There was no actual road across Kempsey Ham, one just drove or motored across the huge field which must have been somewhat dangerous in the dark, for the way had posts marked ‘Danger’ here and there. The ferry was in great demand on the special occasions when Kempsey Ham was used for military reviews which brought huge crowds from both sides of the river. The Ham was a favourite military rendezvous and the last duel in the County was fought there in 1827. The fox hounds and all their followers used the ferry frequently and, on such occasions, the ferryman took enough money to keep him all the year. Mrs. Berkeley, writing in 1930, reported that the charges were: “foot passengers 2d., bicycle 3d., motor is.”
It was operated regularly but, in 1934,it was in need of repair. The Worcestershire County Council put pressure on Lord Beauchamp and it was repaired but, early in 1939, the boat again needed repairing and Lord Beauchamp offered to put it in good order and hand it over to the County Council; the Council, however, would not take it and it became derelict. A smaller boat was occasionally operated until 1947.
Attached to the Ferry was Pixham Ferry Inn which was part of the Madresfield Estate but this closed on October 10th, 1903. Lord Beauchamp’s agent held the audit dinners twice a year at Pixham Ferry Inn. Each. tenant was given a ticket in exchange for his rent. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, who kept the inn before the 1914 War, told of the huge pieces of boiled beef, four or five roasted pigs and six chickens with great caldrons of vegetables, and dozens of plum puddings which were available, and that the ale flowed freely. The crockery for these dinners was kept in a ‘hole in the wall’, a cavity some four feet deep and six feet wide, which was full of plates, cups and dishes, used only twice a year. The inn is now a private residence.
Every Sunday in the summer months,steamers called at Pixham Ferry and unloaded hordes of day trippers, the men spending most of their time bowling in the fine bowling alley and drinking ale, while the women and children picknicked on the Old Hills. Mr. Edwards ran a small coal business from his riverside depot. The barges brought the coal up river from the Forest of Dean, or down from the Black Country, and it was sold with slack to the villages at 6d a cwt.
It was at Pixham in 1265 that Simon de Montford crossed the Severn with his prisoner, Henry III, en route to his last battle at Evesham. He and the King were put up for the night by Walter Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, at his place at Kempsey.