IN 1206, a castle was built on the orders of King John, close to the confluence of Pool Brook and Mere Brook, just over a mile north of Upton, and a quarter-of-a-mile south of what was then known as Potters' Hanley.

This was one of 13 villages situated within Malvern Chase, for which the castle was intended to serve as an administrative centre, though it was frequently used by the king as a hunting lodge.

So Potters' Hanley became Hanley Castle, a small settlement with great potential for growth.

Not only did it have a castle, it also had a church and a busy quay on the Severn, from which it exported the products of a thriving pottery industry.

It later acquired a grammar school, which may have been founded as early as 1326 (or 1544, according to some sources).

However, Hanley's early promise was not fulfilled and the castle fell into disuse. Most of its stone was scavenged to build a bridge at Upton-upon-Severn in 1608.

Upton surged ahead of its neighbour, becoming a significant port.

It handled goods such as salt from Droitwich, and more exotic commodities from abroad. As early as 1289, records show that French wine was being brought upriver from Bristol, mainly for the Bishop of Hereford.

Corn, coal and cider were among other goods which were carried in large quantities. In those days of no railways and poor roads, the Severn was the busiest trading route in the British Isles, busier even than the Ouse, Trent or Thames.

Hanley Castle, however, remained a village, and its ancient centre, Church End, retains great charm, with an attractive group of buildings clustered round a magnificent cedar tree. As well as the old grammar school, there are cottages, almshouses, a church and the timber-framed Three Kings Inn.

Of the castle, nothing remains except a grassy mound overgrown by trees and surrounded by traces of a moat.

St Mary's Church is notable for its unusual brick tower, chancel and north chapel, all added in 1674 to a Norman nave.

St Mary's was briefly in the news in 1831 when two newly buried bodies disappeared from the churchyard and were later found in packing cases in the Anchor Inn at Upton, awaiting despatch on the London coach.

This gruesome crime was not especially unusual at the time: medical students were in constant need of recently dead bodies for dissection and there were always unscrupulous characters willing to supply them.

Those who earned their living in this way were known, with a certain grim irony, as resurrectionists.

In 1832 an Act of Parliament put a stop to the black-market trade by establishing legal channels for the supply of corpses.

This must have seemed like spectacularly bad timing to the local resurrectionists who might otherwise have benefited from a surfeit of bodies in 1832.

This was the year that the Severn proved, not for the first time, that it could be a mixed blessing: it might bring trade, but it brought disease as well.

Both the boatmen and their cargoes could harbour infection, particularly from the early 1830s when cholera, a disease new to Britain, first arrived in our sea ports and began to make its way up navigable rivers.

In April 1832 it arrived in Bristol, and by July it had already reached Upton, soon claiming 50 lives. There were misplaced worries about infection if the bodies were interred in the churchyard, where pigs used to root among the graves, so a special burial ground was established in Parson's Field, off Cut Throat Lane.

DIRECTIONS

Walk north beside the River Severn, using a riverside path until forced by Pool Brook to join Hanley Road. After a further 300m, return to the river on another path and follow it to Quay Lane.

Walk along the lane to the main road and cross to a 'no through road' which leads to St Mary's Church. Walk through the churchyard and then turn left by the Three Kings to join a footpath running along the edge of a cricket field to a clump of trees. Go through a gate on the left then continue in the same direction along a fenced path leading to a lane.

Turn left, then take a footpath on the left after 450m. Cross a field towards a large oak tree at the far side, then turn left to pass through a gate. Go diagonally across another field to the far corner, pass through another gate and turn left to cross a stile.

Turn right past a hazel coppice and keep straight on at a junction, passing the site of King John's castle. Continue past a converted watermill to a lane. Turn right, then immediately left, on another lane. Take a path on the right after 300m. This is a green lane at first, leading to a railway cutting. Climbing out of the cutting on the far side, go through an orchard to a lane.

Join another footpath almost opposite, crossing another orchard to a bridge beneath an oak tree. Continue to a lane and turn left, then left again after 300m, at Old Orchard. When the road swings right, bear left on a bridleway, Cut Throat Lane.

When the bridleway meets a road, turn right, joining a footpath which runs along a medieval causeway into Upton.

FACTFILE

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

Length: Four-and-a-half miles/7.2km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable and orchard; level and undemanding.

Paths: Good.

Stiles: 10.

Parking: Hanley Road Car Park.

Buses: First 363/364 Monday-Saturday, Aston's 372 Sundays/bank holidays; Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk

Refreshments: Upton-upon-Severn and Hanley Castle.

PLEASE NOTE This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be accurate at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss, accident or injury, however caused.