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Home , Cefn Einion, Clun, Clun Castle, Clun Forest, Mainstone

to Route 1 Serenity, Conflict and Inspiration Ride Clun began as a motte and castle built by the Norman, Robert de Say, around 1140-50. It was originally built with timber defences but these were replaced by a stone structure to create a formidable Norman fortress. The castle became the property of the Fitzalan family who endeavoured to make the village a place where Welsh and English cultures of keeping out the Welsh? In total the would intermingle but their effort was monument is 80 miles long and the Offa’s short-lived. The castle Dyke Path National Trail follows most of its was abandoned in the course. late 13th century and consequently fell into Rivers Clun and Teme ruin. The remains are The River Clun rises in the hills, under the guardianship near Anchor, and meanders south east to Described by Housman as one of the ‘quietest In order to quell a Welsh uprising against of English Heritage and join the . The source of the Teme places under the sun’ Clun may have a sleepy the King William created are freely accessible to is in mid and forms the - façade but this belies this active little town. the Marcher Lordships. These were granted the public. Wales border for much of its length in It’s ancient origin’s can be traced from Saxon to his most valued supporters and they Shropshire. These rivers support significant times and the settlement has a history of were given virtual independence as long Offa’s Dyke populations of otters. This is a conservation growth as a prosperous to a as they upheld and protected the Norman You will cross the mighty earthwork, Offa’s success story and many stretches of decline becoming a charming backwater lands. Clun was the location chosen by the Dyke, believed to have been built by King water throughout the county in the heart of the . Here Marcher Lords to build their line of defence. Offa of Mercia in the late eigth century AD. now provide homes traditions survive, the most notable being The remains of this stronghold still overlook Archaeologists argue the purpose of the for these elusive the annual Festival in May. This is the town. Look back as you climb up out of earthwork – was it purely delineating the animals after an when Frostie, Queen of Cold challenges the the Clun for a glorious view of the town. extent of the Kingdom of Mercia or was absence of many Green Man in the Battle of the Bridge. If the it a military structure with the intention years. Green Man doesn’t see her off then there is In more recent years Clun has provided no Summer in the Clun Valley. inspiration for artists and writers. It is believed that Sir Walter Scott wrote ‘The KEY to maps Public House Cafe / Shop Clun has not always been such a peaceful Betrothed’ whilst staying at the Buffalo Inn. Telephone Church spot. This has been one of the most turbulent The playwright, , spent many Ride Route with direction number Car Parking Public Toilet and fought over borderlands in Britain. It is years in the parish and his final resting place Visitor Information Buildings Offa’s country where the Saxon ruler built is in Clun churchyard. Bruce Chatwin’s ‘On Bridleway his magnificent Dyke to mark the extent of the Black Hill’ gains much of its atmosphere Footpath INFORMATION the great Kingdom of Mercia. You will cross from the area around Clun. Byway The Sun, Clun: 01588 640305 the earthwork where it is revealed at its best A Road / B Road The White Horse, Clun: 01588 640305 striding across Llanfair Hill and wonder at how this monument was achieved at a time Other road The Waterdine, Llanfair Waterdine: 01547 528214 Lloyney Inn, Lloyney: 01547 528498 when the only equipment available was man and shovel. Route 1 Clun to Llanfair Waterdine: 7 miles / 11.5 km

Start: Clun High Street • OS map 201 • Grid Ref: SO304808

1 From the High Street in Clun (B4368 towards ) turn down the road opposite the garage which leads down to the ford 1 through the River Clun. There is a footbridge but if the river is too high for horses there is an alternative via Bridge Street and Church 2 Street (A488) and over the main bridge in Clun.

2 Follow Vicarage Road around to the church. Turn left onto the A488 then, after 75 metres, turn left and 8 At junction of begin the ascent of Church Bank. 3 tracks turn left and pass ruined

3 After about 1km take the bridleway building. Carry on right through gate, by Glebe 4 straight on Cottage, and go straight up steep through gate. pasture field. Follow bridleway through gates to join road. 9 Turn right at junction of

4 Cross straight over road 7 bridleways, and start descending 5 through gate, and along firstly a field 9 8 continue with field edge path, then ! boundary on left diagonally cross two # 6 straight on through fields as the bridleway gates, crossing several drops down to an old fields to meet Offa’s Dyke. metalled road. Turn right and follow out 10 Turn left, then right, onto to the A488 by The $ bridleway which runs down Tyndings. a field edge, through a dingle then across a field in the same

5 Carefully cross general direction to join a stone track straight over road which is Jack Mytton Way. to join bridleway which runs through 11 Turn left onto track, pass farm buildings and follow fields to join a stone track farm track round to the left. which leads down to a ford 12 Join lane ahead and follow through Graig down to join another and footbridge crossing the River road. Turn right into Llanfair Waterdine, past the Everest Hall on Redlake. Follow track to join road. your left, to the Church and ‘The Waterdine’ pub. 6 Turn right and follow road for about 1km then turn left onto another minor road at ‘Curlew Corner’. Finish: Llanfair Waterdine • OS map 201 • Grid Ref: SO242763 0 KILOMETRES 1 2 3 4 7 At T junction go left then shortly right onto bridleway which runs uphill following a sunken lane. Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Shropshire County Council 100019801. 2008 Llanfair Waterdine to Upper Duffryn Route 2 Welsh, Work and Wildlife Ride The Natives Shropshire There are two native sheep breeds that have developed in the area. The Clun Forest is a highly adaptable sheep with high disease resistancy and is now reared in many countries around the world. The breed characteristics are a dark brown, speckle free face with wool on top of the head and small pricked ears. In contrast the Kerry Hill sheep are quite distinctive. The breed has panda-like markings and pricked ears. These were bred to survive the harsh hill conditions and originated around the Useful Links! small town of Kerry in . At Llanfair Waterdine the Blue Remembered Hills Bridleway links with other promoted Red Kite routes that enable you to explore Wales. You may be lucky enough to spot the Cross the River Teme into Powys and from Red Kite soaring above with its distinctive Lloyney you can follow the Prince Llewellyn chestnut red colour and forked tail. Ride westwards to the Ceredigion coast Persecution of these elegant birds in 17th at Borth. Continue south to link with the and 18th centuries resulted in virtual Radnor Forest Ride heading for the Brecon extinction in Britain. A few pairs managed to Beacons and south Wales or link up with the The place names along the Blue Remembered There are few remnants of the forest today hang on in Mid Wales and concerted efforts Glyndwrs Way National Trail which consists Hills Bridleway now reflect the Welsh but ancient woodland does still exist in some by landowners, rural communities and of long stretches available to riders as well influence. We are west of Offa’s Dyke and deep, inaccessible valleys and a fairly large dedicated individuals and organisations as walkers and takes you to Machynlleth the Norman defence line. We are close to area of forest sits on the English/Welsh border have resulted in an increase of the Red Kite and back to Welshpool. You need never the current border between England and north of Anchor. The current landscape is one population. come home! Wales marked by the river Teme. The prefix of soft undulating hills with a remoteness of Llan meaning church or village becomes that takes your breath away. widespread. Bryn (hill) and Cwm (combe) are common place. The Bridleway climbs up out The countryside here is very much a working of the Teme Valley, over the watershed, and landscape, much of it over 1,000ft. Farming KEY to maps Public House Cafe / Shop down into the Clun Valley to Upper Dyffryn in the area is predominantly concerned with Telephone Church (meaning ‘valley’). stock rearing and there is very little arable Ride Route with direction number Car Parking Public Toilet land. Cattle and sheep graze contentedly but Jack Mytton Way This area is called the Clun Forest. There was farming at this altitude can be an inhospitable Visitor Information Buildings Bridleway once a large forest covering an area that occupation and it is a struggle to derive a stretched from up the Clun Valley. livelihood from this beautiful countryside. Footpath INFORMATIONThe key is yet to be completed: I’ll wait until all Byway Themap Waterdine, elements are Llanfair in place Waterdine: before I 01547do this 528214 A Road / B Road Lloyney Inn, Lloyney: 01547 528498 Do you have INFORMATION to go here? Other road Crown Inn, Newcastle on Clun: 01588 640271 Route 2 Llanfair Waterdine to Upper Duffryn: 5.25 miles / 8.5 km

Start: Llanfair Waterdine 8 Turn left onto minor road. OS map 201 • Grid Ref: SO242763  left at next junction 9 1 From the church continue along the minor road for and continue, ignoring a 1.5 km. left turn, and take the next road on the right. 2 Pass Melin y Grogue on your right, cross bridge and take the next lane on the right. 10 Follow road for 2km taking a right turn to

3 At T-junction turn left and then almost reach Upper Duffryn and immediately right. ! the B4368. 9 4 Go straight on at New House and after crossing brook take bridleway fork on Finish: Duffryn right. Follow uphill, keeping right on 8 OS map 201 joining a track, and continue climbing Grid Ref: SO226823 hillside.

5 Keep fence line on left to pass through 7 pasture fields. 6 6 At junction of bridleways turn left onto 5 track which runs past woodland to Hurgin 4 Farm. 3 7 At Hurgin Farm turn into the enclosure by the house then right through a gate in front of converted barn. Bear right and follow bridleway running uphill. 2 Bear left to follow a hedgeline along the hillside then climb up through fields (can be boggy when conditions are wet). After passing a tree plantation leave track and bear 1 right to bridlegate at top right corner of field. Go straight across field and follow bridleway out to road. 0 KILOMETRES 1 2 3 4 Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Shropshire County Council 100019801. 2008 Upper Duffryn to Bishop’s Moat Route 3 Heather and Highlands Ride Kerry Ridgeway Shropshire The Blue Remembered Hills Bridleway follows many historic trails but the oldest of all such tracks must be the Kerry Ridgeway. Its origins are lost in the mists of time but it is certainly earlier than the Iron Age and Dark Ages earthworks that cut its line. Nearby are Bronze Age burials, stone circles and Offa’s Dyke. It has a history of use as an important drovers road in the 17th and 18th centuries. Imagine the gruelling journey for the drovers herding their stock from the depths of Wales across these exposed hill tops to the English markets.

The Ridgeway never dips below 1,000ft above sea level and follows the crest of Kerry Hill which affords remarkable views Cantlin Stone over the . Only part of the On Shadwell Hill you will pass by the Cantlin route is traversed by riders on the BRH Stone. This commemorates the death of Heathland once covered the Clun Forest Small scale peat cutting on Rhos Fiddle bridleway but the entire Kerry Ridgeway is a travelling pedlar. A dispute broke out hills but only fragments survive, the rest during medieval times left a legacy of pools worthy of an expedition of its own. Travel amongst the surrounding parishes over having been ploughed up, much of this which has attracted wading birds, particularly the whole route of 15 miles following the who should incur the cost of burying the happening as part of the WW2 war effort. the curlew and snipe. Along with the heather, distinctive fox waymark stranger but finally Bettws y Crwyn gave The land was then reseeded to improve the sphagnum moss and cotton grass are found from The Cider House, on him a resting place. 200 years later this act grassland or planted with conifers. The Blue in the wetter areas and there is a fine show the Newtown-Knighton of charity paid off as, on the strength on the Remembered Hills Bridleway passes two of the yellow mountain pansy, a plant once Road to Bishop’s Castle position of the stone, Bettws Parish gained nature reserves where the natural heathland common on Shropshire hilltops. – further details from several hundred acres of land. is being preserved along with its wildlife. Powys County Council. Where the surfaced forestry road comes to The haunting call of curlew over Rhos Fiddle an end and the Kerry Ridgeway becomes a increases the feeling of ancient wilderness. grassy track there is an area of heathland KEY to maps Public House Cafe / Shop This remnant of heathland, amongst tracts known as Lower Short Ditch Turbary. A Telephone Church Ride Route with direction number of improved grassland, is surely the most turbary was a commoners right to cut peat for Car Parking Public Toilet remote spot on the Bridleway. This land is their own domestic use. It would have been Jack Mytton Way Visitor Information Buildings now owned by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust. a job for the hardy to fetch their fuel from Bridleway Native breeds are used to graze the site. You this remote place. The Lower Short Ditch, Footpath INFORMATION may begin to think you are in Scotland if you is one of three defensive border earthworks Byway The Sun, Clun: 01588 640305 see the herd of Highland cattle or glimpse along the Kerry Ridgeway thought to have A Road / B Road The White Horse, Clun: 01588 640305 a dark Hebridean sheep . These animals are been a control point for travellers. Other road The Waterdine, Llanfair Waterdine: 01547 528214 able to endure the harshest of conditions and Lloyney Inn, Lloyney: 01547 528498 thrive on the grasses and herbs characteristic of the heathland vegetation Route 3 Duffryn to Bishop’s Moat: 11.5 miles / 19 km

Start: Duffryn OS map 201 • Grid Ref: SO 226823 % & 1 Turn left onto the Anchor–Clun road (B4368) and continue for 350 metres taking the next left turn. Follow the lane for about 1 km as it climbs up out of the Clun valley. 2 On the right take the driveway down to Black Mountain Farm. Bear right in front of the $ farmhouse then left through yard and past buildings. 3 After building on right take # gate on right then keep left following bridleway along a track which leads to New House 0 KILOMETRES 1 2 3 4 Farm. 4 Keep to bridleway above the ! 8 On meeting farm drive turn left and farm then cross field down to join follow track out to road. a track with fence line on your right. 9 Turn left and follow road past the wild open heathland of Rhos Fiddle. Keep to bridleway along 10 Keep ahead after cattle grid, pass turn on left, then turn right onto track. 5 7 9 hillside through three 8 11 Keep ahead along track through forestry to a gate leading into grazing gates. After passing above land. Follow track straight across, past the Cantlin Stone, to meet the Kerry some woodland bear right 6 Ridgeway. Turn right. down towards buildings of The Kerry Ridgeway has its own a distinctive waymark. Follow this as it Badgermoor. Pass through 12 5 runs along the English – Welsh border. For 4km, to Pantglas, it is a grass bridle gate and turn left past or stone trackway. the dwelling and join access 4 track. Follow this out to the road. 3 13 At Pantglas the Ridgeway joins the tarmac lane. Turn right here and keep to the Ridgeway all the way (4km) until it meets a junction of roads at Turn right then right again at T junction. 6 2 Bishop’s Moat. Follow road down to Weals Farm on the 1 Anchor- Clun road (B4368). 14 When you reach a junction of roads you will see the remains of the motte and bailey castle on your left. To visit Bishop’s Castle carry straight on, to Cross road carefully turning right for a few 7 continue on the Blue Remembered Hills Bridleway, turn right. metres. Take bridleway on left which follows an old track up the hillside. After passing through Finish: Bishop’s Moat • OS map 216 • Grid Ref: SO 292895 gate keep old fence line on left and continue

forward to reach gate. Cross fields to Curney Farm. Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Shropshire County Council 100019801. 2008 Bishop’s Moat to Clun Route 4 Bishops and Brewing Ride Jack Mytton Way Shropshire Part of the Blue Remembered Hills Bridleway coincides with the Jack Mytton Way. This 68 mile route crosses Shropshire from the to the Welsh border at Llanfair Waterdine. The distinctive waymark depicts the legendary Jack Mytton, a characterful but wayward local landowner after whom the route is named. There is also a network of ten circular routes linked to the Jack Mytton Way Bishop’s Moat which criss cross the Shropshire Hills, stretching from Wenlock Edge, across the , to Standing at a height of 340m (1,115ft), the jagged Stiperstones. Further details from overlooking the Powys-Shropshire border, Shropshire County Council. is the remains of a motte and bailey castle known as Bishop’s Moat. It is now a gorse covered mound but it can be seen how its position, lying at a narrow point along Bury Ditches is a spectacular Iron Age hill the hill, could have helped control access fort which can be visited on foot. The fort along the Ridgeway. The earthwork is on occupies an area of about 3 hectares (7½ a site founded around 1120 and named acres) and is widely acknowledged as one of after the bishops of Hereford who held the the finest hill forts in Britain. The defending The Bridleway winds down from the Kerry The remote rural community of is area in the middle ages, the district known ramparts are up to seven metres high and Ridgeway through the farming landscape named after the stone which now stands in as Bishop’s Teirtref. The castle stood at the were designed to help the inhabitants west of Bishop’s Castle. The town is only front of the pulpit of the Parish Church. It was western end of this territory and would survive the most ferocious of attacks. It is a further two miles along to the end of the most likely used as a weight for bags of grain have played a role in the administration of only since the 1970’s that visitors have been Ridgeway and is well worth a visit. Formerly as the settlement in medieval times was a the area. able to see the fort in its full splendour as one of the smallest boroughs in England the trading post on the Kerry Ridgeway. However previously it was well hidden by forestry for town is a vibrant community. It was founded there is a local folk tale, dating from the 19th many decades. in Saxon times when the land was given to the century, which recounts the stone (weighing Bishop of Hereford by the lord of the manor, 204.5 pounds!) was used by the young men Egwin Shakehead, after he was cured of palsy of the locality to demonstrate their strength in Hereford Cathedral. A castle was built in the and win their lady love. According to the tale Public House Cafe / Shop KEY to maps 11th century and the town gradually grew up the young men competed in a test of strength Telephone Church Ride Route with direction number around it. which involved throwing the stone across the Car Parking Public Toilet Jack Mytton Way quaintly named river Unk. The one to throw Visitor Information Buildings The occupations and industries in the town the ‘mainstone’ the furthest won the hand of Bridleway are still predominately based on agriculture. the lady of his choice. It is unlikely that the Footpath INFORMATION Brewing has been carried out since at least the local youth of today would go to such lengths Byway The Sun, Clun: 01588 640305 17th century when the Three Tuns public house to ‘get their girl!’ A Road / B Road The White Horse, Clun: 01588 640305 obtained a licence and the tradition continues in the town to this day. There are two breweries Other road in the town and there is much of interest to the visitor among the historic streets. Route 4 Bishop’s Moat to Clun: 12 miles / 19.5 km

Start: Bishop’s Moat • OS map 216 1 8 Cross straight over onto a minor Grid Ref: SO292896 road to Acton. In hamlet bear right towards Acton House then left onto

1 At junction of roads take a right turn 2 a hedged lane which climbs up and towards Mainstone. Turn off the road where along the side of Acton Bank to it bears right, after about 400 metres, and take Brockton village. the lane ahead. 3 4 At Brockton turn right onto road 9 2 As the lane begins to climb take a bridleway on and follow for about 2km to Bury the left which crosses fields then follows round Ditches car park. the hillside to join a stone track. 5 Keep left through the car park 10 3 Just before Middle Woodbatch Farm there is a and here the route joins the junction of bridleways. Turn right up a sunken Jack Mytton Way and runs lane which climbs uphill, crosses a field to a gate along the hillside below onto another bridleway. 6 9 the hillfort.

4 Turn right and follow track out to road. Cross straight 7 11 The route turns left off over road and follow the track which takes 8 the main forestry track. over Reilth Top. This joins the road at Guilden Down and

5 At road turn left and continue for about ½ mile (1km). At descends into the town go straight over the crossroads and left at the next of Clun past the Youth junction. After another ½ mile (1km) turn right into forestry and ! Hostel and Memorial follow track through Blakeridge Wood. # Hall.

6 Where a track joins from left keep right then follow the track as it 12 After passing the bears to the right eventually reaching a track leading to the left Memorial Hall turn left out of the forestry into a grass field with a track leading out to along Ford Street to High the road by farm buildings. Street and the village centre. 7 Turn left onto road and follow out to the A488 Bishops Castle – Clun Road. $ Finish: Clun High Street OS map 201 Grid Ref: SO304808 0 KILOMETRES 1 2 3 4

Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Shropshire County Council 100019801. 2008