A Green Lane to Ledbury
Ledbury is a small market town with a story which has wound back through the ages for over a thousand years. Above the town lies a wood through which runs an unnoticed footpath, part of Ledbury's forgotten history. This is a green lane, part of a packhorse track which ran from Hereford to Worcester and beyond - linking the town to the outside world. The music on this CD reflects the unbroken thread of Ledbury's history - a history of England itself.....
Track titles: Middletown - The Story Begins . Rosamond and the Baiting of Bulls. A Green Lane to Ledbury. The Box of Dominoes. 1349 - The Black Death. For the Wife of James Baylis. The Battle of Ledbury. Katherine's Acre - Watching our Love Grow. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
Green Lanes are the network of tracks, bridleways and lanes which foreshadow the motorways and dual carriageways which now link together the towns and cities of Britain. I've lived in Herefordshire for many years and for some of that time found myself walking into Ledbury via one of these green lanes. I was intrigued by walking such an ancient way, and ultimately found myself writing this album. It was the last one I produced that was originally released as a cassette, but it's now only available as a CD.
I did a lot of research into the history of the town and it's surroundings while I was writing this album, and you can find some snippets of the research I did here - along with a picture of Church Lane, famed from a thousand films, adverts and TV programmes. You might also like to read "Discovering Green Lanes" by Valerie Belsey - you can find more details about the book here.
TheRingofBrodhar.mp3Sample Track - A Green Lane to Ledbury