Friday – Hereford – The atmospheric pressure drops and rain returns. The flooding south of Leominster and Dinmore has receded slightly but this may only be temporary.
Out of Merton Meadows and across Edgar Street and into Prior Street. The rain is reduced to fine drizzle. On to a footpath, Moor Walk. This crosses Widemarsh Brook, then the abandoned railway before crossing the brook again. The track is the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford line, just as the loop line branches off westwards, whilst the main line heads south past Barton Station. This is Widemarsh. There are sports pitches either side of the track. A couple of Victorian houses stand next to the Hereford Boxing Academy. Opposite is Widemarsh Common cricket pitch. It was here that St John Kemble was hanged, drawn and quartered at the common on 22nd August 1679. The former pub, The Sportsman, demolished in 2011, is now a car park. Past Holmer war memorial.
The path passes modern buildings and Moor House, formerly Prior House, acquired by the Chave family in the 1880s by William Chave, who ran a chemists shop in Broad Street. The rain has returned. Down past the large steel machinery, structures and stench of a chicken processing plant. Over Widemarsh Brook again. A footbridge crosses a roadway through Bulmers’, now Heineken, site. The path crosses Moorfields Junction, part of the railway loop. It then comes comes to Yazor Brook where Canon Moor Farm stood. The path turns into Plough Lane, lined by industrial units and Herefordshire Council’s offices. A couple of bungalows have an Arts and Crafts look.
Into Whitecross Road opposite Zion Place of 1864. The rain stops and the sun makes an effort to break through the clouds. York Place is a short row of villas dated 1859. Walworth Place is dated 1854. Other, smaller houses are of a similar age and others are late 20th century. Victoria Eye Hospital is now apartments. Opposite is Eignbrook United Reform church, built in 1872, locked tight. Along Friar Street past Lord Scudamore Academy. Into Barton Road by St Nicholas church, also locked up. Across Victoria Street and into St Nicholas Street by the former Friar’s Gate, demolished in 1782.
Down Bridge Street to the Old Bridge. The water level in the River Wye is not particularly high. To the cathedral via Gwynn Street and into the city centre. The rain returns.
Saturday – Home – The second day of meteorologic Spring and it is snowing. It will not lay and soon turns to sleet and rain. The day continues grey and cold. Some plugs of purple sprouting broccoli and Webbs Kinver Globe cabbage are sown.
Sunday – Leominster – The clouds drift away overnight and dawn reveals a heavy frost which is now rapidly melting where the sunlight falls on it. A Great Tit calls in a tree in the street. Jackdaws continue to examine chimneys and Wood Pigeons coo. Puddles outside the White Lion have a thin veneer of ice. Drops of melted frost sparkle on branches. Frozen drops hang like teeth of the footbridge railings.
Mist over the River Lugg is burning off. A Grey Wagtail flies into a low hanging branch, its tail doing what the bird’s name suggests. The water level in the river is much the same as last week. Buds are swelling on the Black Poplars. A Chaffinch and the Grey Wagtail call. Despite the cold, there is a hint of spring in the air.
Back down the ginnel by the White Lion. A Dunnock sings from the top of the Ivy on the wall. A Jackdaw disappears down the pub’s chimney pot. Smoke rises from another. A Robin sings in a Hazel. Into the Millennium Orchard. A Wren darts across from one tree to another. A Blackbird watches from a trackside bush. The snowdrops have finished and a few daffodils have bloomed but many seem to have no buds at all. Leaves bounce as water drops fall off.
Blackbirds, Magpies, Song Thrushes and Chaffinches search the grass. The River Kenwater flows swiftly. The Minster bells ring out. The sky starts to cloud over.
Home – The cloud has thinned and the sun shines again, but it is still cold and very wet. I cut the stems of the Ivy on the back wall that has grown rather voluminous.
Monday – Leominster – A cold morning. The sky has a thin layer of high, grey cloud. Into the Worcester Road. Large articulated lorries are coming and going at the industrial units. A large site is up for sale. The roundabout by the bridge over the railway had a bright and cheerful display of daffodils.
Into the Enterprise Park. Construction work continues at the water treatment plant. Elder leaves are opening along with tiny heads of elderflowers. Carrion Crows bark on the other side of the hedge around the large filtration tanks. Cherry Laurel has numerous flower spikes. A small flock of twittering and buzzing Goldfinches are at the top of trees. The drainage ditch from the industrial estate is still full of water. Blackthorn is coming into blossom. Dunnocks search the mosses on the track leading into the old settling tanks. Goldfinches and Greenfinches call from above in the trees. There is the usual fascinating collection of equipment in the concrete distribution company’s yard. Opposite a mobile crane and side lifters are moving through the steel yard. Learner drivers creep along the service road.
A Skylark is singing above the fields south of the industrial estate. Along the Hereford Road. The Great Spotted Woodpecker chips in the trees. Large pools of water in the fields between Broadward Hall Farm and the River Arrow have patches of ice on them. The river is still running high, probably about a foot beneath the top of the main arch of Broadward Bridge. A Mallard takes off and flies upstream. A flock of Rooks passes over. There is still plenty of water on the fields to the east of the Hereford Road. Two Shelduck, over thirty Lesser Black-back Gulls, eight young Mute Swans and several Canada Geese are on the water.
Back along the Hereford Road. More Skylarks are singing above the fields. A Great Tit repeats its two tone song from the hedgerow. More Great Tits and Greenfinches are in song all along the road.
Friday – Churchstoke or Church Stoke : Yr Ystog – A village located in the southeast of the Vale of Montgomery, it is overlooked by Todleth Hill, Roundton Hill and Corndon Hill. It sits in a rather odd tongue of Wales stretching into England, a spur of dry land projecting towards the confluence of two watercourses, the Caebitra and the Camlad. Churchstoke is recorded in the Domesday as Cirestoc, the Old English stoc here meaning “place” or possibly “settlement”. The Welsh name, recorded at some point between 1447 and 1489 was yr Ystog and looks to be a derivation of stoc. It has a shopping centre serving the local district. A cold wind blows and the sky is overcast.
Opposite the shopping centre is a modern housing estate. A Red Kite quarters the area before moving off to search nearby fields. A farm and fields separate the centre from the rest of the village. A Dunnock sings from a hedgerow and Jackdaws chatter nearby. Into the village past late 20th and 21st century housing estates with the occasional older property. Church Stoke Hall large L-shaped hall constructed in three phases. The northern part is the earliest and is said to date to 1591. The south section dates to around 1640, while the south wing was built in 1948. The hall formerly belonged to the Earls of Powis and shown on a survey map of 1785, where the 1591 section is shown as being narrower than the 1640 part. Beside it is a large converted barn. A short distance along the main road is the former school house. To the west was the original school and was built around 1790, known as the Downes School in recognition of its benefactor William Downes. Plans for alterations and additions were drawn up by Robert M. White in 1867. Subsequently it became a National School.
Past a modern house with a wooden carved buffalo outside. Rooks caw loudly in the trees. A local tells me there used to be a much larger rookery but tree pruning means many nests have gone. She also tells me that large flocks fly around in the evenings. The road bends and crosses a bridge over the River Camlad. On the far side of the bridge is a junction, one way to Newtown, the other to Welshpool. On the junction is a stone town house and another house which one was a shop, of 1778. Beside the bridge is a path leading to the church. At the top of the path is a 19th century former shop, once known as The Top Shop. Opposite is The Court House Hotel, a late 18th or early 19th century remodelling, around a sub-medieval core. It was noted as a Public House on the Tithe Map of 1840.
The church of St Nicholas, previously St Mary’s until 1881, is locked. The site was pre-Conquest. It became a dependency of nearby Chirbury Priory (in Shropshire) and in earlier centuries lay in the parish of Chirbury. The church has a 13th century square tower at the western end, reduced in height in 1812 with a typical Montgomeryshire style timber-framed belfry and a pyramidal roof which was re-tiled with oak roof shingles in 2005. The tower was used as a place of refuge during 14th century feuds and later in English Civil War battles. It has a ring of five bells by Adam Rudhall. The church clock was installed in 1887 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Part of the churchyard drops steeply down a hill towards the confluence of the Rivers Caebitra and Camlad. It seems unstable with gravestones tipped over. A large, somewhat collapsed vault of paving stones is the resting place of Victorian members of the Griffithes family. A number of chest tombs are around the churchyard. A tomb whose inscription has eroded is still in a complete cast iron enclosure. Beside the lychgate entrance is a row of cottages, formally The Raven Inn. To the south of the church is a vast, stone-built former vicarage.
Back to the main road. A bungalow stands on the old bowling green. On the junction is a cottage whose windows are 19th century but the actual building seems older. A lot of lorries pass along the road, including trailers of logs heading south and empty carriers returning north. A Common Buzzard flies over, seemingly pursued by Red Kite.
Sunday – Leominster – Rain fell overnight and everything is wet. It seems milder this morning and the sun makes the thin cloud glow. A Wood Pigeon coos, a gull yelps in the distance, Jackdaws chack and a pair of Canada Geese fly over. Onto the railway bridge. A Song Thrush’s fluting repetitions ring out from the woods. Onto
Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has risen slightly and the water has turned an opaque pinkish brown. A Blackbird sings. A Carrion Crow sits high in a Black Poplar surveying the land beneath it.
That’s the wise Thrush;
He sings each song twice over
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine ceaseless rapture.
Browning
Back to the railway bridge. Suddenly the call of a Chiffchaff is heard, an early arrival from Africa or the Mediterranean although it is possible with climate change that this bird did not actually go as far south as that. Back past the White Lion and into Pinsley Mill. A Robin sings from the top of a tall Silver Birch whilst a Blue Tit searches another nearby. Jackdaws fly about, seemingly indecisive as to which direction to go. A Dunnock sings from the top of an evergreen behind Pinsley Road. More Robins sing to establish their territories.
Into the Millennium Orchard where buds are swelling on the apple trees. Through the park to the songs of Robins, Song Thrushes and Dunnocks and the coarser cries are Carrion Crows and Magpies. The River Kenwater seems unchanged over recent weeks, flowing steadily and a grey-green colour.
Daffodils in the churchyard are very sparse this year. New nest boxes have appeared on the churchyard trees. A Greenfinch calls nasally. The Minster bells toll the hour then ring out to call parishioners.
Home – The tomatoes in the bathroom are pricked out into pots. The cabbage and purple sprouting seedlings are getting leggy, so they are moved to the greenhouse. Unless there is a really cold spell they should be fine.
Monday – Leominster – Another damp morning under a pewter sky. Up Ryelands Road. House Sparrows and Jackdaws chatter, Wood Pigeons coo. Nine Redpoll are in trees near the site of the old orchard. Magpies fly over. Onto the path that is Cockcroft Lane. Bright green leaflets have appeared on Hazel saplings. A Greenfinch calls from high in the Beech and Oak trees. A Robin sings from a low branch. Hills to the west are lost in the mist.
Out onto open fields. Skylarks sing. Traps for monitoring small mammals are in the hedgerow. Down the hill to the Hereford Road. The bank at the foot of the fields has a fine display of daffodils. Skylarks, Great and Blue Tits call but they are only briefly heard in the short breaks between the noise of the traffic.
Onto Broadward Bridge. The River Arrow has dropped several feet and the flooding in the fields has receded. Just four Canada Geese, several Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Herring Gull are on the big field to the south of the river. Wood Pigeons and Mallard are in the smaller field to the north.
Back along the Hereford Road. A small flock of noisy Jackdaws passes and a barking Raven flies higher in the sky. Past the cemetery and into Southern Avenue. A cold wind strengthens. A public footpath runs between the industrial estate and St Botolphs Green. It turns through the industrial estate and then past one of the drainage ditches and onto the Castlefields estate. Houses nearest the ditch have sandbags by their front doors. Through the estate, past the leisure centre and back to the town centre.
Home – A rather clever Grey Squirrel has been taking chunks out of the baffle under the peanut feeder that prevents it getting access to the nuts. It has finally stripped a piece right out to the top and the baffle falls off and the squirrel is happily feasting. Its victory is short lived as I remove the feeder and order a metal replacement baffle.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – Through Bodenham village where newborn lambs stand on unsteady legs in a paddock. The sky is as usual grey and there is rain in the air. Blackbirds, Robins and Dunnocks sing. A pair of Jays fly across the track. Blue Tits flit from tree to tree. The water level in lake is still very high and little of the islands remain above water. A pair of Oystercatchers are on one island. Canada Geese, Mallard, Tufted Duck and a Goosander are on the water. The track between the boat compound and the meadow is a sea of mud. The meadow itself is still water logged in parts, other parts are dryer as evidenced by fresh molehills.
Eight Little Egrets are in the trees on the eastern island. A Chiffchaff is in the large Goat Willow at the end of the meadow. It darts rapidly from branch to branch. A large bumblebee is visiting the yellow flowers. Several Redwings are at the top of trees in the plantation. Canada Geese are noisy as ever. A Teal is near the island. A pair of Wigeon are towards the eastern side of the main bay. Greylags are scattered around in pairs. At least one Mandarin Duck is on the island. Moorhens swim through the exposed tops of the reeds. A Great Crested Grebe dives into view, as does a single Cormorant. A Kingfisher alights briefly on the willow in the water.
Back out into plantation. A Rabbit scurries across the Wildlife Refuge. A Great Tit sings its two-note song. The Chiffchaff in the willow starts to call but it seems out of practice and is not the clear call that gives it its name. Several Wrens sing around the meadow. The gaudy pink and grey of a Bullfinch shines in the hedges. It is with a much duller female. A pair of Common Buzzards sail overhead. South facing willows and Blackthorn are in blossom, west facing ones are barely in bud. Two Red Kites are over Westfield Wood. Two Peregrine Falcons are over the wood, drifting eastwards. A Fieldfare is in the dessert apple orchard.
Friday – Rubery – A grey morning with intermittent drizzle. Across the A38 by footbridge and into Rubery, which was first recorded in the 17th century as Robery, from the nearby “rough hill(s)”, the name derives from the Old English ruh beorg or Middle English row berwe. Until the 18th century this was considered part of Kings Norton waste. There was no settlement as such, just a scattering of farms. Into New Road, which is an older road, the dual carriageway racing alongside it. Eggerton Villas is a row of early 20th century houses, facing the A38. On past the Royal Legion club. Sebastopol Cottage, now the local surgery, is dated 1886. The houses are a mixture of early 20th century and modern. Into the shopping area. The shops are mainly beauty, charity, services and fast food. There are two butchers and two supermarkets, the only sources of fresh food. The parish church of St Chad is modern. The church was established in 1895 as a mission church from Holy Trinity Church, Lickey. The first building was a small wooden church. A new building was started in 1957 to designs by the architect Richard Twentyman and completed in 1959. The tower looks rather like a practice tower at a fire station. Nearby is the police station. The New Rose and Crown is closed and decaying fast. It had a stained glass light over the entrance, broken.
Under a flyover and along Cock Hill Lane a short distance before entering Birmingham Great Park. This was the site of Rubery Hill Lunatic Asylum, founded in 1876, although the hospital buildings are now completely replaced by a housing development. It was built because Birmingham’s Borough Asylum (now All Saints Hospital) at Winson Green was unable cope with an increasing number of patients. A gravel path proceeds through trees where a Great Tit calls. A large modern estate of offices blocks the way and the path returns to the main road where the entrance lodge of the hospital stands. It was built in 1882 by Martin and Chamberlain for the Borough of Birmingham Lunatic Asylum Committee of Visitors. The path starts again. It passes through relatively young trees although much older ones lay fallen and rotting. A small stream, Callow Brook, flows below the path in a deep gully. The path comes out onto Park Way with a large supermarket opposite. An ornate bridge carries the road over the brook. It has short towers at one end with another on the traffic island with a tall metal extension, none of which seems to have any reason.
On up the road to a large cinema complex and more little towers. There is then a hotel, restaurants, a bowling alley, bingo centre and slightly oddly, a day nursery and a private hospital company’s “Fitness and Wellbeing” Centre. A path runs alongside a fence beyond which is a reservoir. Mallard, Coot and Black-headed Gulls are on the water. A bridge crosses a former railway, the Midland and Great Western Joint, Halesowen Branch, which had a relatively short passenger railway life, the stations on the line were closed in 1919. There were freight trains and workers’ special services to the Austin Rover Works up to 1960. It is now a recreational path. A large swathe of Ransoms grows beside the track. Across Hollymoor Way. To the south is Longbridge, famously site of a huge Rover car plant.
The track enters a modern housing estate on the grounds of Hollymoor site of the asylum. The path reaches the asylum buildings. One of the roads into the housing estate is called Bedlam Wood Road. The asylum was built in 1905 by Martin and Martin of Birmingham. A copper domed water tower dominates the site. Part of it is occupied by a nursery. Other parts are still in use for medical facilities. The chapel built in 1882 by Martin and Chamberlain in red brick with terracotta dressings, coped gables and moulded kneelers and is also still in use. I speak to one of those involved who tells me the church closed, was then used as a community theatre, then that closed and is now a church again. The entrance to the nursery is an ornate red brick edifice. Opposite the asylum is an Arts and Crafts house surrounded by dull modern houses. Another Arts and Crafts house of the same design is beyond the church. These will have been for senior medical staff.
Along Tessall Lane. It is lined by 20th century housing. Across a roundabout, some of which are showing poor materials selection. A white cat sits in a large area of scrub. Opposite is the beginning of the New Frankley area. At the end of the scrub is the River Rea, which flows to join the River Tame at Spaghetti Junction. There was once a mill every mile along the River Rea. It flows under the road and part Balaam’s Wood, an ancient woodland coppiced for centuries and is still worked today. The first blue Germander Speedwell flowers of the year peep out of the grass.
On along Rubery Lane past late 20th and 21st century housing. The road rises. To the north is Frankley, then open fields. Several large modern blocks of flats are on the hilltop. Rubery Lane South runs between modern houses and older former council housing to join Callowbrook Lane. Bright yellow Lesser Celandines shine out from under a Holly hedge. A verge has a few Daisies. On the junction is a fair sized cottage, probably Victorian. Through a mid 20th century housing estate. Hardly any houses have a front garden, they have all been concreted over for parking. On the western edge of the estate is a primary school. Life sized models of small children stand on the verge, reminding drivers to take care. Around the corner is the High School. A magnolia tree is about to flower. Route
Sunday – Leominster – Rain has fallen again overnight and everywhere is soaked. Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws are calling in the street. There is the distant song of a Blackbird. Over the railway to the songs of Robins. A Carrion caws the woods. Blue and Long-tailed Tits search the trees for insects. A Great Tit calls his two-tone song. Numerous red and cream catkins of Black Poplar lay on the path. The level of the River Lugg has risen again and the water is brightly coloured orange-red with the tons of soil suspended in it. A Grey Wagtail bobs on a branch dangling a few inches above the water.
Back towards the White Lion where Jackdaws are disappearing down the chimney pots. There is a brief burst from a Chiffchaff then silence. Into the Millennium Park where a Chiffchaff is far more persistent in its song. A Song Thrush sings from across the railway. Another Chiffchaff has a strange call, closer to Great Tit. One patch of wild garlic is large enough to take a few leaves from for the chickens. The leaves on a second patch further along the base of the churchyard are still too small. However they have attracted a number of black House-flies.
The River Kenwater is also coloured and flowing swiftly. Into the churchyard. Ground ivy is coming into flower this patch have pale pink flowers rather than the richer purple ones normally seen. The number of Wild Arums everywhere is extraordinary, I do not recall so many in the past. Into Church Street. A Greenfinch calls from the tall trees outside the Forbury nursing home. The Minster bells start tolling.
Home – I start weeding a vegetable patch. The clay soil is saturated and sticks in large clumps to the roots of weeds and grasses. Normally they would go to the green bin at the recycling centre but there is simply too much of our soil to waste. A deep trench is dug in what will be the potato patch, the weeds thrown into the bottom and a layer of diggings from the chicken run and soil placed on top. The potatoes that are chitting in the summerhouse can now be laid on top of this. The new steel baffle on the pole of the peanut feeder has defeated the Grey Squirrels. In the greenhouse, peas have sprouted in the gutter of compost. Lettuces are growing slowly. The pots of broad beans have accelerated away and will need planting out next week. The pak choi is bolting and needs eating quickly. The re-sprouting chard in the vegetable bed will also need removing soon. The stems of hazel and willow I cut several weeks ago are cut up further, the thick stems can go for green recycling, the thin tops will do as pea sticks.
Wednesday – Home – The vernal equinox, from today there will be more daylight than night time. Bird song rings around the garden led by a Great Tit high in the ash tree. Robins and a Greenfinch join him. A Chiffchaff has been calling over recent days. Jackdaws are still busy carrying sticks to chimney pots. Blossom has appeared on the pear trees.
Carmarthenshire – West to Carmarthenshire. A first call is at the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. We last visited in October 2013. Much of the gardens are, of course, still dormant but there are some fine displays of daffodils at magnolias are coming into flower. The numerous tropical plants in the hot house are, as usual, magnificent. The great dome glasshouse is also fascinating.
Pembrokeshire – We travel on into Pembrokeshire. A brief stop in the village of Llanddowror. Large tractors roar up and down the lane through the village. The church of St Teilo is locked and obtaining a key seems tricky. The tower dates from around 1500 but the rest of the church was completely rebuilt in 1865. The dedication is given as St Cringat in 1833. Griffith Jones (1648-1761) was rector here and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. In 1731, he started schools throughout Wales to teach people to read. These circulating schools were held in one location for about three months, before being moved to another place. Jones ad his wife are buried in the church. In the churchyard is the grave Brigadier-General George W F St John and Gladys Gregg St John. He was an officer in the artillery, who had served on the frontier of India, in China at the Relief of Tientsin and Pekin, and in South Africa. Gladys was the daughter of Sir Charles and Lady Philipps of Picton Castle.
On to Saundersfoot where we are staying. First stop is the church of St Issell. It sits on the side of a valley. Below is the old graveyard through which a steam flows. It passes under a stone entrance to a culvert which takes it under the road and then on down the valley past the modern graveyard. Issell is said to have been the father of St Teilo and one of the seven principal clerics of Wales. Most of the church dates from a major rebuilding in 1862/64 by J R Kempson of Hereford. However, the chancel arch is 13th century and the tower 14th century. The font is late Norman, a square bowl of oolitic limestone with a similar but slightly varied design incised on all faces, with raised scroll features. The pulpit, by Caröe, was constructed after WWI as a memorial, incorporating the roll of honour. It is carved in Perpendicular style, with St George and the dragon. Behind the church is a very worn mediaeval preaching cross.
A road passes the entrance to Hean Castle, the building hidden in woodland. The original name of the site was hengastell, which may refer to an Iron Age hill-fort. The oldest part of the present house is the north-east wing, of about 1840. It was acquired in 1863 by the industrialist C R Vickerman. He employed the Manchester architects Pennington and Bridgen to rebuild the house in 1875-6. The house was enlarged in 1926 by the addition of a north-west wing in similar style.
Into Saundersfoot which is also in a valley. A large sandy beach lies to the east with a small harbour to the west. There are no boats in the harbour although there are large number up on the road around it. The town was known in mediaeval Wales as Llanussyllt. Permission was granted by Parliament in 1829 to build a harbour for the Saundersfoot Railway and Harbour Company for the export of anthracite coal from the many mines in the area, although coal was exported from the beach for centuries before this. The village grew up to serve the port which by 1837 had five jetties handling coal and iron ore and subsequently pig iron and firebricks from local sources. The course of the tramway from Bonville’s Court mine bisects the village and ends at the jetty. The tramway from Stepaside (which allegedly got its name when Oliver Cromwell and his army passed through on their way to Pembroke. Cromwell is reported to have asked people in his way to step aside) forms the sea front. The industry ended in the early years of the 20th century. It is now mainly a tourist centre.
We are staying up Brides Hill, which rises steeply to the west above the harbour. Down into the town. The Hean Hotel overlooks the town centre. It was built around 1840 and originally known as the Picton Castle Inn. It was held by the Saundersfoot Railway and Harbour Company as lessees under the Picton Castle estate; but by 1887 had been renamed the Hean Castle Hotel. Around 1960, when the Hean was owned by Wyndham Thomas, a flat roof was added above the crenellations, creating space for a windowless storage storey at the top of the building.
Thursday – Pembrokeshire – We travel down into the Gower. We visit the Gŵyr Gin Company for a tasting session, although as I am driving I do not partake. Afterwards we travel the short distance into the small village of Port Einon. Around the west of the bay is the Salt House which we look at it from a distance. The ruins are of salt-collecting reservoirs and a boiling house which appear to have been demolished and the chambers filled in around 1650. A fanciful tales claims the building was erected in the mid 16th century, and fortified by John Lucas who, aided by a group of lawless men, engaged piracy, resisting all attempts by the authorities to dislodge him. The tale also claims that seven generations later another John Lucas found a rich vein of paint mineral and exported it from his base at the Salt House but shortly after his death the building was ruined in a storm. The name of the building was said to come from the fact that the sea washed against the battlements. Although interesting, this history was later shown to be a fabricated family history written by the Rev Dr J H Spry during the 1830s. Port Einon has been a popular fishing location for hundreds of years renowned for its catches of bass, mackerel and oysters in particular. It is recorded that Sir Edward Mansel built a port in the medieval period, although it is more likely that he improved already existing facilities.
In the village is the church of St Cadoc. It is recorded a church was established here by St Cennydd in the 6th century and dedicated to St Cattwg. The present building probably dates from the 12th century and was given to the Knights of St John by Robert de la Mare around 1165. It was extensively restored in 1861. The church is locked. In front of the church is a marble memorial to three lifeboatmen drowned an unnecessary call out on the 1st January 1916 was made by monumental masons William Brown to designs by the artist Charles Edward Schenk. A figure is said to be a portrait of the coxwain, Billy Gibbs. The other lifeboatmen were William Eynon, second coxwain, and George Harry. Ten other lifeboatmen survived. There was a westerly gale when the steamer Dunvegan lost power near Oxwich Bay. When the lifeboat arrived, nobody on the ship acknowledged its presence. The ship’s captain said later that he had been calling for a tug not a lifeboat.
Loughor – This town lays by a bridge and historically a strategically important ford over the River Loughor. A Roman fort stood here, Leucarum which took its name from the Celtic name for the River Loughor. It was built around 75CE and was used until the middle of the 2nd century. It was then reoccupied by the Romans during the late 3rd and early 4th century, before being abandoned. The castle was built shortly after 1106, when Henry de Beaumont, the Earl of Warwick, was given the Gower Peninsula by Henry I. It controlled the main road running through Gŵyr from Beaumont’s main base at Swansea Castle. It was designed as an oval ringwork and was involved in many conflicts. It was attacked and burnt, probably in the Welsh uprising of 1151. The castle was given by King John to his ally the powerful Marcher Lord William de Braose in 1203 who was related to Rhys ap Gruffudd and his extended family. In 1208, however, John and William argued and the king attempted to confiscate William’s lands. William allied himself with the Welsh Prince Llywelyn the Great and war broke out. William died in 1211, but his son, Reginald, continued fighting and married Gwladus, Llywelyn’s daughter. In 1215, the castle was captured by Llywelyn’s forces and control of Gower was granted to Reginald. Two years later, however, Reginald made peace with the English Crown and Llywelyn removed him from power, replacing him with the Welsh prince Rhys Gryg. Llyweyln married another of his daughters, Margaret, to Reginald’s nephew, John de Braose who acquired the castle in 1220 and repaired it, constructing a stone curtain wall to replace the older defences. Attacked again in 1251, the castle was reinforced with a stone tower in the second half of the 13th century. In 1302, William de Braose, son of John, granted the Loughor estate to his seneschal, John Yweyn, for life, in exchange for an annual fee of a greyhound collar. On John Yweyn’s death in 1322 the lands were seized by John de Mowbray, William’s son-in-law. He was involved in the rebellion against Edward II and was executed later in 1322; John Yweyn’s next of kin, Alice Roculf, successfully appealed to the king and was granted the lands instead. Edward fell from power in 1327, and the Loughor lands were granted to John de Mowbray’s son, John. Its importance declined and was a ruin by the 19th century. The remains are small but it is easy to see its strategic importance.
Kidwelly – Across the Loughor Bridge and through Llanelli to Kidwelly. The castle stands above the River Gwendraeth. Roger, bishop of Salisbury, built in the early 12th century a Norman ringwork castle made of wood and protected only by an earthen bank and ditch. It was under constant attack by Welsh princes. In 1136 Gruffudd ap Rhys, Prince of Deheubarth, rode north to plead for aid from the princes of Gwynedd, while his wife, Gwenllian, led a Welsh army against Kidwelly. Gwenllian was defeated and killed at Maes Gwenllian, just north of the castle, by English troops under Maurice de Londres. The Lord Rhys captured it in 1159. He is later credited with rebuilding the castle in 1190. By 1201, however, it was back in Norman hands and remained English from then on. In the mid 13th century the de Chaworth family gained possession, and rebuilt the stone castle. The earliest parts consist of the square inner ward with the four large round corner towers and simple portcullis gates to the north and south. By building this inner ward, set as it is within the outer ward, Pain de Chaworth converted Kidwelly into a strong concentric castle, with an inner and outer ring of defences. Kidwelly passed by marriage in 1298 to Henry, earl of Lancaster, who quickly set about upgrading the accommodation to suit his status. A large first-floor hall reached by a semicircular external stair was built on the east; this has largely fallen, though the wall footings and a fireplace can still be seen. The chapel, housed in a projecting tower overlooking the river, was also built at this time, with massive spur buttresses of the tower. The chapel has white Sutton-stone mouldings around the doors and windows, piscina and sedile. A small building on the south of the chapel house housed the sacristy above the priest’s bedchamber. Its fine cruciform roof can be seen from the wall-walk leading from the Great Gatehouse. The Great Gatehouse took at least a century to complete. It was evidently unfinished at the time of the Welsh siege in 1403 during the Glyndŵr uprising. Despite the fall of the town to the Welsh, the castle resisted the siege for three weeks until an English army arrived to give assistance. The last significant addition to the castle was at the end of the 15th century when a large hall was built on the west of the outer ward with a connecting kitchen within the inner ward. Another building and bakehouse were added, probably the work of Rhys ap Thomas who was granted the castle by Henry VII. In the early 17th century the judicial court was held in the castle, perhaps in the new hall, but by that time the castle’s life as a fortification was well-nigh over and it played only a minor part in the Civil War.
Sunday – Home – Heavy grey clouds drift eastwards leaving patches of blue sky. The temperature has dropped. Blackbirds sing, Jackdaws chack and House Sparrows chatter. Onto the railway bridge. A Chiffchaff is in full flow, a Carrion Crow barks and a Wren sings its little heart out. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen slightly but the river still flows swiftly. The water carries far less sediment than last week.
Into the Millennium Orchard. Buds on the dessert apple trees are beginning to burst into leaf. Stinging Nettles are growing rapidly. Chiffchaffs are calling loudly. Blue Tits churr. The Wild Garlic garlic patch by the fallen trees is spreading, which is good news for the chickens. The greengage tree and the new plum on Pinsley Mead are in blossom. The water level in the River Kenwater has also fallen slightly.
Into the churchyard. Several Robins, a Song Thrush and a Great Tit area in good voice. New shoots are rising from the dried out and dead looking stumps of an Elder. A Nuthatch calls. Thicker grey clouds are slowly moving in from the north.
Home – Another two potato trenches are dug. The grass is mown. The moss has spread even further on the lawns, but with the current level of rainfall, it is hardly surprising. Dead grass is cleared from the cold frame and three pots of broad bean seedlings go in to harden off. Tomatoes and chillies are progressing well in the greenhouse. The gutter of peas can go out into the bed this week. A few radishes have sprouted. The purple sprouting broccoli is pricked out into deeper trays.
Monday – Leominster – A grey morning with drizzle. Through the town and into Rainbow Street. One side is dominated by the former agricultural store owned by Hintons, still a supplier of feeds and other outdoor materials but now in Worcester Road. Nearby is the former Greyhound Hotel. Opposite is West Place, painted on the stone frieze on the building. There is something written beneath it. One word seems to be “Baker”. Research in Kelly’s 1905 listing shows it was also Hintons, this being “The Model Steam Bakery”, which can now be vaguely discerned. The business had passed to Charles Edward Owen by 1913.
Into Green Lane. Townsend Court are four cottages dating to the 17th and 18th century. It is said they were once a stable complex for Townsend House. This 17th and 18th century house is nearby and for sale. Into Ginhall Lane. Chiffchaffs call from the trees lining the road. Robins are also in good voice. Through Buckfield estate onto the Barons Cross Road and back into town.
Tuesday – Home – A grey morning but it is dry. Another two potato trenches are dug. The pea sprouts in the gutter in the greenhouse are slid, with some difficulty, into a shallow trench in this year’s legume bed. Sticks are inserted beside the trench so the peas can climb. Nearby in the same bed, broad beans that have hardened in the cold frame are planted out and sticks inserted beside each plant. The dead stems of last year’s Stinging Nettles were left over winter as some insects use them for hibernation. They are now removed and some brambles pulled out at the same time. Fresh Stinging Nettles are growing rapidly. They are there for several species of butterfly whose caterpillars feed on nettles, not that I have ever seen any in our patch.
Our little meadow area has a decent number of primroses and Snake’s Head Fritillaries. The daffodils are slowly going over now but bluebells are about to flower. There is blossom on the Conference pear, Cambridge Gage and Marjorie’s Seedling Plum, although it is a bit sparse on the latter two. Flowers are also appearing on some strawberries and buds on the summer-fruiting raspberries.
A Wood Pigeon is on one of the Elders eating the fresh leaf buds. Blue Tits have discovered the window mounted feeder. One stands on the perch and eats each seed, another dashes in, grabs a seed and is then off. House Sparrows come down to the decking and search underneath the feeder but, for some reason, do not visit it. They retreat to the quince which is adorned with glorious cerise blossom.
Wednesday – Leominster – A depression lays across the country, the pressure has dropped to 962 mB. Grey clouds drift northwards; the wind gusts; rain is expected. Past the White Lion where a Dunnock stands on the public footpath sign. Onto the railway bridge. Carrion Crows caw from trackside trees. A Chiffchaff calls in the woodland. Overnight rain had left everywhere muddy and the water in the River Lugg coloured red-brown. The water level looks little changed from the weekend.
Back over there railway and round to Pinsley Mill. A Wren and Blackbird sing. Here comes the rain. Into the Millennium Orchard the two Tom Putt and two Genet Moyle cider apple trees have burst into leaf. The rain does not deter the Chiffchaff which continues to call. One of the new Class 197 trains heads north.
Into the churchyard. The excellent book, “The Medieval Stained Glass of Herefordshire and Shropshire” by Robert Walker has piqued my interest in church windows. I pop into the Minster but all the glass here is late 19th and early 20th century. Artists involved were Lawrence Lee and John Hayward, Geoffrey Webb, Martin Travers and Charles Eamer Kempe. Into the Grange. A Magnolia tree outside Grange Court is in full display of glorious pink flowers. A mass of yellow daffodils is in the far corner.
Thursday – Home – Heavy rain fell and the wind buffeted the trees overnight as Storm Nelson, named by Spanish meteorological agency Aemet, blew through. The morning is quieter with a clear blue sky and bright sunshine. After an hour or so, clouds have moved in. The pressure has dropped even further to 958mB.
Coming back from a quick trip to Hereford, a Red Kite circles over Marlbrook. Into the afternoon, the weather deteriorates. A small bee, probably a Common Carder, has got caught in a spider’s web at the foot of the window. A small spider, possibly a Lace-weaver, is circling the bee. I should leave nature to itself, but given the paucity of bees these days, I removed the bee. However, it does not look too good and I should have left things alone. Shortly after, the sky darkens and rain falls steadily.
Good Friday – Home – The weather remains stormy. Nine rows of potatoes are planted: Red Duke of York and Home Guard. Both are First Earlies. Seeds are sown: Romaine lettuce, Tumbling Tom tomatoes and mixed Chinese leaves.
Saturday – Home – A bright day with little wind and no rain – so far. A pair of Blue Tits continue to visit the window mounted feeder but the House Sparrows still seem to look but not approach. They search for crumbs underneath. To assist I put out a few bread crumbs but they seem to ignore this too. However, it does attract a Blackbird. In the afternoon a really quite vicious fight breaks out between two female House Sparrows. The Blue Tits also come outside the back door to pull threads off the matting in a hanging basket.
The greenhouse is tidied up. As I pick up a stoneware pot of broken shards a large Giant House Spider emerges, which as an arachnophobe does me no good at all! Another bed is weeded and some lettuces are planted out under a cloche.
Sunday – Home – The clocks go forward, an increasingly meaningless event these days. It is a fine morning but I am having a serious problem walking, probably because of my hip. The broad beans planted out recently are looking really good. Kay had dug out a large amount of compost from one of the wooden bins and put five wheelbarrow loads on one of the beds.
In the afternoon, a Sparrowhawk glides over the town centre. It puts up a large number of feral pigeons and suddenly the hawk dives after one. They disappear below the roof tops. The hawk reappears towards the Grange so it must have failed in its attack.
abandoned railway before crossing the brook again. The track is the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford line, just as the loop line branches off westwards, whilst the main line heads south past Barton Station. This is Widemarsh. There are sports pitches either side of the track. A couple of Victorian houses stand next to the Hereford Boxing Academy. Opposite is Widemarsh Common cricket pitch. It was here that St John Kemble was hanged, drawn and quartered at the common on 22nd August 1679. The former pub, The Sportsman, demolished in 2011, is now a car park. Past Holmer war memorial.
mobile crane and side lifters are moving through the steel yard. Learner drivers creep along the service road.
projecting towards the confluence of two watercourses, the Caebitra and the Camlad. Churchstoke is recorded in the Domesday as Cirestoc, the Old English stoc here meaning “place” or possibly “settlement”. The Welsh name, recorded at some point between 1447 and 1489 was yr Ystog and looks to be a derivation of stoc. It has a shopping centre serving the local district. A cold wind blows and the sky is overcast.
where the 1591 section is shown as being narrower than the 1640 part. Beside it is a large converted barn. A short distance along the main road is the former school house. To the west was the original school and was built around 1790, known as the Downes School in recognition of its benefactor William Downes. Plans for alterations and additions were drawn up by Robert M. White in 1867. Subsequently it became a National School.
leading to the church. At the top of the path is a 19th century former shop, once known as The Top Shop. Opposite is The Court House Hotel, a late 18th or early 19th century remodelling, around a sub-medieval core. It was noted as a Public House on the Tithe Map of 1840.
end, reduced in height in 1812 with a typical Montgomeryshire style timber-framed belfry and a pyramidal roof which was re-tiled with oak roof shingles in 2005. The tower was used as a place of refuge during 14th century feuds and later in English Civil War battles. It has a ring of five bells by Adam Rudhall. The church clock was installed in 1887 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Part of the churchyard drops steeply down a hill towards the confluence of the Rivers Caebitra and Camlad. It seems unstable with gravestones tipped over. A large, somewhat collapsed vault of paving stones is the resting place of Victorian members of the Griffithes family. A number of chest tombs are around the churchyard. A tomb whose inscription has eroded is still in a complete cast iron enclosure. Beside the lychgate entrance is a row of cottages, formally The Raven Inn. To the south of the church is a vast, stone-built former vicarage.
bridge. A Song Thrush’s fluting repetitions ring out from the woods. Onto
Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has risen slightly and the water has turned an opaque pinkish brown. A Blackbird sings. A Carrion Crow sits high in a Black Poplar surveying the land beneath it.
the only sources of fresh food. The parish church of St Chad is modern. The church was established in 1895 as a mission church from Holy Trinity Church, Lickey. The first building was a small wooden church. A new building was started in 1957 to designs by the architect Richard Twentyman and completed in 1959. The tower looks rather like a practice tower at a fire station. Nearby is the police station. The New Rose and Crown is closed and decaying fast. It had a stained glass light over the entrance, broken.
the path in a deep gully. The path comes out onto Park Way with a large supermarket opposite. An ornate bridge carries the road over the brook. It has short towers at one end with another on the traffic island with a tall metal extension, none of which seems to have any reason.
called Bedlam Wood Road. The asylum was built in 1905 by Martin and Martin of Birmingham. A copper domed water tower dominates the site. Part of it is occupied by a nursery. Other parts are still in use for medical facilities. The chapel built 
in 1882 by Martin and Chamberlain in red brick with terracotta dressings, coped gables and moulded kneelers and is also still in use. I speak to one of those involved who tells me the church closed, was then used as a community theatre, then that closed and is now a church again. The entrance to the nursery is an ornate red brick edifice. Opposite the asylum is an Arts and Crafts house surrounded by dull modern houses. Another Arts and Crafts house of the same design is beyond the church. These will have been for senior medical staff.
River Lugg has risen again and the water is brightly coloured orange-red with the tons of soil suspended in it. A Grey Wagtail bobs on a branch dangling a few inches above the water.
bay is the Salt House which we look at it from a distance. The ruins are of salt-collecting reservoirs and a boiling house which appear to have been demolished and the chambers filled in around 1650. A fanciful tales claims the building was erected in the mid 16th century, and fortified by John Lucas who, aided by a group of lawless men, engaged piracy, resisting all attempts by the authorities to dislodge him. The tale also claims that seven generations later another John Lucas found a rich vein of paint mineral and exported it from his base at the Salt House but shortly after his death the building was ruined in a storm. The name of the building was said to come from the fact that the sea washed against the battlements. Although interesting, this history was later shown to be a fabricated family history written by the Rev Dr J H Spry during the 1830s. Port Einon has been a popular fishing location for hundreds of years renowned for its catches of bass, mackerel and oysters in particular. It is recorded that Sir Edward Mansel built a port in the medieval period, although it is more likely that he improved already existing facilities.
John to his ally the powerful Marcher Lord William de Braose in 1203 who was related to Rhys ap Gruffudd and his extended family. In 1208, however, John and William argued and the king attempted to confiscate William’s lands. William allied himself with the Welsh Prince Llywelyn the Great and war broke out. William died in 1211, but his son, Reginald, continued fighting and married Gwladus, Llywelyn’s daughter. In 1215, the castle was captured by Llywelyn’s forces and control of Gower was granted to Reginald. Two years later, however, Reginald made peace with the English Crown and Llywelyn removed him from power, replacing him with the Welsh prince Rhys Gryg. Llyweyln married another of his daughters, Margaret, to Reginald’s nephew, John de Braose who acquired the castle in 1220 and repaired it, constructing a stone curtain wall to replace the older defences. Attacked again in 1251, the castle was reinforced with a stone tower in the second half of the 13th century. In 1302, William de Braose, son of John, granted the Loughor estate to his seneschal, John Yweyn, for life, in exchange for an annual fee of a greyhound collar. On John Yweyn’s death in 1322 the lands were seized by John de Mowbray, William’s son-in-law. He was involved in the rebellion against Edward II and was executed later in 1322; John Yweyn’s next of kin, Alice Roculf, successfully appealed to the king and was granted the lands instead. Edward fell from power in 1327, and the Loughor lands were granted to John de Mowbray’s son, John. Its importance declined and was a ruin by the 19th century. The remains are small but it is easy to see its strategic importance.
sprouts in the gutter in the greenhouse are slid, with some difficulty, into a shallow trench in this year’s legume bed. Sticks are inserted beside the trench so the peas can climb. Nearby in the same bed, broad beans that have hardened in the cold frame are planted out and sticks inserted beside each plant. The dead stems of last year’s Stinging Nettles were left over winter as some insects use them for hibernation. They are now removed and some brambles pulled out at the same time. Fresh Stinging Nettles are growing rapidly. They are there for several species of butterfly whose caterpillars feed on nettles, not that I have ever seen any in our patch.