Hereford and Gloucester Canal, poets and cider with Garth Lawson (From Hereford Times)

Hereford and Gloucester Canal, poets and cider with Garth Lawson

3:08pm Thursday 8th January 2009 in

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THE family of poet John Philips had their estate at Withington Court, close to the village church.

They were royalists during the English Civil War and Philips, praising Charles I, deplored “The mad, headstrong rout” who “defy’d their prince to arms”.

A studious lover of the countryside, he was himself of a very delicate constitution. While his colleagues at Winchester College were enjoying field sports, Philips inclined towards his books and his room, where he rejoiced in the attendance of a person to comb his long, flowing hair.

Having enlisted at Christ Church College, Oxford, the hirsute grandson of the vicar of Lugwardine studied natural history and excelled at botany.

He drew inspiration from John Milton for The Splendid Shilling and wrote Blenheim to celebrate the Duke of Marlborough’s momentous victory.

But his most acclaimed poem was the rural commentary called Cyder of 1708. This work champions his royalist friends, his native land and Herefordshire in particular, using national history sketches and an intimate knowledge of apples and cider making. He extols the virtue of drinking cider for medicinal purposes because, in his day, it was thought to be a help in combatting the onset of black bile and melancholy.

Unfortunately Philips, reserved and quiet among strangers yet charismatic among his friends, was to die aged 32 after a winter bout of asthma. He is buried in the North Transept of Hereford Cathedral and a white marble monument commemorates him, next to Chaucer, in Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner.

The roots of cider making can be traced back at least 350 years in the county. Herefordshire’s “Cider Route” sluices through neighbouring Ocle Pychard and producers have opened their doors for you to peep into the production process. You can taste cider (and perry) straight from the cask.

This month’s walk, taking advantage of good permissive paths, also skirts part of the disused Hereford and Gloucester canal. Canal House at Kymin is bordered by orchards and marks the spot of a wharf and cottage on the 34-mile waterway. The canal was opened in its first phase from Over on the Severn at Gloucester through Newent and Dymock to within a mile of Ledbury in 1798.

In 1827 Stephen Ballard became clerk of the company and devised a way to complete the course to Hereford. It went on to open in stages – to Canon Frome wharf in January 1843, Withington wharf in February 1844, and to Hereford basin on May 22, 1845.

In our area of the walk, the canal dropped 30 feet via four locks along the four-mile stretch from Monkhide to Kymin and Withington wharf. This site, just north of the Cross Keys pub, retains the largest group of former canal buildings on the whole of its old route.

Ballard, born at Malvern Link of Herefordshire parents, was an inventive engineer who pioneered the construction of lock gates totally out of oak to overcome the problem of decaying bolts.

But his estimate of the cost of the second phase of the canal proved to be about one third of the actual cost. So after a peak in 1858 for the volume of traffic, and with the express momentum of the “Iron Horse”, the Hereford and Gloucester company were soon looking to sell up to a railway company. With conversion from canal to railway in mind, it was leased to the Great Western and West Midland Railways in 1862.

In June 1881, half of the canal was closed and sections of it were used for the course of the Ledbury to Gloucester Railway. Although the canal from Hereford to Ledbury was still open, it gradually became disused. The canal company continued to receive rent from the GWR and was not formally wound up until 1948.

The walk meanders very gently to and from the canal basin starting above Shucknall Spout. The paths are obvious over easy terrain with just one stile and surprising views. There are a couple of modest climbs, but they are not strenuous.

Shucknall, Westhide, Kymin and White Hill.

Wood, Hamlet, Grassy Avenues and Views.

Three-and three-quarter-miles, more easy than moderate walk, one stile.

Map: Explorer 202 Leominster, Bromyard.

The Route 1. Shucknall Spout. Start from small parking area up lane above spout, turning immediately right. With back to parking bay TL up metalled track away from approach lane, 20m beyond Hill Croft TL up unsigned green path following telephone wires over intersection by Chestnut House. Go ahead under trees descending wide woodland path past reservoir over the Camel’s Back, past pond, ahead at marker post, rising and falling gently to stile leaving Westhide Wood.

2. Perimeter stile. Cross today’s only stile to descend field with views west, north, and north-east. Withington church spire comes into view one-and-a-quarter miles over to the left betokening the Cyder poet John Philips’s adjacent family seat. Go ahead through gate at bottom along tree-lined farm track through second gate onto road. TR along quiet lane through delightful hamlet past St Bartholomew’s Church, Westhide for three-quarters-of-a-mile. Pass the Old Vicarage, Old School House, Old Post Office, Old Oast House and the Salt Pot down to the permissive access notice board in the hedge gap. Carry on over the disused canal route to the second notice board.

3. Canal House, Kymin. View. Return to the first notice board opposite double wooden gates and TL through gap to follow left field margin. After 250 metres TR at marker post in general direction of trees up to the left on the hill where you are heading. After 300 metres TL and TR snaking upwards ignoring right turn, keeping hedge on right, to next marker post at a crossing farm track. TL for 150 metres to marker post at corner of trees just right of junction of paths.

4. Marker post. On a clear day the views from here are excellent and include west-north-west Butthouse Knapp and Pyon Hill. The belief that Robin Hood used to shoot his arrows from one to the other is probably a slight exaggeration. TR on the grassy slope to follow the edge of the trees on your left to another marker post . TL up bank through trees to a clearing. Views to the northernmost Malvern Hills are a few paces forward, but beyond the notice take second option from left up the gravel path. Climb up left of single storey dwelling, through avenue of trees, past two masts, with views opening out left, as you drop a little, to Backbury Hill and West Wood above Mordiford. Bend left down the rough stony drive. After about 200 metres, with (probably) traffic noise resounding up from the A4103, turn sharp right up on to a bridle path. Follow this path back to the start, ignoring all turns.