St Kenelm’s Trail is a walk originally devised by John Price, which links the two places most commonly associated with the legend of

St Kenelm Saint Kenelm (or Cynehelm) was an Anglo-Saxon saint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the ''Canterbury Tales'' (The Nun's Priest's Tale, lines 290–301, in which the cockerel Chauntecleer tries to demonstrate the reality ...

. These are the

Clent Hills The Clent Hills lie south-west of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation (and also historically in Worcestershire). The Clent Hills rang ...

, south of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, identified as the scene of his supposed murder and the small

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

town of

Winchcombe Winchcombe () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, it is 6 miles north-east of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 i ...

, near Cheltenham where his body was eventually interred. This trail links these places and recalls the journey recorded as being taken by the

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s of St. Peter's Abbey, Winchcombe, with the Saint's remains. It is a journey which visits several ancient villages and passes by many places of historic interest such as the picturesque, historic yet obscure

Huddington Court Huddington Court is a 15th-century moated manor house in the village of Huddington in Worcestershire, England, some six miles east of Worcester. It was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as 'the most picturesque house in Worcestershire'. It was ...

and concludes with a spectacular finish through the grounds of the more famous

Sudeley Castle Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some 15 acres within a 1,200-acre estate ne ...

References

{{reflist Footpaths in Worcestershire