Jack Mytton's Way
- ronniesramblings
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
Part 1
We share with you Ronnie’s adventure along the Jack Mytton’s Way, a trail that winds through Shropshire’s peaceful countryside. It’s the only long-distance trail I joined my parents on, and I also wrote a short piece. I hope to weave my memories into Ronnie’s reflections to bring this journey to life. This first part gives a brief insight into who Jack Mytton was, followed by the first day of our adventure!
The Jack Mytton’s Way is a purpose planned bridleway for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and crosses 70+ mile of the South Shropshire Hill Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Mad Jack Mytton lived and died at Halston Hall near Whittington which had been his family’s home since 1539. Halston had originally been founded in the mid 12th century as the administrative centre for Hospitaller estate in North Wales when Roger de Powys, Lord of Whittington, granted a proportion of his demesne to the Hospitallers, the preceptory was founded between 1165 and 1187. Richard Mytton was granted a five year lease of the estate in 1539 one of the conditions of the lease required him to live at Halston, provide hospitality and find a priest for the chapel. The estate came into his ownership in 1551. In the late part of the 17th century the present house was built on an elevated site to the north of the original buildings, which it is presumed were demolished at the same time. The timber framed chapel still remains and probably dates from the early 15th century.
Jack Mytton was an early cricket, fox hunter and race horse owner. Fox hunting was the main sport of the Shropshire gentry in the 18th and 19th centuries. Flat race meetings flourished as did steeple chase meetings, these were important social events of the gentry. The Mytton family were racing enthusiasts and owned part of Shrewsbury Race Course selling it in 1831. Jacked owned race horses from 1817 to 1830 attended most of the principle race meetings which included social events such as balls and assemblies, theatres and concerts, cockfighting, a variety of entertainment, public breakfasts and dinners, foot races, pig chasing and athletic sports also took place at the same time, Jack owned 20 racing horses with which he won possibly as many as 165 prizes, but by 1830 he only had two.
He set up three miles of plantations for game, shooting 50 brace of partridge on the first day of each season and recording large bags of pheasants and hares. He hunted foxes first close to Halston and in North Shropshire and later near Shifnal and Staffordshire, covering large distances with his horse. He employed twelve men in his hunting stables but sold his hunters and pack on his marriage in 1821 although he bought another pack soon after and hunted around Halston.
He was famed for his foolhardy tricks, usually involving a horse. It is said he brought the family name into disrepute, but he was generous and well-liked by local people. There are many stories about him, it is said he tried to leap some crossing gates on a horse which was still harnessed to a trap! On one cold night he insisted his horse be admitted to an inn so it could sleep by the fire. Mad Jack was invariably drunk and he shamed his family (his mother knew the Ladies of Llangollen), he died a bankrupt in gaol in Shrewsbury and when his body was carried the 20 or so miles home to Halston Hall for burial, the road was lined with mourners. Bells tolled throughout the day in Wem and Ellesmere, and in Shrewsbury shops shut as a sign of mourning.
Day 1
The walk starts from Ray’s Bridge over a tributary of the Borle Brook (which is in turn a tributary of the River Severn) just below Ray’s Farm which is just as well as this is where we left the car while we attempted the walk. Rays Farm is open to visitors and has many animal attractions including rabbits, red squirrels, goats and deer, llamas, alpacas and Highland cattle, there is a walk through the woodland following a path where kingfishers and otters are a possibility, at the end of the trail is a bird hide for bird watchers and posters to identify the birds you see. But beware! For all you see is not alive! There are more than 40 wooden sculptures along the trail including characters from fairy tales as well as examples of wildlife.
The walk begins by following a trail through woodland which was once some sort of industrial area even though today it is in a deep and dark little-known corner of Shropshire. It had rained heavily in the morning so it was wet underfoot but the trees kept the rain off. Navigation was not a problem just follow the path through the wood to the ford. The trail through the wood is described as an old pack horse trail which possibly ran from Ludlow to the River Severn at Hampton Loade where there is a ferry across the river. The pack horses probably took agricultural produce to the industrial area around Dudley and returned with manufactured goods for the rural communities of South Shropshire.
After the ford we turned uphill and into Highley. Looking behind us as we walked uphill we could see a hill some distance away with what appeared to be a tower or even an old windmill on the top, Jack Mytton’s Way starts to the north east of this hill and follows it around to the west so it was to be a well known landmark for several days. I think it was probably Brown Clee Hill, but I’m not sure.
We walked into Highley and turned off down Vicarage Lane to Wood End Farm, where we were much amazed at the trophies (deer/stag heads) on one of the barn roofs. Passing alongside the farmyard we came out into open fields and our first views of the River Severn. We negotiated our way across several fields to Londonderry Coppice where we stopped for coffee. Some of the directions had been a little vague but we soon got to understand them. Coffee over we crossed some more fields and down a lane to Chelmarsh Reservoir. We could soon see Dinney Barn Farm across the fields – our campsite for the night,
This part of Shropshire is just off the East Shropshire coal fields and there are several reminders of its industrial past.
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