Lode was a Saxon term for ford, and the name here, as elsewhere, denotes an ancient passage of the Severn. In this case, it was one by which the inhabitants of Highley, Billingsley, and Chelmarsh formerly passed to Quatt and Alveley. A ferry has long been substituted, but the old load still winds along the hillside, past an old stone cross, in the direction of Alveley, an old Saxon manor. The tall grey tower of the old church is seen from the line, occupying a high position on the right. The building is an ancient and interesting structure, with many Norman features, and is greatly admired by antiquarians. Judging from the materials used in older portions of the building, the first church would appear to have been built of travertine. Above Hampton's Loade, the wooded heights of Dudmaston and of Quatford, with the red towers of Quatford Castle, come into view; but a deviation of the line, and a deep cutting through the Knoll Sands, prevent more than a passing glimpse. _Quat_ is an old British word for wood, and refers to a wide stretch of woodland once included in the great Morfe Forest; and _ford_ to an adjoining passage of the river--one, half a mile higher up, being still called _Danes' Ford_. On a bluff headland, rising perpendicularly 100 feet above the Severn, close by, the hardy Northerners, who thus left their name in connection with the Severn, established themselves in 896, when driven by Alfred from the Thames; and on the same projecting rock, defended on the land side by a trench cut in the solid sandstone, Roger de Montgomery afterwards built himself a house. And tradition adds that, in consequence of a vow made by his second wife, Adeliza, the church close by was built upon the borders of the forest, then the favourite hunting-ground of the Norman earl. The church, like other neighbouring structures of ancient date, was built of tuffa, or travertine, a material found in the beds of brooks in the district, and portions of the chancel, including its fine Norman arch and pillars, are still composed of the same. Among old endowments of the church, is one, from a source unknown, of a piece of land, the proceeds of which defray the expense of ferrying persons attending church across the Severn. The old man at the ferry is a fisherman, who knows well where to get "a rise" of trout, or to hook a grayling, and where to look for pike, or perch, or gudgeon. [Perch and Gudgeon: 18.jpg]