PC THOMAS Simpson found William Hope up a pear tree.

The newspapers described the labourer as being a stout, thick-necked, burlylooking fellow, whose physiognomy tends to result in a low estimate of his moral character. A known petty criminal, the 30-year-old had spent some of his childhood in Ledbury Union Workhouse and recently served three years of a seven year transportation sentence.

Mary Corbett was a strong, ruddy and goodlooking 16-year-old, always cheerful, and a willing maidservant to the Skerretts of Ullingswick.

On a very wet and windy night in October, 1862, she had left The Gobbets to buy some candles from a beer house and shop called Half Way House. It was only about 400 yards along the lane towards the Burley Gate to Bodenham road and run by Mary Bevan.

Her husband cleared ditches and some knew her inn as the Drainer’s Arms.

After refusing an offer of a drink from Hope in the beer kitchen on her way through to the shop, Mary became so distracted that she went back to the farm without the candles. When she returned at 9.50pm, Mary again refused a glass of beer and left for home; but the maiden never got back again and William Hope’s landlady later reported that he had been missing from his lodgings that night.

Richard Mapp, who lived at The Haven between the beer house and The Gobbets, remembered hearing screams at about 10pm from the roadside outside his shop. Mary Corbett’s hairnet was found lying in the flattened vegetation on the grass verge in that vicinity.

Thatcher William Weaver found her violated body propped up against an apple tree in an adjoining orchard. A basketful of turnips which Hope had with him at the beer house were found in a corner of the same orchard.

Imprints in the dirt at the murder scene matched the ridges in Hope’s muddy corduroy trousers. His billycock hat was dirty, and his black coat was found in the hollow of a tree about 150 yards away. A week later his left hand was found to have injuries consistent with a human bite.

“To conclude this awful story, The murderer’s end is drawing nigh Everyone knows he is guilty, And he on the tree will certain die, The evidence was clear against him, He did the deed as all may see, Poor innocent Mary Corbett, Thy murderer will punished be.”

Hope was the last person to be hanged in public in Hereford. His execution took place above the gate of Hereford gaol on April 15, 1863, in front of a boisterous mass of spectators.

Mary Corbett was laid to rest in Ireland just a week after her murder.

Our excellent walk through “horsey” countryside takes us close to the scene of this sombre encounter.

The beer house did not last much longer, but the building survived in a semi-derelict state until the early 1980s.

It was inhabited by a character called Bunny Godsall who used to cycle into Hereford every day to visit the betting shops. For some obscure reason he usually blackened his face with soot before setting off.

After his bicycle had been stolen, he was forced to walk – but kept his cycling clips on his trousers just in case he found his bike.

When he was eventually taken into care, it was said that the first bath he had for many years hastened his death. As soon as his cottage, the old beer house, became vacant, it was demolished.

* With acknowledgment to The Pubs of Bromyard, Ledbury and East Herefordshire by John Eisel and Ron Shoesmith.

THE ROUTE 1. St Luke’s Church, Ullingswick. Park to right of lych-gate. With church back to your R, and car park directly behind you, TL along road to a T-junction of road and drive. TL along road to next junction. TR for 35m. TL along bridle path, L of new house and cottage, through bridle gate and metal gate. Follow channel alongside horse paddock. Go through 2 gates, skirting Moreton Wood, keeping to top of bank, through a gap, 40m ahead to gap on right. (Moreton Wood. In April 2013, National Beanpole Week celebrated this kind of coppiced woodland, its wildflowers, insects and birds, beanpoles and other coppice wood products).

2. Derndale Coppice. TR through gap quite steeply up footpath into trees to an aggregate drive which leads to a canopied building (L). Now bear R along this drive and follow path for two-thirds of a mile across Wood Hill, ignoring turns, down to the main road through Ullingswick. Pass Old School House, Townsend House, Pullen Farm, Ullingswick Pools and telephone box to point just past The Wilden.

3. Right turn for The Criftage. (About 200 yards further along the road, opposite The Haven, is the spot where Mary Corbett was accosted in 1862). TR (as if) for The Criftage.

Pass Dunder Camp, keep ahead at path junction along bridle path narrowing between trees. Emerge on to road at Lower Hope Lodge. (At Lower Hope Gardens, viewing is occasional or by appointment). TR along road two-thirds of a mile, steeply up to top.

4. Shortwood Working Farm. TR along wide footpath (as if) for Shortwood. (Views previously behind open up). Where drive goes left for Shortwood, go through gate ahead, paddock and gate. Follow Red Hill Coppice tree edge (R) down bank through gate. Drop through next gate, along channel, through gap, ahead, kink L and R, and go ahead along wide dirt track. (Views to Malverns.Wave to May Hill). Go through gate, L of Broxash Wood into Can Croft. At fence ahead, R of dwellings, TR for 25m down into trees, then TL through wide gate.

5. Hundred Bank path junction. (Careful!).

Take sharp R turn down aggregate bridle path, L of and below caravans. After 65m, go ahead (not L) through bridle gate (on R)into pasture. Skirt down Broxash Wood tree edge, soon through next gate. Keep on top R edge of bank, through next bridle gate, next gate, cordoned pasture, gate, channel and grassy path ahead.

6. Barn. When you reach a barn (on R), level with Ullingswick Church (L), TL along hedged bridle path and drive, to car park.