Upton upon Severn (From Worcester News)

Upton upon Severn

11:51am Monday 1st February 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

THESE walks are planned a few weeks ahead of publication so the weather sometimes causes unforeseen problems.

Apologies, therefore, if Upton has disappeared under water by the time you read this. On the day the walk was checked, in late January, many fields were flooded and the intended route had to be altered.

But flooding is nothing new in Upton and the very first footpath of the walk runs along the top of a causeway built centuries ago to provide a way into town during times of flood. It links Upton with a bridleway leading to slightly higher ground at Tunnel Hill. The bridleway goes by the rather grisly name of Cut Throat Lane and beside it is an equally grisly reminder of past hardship – the site of a burial ground from 1832 when so many Upton people died from waterborne cholera that there was no room for them in the churchyard.

In the Middle Ages the river Severn was a vital trade route, helping to make Upton a busy port and market town. It could have had a rival in neighbouring Hanley, where a castle built for King John in 1206 was intended to govern Malvern Chase. However, John was more interested in using the castle as a hunting lodge and Hanley remained a village. After his death Hanley Castle fell into disuse and its stones were plundered for bridge building. However, a moated, treecovered mound remains to this day, beside a footpath which runs alongside Pool Brook. Just to the north of it is picturesque Church End, where cottages, almshouses, a school and a pub form an attractive group around a cedar tree next to the churchyard.

FACT FILE

Start: High Street, Upton-upon- Severn, grid ref SO851405.

Length: Six miles/9.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable, orchard and paddock; mostly flat, with just a couple of very gentle slopes.

Footpaths: Mostly very good but waymarking is patchy.

Stiles: 10.

Parking: Upton – either Tunnel Hill or Hanley Road car park.

Buses: Diamond 362/363; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Upton and Hanley Castle.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk along New Street until you can join a path parallel with it, on the left. Follow it to a junction with a bridleway (Cut Throat Lane) and turn left. Cross a dismantled railway and then take the next path on the right. Walk uphill by a field edge and keep straight on at the top of the slope, joining a track running across fields and then through Greenfields Farm to Hyde Lane. Turn right, then take the first path on the right, crossing a field and orchard to Hook Road.

Join another path almost opposite.

Go through an orchard, descend into a cutting to cross the dismantled railway, turn left and climb out of the cutting to follow a sunken track which bends right and leads to Mill Lane. Turn left.

2 Turn right at a T-junction, cross Pool Brook and take a path on the left, which is also the driveway to a mill. Pass the mill and the site of King John’s castle. Turn right when you come to a junction. Go through a metal gate and turn right again just before a second metal gate. Walk along a green lane to meet Hanley Road (B4211).

Turn left, then immediately left again on a footpath. Go diagonally across a field towards a house at Church End. Pass to the left of it then go left along a lane to enter the churchyard.

3 Walk to the church then turn left to leave the churchyard at a gate. Go forward along a field edge then turn right at a hedge corner to see a waymarked post a little way ahead. Turn right, then almost immediately left, descending steps to cross Pool Brook at a bridge.

Proceed through woodland to a field and straight across. Keep going in the same direction past Lodge Farm and along the righthand edge of a field. Keep to the right-hand edge of the next field too. When you come to a junction where several paths meet, bear right across a field towards Gilbert’s End Farm. Meet the far hedge near a gate just left of the farm and turn left by the field edge on a good track.

4 Cross Mere Brook and turn left.

Go through a gate in a corner, turn right to cross a stile and walk along the right-hand edge of a field to a lane. Turn right towards Brotheridge Green. After about 200 metres you should be able to join a path on the left but any access to it has mysteriously disappeared and you will have to keep on along the lane for a further 300 metres to take the next path on the left, indicated by a fingerpost. Walk between fields and orchards, and over the old railway, then cross a stile on the right. Turn left along a field edge, follow it round to a gate and keep left through the next field.

Proceed past farm buildings and straight on to meet Hook Road.

5 Turn left, and after about 600 metres fork right in Hyde Lane, which eventually becomes Greenfields Road. Soon after this point, turn left at Old Orchard.

After passing a playground the road curves right – bear left instead across grassland to rejoin Cut Throat Lane. Take a footpath on the right after 250 metres and walk through and area of young woodland. Cross a stile to a field and turn right, following the path to the road at Tunnel Hill. Turn left and head back into Upton-upon- Severn.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer 190.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)