Path master's epitaph

Your ride is along the Wye Valley cycle-way, lanes beside the River Wye and roads in Monmouth: use a mountain-bike; beware of traffic hazards; follow the Country Code - and watch out for pedestrians. You will need money for access by ferry to the other side of the River Wye.

To get to Symonds Yat Canoe and Bike Hire (Telephone: +44 (0) 1600 891 069):

On leaving The AMAZING HEDGE PUZZLE car park, turn left and walk along the road towards the hairpin bend for 1 minute;
At the hairpin bend, turn left and walk down the lane towards St. Dubricius' Church for 3 minutes.
At the church car-park follow the public footpath (on your right as you face the church gate) down to the River Wye and walk downstream for 1 minute to a campsite: at the campsite you can hire a suitable bike.

Ride out of the campsite by the main track, heading for the B4164 for 1 minute, and at the B4164 turn left and follow the road uphill to the sign for the Ferrie Inne;

At the sign for the Ferrie Inne bear left, going steeply down Ferrie Lane:

at weekends take the ferry across the river, then go over the field to the lane on the other side - follow the lane to your right until you get the Saracen's Head Inn;

on weekdays take a track on your right which is signed "Unsuitable for motor vehicles", following the River Wye to where the track widens into a lane by a cottage called "Ferryside" - hail the ferry to go across to Symonds Yat East;

At the Saracen's Head Inn take the road downstream into the Royal Hotel Car Park and pick up the track to follow the river down to The Biblins footbridge;

At The Biblins footbridge continue on the old railway track, passing old quarry sidings which hint at the heavy industry which once thrived here - yet you are in a nature reserve - and find a sharp bend to the left which takes you to a track junction;

At the track junction go right to leave the woods. On reaching open fields please respect signs which say "no cycling" (you have a right of way here, but no right to ride - please do nothing which may prejudice current negotiations for the inclusion of this track in the Wye Valley Cycleway - it is not far to push your bike).

At the cattle-grid ride on along the lane to a junction, then turn right, following the lane through a small industrial estate to reach the main road.

At the main road turn right to see the spire of St Mary's Church ahead, then go straight on to cross the River Wye, heading for the traffic lights.

At the traffic lights go straight on into Monmouth to a T Junction.

At the T junction turn left and first right up St. Mary's Street to reach St Mary's Church. Dismount to enter the churchyard and walk to the right, following around the church wall until you come to a headstone outside the sanctuary. It bears an acrostic labyrinth:

John Rennie's headstone no longer marks his grave, which was close to the south-east cemetery gate, but his epitaph can still be read in about 46,000 different ways - perhaps you can work out how many exactly! This type of maze (surrounded by a normal Roman labyrinth) is found in a north african basilica about 1,600 years old, and two similar mazes from Judea are over 2,150 years old. Rennie devised his own epitaph during his terminal illness, and people used to say of it: "by the time the devil's worked out who it is, the man'll be in heaven". Interestingly, Rennie normally spelt his name with two "n"s, but here he has followed his father's spelling with one "n" - adding to the confusion.

A cure for a dog which had been bitten by a mad dog could be had by writing a sort of maze out of nonsense-words on a scrap of paper, together with the name of the dog: this was concealed in a lump of bread and fed to the animal. The superstition has a parallel in Rajasthan, where pregnant women painted a labyrinth on a platter, then washed it off and drank it at the start of labour. Both these were magical acts - exorcism and ensoulment (the exorcised ghost being taken in to cure the dog or ensure a live birth), but what was John Rennie trying to do ?

Rennie was involved in "The Burgess Dispute": a burgess (a freeman), was entitled to freedom from tolls, could operate a business and own property within city walls, he could vote, sit on the Council and be a Magistrate - he had financial, legal and political power. Burgesses were elected by the Council, but in Monmouth the trader burgesses got fed up with the corruption of the Duke of Beaufort's men, who kept electing each other. John Rennie was elected a Burgess by the rebel faction as they elected their own Burgesses to outvote the Duke's men. Both sides rigged the votes by not giving notice of council meetings to their rivals - and so the Borough ended up with several riots, two councils, two mayors, and a legal dispute over who was what. Rebels were systematically pursued in the courts and impoverished by legal fees, then evicted by the Duke's bailiffs or gaoled for debt. It was a national scandal which helped to bring about electoral reform.

John Rennie was a man of honour. He was Provincial Grand Master of the Oddfellows (a Friendly Society) and a juror; he restrained a neighbour's wife from attacking the bailiffs as her husband fled through a back window; and he backed the rebel cause: he decorated the town hall for the Burgess' Mayor; and he was responsible for security at the Mayor's Ball on the day the town heard that the Burgesses had lost their case at the High Court. The Deputy Sheriff gathered the Militia to invade the ball and throw the rebel mayor out, and they marched up to the Council Hall with the band playing rude noises. Rennie kept the mob at bay, accidentally locking a doorman outside, where the poor man took a beating before the rioters moved off to harrass rebels in their homes. The burgess's Mayor was invited to meet his opposition, who got him drunk and persuaded him to resign his post, whisking the letter away to London by stagecoach before the man sobered-up: so Rennie became the only witness prepared to testify against the Deputy Sheriff in court.

At the trial the doorman mysteriously denied that he had been attacked, saying that he had wandered off to a pub. Rennie, a man of good humour, was warned not to be flippant almost as soon as he started to give evidence. He was embarrassed to be accused of rowdyism himself for lighting fires at a town festival, but he was deeply shaken when it was suggested that he was disloyal to the King: it was alleged that Rennie had hissed at the Monarch as he had passed through Monmouth, a reference to an argument with a militiaman who had ridden too close to the crowd. This hint of treason carried an unspoken threat of death - a few years later a riot in Newport was to result in three men being sentenced in that very court to be hanged and quartered. Strangely, after being reminded that he had sworn his oath on the Bible, Rennie's testimony became much weaker, and the prosecution case collapsed.

John Rennie was a devout Methodist who believed that sinners would go to hell, and he was deeply worried about the salvation of his soul in the months before he died. One of the Ten Commandments of God is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour". Did Rennie lie on oath and think he would be condemned to an eternity in hell ? The prophet Isaiah used a literary labyrinth in a naming ceremony for his son which resembled the birth-magic and dog-cure above, and Daniel extracted a prophesy from another, so Rennie could have found biblical precedents for using one to ensure a proper end to life. Was he trying to save his soul by hell-harrowing magic ? That is no matter for us to judge, but lies between John Rennie and his maker...

Return to The AMAZING HEDGE PUZZLE by leaving the churchyard where you came in, then turning left. At the crossroads carry on past the library and around the island. At the pub dismount to turn left (one-way street!) and use the underpass to cross at the traffic lights. Retrace your route as far as the suspension bridge:

At the suspension bridge continue straight on along the track, until you come to Symonds Yat East

[or an adventurous diversion is possible for experienced riders on bikes designed for rough terrain: cross the footbridge and follow the track upstream to join the road at the Riversdale Hotel, at which turn right to go steeply downhill to pick up the track at the ferry];

At Symonds Yat East refreshment is available at the Saracen's Head Inn, or Cream Teas can be had at Rose Cottage.

At the Saracen's Head take the ferry to cross the River Wye, then from the ferry, continue along the lane for 5 minutes to rejoin Ferrie Lane;

At Ferrie Lane go uphill to the junction and carry straight on along the road, and continue for 6 minutes to return to The AMAZING HEDGE PUZZLE.