Blackstone Riverside Park

The areas of young woodland were planted to create a pattern of fields and glades. These are native trees that would have been found in Britain before man cleared this site to create farmland. Blackstone cliffs loom across the river from the meadows. They are red sandstone rock, so are a lovely warm colour even on the dullest days. Once thousands of Salmon swam up river every year to spawn in the Welsh mountain streams. This stretch is very popular with fishermen now, though they are likely to catch Barbel, Chub and Pike, rather than Salmon.

It is difficult to picture now, but this countryside was hot dry dessert many million years ago. Thick layers of wind-blown sand built up in the desert, which gradually hardened to form the sandstone you see today. When ice melted during the Ice Age, enormous floods swept down, cutting this valley in the soft rock, in which the River Severn now flows. In the Middle-Ages Christian hermits carved a cell and chapel in the soft rock of the cliff face. Here they could pray and meditate undisturbed. Local folklore believes that hermits from Blackstone Rock rescued infants from the river and gave them the surname 'Severn', as if they were born of the river.

The river used to be the earliest route to transport goods across the country. Coal and iron from Ironbridge, wood and charcoal from the Wyre Forest, salt from Droitwich, wine from Bristol, all passed this site on barges called trows. Sailing downstream was easy, but the trows had to be hauled back upstream by gangs of men. Their feet wore the riverside paths that we can now wander at leisure. Upstream to Bewdley and downstream to Ribbesford wood and Stourport on a pleasant day both make fine walks.

Birds find food in the river and along its banks. The sight of a Heron or Kingfisher is not uncommon here, and you are sure to see ducks, geese, Moorhen and Coot. Trees line the river, many being pollarded Willow. They are cut at about head height so several branches grow from the old cut, making the tree stronger. Wild flowers grow around the edges of the grassy meadows, with Rosebay Willowherb, Yellow Flag Iris and Himalayan Balsam adding a splash of colour in the spring and summer. Himalayan Balsam is a foreign plant viewed with mixed feelings. A conservationist's nightmare, as it spreads very quickly and shades out native plants. 'Balsam bashing' work parties are organised to control the plant.

Before the Bewdley Bypass was built these meadows were part of Winterdyne Farm. You can still see the remains of a farm building on the edge of the car park. As these meadows are fairly flat, being along the river they do flood occasionally in winter.

In nearby Ribbesford church the carvings above the door depict a beast with a fish's head. An archer was aiming across the river at a deer, and as he shot, a Salmon leapt out of the water and was caught by the arrow before it hit the deer on the far bank.

Another version of perhaps the same story of the river and archers, is of Robin of Horsehill, who shot an arrow from a meadow below Ribbesford church across the River Severn. It struck a Salmon in mid-flight, and landed in front of the hermitage. The Salmon contained the lost ring of Honorias, the daughter of the Norman Lord of Tickenhill, and his reward for finding the ring was his daughter's hand in marriage.