Ross On Wye View

I had an early morning visit to a farm near Much Marcle, Gloucestershire, which necessitated a drive along the A449 via Ross On Wye.

This is one of my favourite views along the route, so on the way back I stopped to take a blip foto.

This is a brief history of Ross on Wye...

Ross-on-Wye was the birthplace of the British tourist industry. In 1745, the rector, Dr John Egerton, started taking friends on boat trips down the valley from his rectory at Ross. The Wye Valley's particular attraction was its river scenery, its precipitous landscapes, and its castles and abbeys, which were accessible to fashionable seekers of the "Picturesque".

In 1782, William Gilpin's book "Observations on the River Wye" was published, the first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain. Once it was published, demand grew so much that by 1808 there were eight boats making regular excursions down the Wye, most of them hired from inns in Ross and Monmouth.

By 1850 more than 20 visitors had published their own accounts of the Wye Tour, and the area was established as a tourist area.