This month’s walk by GARTH LAWSON visits a village mercifully untouched by the losses of the First World War

KNILL is one of those rarest of British locations, a “thankful village”.

The term was coined in the 1930s to describe the handful of communities which suffered no military fatalities in the First World War.

There are just 52 such civil parishes in England and Wales which welcomed back all of their soldiers.

Knill is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chenille from the Old English meaning “place by the hillock”.

The tranquil village is three miles south west of Presteigne, just inside the Herefordshire side of the border with Wales, and very much in the Marches.

Above the village, Offa’s Dyke marks the ancient boundary between Mercia and the Welsh. The modern border with Radnorshire runs along the valley of the Riddings and Hindwell Brooks.

The scale of the good fortune of the thankful villages is extraordinary.

Between 1914 and 1918, there were actually no settlements in Scotland or Ireland which did not lose a member of the community.

In England and Wales, the thankful villages are dwarfed by more than 16,000 which paid a sacrifice. Indeed, in a war that touched everybody in the British Isles, it was often small communities, villages and hamlets in which the psychological burden of the carnage was most painfully felt.

Largely to blame for this, according to the historian Dan Snow, was the system of Pals Battalions – units of friends, work colleagues and relatives who had been promised they could fight alongside each other when they enlisted amid patriotic fervour.

These battalions were a useful recruiting tool for Lord Kitchener, the War Secretary, who believed that mobilising large numbers of enthusiastic recruits quickly was the best way to win the war.

But the reality of the trenches, where thousands of men could be wiped out in a single day meant that small communities could face disproportionate levels of bloodshed within a matter of hours.

It was a pattern repeated many times – and on each occasion the wounding to a town or village was both deep and instant. The “pals”"

system was phased out in 1917, but not before it left an indelible mark on the British consciousness.

Fourteen villages are termed “doubly thankful” because they also avoided casualties in the Second World War. Remarkably, two of them are in Herefordshire: Pipe Aston and Middleton-on-the-Hill.

In the church at Knill there is a carved stone plaque on the wall which greets visitors with the inscription: “To the glory of God and in thanksgiving to Him for the victory granted to us in the Great War of 1914-1918 and for His mercies in bringing safely home the men of this parish who served their country overseas.”

The village today looks much the same as the one that welcomed home its sons at the end of the hostilities. It must have been a heartfelt, welcome sight to the war weary “men of the Marches” as they trooped home.

In a stiff start to a glorious walk from the thankful village, we scale Garraway Hill Wood to Rushock Hill and a fine section of Offa’s Dyke. The effort is rewarded by 50-mile views and an insight from a helpful new audio guide at a stile en route.

To the tinkling song of the meadow pipit, the return is a gentle contour around the village “hillock” and through the Hindwell Valley: so “Nil Desperandum”.

THE ROUTE Five-and-a-quarter mile moderate walk, but with energetic early climb.

Wood, Offa’s Dyke, audio guide, common and brook. Well maintained trails with great views.

Map: OS Explorer 201, Knighton and Presteigne, north and south sheets.

1. Knill church of St.Michael and All Angels, just south of B4362 Walton to Presteigne road. Church is beyond Knill Farm and cattle grid. Walk back down church approach drive past Court Cottage over grid. Turn sharp right along byway and cross Hindwell brook via f/bridge. TR immediately, in front of cottage, up the wide forest path. 80M beyond green shed, TL, and go up path quite steeply through the trees of Knill Garraway. Bend R near top to Mortimer Trail path junction. TR for 35m to marker post, TL up to stile.

2. Stile on upper, south edge of wood. Cross stile and follow L fence up pasture. Cross stile, bear L up to marker post, and keep ahead to 2nd post, which marks part of Offa’s Dyke. Keep ahead, descending (Skirrid in distance, if visible) to marker post. Bear R (towards Black Mountains Escarpment) across stile into next pasture. Maintain same line down towards trees just R of farm.

3. High Gate Farm (Just above).

Before the farm, trees and a path junction in the corner, TR sharply up rutted farm track away from it.

Sweep up left past fence elbow and through farm gate (L) (Note position of a stile just above you in fence). TL along L fence to marker post. Now TR completely back on yourself to cross the stile previously noted. Maintain line up to crest and tall junction signpost. TL along near side of fence for Lower Harpton. Follow Offa’s Dyke. Cross stile, bear R, bear L at post by strip of conifers and descend to audio stile.

4. Audio stile. Interactive information on Hergest Ridge and Offa’s Dyke. Cross, pass post, skirt L of wood, cross stile, bear R down 30m to another post and take left fork down to information board.

5. Herrock Common information board. TR along OD path to contour east side of hill. Soon pass two marker posts, descend through metal gate, go beyond post, between fences, bend L and keep ahead beyond sheep pens and through metal gate. Go along drive below cream cottage 150m to OD post. TR through gate down pasture, out through gate along drive, R of barn.

6. Riddings Brook. Just before road, TR across stile and follow L field margin along brook. Go through gap, over stile, keep L and TL over f/bridge across Hindwell Brook. Bear R through gap, keep R of pond and go ahead to road in Knill. TR for church.