1

walkS around our attractive and

historic

riverside town

Upton-upon-Severn S H O R T W A L K S

£2.00

Walks with maps from one to eight miles

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Upton-upon-Severn has some eighteen miles of public rights of way which are not roads. These are the footpaths which, in times past, linked the various parts of a scattered rural community as its inhabitants walked or sometimes rode - there are bridleways too - about their daily business. Most led from the outlying homes into the town, but others linked those settlements to one another. Two were on causeways so that the floodwaters were avoided. Thus our ancestors took their children to school, visited their friends or their many relations - very few married outside the parish - went to work, went to church, gathered for a social occasion - a meeting of the Church of England Temperance Society perhaps – or visited one of the inns, public houses or beer houses.

Most of these right of way were regularised in the middle of the nineteenth century, at the time of the Upton-upon-Severn enclosures, when some routes were extinguished and others confirmed or established. Since then there have been few changes as a study of early Ordnance Survey maps confirms. Once a right of way has been established then it remains such in perpetuity, unless action is taken either to divert it, an expensive process involving the county council and extensive consultation, or to extinguish it, which is certainly not an adventure to be embarked upon lightly and without considerable funds on which to call! New rights of way are only slightly more easily established and then as a result of constant use over time without the landowner having asserted that the use is only “permissive” and not by right.

Rights of way are the responsibility of the county council, but the law about the roles of the landowners and of the council is complicated. Half a dozen county council Rights of Way Officers keep an overview of all the 3,050 miles of footpaths, bridleways etc. in Worcestershire. It is therefore

not surprising that, in each parish, it is the aim to appoint a Parish Footpaths Warden whose duty it is to be the eyes and ears of the county council within the parish.

For most people the original purpose of the right of way is no longer effective, although those who try them will frequently find that the footpaths remain a quick and direct way from one part of our parish to another. Those who walk the footpaths, or ride on the bridleways, today do so as a leisure activity which often combines study of local history and of the countryside with healthy exercise.

It is to be hoped that walkers will always remember that most paths are over a farmer’s land, or through his yards, and that it is here that he earns his living cultivating his crops and tending his animals The country code needs to be followed and the interests of the landowners treated with due consideration.

© 2013 Simon Wilkinson

Walks A0, A1, A2, A3 and A4 start at the Hanley Road Car Park.

Walks B1 and B2 start at The Drum and Monkey on the Longdon Road (B4211).

Walks C1 and C2 start at The Hook Church.

Walk D starts at the Hanley Road Car Park.

U P T O N ’ S

F O O T P A T H S

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T h e C o u n t r y C o d e

Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and workGuard against all risk of fire

Fasten all gatesKeep your dogs under control

Keep to public paths across farmlandUse gates and stiles to cross fences, hedges and walls

Leave livestock, crops and machinery aloneTake your litter home

Help to keep all water cleanProtect wildlife plants and trees

Take special care on country roadsMake no unnecessary noise

A0. A Walk to view the Flood Defences The longer walk is about 1½ miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Leave by the New Street exit and turn left through the floodgates. After the former Fire Engine Station on the right, turn right across the small car park and through the metal gate onto the playing field. Go up the slope to the bund, built to protect the western side of the town, and turn left; this is a permissive path. Continue round the field, observing the properties protected, including the church, on the left. When the bund comes to an end a kissing gate

in the fence to the right leads into the road. Turn left and then either left again to return to the town centre down Old Street, noting the 1947 flood mark on one of the small pillars on the pavement outside the church, or cross Old Street into Minge Lane to the left of the current Fire Station. Continue straight along the road until, at its junction with Gardens Walk and Laburnum Walk, it becomes a track with a kissing gate at its end leading onto the Upper Ham. Go straight across the meadow – this too is a permissive path – to the river. Turn left onto Footpath 553, The Severn Way, which was once the towpath: it was treeless then. Walk back to the town, going along the Waterside with, on the left, its grand houses and then its warehouses and, on the right, from the gate by Bankside House, the riverside walls and gates of the flood defences. Go though the last of the gates on the right to walk under the bridge and back to the Hanley Road Car Park.

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Al. A Walk on the Upper Ham About 2¼ miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Cross the road and go to the right along the riverfront, under the “new” bridge, past the pubs, the old bridge abutment, some former warehouses and then some of Upton’s larger houses to the gate to the Upper Ham. Go through this onto Footpath 553, the former towpath - now part of The Severn Way - running alongside the river. A thousand yards away due south you may be able to see the black walled target area for the rifle range which was here from the 1850s. Along the river bank there are the “pegs” where, during the season, fishermen can be seen. On the opposite bank are two dominant houses, Ryall Mead and Ryall Hill. After just under a mile from the entrance to the Ham you are opposite the Water Extraction Plant and then where barges discharge gravel for processing. A quarter of a mile further on is a gate, and, on the opposite bank signs of the large oil storage tank which is concealed there. - Point A. Here you may decide to continue on to the Lower Ham - see below - or to return more directly to Upton.

One route back is by Footpath 550. Head in a slightly north westerly direction for the corner of the hedge where the powerlines go across, and, after thirty yards from there go to the footbridge, with a rail, over the drainage ditch. After crossing it and looking more closely at the rifle range targets, head for a point halfway down the left side of the Ham. The kissing gate is to the left of four redbrick houses with their gable ends facing the Ham. Go up the track from the kissing gate and then turn right into Gardens Walk - Point C. Where the road bears round to the left after Berrow Court, go almost straight ahead down Fisherman’s Alley and thus back to the riverfront.

The other route uses Footpath 551. Again head in a slightly northwesterly direction from Point A to the corner of the hedge, but then setting your sights on the two prominent poplar trees at the end of the buildings on the far left side of the Ham, head straight for them using a footbridge, no rail, to cross the drainage ditch, and you arrive back at the Ham gate.

An Extension on the Lower Ham and to Buryend An additional 1½ miles

From the stile at Point A continue along the Severn Way, now Footpath 554, to the gate which is at the end of’ the railway embankment, it was here that the Ashchurch, Tewkesbury, and Malvern Branch crossed the Severn. Go along the riverbank and over the next stile - on the other bank is Saxon’s Lode - continuing for a further quarter of a mile until a footbridge is reached – Point B. This is over a cutting with floodgates. It is possible to continue along the Severn Way to Tewkesbury and then to the estuary of the river. To return to Upton turn round and go due North - Footpath 589 - across the Lower Ham to a stile over a fence, noting on the top of the bank on the left what remains of Ham Court, the seat of the Lords of the Manor for many years. The bulk of it was demolished in 1926. Continue North over a watercourse, usually dry, and

another stile into a field. Go along the right hand edge of the field to a gate and then to a stile. Turn left and go through a gate into the yards of Buryend Farm. A stile takes you past an old cider barn which is being converted. Walk past this and then through a gap in the wall to the lane. By looking up to the right you can see why Buryend was so-called: here is the mound - the bury - above the floodplain, which ends at the farmhouse. Walk through to Rectory Road. Turn left and then take the second turning on the right into The Graftons. To the left of the large square white house there is a gap and urban Footpath 588 goes from here behind Upton Gardens, across Queens Mead, behind the Cemetery and into Laburnum Walk and Gardens Walk where you join those who have returned by Footpath 550 at Point C.

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Map A1

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A2. A Walk to Newbridge Green About 2½ miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Leave by the exit into New Street and turn left. Go along New Street to the cross and turn right into Old Street. Go past the Memorial Hall on your right, and the Baptist Chapel (1734) and the “new” Parish Church (1879) on your left. On the right, as you approach the foot of Tunnel Hill, are the playing fields - look out for the cut off end of the railway embankment and, on top of the hill, The Mount, an 18th.century country house - and then the old road. Continue on the pavement until you cross the road to the Lodge and Ham Court Drive - Footpath 597.

As you walk along the drive you can imagine the Martins, the Lords of the Manor in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, being driven furiously- in their carriages from Ham Court to catch a waiting train at Upton Station (until 1963 it was behind the site of the new Fire Station) or more sedately to attend services at the new church which they had done so much to finance. At the top of the second field on the right is The Hill, a Regency house, once owned by the Martins and then, in the twentieth century, it was the home of the Jewell family. After about 400 hundred yards there is a waymark post and a gate on the right. Go through the gate and, following the waymarking, over the two further stiles which come soon afterwards. Then, above the ditch, follow the left-hand side of the field to the gate towards the top of the hill. A stile then leads past the yard surrounding an indoor riding school and then a gate into the lane past The Port House, formerly Portman’s Farm, also on the right. After a

short distance you reach Southend Lane - Point A. Either turn right and linger awhile at The Drum & Monkey and/or possibly continue along the • Longdon Road - see below - or turn immediately left down the lane - Footpath 568.

Going down Southend Lane you pass, after a few yards , the signs for Footpath 586 on the right - Point B - and then continue on to Southend Farm . On your left and around you there are a Regency farm house and some interesting, listed, barns -Point C. Continue between the barns and down the slope, through a gate, which is usually open, but shut it if it is not - remember that this is a working farm - to the Ham Court Drive. Cross the Drive and go through the left -hand gate of the pair opposite. Follow the edge of the field, which was once part of Upton’s “very sporting little nine-hole golf course”, keeping the fence on the right side for about three-quarters of its length, and then bear left to a point some 70 yards from the corner of the field along its eastern boundary: here the causeway starts with a stile. Continue along the causeway: it is noted as the route by which Captain Bound rode into Upton and near which, in the stories, it is alleged that he was drowned. More practically, however, you walk behind the area which was used as the tip in the 1920s and 1930s: be careful of the broken glass which emerges from it. Just after the footpath turns left and widens out into Causeway Lane the walker turns right , crosses a stile and then a field and another stile to emerge into Rectory Road. Turn left and return to the Town via School Laneor Minge Lane and Old Street.

An Extension alongside the Avenue and to Queenhill W.I An additional 1mile

From Point A turn right and either linger awhile or, turning left, pass The Drum and Monkey along the pavement on the right of the Longdon Road, until Wheatley Lane is reached. Turn left and cross the Longdon Road here and climb the stile by the signpost. Cross the field, Footpath 583, skirting any growing crops, to the stile which is to the right of the house in the distance. Pass in front of that to a small gate and then in front of further houses and over a stile, to the right of a gate, into a paddock. Follow the left hand edge of this and, after a drive and some grass, turn left onto the track to the

Queenhill W.I. Hall. (You have been walking parallel to The Avenue, the main drive to Ham Court until a new drive was created in the 1870s) – Point D. Either go over the stile to the left – Footpath 586 – crossing the field to the two stiles in its north-eastern corner to join the original walk at Point B, or go past the front of the W.I. Hall and through the kissing gate – Footpath 589 – Continue along the edge of this field with the fence on your left until a few yards from its end you bear right to a farm gate and then to a kissing gate at Point C where you join the original walk.

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An Extension alongside the Avenue and to Queenhill W.I An additional 1mile

Map A2

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A3. A Walk over Fish Meadow and back past Ryall’s Court About 3 miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Cross the road and go over the Bridge. After fifty yards cross the road and follow the signpost which points to the right, go down a short slope and then turn hard left, almost back on yourself, to continue down, through an underpass and then a gate, onto Fish Meadow - Bridleway 508. Walk along the embankment, noting, on the opposite bank, the point where the Pool Brook now enters the river and, on the far side of the Hanley Road, the remnants of the earthworks where the Royalist forces had dug themselves in only to be easily overcome by Cromwell’s troops advancing from Upton in August 1651. Soon after this is the Pool House, a fine house, which is on the site of a very much earlier building. On the right of you, as you walk, you might be able to watch the enthusiasts flying their radio controlled gliders. (It was here that the 1998 World Championships were held.) At the first gate on the embankment a glance to the left reveals a stile - one of the few indications that a footpath used to run alongside the bridleway: it slipped into the river long ago. After the next gate, which is off the embankment to the right, Hanley Quay can be seen on the opposite bank. A ferry used to cross the Severn here, but the Quay was much more important as Hanley’s main link with the outside world. Here, in early times, the products of the Hanley potters would have been dispatched and, more recently, coal brought in. At the next

gate, off the embankment to the left, there is a view straight ahead to the Cliff Wood, and, showing over the top of it the white “gothick” shape of Severn Bank, a splendid Regency house which was for long part of the Coventry estates. Much closer, on the opposite bank of the river is a boathouse and, behind it, Severn End and its park. This has been the site of the home of the Lechmere family for many centuries. Continue along the bank until the waymarking and gate at Point A. Turn right and go along the track, keeping the hedge on the left - Earl’s Croome Bridleway 547. Continue along this track past The Day House, until, alongside the end of The Day House driveway (there is a cattle grid at its entrance), it turns left and then right. Ripple Bridleway 505 is the same track which goes over a cattle grid (there is a gate to the right of it) and then past Ryall’s Court Farm. Go straight ahead and through a gate and then a farm gate. After 50 yards the hedge and ditch on the right go to the right. Follow them to a footbridge (Point B) - Ripple Footpath 508 - and after it go to the gap to the left of the Point to Point jump straight ahead. From there, go in the direction of the spire of the ‘’new” church until coming to a stile, alongside a gate in the hedge. Footpath 511 - now go in the direction of the Pepperpot to a stile at the bottom of a short slope back to the approach to the Bridge. Return over the Bridge to the Hanley Road Car Park.

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A3. A Walk over Fish Meadow and back past Ryall’s Court About 3 miles

Map A3

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A4. A Walk to the Cholera Burial Ground About l½ miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Leave by the exit into New Street and turn left. After the former Fire Engine Station on the right, turn right past the small car park and through the metal gate onto the playing field - Footpath 526 – go over the bund and head for the far corner, keeping the rugby football pitches on the left and passing the end of the former railway embankment on theright until reaching the Old Road through a kissing gate. Turn right and continue for 100 yards and turn right onto a Tarmac track with the Upton Surgery on its left - Footpath 535 - which is followed until it bears left and starts to go up the hill. Turn right over first one and then another waymarked stile. Keep to the left-hand edge of the field and continue along the foot of the slope for about 160 yards to a waymarked stile on the left. Go over it and up the slope through young trees, bearing slightly right and keeping the older trees and the increasingly steep bank on the left. After 70 or 80 yards there is a gap into Cut Throat Lane - Bridleway 592- at a waymark post. Turn right and continue down past the water treatment works on the right (formerly a field called Packers Hill) until reaching

Point A where there is a waymarking post (see extension to walk). For the shorter walk follow the waymarking round to the right and on the left, as the track widens out, it is possible to visit the Cholera Burial Ground. It was here, on what was then church land, but which is now privately owned, but controlled by the town council, that many of the victims of the cholera epidemic of the summer of 1832 were buried. 37 deaths were recorded, but there were probably more. Certainly the impact, over three weeks, was great in a closely huddled town of 1,900. Continue along the wide track and around some metal gates until almost reaching the road - Point B. Here turn right, following the wooden signpost and going over a stile onto a causeway - Footpath 525.This is one of two causeways (see also Walk A2) which enabled Uptonians to enter and leave the centre of the town during floods. Continue along the causeway, over another stile, through gates and over the bund until a field and another stile into New Street. Turn left and, soon immediately after the floodgates, right to return to the car park.

An Extension to Greenfields Farm and back through a cutting An additional 1mile

From Point A turn left, following the waymarking, go over a stile - Footpath 523 - and then up the hill, looking back to the right to the Cholera Burial Ground. At the top of the hill and down the other side there are some gates which may be opened (and closed again!). The moden farmhouse replaced a very much older building since this is one of Upton’s oldest and still working farms. To the right of it there is a gate to the farmyard and another at the exit onto Hyde Lane. Turn right in Hyde Lane and after about a hundred yards follow a signpost by turning right onto Footpath 519. Go straight ahead keeping the hedge on the right before it turns to the right. Continue straight on to a stile, a footbridge and some steps up. Follow the waymarking up a broad track between fruit

trees to Hook Lane. Cross this to the signposted continuation of the footpath until reaching a gap in the tree hedge - there is a waymark post slightly to the left of where the track ends. There steps lead down to a stile and then down to the bottom of the cutting on the old Malvern to Ashchurch railway line. Bear left over a stile and then left up more steps to another stile. After that continue down to the lane. This last part of track is wide because, before the railway was built, Hook Lane came this way into town and not over the bridge by Clive’sFruit Farm. At the lane tum right and continue along it past Little Mill Cottage and then the lower entrance to Clive’s Farm to the Hook Lane and Point B where Cut Throat Lane ends and the shorter walk is rejoined.

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A4. A Walk to the Cholera Burial Ground About l½ miles

An Extension to Greenfields Farm and back through a cutting An additional 1mile

Map A4

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Bl. A Walk to the China Brook 2 miles

Start from the Car Park of The Drum and Monkey on the Longdon Road, by invitation of the landlord, turn left and go along the pavement until reaching Monsell Lane, then turn left and go along the lane until it bears right. There are a signpost and stile on the left. Climb the stile and follow the path - Footpath 578 - across the open field until a pond and then a ditch on the right, and then, after a few yards, you cross the ditch and a stile on the right. Turn left and continue along the edge of the field, with the ditch now on the left, to the corner where, in a gap in a hedge, there is a stile into the next field. Continue straight ahead with the fence on the right, until after 85 yards, there is a stile in that fence (Point A). Having noted the waymarking, climb the stile and, for the shorter walk, head towards the metal gates in the fences opposite. Go through the gates, and - Footpath 576 - keeping the fence to the paddock behind Cowhills Farm on the left, go to first one gate and then another which leads into Wheatley Lane. Cross almost straight over the lane, go through the gate and then, keeping the fence on the left - Footpath 577 - walk to the gate at the end of this field. After going through this one, continue in

a straight line, with the fence now on the right, to another gate. After this continue straight across the open field, down a slope to the gates and bridge over the China Brook with its ducks and swan. (Point B) To return to The Drum and Monkey, turn round and, from the first gate on the track over the brook, head - Footpath 564 - to the right up the slope to the gate in the top right-hand corner of the field. Behind the covert (woodland providing shelter for game) on the right is the Lodge which was the gamekeeper’s house, once thatched and extravagantly decorated with woodwork, for the Ham Court Estate. The walker, however, must head for the track and then along it to the gate into Stanks Lane. In the lane most of the houses, much extended now, were the nineteenth century homes of the estate workers. After the last house on the left and after a bridge over what is left of the large pond - Broadwaters - which extended on the right where the sawmill now is, follow the signpost to the left over a stile – Footpath 582 - across a field with a stile in a fence and then over a stile into Wheatley Lane. From there turn right and then left into the Longdon Road and back, along the pavement to The Drum and Monkey.

An extension to the Welland Road and through the Coverts About a mile

From Point A having noted the waymarking, climb the stile, go through the two metal gates in the fences and then and head half right across the field - Footpath 565 - to the stile and signpost in the far right-hand corner. Climb the stile and turn left. The footpath is an extension of Yewleigh Lane. Continue down this path - it can be muddy in the lower sections in wet weather - and over a small ditch (look out for West Bank, originally built as the isolation hospital, across the field on the right), before bearing right and then turning left into the Welland Road. Walk along the wide verge on the left, and cross the end of Wheatley Lane until, soon after the next house on the left, there is a wooden signpost and a metal gate - Point C. Go

through the gate and across the field - Footpath 561 - to first one stile and then another. From the second stile the waymarking indicates the next stile and ditch crossing, slightly to the left of the tree immediately ahead, and on far side across the field. From the ditch continue up the right hand side of the field to a gate in the right corner and, after that, walk along a track through Young Covert to a gate. From that gate go slightly left, and down the slope to come to the gates and bridge over the China Brook. Cross the bridge - Point B - and rejoin the original walk.

A further extension to Old Welland on the next sheet.

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Bl. A Walk to the China Brook 2 miles

An extension to the Welland Road and through the Coverts About a mile

Map B1

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B2. Bl extended to Old Welland 3 miles

Start from Point C on Walk Bl and, from the gate and the wooden signpost continue along the Welland Road until the next signpost on the left. Go through the gate and then head slightly left, - Footpath 539 - with the inner of two hedges on the right, for the ditch-crossing and stile which are beside the second tree from the right on the far side of the field. Cross these and head straight across the next field, keeping Round Covert on the left, to the gate where 2 Acre Covert and Big Covert meet. Then follow the path more or less straight through the woods to a small gate. Go along the side of the next field, with the hedge on the right, and over a stile at its end. Go down a slope ahead where there is a stile then a ditch crossing over a stream and then another stile – best to avoid these by going over the ditch on the track to the left. Up the slope on the other side and a short distance off, but hidden by a mound and vegetation, there is the stile at the top of some steep steps into Lockeridge Lane. Turn right into the Lane and, after a few yards, turn left, following the signpost, onto the track which leads alongside Court Cottage. At the end of this track bear left over the stile on the left of the farm gate - Welland Footpath 542. Head for the stile which can be seen across that field and then to the next one across the following field. After that, with Welland Court on the right and

a small lake on the left, go down the slope to the gate at the far end of the lake. Go through that gate and turn right, through another gate and up the track, past the front entrance of the eighteenth century Welland Court and into the lane. On the right is where St James’s Church once stood. The most recent building was a seventeenth century structure on a very much earlier site. (By the 1870s the bulk of the parish’s population, attracted by the results of the Welland enclosures had moved away to the area where the new church was built.) After the remains of the old churchyard, there is the Old Vicarage and, continuing along the lane while ignoring the lane going to the left, you pass Welland Lodge. Soon afterwards turn right, at a signpost and over a stile - Footpath 555. Go down the left-hand side of this field to a stile alongside a gate. After going over this go straight across the next field to a stile. Once over it, turn left and then, after a few yards, right into the lane. At the end of this lane turn right again into Lockeridge Lane. Continue along this and after Lockeridge Farm on the right, and then the turning to Court Cottage, retrace your walk, back up the steps, across the fields, through the coverts, across the fields and back to Point C. From here follow Walk Bl via the China Brook and Stanks Lane to The Drum and Monkey.

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B2. Bl extended to Old Welland 3 miles

Map B2

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Cl. A Walk to Gilbert’s End 2½ miles

Start from the Hook Church and walk along the lane for 110 yards in the direction of Upton. Go over the stile on the left with a signpost to Gilberts End - Footpath 504. Go straight ahead to the farm track and then to the left of the barn and through the farmyard to the gate to a field sloping away. Walk down the right side of this field (the sounds of shooting may be heard from further over on the right) to a gate at its far end. After this gate go diagonally across the field to the right to a stile halfway down the hedge/fence. Once over the stile turn left on to a track which goes over (2 stiles) the former railway track and then to the lane. There turn left and then almost immediately right, following the signpost, through a gate and onto another track. Follow this up the slope and then down the other side, with an electricity substation, (one gate before it and one afterwards, both usually open) on the right. Further down the track area around Tuck Mill: the miller’s house, now replaced, was on the right and the mill is on the left. This corn mill was a watermill operated by a part of the Mere Brook which forms the boundary between Upton-upon-Severn and the Hanleys. (Mere comes from the Old English meaning boundary). After the mill - Hanleys Footpath 582- go straight ahead to a bridge over a rather more active part of the Brook and then bear round to the left to a stile. Once over the stile continue on the track past the Hanley Hall Farm’s farmhouse on the right and on then to Gilbert’s End Lane. (Point A) Turn left along the lane and after about 230 yards turn left (signpost Hook Common) - Hanleys Footpath 501.

This is the drive to Hanley Hall. When the drive bears right to Hanley Hall go straight ahead over a stile, keep to the right of this small field and then over another stile: then walk between the fence, on the left, and the farm buildings , on the right, and, bearing to the right, go to a stile at the top of a sloping field. The path goes across the middle of this to some gates and a stile, bridge (over the Mere Brook again) and another stile. Footpath 500 then goes up the left side of the field to a stile in the top left corner. Continue along the left side of the next field, to the right of some elderly farm buildings, to a stile below an electricity pylon and into Gilvers Lane. (Point B) Here you may decide whether to continue on the shorter or take a longer walk. (See following sheet) The more direct route back crosses the lane to a stile, and then continues along the right side of the next field to a stile some twenty yards from the right-hand corner of the field. Once over that stile turn right across the railway bridge and very soon afterwards left over a stile onto a track for thirty yards until going over a clearly marked stile on the right. Footpath 501. Go down the left side of this field to a stile and gate, and then down the left side of the next, which becomes wooded, until another stile into a smaller field. Here keep the hedge on the right until reaching a stile and ditch crossing. Continue up the right side of this field until a stile leads back into Hook Lane. Turn left and return to the Church.

The extension is on the next sheet.

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Cl. A Walk to Gilbert’s End 2½ miles

Map C1

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C2. Cl Extended down Gilvers Lane and to Hook Bank An additional 1½miles

From Point B turn right down Gilvers Lane (the name owes its origin to Gillyflowers) and continue for about four hundred yards until a small road bridge after the last house on the right. There, following a signpost, turn left over a bridge - Footpath 513 - and after a few yards left again over a bridge and then turn right over another stile. Walk along the right side of the field to a gate in the far right corner. From this, steps lead up the railway embankment, go over it, and down the other side to a further gate. Continue to keep the hedge on the right until the next stile and then again to the stile, ditch crossing and stile after the following field. From here go half right to the far corner of this field, where there is a stile on the left of a usually open gate. A yard or so after this, turn right and go over a stile and through some woods where the path

starts with a ditch crossing and ends with a stile. After this stile walk up the right side of the field to the stile back into Hook Lane. Go almost directly across and down Hook Bank lane, passing The Inn at Welland. Cross the Welland Road and turn left along the verge on the right-hand side. Continue along this until the first house on the left: here cross to the left-hand side and walk on until the far side of the house after Hook Grange. Here turn left over a stile -Footpath 530 - keep the hedge on the left, there is a gap at the end of the electric fence, until a ditch crossing and stile. The path continues straight across the field, with the trees on the left, until a gap in the hedge opposite. There turn left and then right up the left side of the field to a stile back into Hook Lane. Turn right and return to the Hook Church.

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C2. Cl Extended down Gilvers Lane and to Hook Bank An additional 1½miles

Map C2

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D1 To enjoy the view from Heath Hill About 8 miles

Start from the Hanley Road Car Park. Cross the road and go to the right along the riverfront, under the “new” bridge, past the pubs, the old bridge abutment, some former warehouses and then some of Upton’s larger houses to the gate to the Upper Ham. Map 1: Go through the gate onto Footpath 553, running alongside the river. After just under a mile and a quarter from the entrance to the Ham there is a gate, from this gate continue to the gate which is at the end of the former railway embankment. Go along the riverbank and over the next stile - Point A.

Map 2: Continue for a further quarter of a mile until a footbridge is reached. This is over a cutting with floodgates. Continue along the riverbank - Holdfast Footpath 510 - over another bridge and along the side of another field to a stile with a small gate alongside it. After the stile turn immediately right, up the slope, through a gate and past a house, Barley Cottage, on the left, and then a row of three more, Meadowlands, on the right Continue on this track, until the lane is reached. Go through the gate opposite and then up the left side of the first field, notice Green Farm on the left and Holdfast Hall further away on the right, go over a stile and continue up the slope staying on the left side of the field. Holdfast Footpath 518. At the top of the slope look back to see the view over Upton. At the end of the field ignore the gate on the left and go over the stile straight ahead. After a further 33 yards - Point B -go over the stile on the left, then, turning right, keep to the right side of the field - Queenhill Footpath 502. After a short distance there is an opportunity to enjoy the panoramic view to the Cotswolds on the left and then towards Longdon and Longdon Marsh , with the hill above Ross-on-Wye to be seen in the distance, and finally to the Malvems on the right. After about 75 yards there is a stile on the right; go over it and shortly turn left onto a track. After 130 yards on that, and as the track goes round to the left, go over the stile straight ahead and follow the way-marking which indicates slightly left. The next stile is to be seen in the distance in a fence. After going over that stile, turn left down another track, this is a “permissive” path (the official path is in the field inside the fence), until reaching a lane. Cross the lane, going slightly left to a stile and footpath signpost. Follow the waymarking sign

to the gate on the far side of the field - Holdfast Footpath 523 - it can be seen on the left of the tree immediately ahead. Go through the gate, across the top of a very small field and after a gap in the hedge continue along the left side of the next field as it curves round to the right until reaching a gate and pedestrian gate into the road. Cross this, leaving the lodge on the right, into the drive to Hillworth Farm. Remain on the drive, now Longdon Footpath 508, do not turn left towards the house, but go ahead, over a cattlegrid towards the barns. At a double farm gate turn immediately right, keeping the barns on the left. Remain on this track, with the fence on the right, through a gate, and after 100 yards as the track goes to the right, go through another gate, with way-marking, on the left. Follow this with the fence and stream on the right. As the hill falls away there is another gate – now Longdon Footpath 507 - continue along right side of the next field past a gate on the right after 120 yards and then on for another 270 yards until a gate and shortly afterwards a stile on the right. Go over the stile and down the slope before turning left along a very overgrown path for 175 yards until reaching a bridge: cross the bridge then go straight ahead to cross a stile or go through the neighbouring gate. Turn right in the lane and continue for 115 yards, then turn left across the road at a footpath signpost - Footpath 581, go over the stile immediately on the right after the gate to this field and go diagonally across the field to the houses on the far side. Go over a stile and then through a pair of double gates and turn right to the gate into Stanks Lane. After the last house on the left and after a bridge over what is left of the large pond - Broadwaters - follow the signpost to the left over a stile across a field, with a stile in its middle and at its end, and into Wheatley Lane. Point C.

Map 3: Turn right and then cross the Longdon Road and climb the stile by the signpost. Cross the field - Footpath 583, skirting any growing crops, to the stile which is to the right of the house in the distance. Pass in front of that to a small gate and then in front of further houses and over a stile to the right of the gate into a paddock. Follow the left-hand edge of this and, after a drive and some grass turn left onto the track to the Queenhill W.I. Hall. Point D. Go past the front of the W.I. Hall

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D1 To enjoy the view from Heath Hill About 8 miles

and through the kissing-gate - Footpath 569. Continue along the edge of this field, with the fence on your left until, a few yards from its end, you bear right and go through a gate to another kissing-gate where you turn right. On your left, and around you there are Southend Farm, and its barns - continue between the barns and down the slope, through a gate, which is usually open, but shut it if it is not - remember that this is a working farm - to the Ham Court Drive. Cross the Drive and go through the left-hand gate of the pair opposite. Follow the edge

of the field, keeping the fence on the right-hand side for about three-quarters of its length, and then bear left to a point some 70 yards from the corner of the field along its eastern boundary: here the causeway starts with a stile. Continue along the causeway. Just after the footpath turns left and widens out into Causeway Lane the walker turns right, crosses a stile and then a field and another stile to emerge into Rectory Road. Turn left and return to the Town via School Lane or Minge Lane and Old Street.

Walk DMap 1

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Map 2Walk D

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Map 3Walk D Walk D

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Designed and printed by

Publications The following specialist guides will provide further interest and enjoyment along the Town Trail

Upton’s Pubs – An account of the town’s pubs of yesteryear 50pOld Bell Tower & Pepperpot Simple fact sheet 10p

Other publications that may interest you!Upton-upon-Severn – An overview of the town’s heritage and history withnumerous photos £2.50

Upton Town Trail- A walk around our historic riverside town 50p Leaflets on specific subjects of local interestBattle of Upton Bridge 35pThe Cholera Epidemic 35pThe Pepperpot & Upton Church 35pUpton & the River Severn 35p

The following “Looking at Upton” and“Unknown Upton” leaflets, dealing with natural aspects pertaining to Upton-upon-Severn, are available free of charge: Birds - The Severn & The Ham Fishing – Then & Now The Ham and its PlantsA Mediaeval TownFruit and DrinkCholera 1832

All publications are obtainable from: The Tourist information Centre, The Heritage Centre, Upton-upon-Severn WR8 0HTupton.tic@malvernhills.gov.ukPhone: 01684 594200

walkS around our attractive and

historic

riverside town

Upton-upon-Severn S H O R T W A L K S

£2.00

Walks with maps from one to eight miles