On a delightful sunny and mild morning nine walkers joined William at Severn Beach which was named after the nearby Beach Farm when the Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1850. Apparently Napoleonic war prisoners worked on the sea defences in this area and when a railway station was built in 1922, Severn Beach soon expanded into a riverside resort and by the 1930’s it soon became known as the ‘Blackpool of the West’.
After an early start their first stop was at Down’s Bakery which is renowned especially to walkers and cyclists for its delicious homemade buns, cakes and bread for some treats to munch on the hoof, before joining part of the long distance Severn Way.
Heading north the route led them underneath the beautiful Second Severn Crossing, which links England with southwest Wales and was officially opened on 5 June 1996. Started in 1992 at a cost of £330 million and 5,128 metres in length, it took four years to build after the first Seven Bridge was found to be struggling to cope with the vast amounts of traffic passing through.
Continuing on to the small hamlet of New Passage, its history began when an Act of Parliament in 1530 declared ‘No boat shall cross the River Severn between sunset and sunrise’ which was to prevent the murders, thefts and burning of property being carried out by the Welsh raiders and so in 1630 the New Passage Ferry Company was created and ran from Portskewett and soon it began to rival the old Aust ferry crossing.
During the English Civil War (1642-49) whilst in pursuit of King Charles I from Raglan Castle and over the New Passage Ferry, the Cromwellian soldiers chasing him forced the ferrymen to carry them over the Severn when the tide was out but on the turn. When the boats reached the English side the soldiers were informed it would be perfectly safe for them to walk out onto the land at English Stones Rocks. But with the incoming rush of the tide all 60 soldiers who were weighed down by their heavy armour perished in the sea. Cromwell then closed down the ferry in 1645 and it did not reopen until 1718 when the St Pierre family took over and the Aust Ferry crossing was renamed the Old Passage.
With the arrival of the railways in 1863 passengers were able to enjoy the delights of a large hotel, a promenade, tea rooms and a long railway pier and following the opening of the Severn Tunnel in 1886, sadly the New Passage Ferry became obsolete. A stone railway abutment pier is the only reminder of the original line which extended into the river.
Large numbers of migratory birds use the mud flats beside the river as a place to stop and rest after their long journeys from Greenland, Iceland, Russia and Scandinavia and continuing along the Severn Way there was a pause for morning coffee.
Sitting beside the wonderfully named Cake Pill Gout which is situated on the Severn flood plain and controls the flow of water from the surrounding low-lying farmland by means of a sluice gate and drainage channels or reens, the drainage of the marshland historically goes back to Saxon times after the Romans first built a wall to keep out the sea. These drainage channels were always maintained by the use of manual labour but now the work is carried out mechanically.
Further on came another pause to view the remains of the old Aust Ferry terminal which finally stopped running in 1966 when the original Severn Bridge was opened.
Then continuing up to the bridge and crossing the M48 via the footbridge which runs across the tops of the toll booths and past the original Aust services now owned by an insurance company, a pedestrian tunnel led under the motorway and into Aust village for lunch at St John’s Church followed by a poem from W H Davies entitled ‘A Fleeting Wonder.’
See where he rides, all hot and fast –
High on his horse that kicks
Lightning and thunder out of the wind,
While fools applaud his tricks.A year or two, and there he lies,
A bleeding thing, and thrown;
Down in the dust he dribbles blood,
Forgotten and unknown.Whoa! Steady now, my little horse,
A gentle canter past:
Though faintly cheered, there’s nothing gained
By riding wild and fast.
From Aust, a footpath beside Foss Ditch led on to the lovely hamlet of Northwick, originally known as Norwican with the Saxon word ‘wic’ meaning a place or dairy farm.
The tall bell tower of the church of St Thomas is all that remains of the building. In the 11th century a church dedicated to St George was built but by 1370 the church was in ruins and in the 15th century was re-dedicated to St Thomas, being rebuilt upon the former marshland in 1840. It was declared unsafe in 1962 and had to be demolished except for the tower which contains only one bell.
Carefully crossing the A403 beside North Worthy Farm and making their way through fields to Redwick and across the Severn Tunnel entrance to a footbridge over the M48, they made their return to Severn Beach just as the sun was setting.
