Thornbury Wayfinders

7 Newpark about 12 K or 7.5 miles

This walk is inspired by Edward Jenner’s involvement in the aftermath of The Berkeley Poaching Affray of 1816. The walk visits Berkeley, its castle kennels and deer park. There are views from the ridge and New Park Farm, a church at Rockhampton and mediaeval fish ponds.

To get to the start, take the number 62 bus from Rock Street, Thornbury to Berkeley Square  School bus stop.

From the bus stop, head down High Street.

On the left at the end of Church Lane is The Chantry aka Dr Jenner’s House, which houses the Jenner Museum. Edward Jenner is most famous for popularising the idea of Vaccination against smallpox in 1796. Vaccination gets its name from vaccus Latin for cow via Variolae vaccinae,  which is cowpox. The idea was that an infection with cowpox would protect against the much more virulent smallpox – inspired by the famously clear complexions of milk maids. 

Thomas Fewster, a surgeon and apothecary of Castle Street, Thornbury favoured Variolation instead of Vaccination at debates in the Ship Inn at Alveston. This is the idea of inoculation with an attenuated form of the smallpox virus.

Continue down the High Street and cross branches of the Little Avon River.

Look over to the left for views of Berkeley Castle. The imposing building on the other side of the second bridge houses the Berkeley Hunt Kennels.

Continue past the Berkeley Estate offices on the left and the Salutation at Ham.

The pub is the home of Tiley’s Brewery. Currently, it is open in the evenings and at lunchtime only on the weekend.

Continue past the green and a road on the right signposted to Clapton, Bevington and Hill and climb the stile next to the gate. Follow the path diagonally across the field to a ladder stile into Whitcliff Deer Park. 

Note the imposing lodge on the left, which houses terriers and other dogs.

Follow the marked trail up to the crest of the ridge, which is, for some unaccountable reason labelled Berkeley Vale on the OS map. The actual path is clearly marked with white posts on the ground.

There is a splendid herd of red deer in the park, but they are often hiding themselves in hidden corners. There are spectacular views over to Lydney in the Forest of Dean on the right and across the actual Vale of Berkeley towards the Cotswolds on the left, so there is no need to feel too disappointed if you don’t see any actual deer on the occasion.

Continue along the ridge top track until you come to another ladder stile that leads out of the park.

Over the stile follow the track or bridleway straight ahead. When the track bends to the left, pause to look at the track over the gate into Cat Grove Wood ahead.

The Berkeley Estate has historical reasons for discouraging access to Cat Grove Wood, because this was the site of a fatal confrontation between heavily armed poachers and gamekeepers armed with sticks in 1816.

Follow the bridleway down the hill.

You may notice small gates to the left and right. These do not indicate rights of way. They are hunting gates designed to allow access to hunt servants and other members of the Berkeley Hunt.

At the bottom, turn right through a gateway onto a farm track leading to Newpark Farm.

Newpark Farm (called New Park House on some old maps) is an imposing building. In a certain light it can look a bit like a castle. It was here that Edward Jenner treated some of the keepers who had received gunshot wounds during the Berkeley Poaching Affray. He had plenty to do. William Ingrams had been shot dead. Charles Davis lost an eye, Charles Pinnel was lamed for life and three more required treatment.

When Newpark Farm comes into view, follow the track to the right which goes along the top of the field and enters Roundhouse Wood.

This is where Colonel Berkeley’s keepers, reinforced by some of Lord Ducie’s men, were gathered to wait for the approaching poaching gang. They had been tipped off, because John Allen, the leader of the poaching gang had written a note to Miss Florence Langley of Hill Court, warning her to withdraw her keepers on that particular night. Sure enough, they were alerted by the sound of shotguns going off in Cat Grove Wood on the other side of the field called the Bowling Green. Bravely, they headed towards the sound of gunfire, although they were only armed with cudgels.

The two sides squared off in a ride in the wood. The keepers cried “Huzzah!” and the poachers replied “Glory ! Glory!” At first they were content with battering each other, but inevitably a gun went off and all hell broke loose. 

Soon the poachers broke through the line of keepers – their faces blacked to disguise their features and white stars chalked on their hats – and fled across the Bowling Green into Roundhouse Wood. The remaining keepers were in no state to pursue them.

However, Miss Langley’s men arrived in the morning and were able to follow the tracks left by the fleeing gang. We can do the same.

Follow the track alongside the new planting in the wood, then turn left to follow the track to a hunting gate out of the wood. Follow the path to the right shadowing the edge of the wood to a kissing gate into the next field.

Head down the field to a gate onto Woodend Lane. Turn right and follow the lane until you come to a kissing gate on the left.

There is a running stream on the right of the lane. It was probably here that the poachers paused to wash the burnt cork from their face.  Being blacked up at night was a capital offence under the Black Act of the ninth year of the reign of George I.

Follow the path across the middle of the first field, the right hand side of the second and left hand side of the third to emerge through a Bristol gate across Rockhampton Rhine.

Miss Langley’s men were in a bit of a quandary. In those days, Rockhampton was in the Hundred of Langley and Swineshead, which, in spite of their mistress’ name, was outside their jurisdiction. Besides which, the hoar frost, which made the footprints stand out, was melting, so the tracks were becoming harder to follow. Nearly all of them went back to Hill.

However, one intrepid man had heard that John Allen had been recognized, in spite of the burnt cork, and he had a shrewd idea which way he had gone.

Cross the road and bear right to pick up the rhine on the far side of the green. Turn right and follow the rhine until you come to a bridge over it. Follow the path across the next two fields until you emerge on a road.

Go straight ahead over a cattle grid and look for some steps up to a kissing gate on the right.

Go through the churchyard of St Oswald’s Church to a stile into the next field. Follow the path across the field to a hedge corner, then follow the hedge on the left to a pair of stiles. The first one is a bit awkward.

Follow the path through the Mount Pleasant Tree Farm to emerge onto a road. Turn left and then right on the drive up to Luce’s Farm.

When you can, turn right and follow the hedge on your right through three field boundaries.

After the third, look for a bridge over a ditch on your right.

Go diagonally across the field then shadow the hedge ahead until you come into Catbrain Lane. Follow this to the end and cross Newton Hill into Horse Lane.

Follow Horse Lane until you come to a Baptist Chapel.

This is Lower Morton, the former home of John Allen, the leader of the poaching gang. I don’t know exactly where he lived, but he was no cottager. He was a farmer and a tax collector, so he could have lived in any of the substantial houses hereabouts. Miss Langley’s man claimed to have seen copious footsteps in his yard and got word back to Colonel Berkeley.

Colonel Berkeley was not a temperate man. He was also feeling guilty because he had sent his men out to face shotguns with sticks. So when he turned up on John Allen’s doorstep, he was fuming and waving his pistol about. Allen refused to come out until the Colonel calmed down. Eventually he was taken into custody after receiving only a blow or two from the Colonel.

Perhaps more significantly, John Greenaway, his servant, was also arrested, and he was keen to save his own neck. So he decided to turn King’s evidence and testify against the rest of the gang.

It fell to Edward Jenner, the most educated man in the Colonel’s employ, to write down  his testimony

From Horse Lane, turn left and follow the road through the village. Keep left down Morton Street and continue to Butt Lane. Turn left and then right past the Ring Tail Cattery.

Cross over Barley Fields and follow the yellow grit path over Harvest Way until you arrive at the end of a cil-de-sac. Continue straight ahead to a footbridge and around the edge of Fishponds Wood to find a kissing gate. 

Through the gate go ahead then left on a path alongside some houses. At a T-junction do a right left jink across a bridge into a streamside open space. Follow the path around to the right to an underpass beneath Park Road.

Continue along the path between the stream and the scout hut. Follow it as winds alongside the stream to emerge on the Gloucester Road near a zebra crossing.

On the other side, find another streamside path and follow it until you come to a cross path. Turn right.

At the other side of the field, go down an enclosed path through to a road called Hillcrest.

Turn left and then right into Crispin Lane, which leads through to Pullen’s Green.

You are now very close to where you caught the bus to Berkeley. However, there is still a bit of the tale untold. So we need to find a place to sit and rest up over an appropriate beverage and find out the fate of the poachers.

For some people, this might be the Baptist Church Centre, for others it might be Hawkes House, the Royal George, the Bristol Coffee Company, the Swan or the Butcher’s Hook. (This list is far from exhaustive!)

Over a pint or a pot of tea, you might like to consider the fate of Will Penny who was pursued to Bristol by the famous Bow Street Runner, John Vickery, who dragged him out after a violent scuffle in the kitchen. Penny tried to get the gathering crowd to rescue him on the grounds that he was only poaching, but John Vickery and most neutrals thought he had fired the fatal shot that killed William Ingrams.

It was he, at any rate, who stood next to John Allen the ring leader on the gallows at Gloucester Gaol.

And what of Greenaway – the traitor – who betrayed his co-conspirators? He was looked after by Colonel Berkeley, who had extensive estates and was able to set him up away from those who might wish him harm. Some people believed he was the one who had fired the fatal shot, and turned King’s Evidence to make sure somebody else got the blame.

Many of the conspirators were sufficiently well off to escape from the country – to Ireland or the States. But eleven were brought to trial on the evidence of Greenaway. Nine of them were given a one way ticket to Australia, including William Brodribb, attorney, who got the conspirators to swear an oath – not on the Bible but on an edition of The Gentleman’s Magazine.

Edward Jenner was so dispirited by the unreasonable outcome of the trial that he left Berkeley shortly afterwards.

Colonel Berkeley became unpopular, but he didn’t care. He commissioned a painting of the incident, which he kept in the breakfast room at Berkeley Castle.