Facing Certain Disaster and Overcoming it: a Footbridge Over the Kennet at Hungerford

These history walk videos are about the English landscape in and around the south west of England (though I make the odd foray into Wales). I often use ancient charters (such as Saxon charters) to give me insight into the way the landscape was viewed in the past.
But it is not the Saxons that interest me the most (though they do) but the prehistoric world and its ancient monuments, trackways and ditches.
#Archaeology #oldenglishcharters #antiquarians #historywalks #britishhistory #hungerford
#kennet

[@iainmc9859]

Such a beautiful river. A great pity that there's only small sections accessible.

[@AllotmentFox]

I chatted to a guy who stopped me and he was very much of the opinion that this is a remnant of feudalism and with that the related aspect of hunting (trout). It definitely has a private versus public domain aspect to it, in my opinion. My class struggle instincts are bristling

[@stephenharris7982]

Another Great video with beautiful countryside especially watching the little trout in the river . I look forward to your videos thank you for uploading them .

[@AllotmentFox]

Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. It is the animals that are the real joy when I go walking

[@thebeatentrack156]

Another great video, we used to as kids and later with our kids, paddle and feed the trout with floating crust on that stretch of the Kennet. Also it was a great sight seeing all the cows from the common blocking the road in the evening and making their way to the watering hole that is the Kennet after a long days grazing. Then the bloody fences appeared, all in the name of conservation (short for feudalism), Hungerford marsh has suffered the same fate.

[@AllotmentFox]

The cows going to the river is really interesting. As you know I think long and hard as to how our forebears used the land and obviously they weren’t pumping water uphill until well into the 19th-C and the Hungerford museum mentioned the water troughs were broken at one point. What years did you see this? Can you remember? And when did the fences go up? Was it one cowherd or more? Did he have a crook? A dog? Was he a woman?

[@thebeatentrack156]

@@AllotmentFox I remember this from back in the 70's right up till the time of the fence going up, as a guess I would say that was around the turn of the century. The cows are put out onto the common every year from May to October and left to their own devices, ie. making their own way to the river, no cowherd. Probably something to do with commoners rights which are still passed on in Hungerford with particular properties. You should look into the annual hocktide held the second Monday and Tuesday after easter, first recorded in C12. I think Hungerford is the only place in the country where this still happens. I sense an Allotment Fox video next easter 😊

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

That was tense! It’s a shame there’s such limited access to the Kennet. Hasn’t there been a proposal to make all river margins open access? The survival of the Celtic name for the river is a marvellous thing.

[@iainmc9859]

Totally for the open access idea, although I hadn't heard of the proposal. I guess there'd be logistical problems regarding the safety of the bank and who'd be responsible for upkeep. Can't see any government (local or national) spending real money on this as I suspect Austerity Mk II is coming. The Magic Money Tree looks more like Sycamore Gap.

[@AllotmentFox]

Tense, my foot: I was taking the mick, mostly out of what it means to be a man. It was risky in the sense there was a risk I was going to look like a gone-to-seed middle-aged man struggling with a feat that would be literally child’s play. I then in ridiculous old-man fashion threw my toys out of the pram when I didn’t get what I wanted. I did enjoy it though and there was a twenty degree slope on it and an insecure bannister. I intend to recover my dignity on the next one. Thanks for watching.

[@AllotmentFox]

@@iainmc9859as a principal for rivers it costs nothing more than mowing where there are meadows and they should be doing that anyway and putting planks over ditches just like any other pb footpath. There will be strong resistance because those banks bring in cash fr9m anglers. But there are plenty of anglers and walkers that coexist on public footpaths. In this particular case it would cost money but there are plenty of good custodians of the land like the Wildlife Trust who build causeways so that the public can see sites of some interest like this.