54 



The flistanco of Clavorton from tlio point of Fouvfl Hill if3 

 about two miles, and this was the best point to defend the Pass 

 (as the whole of the valley of the Avon near "Warleigh and 

 Claverton may fairly be called). The Warleigh Lane was the 

 only direct road from Bradford to Bath at that time and meets 

 the Ford road from Claverton exactly opposite Claverton \'illage 

 and Old Manor House. The cannon were posted on the wooded 

 hill above the ferry so as to command the lane as well as the 

 opposite side of the river.* It might have been done by dragging 

 them over the fields from Bathford — there was then no Bradford 

 Road there — or straight up from Warleigh Lane. The valley of 

 the Avon at this spot is about half a mile broad and the hills 

 rise abruptly almost from the water's edge on each side, the 

 higher slopes of the hUls being thickly covered with timber and 

 brushwood. Almost the only level space in the valley at this 

 point is the Ham meadow — an island then as now — over which 

 the road from Claverton to the Ford passes, and here the skirmish 

 was fought. The road is an ancient pack-horse road probably 

 dating from early British times, and on the Warleigh side is sunk 

 deeplj'' between high banks the sides of which are walled, higher 

 up it was also much hidden by the banks covered with brushwood 

 and hedges. Down this hollow road the troopers of the Par- 

 liament must have descended to the Ford without much observa- 

 tion, and in all probability Avere massed there before the cannon 

 was fired and then immediately advanced through the Ford to 

 gain the field on the opposite side and make the attack on the 

 Manor House,t It was part of Waller's tactics, to draw on the 



♦ Near this spot on the hill — whence tradition states the shots were fired — 

 the Bathford revels were usually hold, and the common people used to say it 

 was in memory of a battle, and that human bones were frequently turned up 

 when quarrying was going on. 



f How they fared in the Ham meadow, or whether the Royalist horse 

 allowed them to form up before they charged them, or whether only the head 

 of the column had emerged from the river when the enemy was upon them 

 must be matter of conjecture — but probably as there are some cavalry officers 

 present they may be able to throw light on the subject. 



