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The Rhydd Ferry

  • 30 Oct 2021
  • Bridges and Ferries
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The name Rydd comes from the Welsh word rhyd, meaning a ford or ferry, and the ford here is thought to have been one of the principal crossings of the Severn on prehistoric times, on the route to the hill camps at Malvern Hills. From Malvern there are two very good roads converging  at Rydd Green, Both wre used by Drovers from Wales. The Guarlford road, especially, is a 'classic drovers' road, crossing the Malvern's by way of Green Valley Pass, by St. Anne's Well, and then for some three and a half miles, with very wide verges and a series of pools, for the animals to feed and drink on the journey. As many as 400 Black Welsh cattle would be in a drove, and many more in a sheep drove again, from Rhydd Green, there is a good road down to the river, but again, on the east bank, there is only a footpath to Clifton, though it looked as if there was once a road to Sheepcot, where a good road runs to Severn Stoke.   

It is not known when the ferry was last worked, but certainly until the 1914 War. The ferry house still stands, but is greatly altered. There was a rock bar, but when a strong tide was running, it was dangerous. The trow Prince, struck the bar in 1847, and was wrecked