From The Very Heart of England to the Welsh Borders - walking in the ancient kingdom of Mercia

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Beautiful cottage in Broad Campden

Way back in the dark ages, after the Romans had departed but before Alfred the Great unified the Saxon kingdoms of England and defeated the Danes, England was divided into a number of kingdoms. The best known of these was undoubtedly Wessex, but the people of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire might disagree. These counties all stand in the ancient Saxon kingdom of Mercia. The best-known king of Mercia (certainly to walkers) was Offa who built a fortified earthwork for the full 180 miles of frontier between his kingdom and Wales. almost one and half millenia later much of the earthwork is still visible and a long distance path runs along its original course.

With a number of walks to look out in the general area, last week saw Ian walking in Gloucestershire and Shropshire. The first walk was in Gloucestershire and took in Chipping Campden and Broad Campden. Chipping Campden is a small market town with the most intact Flemish medieval high street in England, Broad Campden, in our opinion, contains the most attractive cottages in the Cotswolds (see picture).

Clun Castle

The next walk to look at was over in Shropshire, in West Mercia. This walk was a far more rugged proposition, the country around Offa's Dyke is high and wild with big far-reaching views. The towns are solid, attractive and, for the most part, have or have had a castle. The castle ruin in the picture is in the little town of Clun. The walk in question started in Clun and ended in the attractive hillside town of Bishop's Castle. After a brief valley walk and a climb upon to the Cefns ridge there was not a soul to be seen all day, with only sheep and birds of prey for company. This border area has a turbulent past, during the Roman conquest in the first century the local Celtic chieftain, Caradog, fought a guerilla war against the Romans, gaining their respect and eventually being made a Roman citizen. Most will know him better as Caractacus. The Saxons of Mercia (under King Offa) had their skirmishes  with the Welsh and after the Norman conquest a local Saxon thane, known as Wild Edric,  gave the new rulers a hard time!

During medieval times this area was known as the Marches of Wales and the barons were known as the Marcher Barons. They still owed a loyalty to the English King but had rights that no other Norman barons possessed; they were able to bestow market charters, establish hunting forests and create boroughs.  There were also a number of Royal taxes from which they were exempt. The Marcher laws were repealed in 1536, so had been in place for over four centuries. This area either side of the border between England and Wales possesses the highest concentration of Motte and Bailey castle ruins in Britain.

Ragleth Hill from From Colebatch

Shropshire remains one of England's best-kept secrets, most British people probably couldn't point to it on a map. The walking is superb, anyone who loves wild, lonely country steeped in history - Shropshire is the place for you.