It is four weeks today until Bredon Cricket Club Tower Run 2017 (Sunday, May 28, 2017).
If you have not yet done any training, now might be a good time to start!
In the meantime, here are six things you may not know about the tower run:
- Part of the route lies along the ancient road between Tewkesbury and the abbeys of Pershore and Evesham via the village of Westmancote. This would have been particularly important when periodic flooding made the lower roads of the vale impassable.
2. Westmancote, where the route begins to ascend Bredon Hill, now has just a few really old buildings. But there was once a medieval village here with its own church. Both have now disappeared. The name ‘Westmancote’ was given by the invading Saxons to indicate a place where lived the native ‘western men’ of Britain.
3. Look out for the mysterious King and Queen Stones, which are actually three stones, on your left as you climb above Westmancote (on your right when you descend). They have for centuries been considered a place of healing. Close by them are the remains of stocks, and it is thought a whipping post and gibbet once stood here too. A creepy place!
4. Parson’s Folly, the 18th-century tower at the summit of Bredon Hill, was once the home of a hermit, according to local author John Moore. On Sundays and bank holidays, when visitors were to be expected on the hill, he dressed in an ancient black suit and led tourists up the steps to the top of the tower, charging them threepence to enjoy the view.
5. The Iron Age fort around the tower is much, much older. It dates to about 200BC, and its ditch-and-rampart defences were once substantial. The north-west inner entrance was the site of a massacre where the mutilated remains of about 50 people and various weapons were found.
6. One of the most popular landmarks on the hill is the Bambury Stone, close to the tower. It is better known as the Elephant Stone because of its distinctive shape. Kissing it on Good Friday is said to bring good luck. There is also a legend that the stone goes to drink from the river Avon when it hears the bells of Pershore Abbey strike midnight.