused by a large red ants nest. Past Cockcroft Cottages. The fields beyond are full of flowering potatoes. Whitethroats are singing in the hedgerows. The public footpath down to the Arrow water meadows is still badly overgrown and virtually impassable. Skylarks sing overhead. Passa Lane enters Ryelands Road which leads down into the town centre.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – The sun shines and the day is warming fast. Several Blackcaps are in song near the car park. Tufted Vetch climbs a Hawthorn. A Swallow flies over, one of the very few seen here this year. Young Blue Tits, pale imitations of their parents, hop through the Goat Willows.
Mallard and tufted Duck are around the islands. A Mute Swan has three young fluffy grey cygnets. There is no sign of the Great Crested Grebe on the nest, indeed a few minutes later a Mallard and a Tufted Duck climb onto the nest mound. Two Grey Herons stand on the westerly islands. Beyond are a pair of Great Crested Grebes and half a dozen Mute Swans.
Into the meadow. Bramble patches along the lakeside trees have extended out into the meadow considerably this year. A fair number of Meadow Brown butterflies flit over the grasses and Clover. A Chiffchaff calls and a Magpie watches from the hedgerow. Common Blue Damselflies glide off of the footpath.
A large dead Pike is in the water by the scrape, on which the Greylag flock stands. A flotilla of Canada Geese slowly glides past. Over thirty Mute Swans are scattered around the lake. About a dozen Tufted Duck are on the shingle spit along with a Cormorant. Another couple of Great Crested Grebes are nearby. A pair of Mandarin Duck are out on the water. A Reed Warbler is in song. There are around one hundred Canada Geese present. Mallard and Mandarin drakes are all in eclipse now. The sky has clouded over and the wind is rising. A pair of Moorhens check each other out on the scrape. Purple Loosestrife is beginning to flower. A Kingfisher flies up to a branch on one of the Goat Willows by the reed bed. It looks like the top of all of the reeds has been strimmed off, nibbled I assume by the Greylags. Grasses start to shaking near the bottom of the sloping front of the hide; I assume a Pheasant is moving through and indeed it is confirmed a few minutes later by a loud Pheasant croak. A large brown dragonfly appears and then disappears over the grass. A high pitch keening comes from the trees on the far side of the lake, almost certainly a young Common Buzzard.
Back to the meadow. A Garden Warbler is singing loudly in the lakeside trees. Pale green nuts are appearing on the Hazels. A few Ringlet butterflies are on the wing. About a dozen sheep are in the cider apple orchard up against the gate which leads into the dessert apple orchard. It seems that they have pushed through the gate which is not closed properly but cannot return. The sheep run off up the cider apple orchard. I open the gate and then take a circuitous route up through the orchard until I am above them and drive them back down towards the gate. Fortunately they get the idea and all charge through into to the dessert apple orchard and the gate is securely closed after me.
Friday – Highley – The morning is warming rapidly. An area of high pressure is moving in from the Atlantic country and it is going to get hot! Into the large village of Highley. Down Coronation Street, which suggests an early 20th century date. Swifts scream overhead and House Sparrows chatter in the hedges. A terrace of red brick houses Victorian early 20thcentury ends with a three storey building. Nearly every house has a pot of flowers or a shrub outside many have small window boxes.
On to High Street. The Bache Arms was formerly the New Inn, licenced as a beer-house in 1839. Terraces of small houses lead off. A clock tower is a statue of a pithead with a miner being lowered. Opposite is a Primitive Methodist chapel, now apartments. A row has a plaque, 1905 Unity and a beehive. Another plaque at the end of the block is dated 1912. The block seems to consist mostly of a closed housing association with a Co-op at the end. The house next to it is dated 1908. The road starts to descend. Some houses have the same architectural details as the 1905 block, others are later, mid and later 20th century. The parish hall is the former school, dated 1860. Modern houses lead to Church Street, late Victorian or Edwardian. On the junction is the church of St Mary.
Highley comes from the Anglo-Saxon and means “the clearing of Huga”. Lady Godiva, who owned Highley Manor in the 11th century. In the Domesday Book it is recorded as “Huglei”, the possession of Ralph de Mortimer. Rock has been dug up around here for at least 500 years; it was used to build Worcester cathedral and other important buildings. The stone was transported on the River Severn. It was a small settlement until Highley Mining Company arrived in 1878. They sank a deep shaft for 300 yards to get into a high quality seam of coal four feet thick called the Broach Coal. The population rose from some 400 in 1871 to nearly 2000 by 1914. A pit was also dug at Alveley, across the River Severn and a tunnel went through between the two of them. The mines closed in 1969. The church is early 12th century with 15th century alterations. Directly opposite the entrance to the churchyard is Samuel Willcox’s Family Vault dating from the early 19th century. A fine preaching cross is under a Yew tree. A 16th century timber-framed house stands by the churchyard, formerly the priest’s house. The graveyard is large and contains the war memorial. The church is locked. Nearby is a one of a trail of bronze plaques depicting Highley’s past and incorporates the designs of West Midlands artist Saranjit Birdi. They are named after miners’ nicknames, this one “Joyful Clappers”.
Down the intriguingly named, “Smoke Alley”. There is a 17th century timber-framed cottage at the top of the lane with a larger house opposite that was by the sawpit. The track descends onto a path by a short terrace of houses, probably 18th century, recorded as belonging to Rhea Hall in 1842. A lane descends steeply past the Colliery Cottages and the site of the colliery. It reaches the Severn Valley Railway. A train of LNER coaches are pulled by GWR 2857, a Churchward designed 2800 Class locomotive, for heavy freight. A BR Class 31 diesel locomotive, 31466, standing in the station, pulls out. The station was opened in 1862 which reduced the need to use the River Severn for transport. A signal box stands opposite the station and the signalman hands a token to the driver of the train. The line is single track and only a train holding a token can proceed and, of course, there is only one token. A little later BR Class 20, 20048, a Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotive, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, pulls in.
A path drops down to the River Severn by the Ship Inn, Highley’s first inn built in 1770. The building has been spoiled by unsympathetic extensions. The Severn Way heads north past a row of small houses. Wooden chalets stand at the top of a field by the railway. Hemp Agrimony flowers by the path. Further on Common Cranesbills are in flower and there is a large amount of Comfrey here too. An encampment of three tents by the water is an indication of serious fishermen. The water level books pretty low though. A steam train passes, hidden in a cutting.
The trail here is not in the best of conditions, parts having slipped towards the water over the years. A Grey Wagtail flies across the river. A piping Oystercatcher flies over. A sleek modern bridge crosses the river, the Highley Alveley Bridge opened on 15th December 2006 to replace the 1937 Colliery Bridge. Trams pulled by metal cables across the bridge to a sorting area on the west bank in 1960 a giant aerial rope-way was built and large buckets of coal swung in the air over the river. A Common Buzzard flies over, a Black-headed Gull flies upstream and a pair of Mute Swans glide along the river.
A gravel track now rises and runs along the hillside above the Severn Way. A Chiffchaff calls. A diesel and carriages pass, still hidden in the cutting. The track comes to Country Park Halt. Here colliery screens were constructed to clean and grade the coal from Alveley Colliery which opened in 1935. The coal was then loaded onto trains. In later years most of it went to Stourport Power Station. Old telegraph pools stand without wires alongside the track. A Sparrowhawk circles overhead. 2857 returns, chugging merrily.
Up a track out of the valley through woodland. Past a static caravan site. Past Rhea Hall, an early 19th century farmhouse. Richard de la Ree lived in Highley in 1327 and his house was more than likely on this site. There is no visible evidence of any farmhouse. Between 1570 and 1650 The Rea (as it was then called) was the home of the Pountneys. Swallows fly around the barn conversions. The track joins a minor road and a timber-framed house, The Birches, stands on the junction. It was the vicarage of about 1620, built for Robert Barret. It was altered circa 1750 with further mid 19th and 20th alterations. A footpath leads up to the Rhea Hall Estate, a council estate later extended by private development. There are fine views across the River Severn from here. There is still a community room on the estate. The car is here, absolutely baking inside! Route
Sunday – Leominster – Overnight cloud is burned away and another hot, dry day begins. A gang of screaming Swifts chase over the rooftops. The water level in the River Lugg remains very low. A Dipper dashes off upstream. A Chiffchaff and Wren still in song. The path through Easters Meadow and up beside Brightwell’s compound has been mown. Blackcaps are in song. Another Chiffchaff calls but its song is hesitant and the notes jumbled. The market is large and busy and actually has some interesting stuff, but I avoid buying anything we really do not need. Sadly, out new sign on Ridgemoor Bridge has already been vandalised. A Brown Trout is in the shallows under Priory footbridge. It flicks its tail and moves into the deeper channel.
Home – Despite the heat, some gardening is needed. A lot of water (from the tap as the butts are empty) is poured onto the newer apple trees. I bought some purple-sprouting seedlings at the market yesterday very cheaply, so they are planted out after some weeding. Some support nets are erected for the next lot of peas. Some more radish seeds go in. Some serious watering will be needed tonight! We then head for The Chequers for a couple of pints or three, then across to Grange Court where The Beefy Boys have brought their outside catering and enjoy a couple of epicurean burgers – a perfect afternoon.
Monday – Bwlch y Clawdd – A road winds up from the Rhondda Valley to this mountain. A large dyke, seemingly the same age as Offa’s Dyke, rings down the hillside. Far below is Cwm Parc and Treorchy, former pit villages. A green mound is all that is left of Cwm Parc pit which opened in 1866, owned by the Ocean Coal Company, which became the second largest coal-mining company in South Wales. Below is a large cwm created by a glacier. The sun is blazing and it is getting very hot.
Down from the hills through former pit villages. There are long terraces of small houses, some perched high on the sides of the valleys. These villages are relatively large, an indication of the number of people who worked in the coal mining industry, now all gone. Many residents now travel to work in the larger towns to the south.
Coity – a village to the north of Bridgend. The Six Bells pub is an intriguing mock Tudor building. Most of the houses around here are 20th century, some fairly recent, with a few older buildings. Extensive work is being undertaken on Coity Castle. The castle is ruined although the walls are mainly intact. Fingers of masonry reach up into the sky all that is left of the towers and keep. Begun as an earthwork castle around AD 1100, the stone keep and curtain wall were later 12th century additions by Sir Payn “the Demon” de Turberville, one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon, Lord of Gloucester. A major rebuild took place in the 14th century and again in the 15th, after Owain Glyndŵr laid siege to the castle. Further modifications were made in the early 16th century, including the addition of a third floor.
The church of St Mary was founded in the 14th century, probably by members of the Turberville family. In the 16th century it was rebuilt, in the style of English Decorated Gothic, on a cross plan with a four-sided tower at the crossing. A major renovation was carried out in 1860 under the supervision of J Prichard and J P Seddon. It is locked.
Ewenny – Ewenny Priory Church of St Micheal has been described as the best preserved and complete Norman church in Wales. This was not the first church on this site on the banks of the river Ewenny. There is mention of an Ecclesia de Euenhi dating back to the Celtic Christian age. The site was clearly heavily fortified, very unusual for an ecclesiastic site but a pertinent statement about how unsettled and dangerous South Wales was during this period. The church was built by William de Londres, also one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, Lord of Ogmore, between 1115 and 1120. In 1141 it was given by William’s son, Maurice, to the church of St Peter and Gloucester “in order that a convent of monks might be formed.” The nave of the Priory Church provided for the parishioners of the parish, while the presbytery and transepts were reserved for the monks. The two parts were separated by a wall, the pulpitum screen, which was reopened in 1889 and now a new screen by Swansea artist, Alexander Beleschenko was installed in 2006. By the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 the number of monks at Ewenny had dwindled to three. The north transept and chapels were pulled down prior to 1803. At the west end is a simple font, decorated with late Celtic or early Norman carvings at the rim, base, and centre. The nave pillars are typical of Norman construction, massive columns supporting the roof. One of the northern columns has a couple of niches cut into it, presumably to support a rood screen, now long vanished. The organ is mid 19th century from the Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral. The south transept is filled with a collection of carved stones, many Celtic. Here are the grave slabs of Maurice de Londres, his son, William and Hawise, daughter of Thomas de Londres. Nearby is an altar tomb of one of the Carne family with a worn effigy of knight, possibly Sir Payn de Turberville. Another tomb is of Edward Carne who died in 1650 and a third of John Carne, who died in 1700 at the age of 15.
Following the Dissolution Ewenny was leased to Sir Edward Carne, who purchased the priory and all its lands outright in 1545. The Carne family built a mansion house on the foundations of the monastic buildings.
Ogmore Castle – Thirty Swallows chase in a flock over these ruins. The ruins stand on the River Ewenny just upstream of the confluence with the River Ogwr. Construction of a ringwork of earth and banks, probably started around 1106 by William de Londres but was soon replaced by a stronger stone fortress, possibly by De Londres’ son Maurice. The keep at Ogmore is the oldest in Glamorgan and served as the focal point for administering the district. Once rising three stories and 40 feet high, the first storey contained the great hall, with an ornate fireplace and elaborate windows. A staircase led from the hall to the floor above, which served as apartments for the lord and his family, and a trap-door opened from the hall down into the basement. The Welsh attacked Ogmore in 1116 and De Londres was forced to cede possession but he was soon back. Ogmore was damaged in the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion of 1405, but we do not know whether it ever surrendered to Glyndŵr’s rebels. After the rebellion, a large rectangular stone building was erected in the outer ward to serve as a courthouse for the region. It remained a courthouse until 1803. The castle fell out of use in the 16th century, but Court House was inhabited until 1803. Near the Court House is a late 13th century lime kiln. From the de Londres family, Ogmore and its surrounding estates passed in the late 13th century to Payn de Chaworth, lord of Kidwelly. The de Chaworth heiress, Matilda, married Henry, the Earl of Lancaster, in 1298, and, consequently, Ogmore became a part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Part of a Celtic shaft of a cross-slab was discovered here in 1929. Before there was a bridge over the River Ewenny stepping stones crossed the river and still do. They are also on the direct route from Merthyr Mawr church to the public house “The Pelican in her Piety” on the other side of the river! Two horses are led over the river to join a large herd on the far side. A Great Dane finds the water to his satisfaction in the considerable heat.
Back along the road is Schwyll Water Pumping Station. I really like these early 20th century industrial buildings, this one dating from 1931.
Bridgend, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr – Newcastle – Near the castle is The Square, a short terrace of cottages. Newcastle Castle was initially constructed as a ringwork 1106 by William de Londres. However, it was on the death of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, in 1183 that Henry II took over the castle and strengthened its defences. The additional works had the construction of a two metre thick curtain wall which surrounded a courtyard which was forty metres in length. The main reason behind these new defences was believed to be a response to the uprising in Glamorgan led by the Welsh Lord of Afan, Morgan ap Caradog. Henry died in 1189, and the ownership of Newcastle fell to Prince John, who that year handed the castle to Morgan ap Caradog. Slightly down the hill is the church of St Illtyd, a Victorian Decorated Gothic rebuilding of early 14th century church with 16th century tower. The church is, as usual, locked. Nearby is the Nazareth Apostolic Church of 1860.
Bridgend – My lodgings are on the Tremains Road. There are a couple of rows of post-war council housing then industrial and retail sites. Castle Bingo is in a building with a tower made of small squares of glass, it looks 1930s but seems to have been built only twenty years ago. Brackla Street descends towards the River Ogwr. Over the railway, the station to the west. The station was opened on 18th June 1850, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Services on both branch lines from the station were withdrawn for a time in the 1960s & early 1970s (trains on the Vale of Glamorgan line fell victim to the Beeching cuts in June 1964, whilst Maesteg trains were withdrawn in July 1970), but because the lines remained in-situ due to coal traffic for the Aberthaw Power Station, each one has since been reopened to passenger services. The telephone exchange, police headquarters and other buildings are typical mid 20th century, others are later with even less architectural merit. At the bottom of the hill is Nolton Street, a shopping area that looks typically rundown. Into Merthyrmawr Road. At least one house, Nolton Court was a grand property of the early 18th century, but is now in a serious state of decay. There is also an impressive stone tithe barn. Opposite is the closely packed graveyard of St Mary’s church. There have been at least three churches on the site, one built in the 1830s, the present one being built in 1887 to the designs of John Prichard, with the tower added some ten years later. Opposite is Cae Court, also thought to have been designed by John Prichard in the 1870s. East of the churchyard is an area of houses built so close together that it it is not possible for roads to penetrate, just footpaths.
Bridgend grew in the early 15th century when this area Nolton and the village of Newcastle were linked by the Old Stone Bridge over the River Ogmore, Afon Ogwr on a site earlier ford. This area is normally referred to as Oldcastle although there is no evidence of a castle ever being here. Bridgend grew rapidly into an agricultural town. It became an important market town, a status it retained until the late 20th century.
A modern road bridge crosses the River Ogwen, which is very shallow. Back in the other direction, Ashfield is a large Regency house. Back into Nolton Street. The large Hermon chapel is dated 1862. A fine building of 1905 is burnt out. On along Derwen Road. The Randall Memorial Drinking Fountain is dated 1860, designed by J W Hugall of London. A commemorative plaque reads “Erected by Caroline, Countess of Dunraven, in memory of her friend John Randall Esq who for thirty-three years managed her estates AD 1860”. The old Police Station is an in austere building dated 1880/1 by John Prichard. Opposite are the former police stables and offices in what was once the late Georgian Castle Hotel which incorporates the toll house. A short distance on is a stone building greatly extended in 1989, The Tabernacle. The former fire station has a rare Edward VIII insignia. It is in a poor condition. Next to it is the Hope Baptist church built 1906-08 by Philip J Thomas of Bridgend for English-speaking Baptists.
The Dunraven Arms is closed down. It displays an insignia for Hunt Edmunds, a brewery in Banbury, Oxfordshire! Into Wyndham Street. Wyndham Street Independent Chapel was built in 1883 by the architect Mr Shergold of Bridgend in the gothic style at a cost of £2550. It is now a bar. At least half the shops are closed down. A bank is still open! A former ironmongers is a Turkish barbers. Carnegie House, formerly the public library, now the council offices, was built 1907 by a £2,000 Carnegie grant on land given by the Earl of Dunraven. The Ruhamah Capel y Bedyddwyr was built in 1808, rebuilt in 1825 and rebuilt again in 1890 in the Lombardic/Italian style. The last service at the chapel, a deconsecration service, took place on the 22nd April 2012, the chapel sold but is still disused.
Into Queen Street beside the War Memorial, unveiled on 11th November 1921 was designed by Walter Crook and sculpted by Messrs H H Martyn and Co Ltd of Cheltenham. The majority of the buildings are Georgian and Victorian, many ornate. The Wyndham Hotel, now Wetherspoons is said to be a coaching inn dating back to the 17th century and once to have housed the Court House and Prison. Queen Street ends at a footbridge. Downstream is the Old Bridge. A bridge existed in 1452 and Leland mentions a stone bridge of four arches in 1539. A flood of August 1775 demolished the western two arches which were replaced by a single arch creating the present asymmetry. On the far side is the Methodist church, the foundation stone laid on July 14th 1880, and May 1882. I now try to find a pint, without much success!
Tuesday – South Wales – Ogmore Valley – Black Mill, Melin-Ifan-Ddu – The River Ogmore flows with crystal clear water. Beyond is a long distance path on the old railway track. The station was a little south of the village, now lost in the trees. It opened in 1873 and closed in 1958. It was on a junction of the Llynfi and Ogmore Valley railway, opened in 1865 and closed to all traffic in 1987, the Ely Valley Extension railway, opened in 1857 and closed to passengers in 1930 and the Cardiff and Ogmore Valley railway, opening in 1876 and closed in 1930. The Square has the War Memorial, a garage and The Fox and Hounds pub, late 18th or early 19th century in late Georgian style. Nearby the River Ogwr Fach flows under the main road to join the Ogmore. Up the hill, on a junction, is Paran Chapel, opened by the Welsh Baptists in 1819 and still in use. A Green Woodpecker yaffles as it flies across the valley. Beyond the village are the stone piers of the railway viaduct completed in 1876 by the industrialist and colliery owner Lord David Davies as part of an integrated system to transport coal to his proposed new docks at Barry.
Ogmore Vale – A village that was just a few houses until 1865 when mining started here. The road turns an S-bend which crossed the railway. A 17 lever signal box stood by the level crossing. Around the corner is the Corbett Arms of 1875. A board tells the tale of Mr William Arthur Smith, who on 10th November 1905, was “drying out his dynamite”, a common practice by miners to blast hard headings. Unfortunately, Mr Smith forgot about his dynamite and blew up his house together with his wife, two children and a lodger. The Ogwr Fawr passes under the road. A rusting pick head lays on the bank beneath the bridge. A Song Thrush sings in the woods on the steep, high valley sides. Up St John’s Street, long terraces of stone built houses. Over the river again to the high street. The village’s Gwalia Stores, built in 1880 was moved, brick by brick, and rebuilt in St Fagans National History Museum. The former Co-op was erected around 1910 by the Co-operative Wholesale Society as a local department store serving the Ogmore Valley. The ground floor contained a grocery shop, and the “Co-op Shop” where payment was made, whilst the upper floor was for haberdashery, drapery and millinery. The shop closed around 1977 and is now in a very poor state. The flamboyantly decorated Fox and Hounds is dated 1913. A finger road directions post was probably set up shortly after the formation of the Ogmore and Garw Urban District Council in 1894. The post and arms were cast by the Tondu Engineering Works. The relatively modern Calvary Baptist chapel is still used but the Bethlehem Capel Bedyddwyr chapel, first built in 1871, is in poor condition. Due to a rapid growth in the size of the congregation, it soon became inadequate and the original chapel was demolished and rebuilt on a larger scale in 1876. Following closure, it was converted in 1995 into a performance hall, with social and practice rooms for the Ogmore Valley Male Voice Choir but only the 1898 smaller hall is in use. Beyond is the former Police Station of 1864.
Nant-y-Moel and Price Town – The Hope Independent Chapel was built in 1898 but was closed a century later and is in poor condition, being used as a furniture depot. Up the hill, behind it, is the Bethany English Calvinistic Methodist chapel of 1905, now apartments. In the valley below is the large Blaenogwr cemetery. Up towards Nant-y-Moel. A seating area has a life size statue of a miner pushing a coal wagon. In front of it, are cast iron plaques sunk into the ground commemorating the successes of Lynn Davies, Olympic athlete, who was born here, as was the actor Windsor Davies. The road reaches a junction. The village continues up into the end of the valley, whilst the main road heads up into the hills. On an island on the junction is a clock tower erected in 1955, built by Hartland Brothers with funds from the Wyndham Medical Aid Society. A large stone farmhouse, Blaenogwr, probably built in the late 18th or early 19th century stands on the junction. High on the top of the valley side is a motionless wind turbine. The sky is overcast and it is not as hot as yesterday but very humid.
Rhondda Valley – Cwm Parc – Up the winding road of Rhigos Mountain, through hairpin bends to Bwlch y Clawdd and down into the Rhondda Valley. Into Cwm Parc. The Methodist chapel of 1873 looks unused. Opposite, the Workmen’s Institute is full of voices. It is attached to the Workmens’ Hall of 1908. It stands next to the lane that led to the pit railway. Up the hill is St George’s church, built 1895-6 in the Free Gothic style by G E Halliday, Llandaff Diocesan architect, paid for by Mrs M G Llewellyn, widow of Griffith Llewellyn, of Baglan Hall and Pentre House, the benefactor of St Peter’s Pentre, at a cost of £4500; they also provided vicarage. Even the entrance to the grounds is locked. It starts to rain, but to little effect.
Treorchy – The Pencelli Hotel is probably Victorian. Into the town centre past a tin tabernacle. Over the railway. The station below is just a modern shelter. The Park and Dare Workmen’s Institute and Hall was built in 1892 as a miners’ institute on Station Street designed by Jacob Rees of Pentre; the building also contained reading, smoking, guest and refreshment rooms and was financed by the miners themselves through the first mineworkers trade association. In 1912 a second adjoining building fronting Dyfodwg Street was designed by T Owen Rees and Jacob Rees, built by Albon Richards of Pentre and opened as a theatre and cinema in 1913, at a cost of £13,000. Jacob Rees (1844 -1933) was structural engineer with the Ocean Coal Co at Cwm Parc and later practised as an architect specialising in schools, chapel and workmen’s halls. In 1926 as a result of the National Coal Strike the miners were no longer able to support the hall which was sold to the Ocean Coal Co but it was repurchased by the National Union of Mineworkers local lodge at nationalisation in 1952. It passed to Rhondda Borough Council in 1975. The new library unfortunately obscures the view of the magnificent Dyfodwg Street frontage. Over the River Rhondda. The former school in Chapel Street is now a recycling charity. The bank on the corner now a fast food outlet. Opposite, The Stag pub is an imposing grey stone building.
Up Bute Street, the high street, with very few traditional high street shops, although there is a butchers and greengrocer. A chapel has been re-fronted by a chain store. At the end of the shops is St Matthews church built in 1871 in a simple Gothic style to designs of architect G E Robinson of Cardiff, originally as a National School. A corrugated iron community hallstands nearby. The White Dragon, the former Conservative Club, has an odd projecting tower on its corner. An extension was added in 1911. Opposite is The Cardiff Arms hotel, which looks modern. The Cosen Calvinistic chapel of 1901 is still in use. Down one of the many streets of small terraced houses and over the river by footbridge.
Saturday – Home – Over the last two days the potatoes are dug, despite the scorching heat. The crop is pretty good as they are first earlies. They are also largely clean and free of pest damage. Other crops in the garden are suffering from the intense heat and lack of rain. Unfortunately, it seems it will get worse – the Met Office have issued a red warning, the first ever, which means the temperature represents a danger to life. It is expected that records will be broken tomorrow. However, the courgettes, lettuces and mangetout peas seem happy enough and are cropping well. There are also very very decent beetroot.
In the evening I test positive for Covid-19. I am developing a cough and generally feel run down.
Monday – Home – The heatwave intensifies. By mid-afternoon, the thermometer outside the back door reads 39.5°C. Generally it is in the mid 30s across the garden, hot enough to cause many leaves to wilt. They will recover this evening when I water. It is noticeable that there are few birds around, they too are sheltering from the heat.
Wednesday – Leominster – The sky is grey and overcast – the heatwave seems to have broken but it is still very warm and humid. Swifts scream high overhead. On to the railway bridge. A rabbit is still out in the open below. The water level in the River Lugg is very low, several gravel bars have appeared. Stalks of the vermilion berries from Wild Arum brighten the brown undergrowth. Easters Meadow is pale tan brown with blotches of yellow Ragwort. There is little evidence of bird life, just the occasional squeak and tick. A couple of Wood Pigeons fly over.
Through Pinsley Mill and into the Millennium Park. Most of the cider apple trees are showing a good crop. Many of the Meadow Cranesbills have gone to seed, their beaked seed pods that give them their name. The Mill Street crossing alarm sounds and a train, clearly not stopping at the station, races past. The River Kenwater is low and sluggish. On Pinsley Mead, the greengage appears to have no fruit at all this year, but the plum is better but they are nowhere near ripe.
Into the churchyard. The Minster bells toll ten o’clock. Into the Minster where Kyiv the Lion, a large puppet, stands between two pillars. The Last Supper display is now gone. Between the north aisle and the nave are two organs. There was an early organ in the Minster that was destroyed in the Priory fire of 1699. A replacement was purchased in 1737, which was repaired and improved in 1797 by Messrs Avery of London at a cost of £95. The present instrument was built in 1924 by Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd, to a specification by Dr J C Bridge, organist of Chester Cathedral, and housed in the 1737 case. The only parts of the older instrument retained at this time were pipes of the 32'' pedal stop. Nearby is a small, one manual chamber organ, built by Bevington in 1853 awaiting restoration.
Friday – Cheltenham – A grey morning with a breeze making it much cooler than earlier in the week. From the Tewkesbury Road, into a small road. Buddleia flowers on the far side. It is called the Butterfly Bush, but sadly not a single one is seen. I have misread the map and this is a crescent that will lead me back to Tewkesbury Road. However, Princess Elizabeth Way does run south. The road crosses the canalised River Chelt. There are housing estates and retail sites on either side of the road, including a Harley-Davidson dealership with some classic US bikes.
A short detour through Chelt Walk Park. Princess Elizabeth Way is now lined by former council housing. Mid 20th century flats have Empire names. St Thomas More Catholic church is a 20th century building of little architectural merit. A large sign is in Polish. St Barnabas church in Orchard Way is also modern with little to recommend it. Opposite is a pub, The Umbrella, possibly the only one on the country with this name? It looks like an overgrown council house. On down Princess Elizabeth Way. This area is called Hesters Way. A very large council four storey housing development of flats is a classic design seen all over the country, and none the worse for that! A large school is hidden behind a wall. Opposite, several gable ends of blocks of flats have superb murals on them. A woman tells me others are going to be done. The flats are now named after castles.
A large green, Coronation Square, forms a roundabout. A row of shops is in an ugly 50s parade. The flats have gone back to Empire (although it is maybe fairer to call them Commonwealth) names. Gloucestershire College is on a large campus. Hesters Way Park opened in 1957. There are some fine specimen trees and an installation of monoliths carved with words and symbols, representing different ways of communication, called the Listening Stones executed by Gordon Young in 2005. A steady stream of mainly young, casually dressed people, nearly all with rucksacks, are heading for a security gate in a fence of barbed wire coils, to enter probably the most famous doughnut in Britain, GCHQ, the centre of the British intelligence and security service. An Indian Bean tree is covered in blossom.
Princess Elizabeth Way reaches the A40. In the distance are hills, Air Balloon junction and the Swindon road. The A40 heads towards the town centre. Most of the housing here is modern but after a while some early 20th century buildings start to appear. Outside a garage with a self-service launderette washing 18kg of clothes for £10. Up Griffiths Avenue and round to St Mark’s church, locked of course. It was built in 1860-6 by John Middleton, with transepts of 1888, using drilled Cotswold stone in the Gothic Revival, Decorated style. The tower contains a ring of eight bells, cast in 1885 and 2007 by John Taylor and Co of Loughborough.
Past the rectory, which is probably Victorian. Another large house with a Victorian look was actually built in 2006. Into Gloucester Road where the housing spans the 20th century. Cheltenham Spa, formerly Lansdown, station, which opened in 1840, is an untidy sight. Opposite is the Midland Hotel, another building with fine modern murals, opened seven years later. The railway, built in 1845 by the Bristol and Birmingham Railway which was taken over by the Midland Railway shortly after, passes under a road junction. The main station building is on this side and is somewhat better than the other. There are more murals on the car park wall. A ten carriage Cross Country train pulls in. To the south of the station is a bridge over an abandoned railway, the GWR Cheltenham Branch, called the Honeybourne Line, a public footpath.
Back to the Gloucester Road. A small chapel, formally a Methodist chapel of 1891, is now private residence. A short distance down the road is St Mark’s Methodist Church built in 1911 and rebuilt in 1944 after a serious fire. Houses in the street are late Victorian, getting more modern as the road heads towards the town centre. Up Malvern Road. Christ Church Primary School is Victorian and opposite is the old Gothic vicarage. Over the Honeybourne Line. Beyond are large red stone buildings with Bath stone trimmings of Cheltenham Ladies College. Past the modern vicarage. Christ Church is locked. Two huge pairs of doors are in tall porches either side of the nave. It was built in 1837-40 in the Regency Gothic in the Early English style with later additions and alterations. The architects were RW and C Jearrad, and the builders, Thomas Newton, Solomon Sims and Joseph Puzey. The apse was added and interior remodelled 1888-93 by JH Middleton, HA Prothero and Phillot.
Through Overton Park, streets of mixed age houses. Astell House is a large residential care home built in 1912 for the Ladies College staff. There are some very large late Georgian and Victorian houses here, homes of the Cheltenham Georgian wealthy. A villa, now a large hotel was built in 1847 by Samuel Onley. Queen’s Parade was built in 1839-46 by William Swain. Arthur “Bomber” Harris, Head of Bomber Command during WWII was born here. Montpellier Street has terraces of classic Georgian houses. The Montpellier, The Ivy, was built as a pump room with reading room and billiard room, became a banking hall, before now a restaurant. In 1817 the long room and colonnade were added, the architect was probably Underwood. The rotunda was added in 1825-6, by architect JB Papworth. St Andrew’s United Reform church was built in 1885-6 for the Congregation from “Cheltenham Chapel” (Presbyterian). The architect was Thomas Arnold and the builder, William Jones. Beyond the end of Montpellier Street is a large school building for the Ladies College built in 1873, firstly by Middleton and added to many times by Prothero and others.
Into Queen’s Circus. Queen’s Hotel was built in 1838 by RW and C Jearrad on the site of the Sherborne Spa at a cost of £47,000. Six columns stand at the front. Pevsner described it as “one of the finest early Victorian English Hotels”. It had over 120 bedrooms, 25 sitting rooms, apartments for servants, drawing rooms, coffee and billiard rooms. During the Second World War it was used as an American Services Club. The large Georgian houses continue around Imperial Square. On one side of the Town Hall, built.1901-1903 by FW Waller of Gloucester. A totally incongruous modern building stands on the corner.
I hurry through the town centre to catch a bus that takes me back to Tewkesbury Road. St Peter’s church was built in 1847-8. The architect was SW Daukes and the builder, Thomas Haines at a cost of £4,838. It is in the Romanesque style with a cruciform plan with large central dome. The church has scaffolding all around it. Over the railway, the Birmingham mainline again.
Sunday – Leominster – At long last a decent amount of rainfall overnight soaking a parched garden. It is quiet, just an occasional call from a Wood Pigeon or Collared Dove and a sharp chack from a Jackdaw. No Swifts are in the sky, although as soon as I say this four appear. On to the railway bridge. Rabbits are grazing in the usual place alongside the old track. The rain has had little effect on the water level in the River Lugg.
The A49 is still busy even on a Sunday morning. Holidaymakers towing caravans, a transporter of sheep, another pulling a large tanker, two trailers of old tractors going to a show, two stock cars on a trailer heading south and a good number of cars. Several bees are visiting a patch of Hedge Woundwort. A Hawthorn has a good crop of still green haws. A large number of police 4x4s are in Brightwells’ compound.
Across Mill Street where a passing potato lorry is heading to pick up a load, almost certainly for McCain’s in Scarborough. It starts to rain. The market inevitably is much smaller than of late but I do manage to pick up up eight punnets of overripe strawberries for jam. Back around Paradise Way. A Brown Trout lays motionless in in the deepest stream on the Kenwater. A Dipper flies in and starts picking at the surface of the water. The Minster bells start to ring.
Monday – Leominster – A bit of chaos starts the day as we finish clearing the main room in anticipation of the arrival of the decorator. All starts as planned and I set off to the store to get some more paint. Through the Millennium Park. The cider apple crop is looking very good, although the apples are very small at the moment.
Home – The rest of the gooseberries by the pond are harvested. When I get them inside, I notice I have brought in a Common Green Shield Bug, Palomena prasina, which is returned to the garden. Many of the lettuces are now bolting, giving the hens a treat. Gladstone apples are still falling at a considerable rate, nearly all suffering bird damage. Courgettes are appearing and growing rapidly, outstripping our capacity to eat them. We have had a few tiny tomatoes but the rest are some way off ripening.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – A warm day with scattered cloud. Gatekeeper butterflies are in the nettles and thistles by the car park. A Wood Pigeon drones on monotonously. Parched grass has turned brown. Numerous Gatekeepers are along on the track, two tussle over a flowering mint. A dozen Coot are beside the islands along with a few Mallard, Moorhen, Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe. A Little Egret is near the hide reed bed.
The meadow has been mown. A Green Woodpecker flies up to the telegraph pole. It is a young bird with none of the bright colours of the adult. Into the hide. Over a dozen Cormorants are around the spit along with Mute Swans and Greylags. The water level is low, exposing a large amount of the scrape. A Grey Heron flies across the lake with a loud squawk. There are a good number of Mallard scattered all around the lake. A Little Grebe is preening beside the scrape. A Great Crested Grebe is on a nest in front of the southern hide. A small wader appears very briefly before disappearing behind a reed bed. It reappears and bobs like a Common Sandpiper, but is too distant to confirm. (A later report states there is a Green Sandpiper present, so this is probably that bird.)
The cider apple orchard has also been mown and sheep rest contentedly under the trees. Large brown dragonflies fly around the dessert Apple orchard. There are no apples ready for eating yet. It appears The Railway pub at Dinmore has closed down – another one gone.
Friday – Putley – The sun is beating down and the day is getting hot. Putley Green consists mainly of what seemed to be 1950s council houses. Along a lane westwards. Purple and yellow Woody Nightshade flowers rise high up the roadside hedge. Past Abbots Place, a large farmhouse dated around 1835. Along a track past Mill House, a flat roofed building rather difficult to date, but turns out to have been built in 1899. Through a gate is Putley Mill, probably built in the late 18th century. The mill pond which was to the north of the building has been filled in. The footpath now passes through a modern orchard. At the end of the orchard is Putley church. A large Cedar has a good crop of green cones. A young raptor is calling from somewhere.
Putley was a Saxon manor called Poteslepe held by Tostin (Earl Tostig Godwinson?) at the time of the conquest. Roman remains have been found under the foundations of the church when it was rebuilt in 1875. At at the time of Doomsday, William d’Evreux held the manor as a feudal tenant of Roger de Lacy. He gave the patronage of the benefits to the Dean and chapter of Hereford Cathedral. The church was largely rebuilt in 1875/6 by Thomas Blashillin the Anglo-Catholic style, incorporating pieces of an earlier medieval church on the site, including several 13th century windows and a piscina of similar age. The reredos, altar and choir stalls are exquisite work by the London stone carvers Farmer and Brindley. Beside the altar are mosaics executed by the Venice and Murano company. The altar was a gift of John Riley in memory of his mother. Wedgwood-like panels opposite the entrance door were created by Riley’s daughters. Font has symbols of the four evangelists. Pulpit has two sides of early 17th century re-used panelling which continues as a screen beneath the chancel arch (which formerly made up the Putley Court Pew). The glass is by Clayton and Bell except the west window which is by Heaton Butler and Baque. The bell turret has a pyramidal roof with a lucarne to each slope.
In the churchyard is a very fine 14th century preaching cross. The head has figures facing towards cardinal points – the Crucifixion to west, St Andrew to north, Virgin and Child to east, and a bishop, possibly Thomas Beckett, to the south. The church has no dedication, but the presence of St Andrew on this cross suggests this was once the dedication. The War Memorial consists of a canopied oak Calvary, the corpus carved in teak. A chest tomb records Lt William Stock who began his Navy life as an able seaman and gradually progressed to the rank of Lieutenant in 1807 and he served on the Royal Sovereign – Flagship for Vice Admiral Collingwood, which was crucial in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Beyond the church is Lower Court. A large pond has almost dried out it is surrounded by hemp-agrimony. Westwards are parkland and orchards of Putley Court dated 1712 with extensions in late 18th century. The house has tall chimneys at its corners and a cupola with a bell in the centre of the roof. The Stock family took possession in 1781. It was sold to John Riley in 1872. The manor was renown for its fruit. A Jay squawks in one of the many fine specimen trees. The court’s outbuildings have all been converted into residences. The lane comes to a junction where a Victorian post box is set into a wall.
Covid-19 has left me feeling rather weak and I decide to return to Putley Green. Past the Lodge to the court, a rather unusual house, probably Victorian or maybe later. A large equestrian centre straddles the road at Newtons. To the south of this site was a mound, since lost, that was possibly the site of a castle. Route
Saturday – Home – A few drops of rain fall but it does nothing to break the drought. Everything is bone dry and we are using a depressing amount of tap water. I have sown more beetroot, radishes and spring onions directly into the hard, yet dusty soil and watered heavily. Swiss Chard, Pak Choi and a tray of rocket go into the mini–greenhouse. I check the fruit. There will be hardly any figs this year. About a dozen small gooseberries are on the greenhouse side, more than usual! The cultivated blackberries, probably Tayberries, are ripening. I am surprised by a large crop of actual blackberries from the collapsed bramble in the corner of the garden. The greengage crop is small but they are large and almost ripe. In the evening there is real rain. The tops come off the compost bins to let the contents get damp.
Sunday – Home – Overnight rain is very welcome. The tomatoes by the summerhouse need tying up. Next those in the greenhouse are checked – the tops nipped off and any side shoots removed. There are a few ripe tomatoes and a couple of red chillies. Four other chilli plants have become pot-bound and are potted on. A couple of cucumber plants are still producing small fruits but the one decent sized one was recently picked and tried – sadly it was horribly bitter.
Several rows of French beans are sown for an autumn crop. A barrow load of compost is spread on the soil first. The beans from the spring sowing are harvested and some peas picked. As usual, the vines need trimming as shoots race off everywhere. They provide a good source of greens for the hens. Finally, some lettuce seedlings that have been in the mini–greenhouse for some time are planted out.
century buildings. The OS map is in need of updating – a modern housing estate stands on the site of a former school, closed in 1988, and a rugby pitch is on the site of a Roman villa, excavated by Canon Bazeley in 1911, and more thoroughly by E.M Clifford and W.H Knowles in 1933. It had a corridor plan with bath buildings and mosaic pavements. Below the centre of the building was a Late Bronze Age habitation site with a surrounding ditch containing flints and fragments of Deveril-Rimbury ware, and beneath another room was an occupation trench, with a spear-head, Iron Age pottery and an iron object thought to be a brooch. Churchdown Lane crosses a small stream, Horesbere Brook, a former mill race, where little fish dart around in the slow current. The bridge was recorded as wooden in 1451. Under a slip road for the M5, then the A417. Fragrant Orchids are in flower alongside the footpath. In one patch they are prolific along with Lady’s Bedstraw and Ox-eye Daisies. Into Stump Lane. Past Noakes Farm which seems to now concentrate on a large scale landscaping business. Overhead high voltage electricity cables buzz. The lane sides now are Brambles, Hedge Woundwort and Stinging Nettles. The adjacent field are horse paddocks and in one case turkeys are on the other side of a high gate.
Pines are on the steep hillside which leads down to Chosen Hill House hidden by the trees. The path comes onto a lane here is the entrance to the Churchdown high-level reservoirs. Two Victorian buildings stand above them. The reservoirs stand in the site of an Iron Age hill-fort. The hill is an outcrop of Charmouth Mudstone Formation, formed approximately 183 to 199 
million years ago in the Jurassic Period.
rough meadow of flowering umbellifers and thistles. Yellow birds foot trefoil is scattered through the grasses. Three Goldfinches fly up into the trees. The top leaves of some thistles have turned white. Beyond the large patch of St John’s Wort. Next to the path of Teasels, Common Mallows and Burdock. On the other side of the path are Docks. Ringlet and Gatekeeper butterflies feed on clover. The cloud now seems to be breaking up and it is getting even warmer. A tiny moth with a complex brown and white pattern is on a Woody Nightshade leaf.
still very low; a shingle bank has now emerged in the middle of the stream south of Butts Bridge. There is no bird song, just a few squeaks and chirps until Wrens let rip on either side of the river.
flowers in a corner. A large swath of Horsetail grows along the school fence. Horsetail is the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of late Paleozoic forests. Gulls are circling lazily high above the town.
century ends with a three storey building. Nearly every house has a pot of flowers or a shrub outside many have small window boxes.
it was used to build Worcester cathedral and other important buildings. The stone was transported on the River Severn. It was a small settlement until Highley Mining Company arrived in 1878. They sank a deep shaft for 300 yards to get into a high quality seam of coal four feet thick called the Broach Coal. The population rose from some 400 in 1871 to nearly 2000 by 1914. A pit was also dug at Alveley, across the River Severn and a tunnel went through between the two of them. The mines closed in 1969. The church is early 12th century with 15th century alterations. Directly opposite the entrance to the churchyard is Samuel Willcox’s Family Vault dating from the early 19th century. A fine preaching cross is under a Yew tree. A 16th century timber-framed house stands by the churchyard, formerly the priest’s house. The graveyard is large and contains the war memorial. The church is locked. Nearby is a one of a trail of bronze plaques depicting Highley’s past and incorporates the designs of West Midlands artist Saranjit Birdi. They are named after miners’ nicknames, this one “Joyful Clappers”.
belonging to Rhea Hall in 1842. A lane descends steeply past the Colliery Cottages and the site of the colliery. It reaches the Severn Valley Railway. A train of LNER coaches are pulled by GWR 2857, a Churchward designed 2800 Class locomotive, for heavy freight. A BR Class 31 diesel locomotive, 31466, standing in the station, pulls out. The station was opened in 1862 which reduced the need to use the River Severn for transport. A signal box stands opposite the station and the signalman hands a token to the driver of the train. The line is single track and only a train holding a token can proceed and, of course, there is only one token. A little later BR Class 20, 20048, a Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotive, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, pulls in.
water level books pretty low though. A steam train passes, hidden in a cutting.
river.
to the south.
very unusual for an ecclesiastic site but a pertinent statement about how unsettled and dangerous South Wales was during this period. The church was built by William de Londres, also one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, Lord of Ogmore, between 1115 and 1120. In 1141 it was given by William’s son, Maurice, to the church of St Peter and Gloucester “in order 
that a convent of monks might be formed.” The nave of the Priory Church provided for the parishioners of the parish, while the presbytery and transepts were reserved for the monks. The two parts were separated by a wall, the pulpitum screen, which was reopened in 1889 and now a new screen by Swansea artist, Alexander Beleschenko was installed in 2006. By the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 the number of monks at Ewenny had dwindled to three. The north transept and chapels were pulled down prior to 1803. At the west end is a simple font, decorated with late Celtic or early Norman carvings at the rim, base, and centre. The nave pillars are typical of Norman construction, massive columns supporting the roof. One of the northern columns has a couple of niches cut into it, presumably to support a rood screen, now long vanished. The organ is mid 19th century from the Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral. The south transept is filled with a collection of carved stones, many Celtic. Here are the grave slabs of Maurice de Londres, his son, William and Hawise, daughter of Thomas de Londres. Nearby is an altar tomb of one of the Carne family with a worn effigy of knight, possibly Sir Payn de Turberville. Another tomb is of Edward Carne who died in 1650 and a third of John Carne, who died in 1700 at the age of 15.
De Londres’ son Maurice. The keep at Ogmore is the oldest in Glamorgan and served as the focal point for administering the district. Once rising three stories and 40 feet high, the first storey contained the great hall, with an ornate fireplace and elaborate windows. A staircase led from the hall to the floor above, which served as apartments for the lord and his family, and a trap-door opened from the hall down into the basement. The Welsh attacked Ogmore in 1116 and De Londres was forced to cede possession but he was 
soon back. Ogmore was damaged in the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion of 1405, but we do not know whether it ever surrendered to Glyndŵr’s rebels. After the rebellion, a large rectangular stone building was erected in the outer ward to serve as a courthouse for the region. It remained a courthouse until 1803. The castle fell out of use in the 16th century, but Court House was inhabited until 1803. Near the Court House is a late 13th century lime kiln. From the de Londres family, Ogmore and its surrounding estates passed in the late 13th century to Payn de Chaworth, lord of Kidwelly. The de Chaworth heiress, Matilda, married Henry, the Earl of Lancaster, in 1298, and, consequently, Ogmore became a part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Part of a Celtic shaft of a cross-slab was discovered here in 1929. Before there was a bridge over the River Ewenny stepping stones crossed the river and still do. They are also on the direct route from 
Merthyr Mawr church to the public house “The Pelican in her Piety” on the other side of the river! Two horses are led over the river to join a large herd on the far side. A Great Dane finds the water to his satisfaction in the considerable heat.
1931.
about his dynamite and blew up his house together with his wife, two children and a lodger. The Ogwr Fawr passes under the road. A rusting pick head lays on the bank beneath the bridge. A Song Thrush sings in the woods on the steep, high valley sides. Up St John’s Street, long terraces of stone built houses. Over the river again to the high street. The village’s Gwalia Stores, built in 1880 was moved, brick by brick, and rebuilt in St Fagans National History Museum. The former Co-op was erected around 1910 by the Co-operative Wholesale Society as a local department store serving the Ogmore Valley. The ground floor contained a grocery shop, and the “Co-op Shop” where payment was made, whilst the upper floor was for haberdashery, drapery and millinery. The shop closed around 1977 and is now in a very poor state. The flamboyantly decorated Fox and Hounds is dated 1913. A finger road directions post was probably set up shortly after the formation of the Ogmore and Garw Urban District Council in 1894. The post and arms were cast by the Tondu Engineering Works. The relatively modern Calvary Baptist chapel is still used but the Bethlehem Capel Bedyddwyr chapel, first built in 1871, is in poor condition. Due to a rapid growth in the size of the congregation, it soon became inadequate and the original chapel was demolished and rebuilt on a larger scale in 1876. Following closure, it was converted in 1995 into a performance hall, with social and practice rooms for the Ogmore Valley Male Voice Choir but only the 1898 smaller hall is in use. Beyond is the former Police Station of 1864.
the building also contained reading, smoking, guest and refreshment rooms and was financed by the miners themselves through the first mineworkers trade association. In 1912 a second adjoining building fronting Dyfodwg Street was designed by T Owen Rees and Jacob Rees, built by Albon Richards of Pentre and opened as a theatre and cinema in 1913, at a cost of £13,000. Jacob Rees (1844 -1933) was structural engineer with the Ocean Coal Co at Cwm Parc and later practised as an architect specialising in schools, chapel and workmen’s halls. In 1926 as a result of the National Coal Strike the miners were no longer able to support the hall which was sold to the Ocean Coal Co but it was repurchased by the National Union of Mineworkers local lodge at nationalisation in 1952. It passed to Rhondda Borough Council in 1975. The new library unfortunately obscures the view of the magnificent Dyfodwg Street frontage. Over the River Rhondda. The former school in Chapel Street is now a recycling charity. The bank on the corner now a fast food outlet. Opposite, The Stag pub is an imposing grey stone building.
pale tan brown with blotches of yellow Ragwort. There is little evidence of bird life, just the occasional squeak and tick. A couple of Wood Pigeons fly over.
but the plum is better but they are nowhere near ripe.
names. St Thomas More Catholic church is a 20th century building of little architectural merit. A large sign is in Polish. St Barnabas church in Orchard Way is also modern with little to recommend it. Opposite is a pub, The Umbrella, possibly the only one on the country with this name? It looks like an overgrown council house. On down Princess Elizabeth Way. This area is called Hesters Way. A very large council four storey housing development of flats is a classic design seen all over the country, and none the worse for that! A large school is hidden behind a wall. Opposite, several gable ends of blocks of flats have superb murals on them. 
A woman tells me others are going to be done. The flats are now named after castles.
Ladies College built in 1873, firstly by Middleton and added to many times by Prothero and others.
have been built in 1899. Through a gate is Putley Mill, probably built in the late 18th century. The mill pond which was to the north of the building has been filled in. The footpath now passes through a modern orchard. At the end of the orchard is Putley church. A large Cedar has a good crop of green cones. A young raptor is calling from somewhere.
Anglo-Catholic style, incorporating pieces of an earlier medieval church on the site, including several 13th century windows and a piscina of similar age. The reredos, altar and choir stalls are exquisite work by the London stone carvers Farmer and Brindley. Beside the altar are mosaics executed by the Venice and Murano company. The altar was a gift of John Riley in memory of his mother. Wedgwood-like panels opposite the entrance door were created by Riley’s daughters. Font has symbols of the four 
evangelists. Pulpit has two sides of early 17th century re-used panelling which continues as a screen beneath the chancel arch (which formerly made up the Putley Court Pew). The glass is by Clayton and Bell except the west window which is by Heaton Butler and Baque. The bell turret has a pyramidal roof with a lucarne to each slope.