Dead Woman's Thorn
Ledbury to Eastnor
We decided to follow the old pack-route to Eastnor from Ledbury that left the A449 at SO 714376 to find the path the drovers took to reach Hollybush Vaults (761369) and on to Longdon Marsh. (Hollybush is mentioned in drovers' account books; must have served a good ale.)
I wonder if the cunning Welshmen managed to avoid a Tollgate by doing so... the climb up to Eastnor is tough (see #1, 2), but so were the cattle and the men who drove them. Man and beast took hills in their stride.
I would have liked to include a fascinating true story about “Dead Woman's Thorn” (SO 722377), but no such story seems to exist. Why has a tumbledown corrugated iron shack been cursed with such an unforgettable name? (#4)
Then I read an article by Jeremy Harte, “Down among the Dead Men”, who says that nearly 300 examples of Dead Man's Lane/Field etc. can be found all over the country, mostly dating from before 1700 and mostly near or on parish boundaries. He concludes his article with this:
“Out of all the categories traditionally identified as a source of Dead Man names, the only one compatible with a distribution of these sites on parish boundaries is that of an outcast burial. The parish purged itself of its unwanted dead by dismissing them to the boundaries: here lie the heretic, the criminal and, most often, the suicide.”
I wonder why the dead thorn-owner has changed gender over the past 150 years... The tree is referred to as Dead Man's Thorn in old books...1
There is a bit of pasture around DWT – you can see the start of it in #3 – then some easy track leading to the village of Eastnor (#5). The sound of children playing happily echoed around the hills and we came away thinking Ledbury and district is such a happy, lucky town. What makes an area happy/lucky? Money, is that all? No, I think it's space too, and there's lots of it around Ledbury.
The top of Eastnor Castle is just visible on #5, but you have to look just right of centre, above the village houses.
We returned a different way, easier too, taking the path that branches off west just south of Eastnor church - at 732371. We didn't meet a single man or woman - dead or alive - on the whole journey.
1Read JL Carr's “A Month in the Country” for more on that. It's unforgettable.
