“WHAT was our horror on entering the Abbey to see two tourists all complete postured among the ruins in an attitude of admiration, one of them of course discoursing learnedly to his gaping companion and pointing out objects of interest with a stick.

“If there is one thing more hateful than another it is being told what to admire and having objects pointed out to one with a stick. Of all noxious too the most noxious is a tourist. And of all tourists the most vulgar, ill-bred, offensive and loathsome is the British tourist. No wonder dogs fly at them and consider them vermin to be exterminated.”

Nothing if not frank. In fact, the writer of these words in April 1870 was known as precisely that by his family: But to the readers of his diary he is usually known as the Rev Francis Kilvert.

In this account of the curate of Clyro’s encounter with an exhibitionist at Llanthony Abbey, we can be confident that, as a native of Chippenham, he was labelling his compatriots with more than a little irony.

A great walker, Kilvert was quite happy to be on his own and regarded the achievement of walking from Hay to Clyro without meeting a single person as a triumph.

The solitude gave him a chance to appreciate his surroundings and to meditate. But being on daily familiar terms with people of all classes he could notice their behaviour, record their virtues – and sometimes, clearly, their ‘vices’.

By November 1877, Francis Kilvert had become the Vicar of Bredwardine. When we reach the point (2) from which his parish can be seen, perhaps we should acknowledge it with a gentle nod rather than an ostentatious brandish of a stick? With some solemnity also because he was dead from peritonitis at the lamentable age of 38; Kilvert’s wife of only five weeks was in the funeral cortege in September 1879 along with his reverend father Robert. When the homeward stretch of the walk strides over Brobury Scar we pass above the spot where Kilvert senior would fish whilst staying with Frank’s sister Thersie who was married to the vicar of Monnington.

The promenade from (2) towards the rectory home of the Reverend Smith was a particular favourite of Kilvert. “I love to walk up the great avenue, as up a vast and solemn cathedral aisle, while the wind sighs through the branches of tall sombre Scotch firs overhead and makes mournful music as it breathes upon that natural aeolian harp which is the organ in that cathedral.”

“Hard by the church porch end on the western side of it I saw what I knew must be the grave of Owain Glyndwr.” The Welsh warrior’s name is writ large in the history of the county and no less intrigue than that which attended his alliances surrounds the location of his final resting place.

The burial issue has vexed a series of researchers and the church of his brother-in-law once held considerable currency; indeed Kilvert ascribes “the grey mansion which is Monnington Court” to the ownership of an aunt of Glyndwr.

The debate moves on, however, and the busts which can be seen from the (idyllic) churchyard at (3) seem to proclaim a local allegiance to the marauding Welshman’s royal enemies. A walk to a different Monnington on another day might take one closer to the solution.

More mundane and quirky matters, though, are the usual stuff of Kilvert’s Diary. After a shoot in Brobury woods, the squire of nearby Garnons, Sir Henry Cotterell, bestowed a welcome gift upon him. The hare and four pheasants helped to take his mind off a particularly depressing bout of “emerods.” This month’s stroll, with no stiles, will cause no such discomfort.

MONNINGTON Quiet country lanes, fields, Kilvert’s favourite avenue. 3 2/3 miles, easy flat, no stiles - for all the family. Map: Explorer map OL13 - north sheet. Public transport: Jump off 446 to Eardisley at Portway. But limited service Monday to Saturday afternoons. The Easy Route 1. Monnington-on-Wye. Follow sign (left) “to the church” and Monnington Court” to park sensibly between telephone kiosk and church approach Green Lane. Walk back to junction, past “The Chase” and TL along “no through road.” Bend R then L past farm onto “Defra” path. Bend R with Staunton church over to the right, straight ahead by collection of gates, and where the lane bends right, go straight on through two gates gently up left edge of two fields, with the old youth hostel also at Staunton over to the right. TL through third gate to follow right edge on Vaughan’s way bearing right by the markers in the corner through walkers’ gate. After 50m TR to find the halfway point at a small clearing on the Scar (cliff). Just before the walk goes further right by the fence. 2. Brobury Scar. Peer through the trees, without ostentation, to the loop in the river to mark the area of the hut where Kilvert senior fished towards the eastern edge of his son’s parish. When ready(!) retrace steps back to “Vaughan’s” gate by staying left, and this time bear right along right edge of sometimes squelchy field, left of trees. Go through gate after 250m staying right in second field, with Garnons coming partly into view at 11 o’clock on the wooded hill. But don’t point! TR through gate in corner then left into the famous avenue. Don’t forget the memorial soon on the left and when the grass becomes partly road by “humps” just carry on towards the church tower. In front of the plinths on Monnington Court Drive bear left as signed “to the church” passing Albert House. TR along the signed green lane, “to the church,” along the stream and through the gate. 3. St Mary’s Church Monnington-on-Wye. Go through the “old slanting mouldering”, lych-gate and note that the roof is gabled on all four sides. Go right around the churchyard, perhaps thinking about Owain Glyndwr, and respect the privacy of the Court and lake. Leave by the waymarked southern entrance to the right edge of the orchard, and TL after 200m with a line of fencing directly down behind you. TL just beyond the telegraph pole, then left again past “King Charles Cottage” to the kiosk. Kilvert’s associates the Cornwell family lived over at Moccas Court, and until 1965 they also owned Monnington Court and the surrounding farm. But after the bad winter of 1960 had wrecked the toll bridge and made the land inaccessible from Moccas, so the farm was sold to Bulmers Ltd in 1965. This accounts for the abundance of cider orchards around the village. The vicar himself once paid Miss Newton of “The Cottage” sixteen shillings and eight pence for 25 gallons of cider – but we don’t know whether he drank it all himself.