Trafford’s Leap

Ludchurch in the past has been known locally as Trafford’s Leap, the reason it acquired this name was due to the fact that the old Squire of Swythamley, Sir Philip Trafford, was out hunting on horseback with his pack of hounds when to his dismay he strayed to close to the edge of Ludchurch. Because of the vegetation which grows profusely along the edge of the precipice and overhangs it, it makes it difficult to see where the edge of the drop starts. Luckily the squire must have been near to one of the narrower sections of the chasm and was able to leap across the intervening gap on his horse, unfortunately his hounds were not so lucky and many of them fell to their deaths on the rocky floor of the chasm fifty feet below.

A view of Ludchurch obscured by vegetation.