Ramblings

Wednesday 2^nd July – Bodenham Lake – A cloudier and much cooler morning. It has been quite a while since I last visited Bodenham. Field Bindweed, small white flowers with pink decoration, grows at the foot of a wall in the village. Further on, White Bryony has small greenish flowers. Ox-eye Daisies are going over. A large patch of Spearmint flowers by the side of the post box tied to an old telegraph pole stump. Roses and hollyhocks bloom around the war memorial. At the top of Ladywell Lane is a life size metal rearing horse. Old Man’s Beard flowers, spiky yellowish, whilst clambering all over a hedge and trees.

Into the nature reserve. A Green Woodpecker calls from the orchards. A Chiffchaff calls from the lakeside trees. The sun emerges from behind the clouds and is hot on my neck. A large patch of ladies mantle is in flower. Along the track. Many of the bramble flowers are bright pink. Blackthorn is loaded with sloes. Old Man’s Beard flowers approving very attractive to hover flies and bees. The water level in the lake is low and much of the islands are now exposed. A Cormorant stands on one. A large flock of Greylag Geese glides on the far side. A Common Buzzard sails overhead. The water in the lake is green with algae.

Into the meadow. Blackcap, Blackbird and Chiffchaff are in the song. Common Centaury has pretty pink flowers; there are far more here than a few years ago. A Ringlet butterfly flits through the grass. Bird’s Foot Trefoil flowers all across the meadow. Common Blue Damselflies rest on grass stems. A donkey in the paddock starts braying loudly.

Into the plantation. Common Agrimony, also known as Church Steeples, or Sticklewort, is in flower, tiny yellow stars. A Blackcap sings loudly. Into the hide. Canada Geese and a single Mallard, in eclipse, are on the scrape. Three Cormorants, two Little Egrets and a Grey Heron are on the spit. More Mallard and several Tufted Ducks are on the islands in front of the south hide. More Canada Geese are scattered around the lake. A Little Grebe is beside the island, as are several Mandarin Ducks, the drakes also in eclipse. A Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe are at the western end. A large flotilla of Canada Geese glides out from the reed bed on the north side. Gatekeepers fly through the grasses and flowers, S^t John’s Wort, Knapweed, Meadowsweet, Agrimony, Betony, Ox-eye Daisies and Ragwort, on the bank in front of the hide. Twenty three Cormorants suddenly appear from behind the island and head down to the western end. They swim along a couple of yards out from the bank where a Little Egret follows hoping the Cormorants will scare a fish towards it.

Back to the meadow. A Greenfinch wheezes from the bushes. The sky is almost clear of clouds now and it is rapidly getting warmer and warmer. Through the cider apple orchard. It looks like there will be a good crop. The dessert apple crop also looks heavy. Into the village. A large number of honey bees are on the mint.

Friday 4^th July – Cleobury Mortimer – Along the A49 where a young Fox is gambling with death feasting on roadkill in the middle of the road. Into Cleobury Mortimer. A grey morning with a cool breeze. Along the main street of the town. The Manor House, late 17^th or early 18^th century, appears to be abandoned. Houses in the High Street are mainly 17^th and 18^th century. A building at the start of Church Street has gone from a bakery to a funeral directors. Opposite a bookshop has closed down, so it seems has the post office. Past the church, parish hall, former Police Station and Old Court and the Baptist church. Into Lower Street. The Old Lion pub was a blacksmiths, a 19^th century frontage to a late mediaeval core. The beer delivery has to park up the street so barrels are rolled down to the cellar door. A pair of houses have a 19^th century frontage to a 17^th century core. Opposite is a 17^th century timber framed house, a former forge. The houses now become more modern. S^t Elizabeth’s Catholic church was built to the designs of Roman Lewandowski, a Ludlow based architect, costing £8,000 to construct and was opened in September 1962. Its origins are owing to the Catholic Blount family at nearby Mawley Hall. The long history of the Blounts and Catholicism at Mawley came to an end with the death of Sir Walter Blount in 1958.

Into Pinkham Lane to the area known as Pinkham. Sweet peas tumble over a tall wall. A medical centre is closed down and up for auction. Pinkham House appears to have some age, a farmhouse probably, with a number of outbuildings. Mill ponds were to the north. These fed Lower and Pinkham Mill. Pinkham Mill has a strange collection of objects in the garden. The lane comes close to the River Rhea. Castle Toot is across the River but hidden by trees. The castle was built in the early 12^th century and owned by the Mortimer family. Hugh de Mortimer rebelled against Henry II and as a result the castle was destroyed in 1155. The lane comes to a collection of mainly modern or converted buildings around Cleobury Mill. A small rill runs down the opposite side of the lane, then under it and down to the river.

Up and overgrown footpath. The path climbs Mortimer Hill, previously known as Pighill. It looks like an old holloway. The path comes to what again was probably a farmhouse, now surrounded by modern houses. Down a path to Lion Lane which turns back up the hill towards the main road, crossing a dried up Pudding Brook. The well opposite the church is also dry and seems to have been so for some time.

Sunday 6^th July – Leominster – There are dark clouds to both west and east but overhead the cloud is thin enough to let the sun through. A small band of screaming Swifts chase over the roof tops. There is now a very large pile of rubble and soil in the yard by the ginnel with a digger poised on top of it. Over the railway. A wind rustles the trees and a Wren bursts into song. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has again fallen slightly. Onto Easters Meadow. Many of the grasses and umbellifers are now brown. Meadowsweet and Meadow Thistles are in flowers. Further on Bindweed and Himalayan Balsam are also in flower. Wren, Chiffchaff and Blackcap are in song. There are more Cinnabar moth caterpillars, orange and black striped, on a stand of Ragwort. Butterflies are as usual scarce, just a few Small Whites and the occasional Ringlet.

The route into the market is closed so cars are now coming down the dirt track that pedestrians normally use. I am told that the entrance will be blocked at least another four weeks. Apparently the whole job was supposed to take six weeks but no one knew how shallow the water table is here resulting in every hole dug immediately fills with water which requires pumping out before any work can be undertaken. It also means any holes left overnight are full of water in the morning. One would have thought that this problem was known when the original tanks were put in for the garage but apparently not. There are a good deal fewer traders today.

The number of Pond Skaters under Ridgemoor Bridge continues to grow. The River Kenwater is shallow and clear. Into the town centre. The shop closures continue. The outdoor shop has a retirement sale and one of the antique shops closing down. Hallmark Thorntons is closing. The former Boots store, under new ownership, does not seemed to be open these days.

Home – Five potato plants are dug resulting in a trug full. The Red Duke of Yorks seem to have done better than the Sharpe’s Express. A few broad beans and mangetout peas, both pretty much the last on these plants, are picked and a couple of late, thin asparagus are taken for dinner. We wait in vain for rain and it seems that we are more likely to have another heatwave instead.

Tuesday 8^th July – Home – The temperature rises through the day. The sky is cloudless. The weather forecast suggests this heatwave is going to be prolonged. Only two rows of potatoes remain in the ground now. My earlier assumption that the Red Duke of Yorks have performed better than the Sharpe’s Express now seem unfounded and both have been very productive. The Gladstone apples are ripening, still a little sharp but well flavoured. It is only their soft texture I find off-putting. A dead tree is removed this morning and the trunks are sawn up. It appears that only two of the new hens are laying, which is disappointing.

Wednesday 9^th July – Mortimer Forest – A warm muggy overcast morning. My first visit to the Mortimer Forest Black Pool site for a long time. Wood Pigeons coo, a Raven barks and Blue Tits chatter. Foxgloves are coming to the end of their season, just a couple of flowers at the very tip of their stems. A Great and a Coal Tit call. The path has been planed flat and widened. A Chiffchaff calls. Above the forestry track the path remains in its old narrow and deeply gouged state. Bees visit the last few remaining Bramble flowers. A Siskin is calling. Across the enclosure which is now completely obscured by Hazels, Oaks and Bracken. It seems there is still no consensus as the whether the enclosure was iron age or mediaeval. The occasional Ringlet flies past.

Off along the forestry track. A Speckled Wood butterfly stutters pathetically across the path. Along the edge of the track Bracken and Brambles are competing for dominance. There are good number of Ringlets along the path edges. A party heads back down the Chiffchaffs are calling but their calls are becoming less precise, some just repeated chiff chiffs. A Song Thrush sings. A Spotted Flycatcher perches at the end of a conifer branch, searching the sky for insects. Hoverflies are almost motionless in front of Bramble flowers.

The path reaches the forestry track back to the car park. A pair of Carrion Crows fly off silently into the trees. A Fallow Deer runs across the track in front of me, a young one I suspect. Birdsfoot Trefoil, Herb Bennet, also known as Wood Avens, Herb Robert and Enchanters Nightshade are in flower.

Home – The Tawny Owl still visits during the night; it was calling just after midnight. Digging potatoes in afternoon is hot work, but the last two rows are now in store. It has been a good crop. In the final analysis I think the Sharpe’s Express did a little better than the Red Duke of Yorks.

Saturday 12^th July – Home – The heatwave continues. The thermometer on the patio, admittedly in direct sunlight, hits 39°C. Beetroots in the sunlight are wilting so I give them a bit of water. The water butt has had to be refilled again. In the evening, the greenhouse is watered with feed. The first tomatoes are ripening. Aubergines have pretty purple flowers. The cucumbers have a decent number of flowers. Blackbirds have proliferated around the garden. Spotty, one with white spots on his head, is still around and there is at least one other with white spots. Young Blue Tits are regular visitors to the seed and peanut feeders.

Sunday 13^th July – Leominster – Forecasters reckon that the heatwave should have peaked, however this morning the sun blazes down from a cloudless sky. The temperature is already over 20°C. The normal morning sounds fill the air: Wood Pigeons cooing, gulls yelping and Jackdaws chacking. Over the railway and onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has again fallen and the gravel spit has grown. There is a Dipper on the edge of the spit downstream from the Bridge and another on the water level measuring post. Through Easters Meadow. A Blackcap sings by the river. A few Small White, Gatekeeper and Ringlet butterflies flit through the grasses. Honey bees and Two-spot Ladybirds are on the last remaining flowering umbellifers. Across the river the rough ground is a bright yellow sea of Ragwort. There is more along the river bank and the end of Brightwells’ compound is also a dense yellow. There are also many more Cinnabar moth caterpillars on it. Magpies are noisy by the confluence of the Rivers Lugg and Kenwater.

There are fewer traders at the market today. One suspects many will be reluctant to stand in the blazing sun for the entire morning. Onto Paradise Walk. The River Kenwater is shallow and crystal clear. Five young Mallard swim upstream. Bell practice starts at the Minster. Swifts scream overhead. Planters containing apothecary plants have been placed at the western entrance to the churchyard. People are gathering on the Grange for the yoga session.

Home – The heat grows. Leek seedlings have not been very successful, only nine remaining. These are transplanted into a trough. A spare courgette plant is put into the bed. The earlier plants are doing well with courgettes appearing in good numbers. Yet more vine shoots are cut and pulled out of the trees above. They make good eating for the hens. During the afternoon, large clouds move in from the west, hopefully signalling an end to the current heatwave. There are three eggs in the nest, at last it appears that the Silver Rock has laid, a pale brown egg.

Wednesday 16^th July – Leominster – The heat wave has finally broken. Yesterday some rain fell, not enough to give the ground the good soaking it needs but at least it freshened things up. This morning there is some cloud and a cooling breeze. Swifts still scream overhead although they will soon be heading back to Africa. A diesel locomotive pulls out of the station with its long line of black carriages heading north to Manchester. Small Whites and a Comma butterflies visit the Buddleia below the railway bridge. Yesterday’s rain has had no effect on the low water level of the River Lugg. A couple of Wrens are still in song but for the first time since spring Chiffchaffs have fallen silent.

Into the Millennium Park. The large Buddleia here has a few more butterflies: a Red Admiral, some Small Whites, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell. More Small Whites are visiting the Black Knapweeds. A small patch of Betony is in flower amongst the Black Knapweeds and Meadow Cranesbills. On Pinsley Mead, the young Rivers Early Prolific plum has fruit turning purple but still tastes very sharp.

Home – The heat builds again during the day but by the later part of the afternoon the sky starts to cloud over. There have been three eggs every day this week.

Friday 18^th July – Home – Kay has grown a good number of basil plants which she has transplanted into troughs. I move them to the greenhouse. The door was slightly ajar and this has allowed a juvenile Blackbird in, and, of course, the daft bird cannot find its way out. It crashes rather worryingly into the glass. I let it settle then slowly manoeuvre it towards the door. It eventually sees the open door and flees with screams of alarm.

Leominster – Despite a light breeze it is an overcast and muggy morning. Through the town along Vicarage Street to the path beside the River Kenwater. A Carrion Crow barks and gulls yelp from overhead. On the far side of Kenelmgaer Bridge, the playing fields have large brown patches. A Speckled Wood butterfly finds some ripe blackberries. Back over the bridge and along the footpath by the river. The old footpath has become overgrown and eventually impassable. Magpies chatter overhead. An unidentified blue butterfly passes quickly, the first blue I have seen for some time. Up the hill a short way on the public footpath. There are very large banks of brambles here. A Gatekeeper and a Comma butterfly are feeding in them.

On a cross the bank above the river. A patch of Lesser Stitchwort grows through the Brambles, tiny white stars. A Greenfinch calls from one of the big Hawthorn hedges that run between the field here. The path now runs through stiles which I manage to get over. A man is mending the fence by one of them. A Common Buzzard is calling from somewhere in the distance. Through Wegnall’s farmyard. The old army troop carrier is still rotting beside the path.

Onto the path along the Buckfield estate. Blackthorn bushes are loaded with sloes. Ash trees have large bunches of keys. Swifts are racing overhead chasing insects. The new estate on the old Barons Cross army camp is apparently now going to be called Hawthorn Park, not very imaginative. Back into town. Work on the gas supply system in Bargates is causing traffic chaos.

Wednesday 23^rd July – Bodenham Lake – A steam lorry pulling a wooden caravan proceeds along the Gloucester road at a sedately 10mph. However, it stops on a straight section to allow the traffic to pass. Through Bodenham. House Sparrows chatter, Wood Pigeons coo and a Chaffinch sings. The sky is mainly cloud and a brisk wind blows. A skein of a dozen Canada Geese fly over. A Goldfinch sings.

Into the car park. A Chiffchaff flies into the bushes. Robins fly off into the trees. The bells of S^t Michael’s church ring the hour. Sloes are ripening, dark purple spheres dotting the spiky green branches of the Blackthorn. Gatekeepers are on mint flowers. The water level in the lake remains low. A few Mallard, Canada Geese and a Grey Heron are on the islands. Some blackberries are ripe, others are just tight little balls of green. A few Tufted Duck are in the bay. The grass in the meadow is now pale tan brown. Mewing Common Buzzards circle over Westfield Wood.

Into the hide. The water seems devoid of any wildfowl. Nine Cormorants, three Little Egrets and a Grey Heron are on an island at the west end. The channel between the scrape and the bank is dry. A barking Carrion Crow breaks the near silence. A couple of Great Crested Grebes and some Greylags appear from the western reed bed. A few Mallard are scattered around the water. A Ring-necked Pheasant moves through the sea of grass and Knapweed on the bank below the hide. Back into the meadow. Just a single Meadow Brown butterfly flits across the dried grasses. Winged seeds are appearing on Field Maples.

In the orchard, a few apples are ripe enough to eat. Black ants scurry across a domed nest in the grass. The sky is now wholly clouded over and it becomes muggy.

Thursday 24^th July – Leominster – Down to the railway bridge. With a blast on the horn, a non-stopping train races through the station heading the south. It is warm in the sun although a slight breeze is welcome. Below the bridge Small White butterflies dance around a Buddleia, a Comma rests on a leaf and nearby Brambles have a lot of ripe blackberries. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen even lower with the shingle bar stretching further out into the flow. Onto Easters Meadow. Speckled Wood butterflies flit across Stinging Nettles. The seemingly unstoppable spread of Himalayan Balsam continues. Another large shingle bar stretches across the river just downstream from the Mosaic Bridge. Pristine Red Admiral butterflies, tatty Small Tortoiseshells and Gatekeepers are visiting a large Buddleia; a Blackcap ticks from inside the bush. There is no wind on this path between Easters Wood and the river and it is very warm. Guelder Rose bushes are already laden with vermilion berries.

The path runs alongside the paddocks. A couple of horses huddle under a large Willow. A pair of Small Whites are mating on the path. Onto Eaton Bridge. A large amount of debris has built up on the upstream side of the bridge. The small herd of British White cattle are out on the Lammas Meadow. Down the old A44 to the bypass. Travellers have now camped on the east side of the bypass. Half a dozen or more dogs are chained up around the encampment, all barking and leaping around furiously as I pass.

Saturday 26^th July – Leominster – Clouds cover the sky. The sky is dark in the the west. Between 150 and 200 Jackdaws fly over in several large flocks. Wood Pigeons call and gulls yelp. A pair of Wood Pigeon clatter loudly in the crown of the London Plane tree. Onto Butts Bridge. A Dipper is on rocks below. Two more are on the gravel by Mosaic Bridge.

Into Easters Wood. Rabbits scuttle off the path into the trees. I pick blackberries alongside the horse paddocks. Back into Easters wood. Most of the rides through the woods are flanked by large banks of Stinging Nettles. A few Great Willowherb and the inevitable Himalayan Balsam grow up through them. There are good number of rabbits throughout the wood. I find just a single bramble patch with a pickable number of blackberries. A large cereal crop at the foot of Eaton Hill has already been harvested.

Across the A49. I check the eastern edge of Easters Meadow but the undergrowth is mainly Stinging Nettles and Blackthorns. Back over the bridge where I can hear the railway announcement which is inevitably this train is currently delayed. As I head up the street I can hear the thrumming of a diesel locomotive which is pulled the (apparently late) Cardiff train into the station.

Home – I cut off some thick Bramble runners that are coming over our wall. The roses are trimmed back. It seems all the vines along this wall have died, which is a great shame. I had noticed some yellow flowers laying across other plants by the pond. I had thought they were Jerusalem (or Turkish) Sage, but when I come to tidy them up , it is clear they are part of a large shrub, a yellow Buddleia, which has collapsed. The number of plants dying this year is worrying. On down the path I discover that the gooseberries I had left to ripen a bit more have been stripped by birds, another great disappointment. At least the courgettes are coming regularly.

Sunday 27^th July – Leominster – On the hillside below a housing estate on what was The Rugg farm. It lays above the River Kenwater. Previously, the Pinsley ran through the foot of the slope but it is now incorporated into the Kenwater. It is cloudy with a hint of rain. The great swathes of Brambles have been well picked, however I still end up with another pound of blackberries. There is a constant chorus of my toe bleeds taffy from numerous Wood Pigeons. Up the hill there is the tap of a woodpecker on the hard timber of an electricity transmission pole. A few Wrens emit short bursts of song. Eventually I have been stung by Stinging Nettles and and prickled by Brambles and enough is enough. I was lucky when I picked one blackberry it had a rather dozy wasp on it.

It is damp as I head off to the market. Rabbits bound off from the old railway track into the undergrowth. There are fewer flowering plants beneath the railway footbridge, just Rosebay Willowherb and Buddleia. Noisy Jackdaws fly over. There is no change to the water level of the River Lugg. Onto Easters Meadow. A Cormorant flies over heading south. A cyclist can be heard singing loudly as he pedals alone the bypass. The patches of Ragwort across the river, here on this side and in Brightwells’ compound are so thick and bright that at a glance they look like fields of oil seed rape. It looks like a good year for Cinnabar moths; many of the Ragwort stems have been stripped of their leaves as fat orange and black striped caterpillars eat their way to the top. Hundreds of tiny micro-moths fly out of the grass as I pass. They are hard to view as when they land again mainly on grasses, they almost always move to the hidden side of the stem. A Raven is being hassled by Jackdaws. The confluence of the rivers Kenwater and Lugg is now hidden by fallen trees. A Dipper emerges from the water and lands on an ever growing gravel bar. Cheaton and Ridgemoor Brooks are both shallow and flowing slowly. The new petrol tanks have now been installed on the service station and the holes filled and concreted over.

Market is the largest this year and busy with a lot of punters. Back round to Paradise Walk. Young Blackbirds panic as I pass.

Tuesday 29^th July – Lydney Harbour – Earlier rain has almost stopped. Lydney has been a port since the 12th century but was at that time much further north not far from the site of S^t Mary’s church. However, a shift in the flow of the River Severn meant the channel to the docks silted. In 1780 a canal was built from the town to the present site of the docks. The canal, opening in 1813, brought goods, coal and iron from the Forest of Dean. The docks were completed in 1821. A tidal basin leads to a lock. In 1893, the Severn and Wye Railway and Canal Company went bankrupt and the site was purchased by the Great Western and Midlands Railway. A railway line came from Lydney Junction to the dock. In 1950 the harbour was transferred to the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive. The last coal shipment was in 1960. Pine End Works was built in 1940 to manufacture aircraft and marine plywood from African logs unloaded at Avonmouth and brought here by barge. The works closed in 1970 and brought to an end the commercial use of the docks. The docks were restored between 2003 and 2005 to create a marina.

The Yacht Club is in the old Shipyard Offices. Over the lock and along to the edge of the docks. The River Severn stretches wide to the far shore as it flows into the great estuary and then the Bristol Channel. An Oystercatcher pipes as it passes. A few juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls drift down with debris. Several dozen Black-headed Gulls, the adults losing their chocolate hoods, float in a loose group. Upstream are the Severn River crossings.

A path runs along the ridge between the canal and the river. A huge rock has been drilled with a couple of holes through which one can see Berkeley Pill and Berkeley Power Station. Yachts and motor cruisers are in the upper basin. The old coal chutes are still discernible. The rain has now stopped and it is getting warm quickly. The place is clearly popular with locals bringing children.

Back towards the town past several large industrial estates. Cookson Terrace built by the Severn and Wye Company in 1858 for staff. No 5 was recorded as the Railway Hotel and in 1931, No 4 was the Docks Post Office.

Past the modern railway station to Lydney Junction Station, now part of the Dean Forest Railway. A siding has several diesel shunters. British Rail Class 03 shunter number 03119 has a “cut down” cab. This modification was necessary for operating under low bridges on the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Line; 09015, previously D4103, is a Class 09 shunter built in 1961; 09006, another Class 9, this one in EWS livery, looking decidedly scruffy, originally worked mainly in Kent; Hunslett No 5622, “Don Corbett”, formerly worked at Uskmouth and Class 09 09106, built in 1961 as Class 08, converted to Class 09 in 1992. By the sidings, on the mainline is the Lydney Junction SW signal box, originally the Heysham Harbour box before being relocated to Lydney Junction in 1995.

Lydney – The name probably comes from “island or river-meadow of the sailor, or of a man named Lida”. It was recorded as Lideneg from 853 and Ledenei from the Domesday Book. On towards the town, crossing the A40. S^t Mary’s church is on the south side of the town. Beside it is the large vicarage of 1841. The church dated from the mid 12^th century to serve the south part of the Forest of Dean. It was altered over subsequent centuries and much restored in the 19^th century. Pevsner’s describes it a “aesthetically dull”. The nave has matching 13^th century arcades of five bays with cylindrical piers with round moulded capitals. There is a large 13^th century tower with a medieval spire which was rebuilt in the late 19^th century after the top of the spire collapsed. The font is 15^th Century. The Arms are of William and Mary, The east window is by G E R Smith represents the Franz Josef Glacier, Waiho, New Zealand. Most of the glass is by Hardman. The ring of ten bells include six from Rudhall and four from Taylor of Loughborough.

Church Road comes to the junction with High Street. On the junction is the Market Cross has seven steps, it is 14^th century, restored 1878 by Rev^d William Haley Bathurst of Lydney Park and 1957 by public subscription. On a corner is the Town Hall built in 1888 on land was donated by Charles Bathurst. Another corner is occupied by a former bank. Along High Street. Buildings here have modern roofs and are rendered making them look later in date, but where the render has come away they clearly have some age. The former 19^th century Baptist church is boarded up. Rain has returned. Althorpe House is variously dated as late 17^th or early 19^th century stands on the junction of Hill Street and Bream Road. Opposite is a large supermarket on the site of the Feathers Hotel and the Manor House. Down Hill Street. A boarded up building looks like a former pub. A very large house, Moorfields, is now a solicitors. Watney Hall, the former Royal Legion hall, served as a hospital during World War I and a centre for Home Defence during World War II. More large houses are from the second half of the 19^th century. The former Police Station, with the public entrance stated above a door, is from the mid 1870s.The fire station and library are modern. Across the tracks of the Dean Forest Railway, the station being a short distance away. A large, somewhat ugly building is an accountants. Behind it is the Primitive Methodist Chapel of 1850. The Cut, a canalised section of a stream called Cannop Brook which flows out of the Forest of Dean passes under the road nearby. The Swan Hotel looks modern but the attached buildings at the rear are 18^th century and the hotel is recorded in 1777.

At the foot of the hill is Newerne Street, the main shopping area, or at least it was. Now it consists of low-end retailers, beauty, charity, former banks and empty premises. A large modern building, a former Co-op, on the site of the smithy, is now an independent pharmacy. A bridge of 1924 crosses The Lyd, apparently the current name for Cannop Brook. A plaque records the visit of the Princes Royal earlier this year following floods of November 2024. Beyond is another large supermarket and, surprisingly, an open bank. The road rises again, but I turn back.