From the clock tower go up Church Street, pass the war memorial and continue for a further 200m. Turn into Castle Hill Lane on your right and look at the water tower (A) on your left. There is a plaque giving information on Kington’s early water supply. Continue down Castle Hill and bear right into Broken Bank. On your right is a small hill covered in trees, a pre-Conquest castle mound.
Take a steeply descending footpath on your right, next to The Nook, bringing you down to the old tramway track, where you turn right to follow it. Behind you, however, is a private garden, in which stands Floodgates Mill (B). It was built in 1826 as a fulling mill beating woollen cloth to improve its insulating properties. This was at the end of the area’s important woollen industry and it afterwards became a corn mill, now a private house.
The tramway path runs alongside the Back Brook and, after about 100m, go through a kissing gate a typical product of Kington Foundry further down the brook. Soon you will see a weir (C) and, on the other bank, traces of a leat, an artificial watercourse which once fed the corn mill and pumping station at Crooked Well.
If tramway footpath is closed from (C) between the first and second kissing gate, retrace your steps to point A and head briefly down Church Street. Turn left down footpath beside second house. Descend to bottom to reach previously mentioned second kissing gate.
Follow the path for 375m, pass through a second kissing gate and bear to the left of the first house, taking the path that hugs the brook. After 150m you’ll come to a footbridge over the brook. Go over this bridge and then cross the main A44 road with care. On the other side of the road, go on for a few metres and then turn left for a few metres. To your left is the ivy-covered pumping station (D), erected in 1886 which was powered by a water turbine. On your right is the Crooked Well, from which Kington’s water supply was drawn, and ahead is Engine Cottage, once attached to the former Crooked Well Corn Mill long demolished.
Retrace your steps across the A44 and the Back Brook. From the footbridge the ancient ford is clearly visible. Turn left into Crooked Well Lane for almost 200m to rejoin the old tramway path. As the lane rises, the cast iron kerb plates on your right (E) are also products of Kington Foundry, under two distinct ownerships. When you reach the tramway take a look at the end wall of the row of cottages on the right, rebuilt at a strange angle to accommodate the tramway.
Turn left onto the old tramway and after about 400m it comes back by the brook. Shortly before a footbridge over the brook you can see traces of a minor weir (F), with brickwork and inlet pipe. Despite its appearance, this marks the start of an important ancient leat, feeding water meadows.
Continue along the old tramway to a weir with an ugly later additional concrete fish ladder. At this end of the weir is a steel frame which once contained a sluice gate. This controlled the water entering another leat which used to run along the left hand side of the tramway to serve Kington Foundry (G), a short distance along on the left. The first building was once the pattern shop, producing wooden patterns for cast iron items. The small lawn in front was once a pond feeding the waterwheel, which was between buildings where a wooden porch is now. The waterwheel provided draught for the iron furnace and powered the machine shop. The 1820 foundry buildings, now converted into small units, make an attractive group around a central yard, and are worth a minor diversion. There is another wall-mounted plaque here.
The horse drawn tramway, also of 1820, was vital in the foundation of the foundry, bringing coal and iron from South Wales. The tramway had a great effect on the town and the foundry became Kington’s largest employer. From 1820 until 1901 it was in the hands of the Meredith family, followed by Alexander and Duncan of Leominster until 1926. These are the names on the Crooked Well kerb plates. There is much fine ironwork from the foundry to be seen around Kington.
Turn right into Victoria Road for about 250m and left into Love Lane. At the bottom turn right along a footpath. The course of this path was once a leat. The house on the left, Arrow Lodge, where the path widens into Tanyard Lane, is on the site of a tannery (H). From here the dry leat is on the right hand side. If you walk down the slope into the leat, you will see a brick tunnel which returned unwanted water to the river. The leat water would have been used to drive a bark mill for making tanning liquors, and to provide process water.
The bridge in Bridge Street has a separate arch for this leat, which is effectively the tail-race from Arrow Mill. Shortly before the bridge is a date stone on your left. This came from the second generation of station at Kington, built in 1875, when the line was extended to New Radnor.
Cross Bridge Street and go straight on to some iron gates. Ahead is Arrow Mill (I), built about 1848, with its projecting lucomb for taking in sacks of grain. To the left is a wide arch over the stream where formerly a waterwheel, over 3.6m wide, turned. It was later replaced by a turbine now restored and generating electricity.
Just before the gates turn into Mill Furlong. This runs along the back of stone maltings erected around 1835 as part of the mill complex. Cross the Co-op car park and continue up Crabtree Road before turning left into Mill Street. Walk past the football ground. The building on your left immediately before the recreation ground entrance was Crabtree Woollen Mill with its adjoining house (J). The internal waterwheel was fed by a leat, now infilled and levelled, running through the recreation ground, past the house and into the mill. Enter the recreation ground and follow the path. The leat once ran under the trees to the left of the path. Continue along this path and, not far from a side entrance, a rectangular patch of concrete to your left was once a bridge over the leat. At the far end of the path, a little to the left, is a gate into a private field. Looking across the field from here, the dry leat (K) can be seen emerging from the trees. This leat was fed by a weir which still exists in the River Arrow, another few hundred metres upstream.
