Distance: 5.4 miles

Difficulty of the Terrain: medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Rural walk in the Wye Valley through the southern fringes of Herefordshire to to Goodrich Castle described by William Wordsworth as the county’s “nobleist ruin”.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

“the nobleist ruin in Herefordshire”

Perched on a hillside near the point where Herefordshire’s hilly edges turn into its relatively flat interior, Goodrich Castle was described by the romantic poet and scribe who launched a thousand touristic tearooms William Wordsworth as the:

“…noblest ruin in Herefordshire”.

William wordsworth, 1793

Quite something, in the south westernmost fringes of the Midlands region where in the Middle Ages it can seem that every farmer existing at above subsistence level built themselves “a castle”.

Even in that context Goodrich during its days a military facility must have been impressive. Partly because of its commanding and isolated perch at the end of a ridge above the River Wye valley where it stands on a rocky promontory, its moat chiselled out of solid stone.

The castle was first constructed in the early phases of the Norman occupation of England, and took its current form as it was modernised and strengthened throughout the late Middle Ages.

After Wales was subjugated by English lords the region in which Goodrich Castle sits became an isolated, sparsely populated and politically more stable area with the characteristics of the backwoods. The Earls of Shrewsbury who owned the castle from the 15th Century and then the Earl of Kent who inherited it in 1616 maintained the castle and it transitioned into being a stately home.

It was refortified as a stronghold for Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the 1640s. First for Parliament, then given that the balance of forces in the region tended towards Royalism, for the King.

The castle’s current ruined state stems from a siege by Parliament in the closing phases of the main stages of the civil wars in England. In 1646 the castle was besieged following the New Model Army’s capture of Hereford, and after several months of skirmishing was heavily shelled, including by a huge (by mid-17th Century standards) mortar called “Roaring Meg” which had been created by a local foundry from the region’s iron ore and coal.

After the King’s final defeat, Parliament decided to “slight” the castle, blowing holes in its damaged curtain walls and rendering it indefensible.

Compared to other Medieval castles damaged in this way Goodrich Castle is fairly complete – despite its ruined state. This is because the ruins were in an isolated location which discouraged attempts to salvage and reused its stones, and also because its aristocratic owners continued to maintain it with varying degrees of enthusiasm. For parts of the 18th Century sections of the castle were leased as housing and inhabited.

Then during the late 18th Century and the 19th Century as fashions changed so Goodrich Castle became a celebrated ruin and a place that people travelled to see.

Paintings, drawings, and from the mid-19th Century onwards photographs, show that the castle was pretty overgrown during this time. But the ruins were sturdy, and widely visited, not least after 1873 when a railway line was constructed past the site.

In the 1820s there were serious attempts to convert the ruins into a dwelling. This did not come about but the antiquarian Sir Smuel Rush Meyrick who had proposed the scheme, did build a vast early neo-gothic pile next door called Goodrich Court. The sight of which offended the sensibilities of William Wordsworth when he revisited the Goodrich Castle ruins in 1841. Goodrich Court stood for over 100 years until 1949 when in line with the fashions of the time and the turn against massive, crumbling country houses, even by the rich, it was demolished. Some features of the property remain including a gatehouse.

Goodrich Castle itself became public property in 1920, after its then owner agreed to hand it over, after its increasingly decrepit fabric began to collapse. The Ministry of Works – as it was then – worked on stabilising the ruins, maintaining them in the typically sterile condition that they remain to this day.

Nowadays Goodrich Castle is a popular attraction in the south west of the Midlands region, just as it has been for the last 250 to 200 years. It is closed for the winter period, though you can still walk right up to the side of the moat to get a good view, but at other times of year can be accessed during the day in exchange for the price of admission or on presentation of an English Heritage membership card.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

Despite being the largest settlement in southern Herefordshire by quite some distance, Ross-on-Wye is one of those places where the last train departed about 60 years ago. It is, however, served by a pretty good bus service – roughly hourly – between Hereford and Gloucester. Both of which have fairly well served mainline train stations.

Upon reaching the old Market House (now an art gallery) in the centre of Ross-on-Wye, walk straight ahead towards a crossroads keeping right.

When you reach the crossroads turn right following a narrow – albeit busy – road uphill.

Keep on walking this road uphill heading out of the town centre. Continue straight ahead until you enter the residential area around the town centre approaching a white painted pub.

Here there is a junction, take the left hand fork here.

Having turned down the left hand fork, keep walking straight down the road.

Presently on your left, there is a residential cul-de-sac running uphill towards woodland.

On reaching this road turn left and begin walking uphill along it.

At the top of the road on your right there is a footpath. Turn right and walk down the footpath.

Soon the footpath emerges into a field. Here turn left and follow a clear footpath across the field heading for woodland.

The path runs into the woodland. Once inside the trees turn right and follow the footpath out of the woodland once more, into an adjoining field.

Here turn left, following a well worn path uphill towards woodland higher up.

Presently you enter the woodland once more. Once in the trees follow the path as it runs off to the right.

Soon you come to a flight of steps off to the left which takes you up onto a track through the woodland.

Walk down the path a very short distance then turn left up a footpath running uphill to the left. Follow this path uphill for some distance.

Eventually you reach the hilltop.

Here turn right and follow a path which begins to slowly run downhill.

Soon you come to a footpath sign pointing off to your left.

Follow this path for some distance until you reach a track through the woodland.

Upon reaching the track turn right and follow this track as it also runs steadily downhill. This is the point at which you first join the Wye Valley Walk which runs right the length of the River Wye.

Presently you approach a clearing. On the far side there is a footpath, waymarked for the Wye Valley Walk running into a stand of trees.

Head down this path, which soon begins to slope steadily downhill.

Follow the path as it runs steadily downhill through the trees.

At the bottom you emerge next to fields, close to the bottom of the hill.

Here turn left, leaving the Wye Valley Walk, and follow a well worn permissive path around the edge of the woodland and then out through a gate into an open field.

Cross the field heading for a gate on the far side.

Having passed through the gate walk straight ahead walking through a further series of gates until you come to a public road.

Upon reaching the road turn left. Follow the road for a short distance as it begins to head slowly uphill.

Once into the field follow the footpath running off to the left uphill.

Pass through the gate at the top into the woodland on the other side. Keep on walking uphill along the path, passing through another gate, continuing uphill.

Soon off to the left there is a gate leading out onto a track between houses on the hillside.

Here turn right and follow the track as it runs into woodland.

Keep on walking along the track as it runs past a series of houses. They look like former farm houses which are now private residences. Whether primary residences, second homes or holiday lets.

Soon you come to a junction. Here follow the track downhill heading off to the right.

Continue walking straight down the track until you come out on a public road.

On the far side of the road there is a stile leading onto a footpath through woodland, which you clamber over and follow the path through the trees on the other side.

You come to a metal gate which leads into pasture. At the bottom of the hill in the next field you encounter a nascent orchard.

Having passed the orchard you come to a stile leading uphill through a small patch of woodland.

At the top you cross another stile and come out onto a driveway beside a house. Walk straight ahead and then turn right down to a road.

Here cross the road and on the left there is a sturdy municipal green painted footpath sign pointing off to the left.

Follow this path quite some distance.

Keep following the path walking straight ahead through the woodland. Continue always following the path as it runs to the left. Through the trees there is a good view out over the River Wye.

Presently after quite some distance you come to a place where a householder has set-up a bench and some other garden furniture. Just after this you come to a metal gate which you pass through.

There is a junction just after this gate. Here you take the right hand arm heading downhill.

At the bottom of the hill you approach a road just above the river Wye. Here there is a paved track to your left running uphill, turn left and head up this track.

Presently it turns into a well worn footpath.

It is around here that off to your right across the River Wye you get your first sighting of the ruins of Goodrich Castle up on its ridgetop. A sign that you are approaching the end of the walk.

Keep walking straight along the path through the woodland.

Eventually you come out on a residential road near the top of the small village of Kerne Bridge.

Here, turn left and begin walking downhill.

Upon reaching a junction with a larger road turn right. Follow the road downhill through Kerne Bridge until you reach the side of the B4234.

At the junction where you join the B road, turn right and begin walking along the side of the road. Take care as throughout this short section the road is quite busy and vehicles travel fast.

Soon you come to a bridge over the River Wye on your left.

Cross the River Wye using the pavement across the bridge. Goodrich Castle rises up ahead of you on the horizon.

On the far side of the bridge keep on walking along the pavement which leads steadily uphill towards Goodrich village.

Near the top of the hill the road narrows into a culvert with a bridge connecting two parts of the village together running over it.

There is a flight of steps running up a bank straight ahead of you. Head up these steps.

At the top of the steps you emerge onto a lane. Turn right here.

Walk a short distance along the lane into the village.

Presently you approach the village’s post office and primary school. This is also where the village’s two bus stops, one back towards Ross-on-Wye, one towards Monmouth are situated.

Just after the two bus stops off to the right there is the driveway running towards Goodrich Castle. There is a large English Heritage sign picking it out.

Follow this driveway for quite some distance into the car park and picnic area for Goodrich Castle.

Beyond the ticket office and visitor centre for the attraction there is a path which leads the short distance to the castle ruins.

This is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

Goodrich village is served by several buses each day running between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth and then back again. When I walked the route in February 2023 the last bus of the day towards Ross-on-Wye was around 16:45. The preceding one was around 13:45. Buses also run towards Monmouth, however, whereas the last buses from Ross-on-Wye in February 2023 towards both Hereford and Gloucester was around 19:00, whereas the last bus from Monmouth to Hereford (Monmouth also doesn’t have a railway station) was just after 16:00.