The Fourth Horseman: Tom's encampment tracked down at last

By Rich Cross   Last updated on 28 February 2022, 08:38:44

The whereabouts of the evocative field location used in The Fourth Horseman for Jenny's meeting with Tom Price has finally been confirmed


The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image three

 AFTER YEARS OF frustration and dead-ends, the search for the site of one of The Fourth Horseman's most evocative locations has ended in success, thanks to the tireless efforts of one dedicated Survivors enthusiast.

"My own search for Tom's hill began in 2014," remembers Survivors location sleuth Steve Clutterbuck. "I started by joining various Facebook groups connected to Ross-on-Wye and Abbergavenny, and many points in-between, in the vain hope that someone would recognise a distinctive hill in the foreground of the scene."

"I had quite a few people responding, suggesting places from Garway Hill in Herefordshire to Clee Hill in Shropshire," he recalls. "I did investigate a few of these, but sadly none of the leads panned out."

"I also sent in a request to the Ross Gazette, who helpfully published my appeal for information in the newspaper. I had a few replies from that, but the only information that was forthcoming was about other locations such as Callow Hill, the location used for Whitecross in series two."

I did investigate a few of these, but sadly none of the leads panned out


Steve Clutterbuck

Despite everyone's best efforts, the trail for that elusive Survivors hillside went cold - and remained so for several years. In February 2022, Steve decided to renew his efforts.

"I revisited a few of the online forums I'd joined in 2014, and put out an updated appeal for information," he says. "I think I posted that message to more than ten different forums."

The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image one
The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image two
The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image four

"Suggestions did start to come in, and on those forums people were even debating with eachother where that hillside might be," he adds. A breakthrough then came through a site dedicated to the Welsh town of Monmouth.

"I received a Direct Message from a lady who explained she was convinced that the sequence had been filmed on her grandparents' land near the village of Llanvihangel-ystern-Llewern. Although she was unsure of the exact location, this was still the best lead I'd had in eight years."

"I looked up images of Llanvihangel-ystern-Llewern on Google, which led me to check some images on the Geograph site," says Steve. "One of those had an matching view of a hill in the distance. I immediately thought that the exact spot would be really close by, somewhere easily accessible to the Survivors production team on location back in 1975."

There was only so much more research that could be done online. "The Google Street View only went so far. I traced out every roadway that Google covered at street level. About 50 yards from where I suspected the location could be, there was a five-bar gate - which was an obvious entry point to a likely-looking field. What was not visible was any downward slope in that field, or any of the critical landmarks in the distance."

"The most promising Geograph picture must have been taken further down a narrow track, beyond the reach of Google" he says. "I knew that I would have to visit the location in person to investigate things further."

This lady was convinced that the sequence was filmed on her grandparents' land


Steve Clutterbuck

The following Saturday Steve drove out towards Llanvihangel-y-Llewern, deciding that the mission was too important to be delayed by a slow oil gasket leak. "I parked as close as I could to where that Geograph picture was taken," he explains. "I jumped over a fence and started walking down the track. But it just didn't feel right - although I could see the right hill in the background, nothing else in the landscape was a match."

Retracing his steps, Steve tried again. "As I started walking further along the lane, the track dipped sharply downhill. I was now outside the limits of Google's coverage. I glanced through a hedge on the side of the track, and saw that the land on the right-hand side sloped away."

This vista immediately offered a better match. "I had butterflies in my stomach," Steve admits. "In my haste to visit the location, I'd only brought a single screenshot, and I was worried that that might not be enough to prove things beyond a doubt."

The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image five
The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image six
The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image seven

"I opened the gate and walked through - and instantly saw that everything matched the images seen on screen in The Fourth Horseman: the slight incline in the hedge line close to where Tom had built his makeshift shelter; the distinctive summit of the most distant hill; the much closer hill glimpsed over Jenny's right shoulder; and the incline which Jenny walks down as she leaves."

There was no question that this was the place in which director Pennant Roberts had filmed this memorable, evocative sequence. "The fields and the hedges all lined up exactly," Steve continues. "as did the location of a couple of faraway houses just visible on screen."

I spent a couple of hours there just soaking up the feeling of the place


Steve Clutterbuck

Some small features of the landscape have altered in the forty-plus years since the episode was filmed, but the location has lost none of its evocative atmosphere. It remains a perfect incapsulation of the idea of an isolated human presence deep within the British countryside. "For a moment, I felt like I was back in 1975, imagining how the cast and crew would have organised themselves on site," says Steve.

"I spent a couple of hours there, just soaking up the feeling of the place. I laid out a blanket on the spot where Tom had set up his shelter, and savoured a cup of coffee from a thermos whilst enjoying the view."

It felt like an appropriate way to sign-off on what has been one of the longest Survivors location searches to date. "I must express my gratitude to the lady whose keen eyes directed me to the right village," Steve says. "I'm also indebted to the contributors to the Geograph site, whose countless photographs of the Monmouthshire countryside were so useful in pinpointing the whereabouts of this Holy Grail of Survivors locations."

 All photographs and quotations courtesy of Steve Clutterbuck, February 2022.

 This Survivors location is on private land, only accessible with prior permission. It's possible to view the general area from public footpaths and tracks close to the village of Llanvihangel-ystern-Llewern.

The location where Jenny Richards first meets Tom Price in The Fourth Horseman - the first episode of Survivors - image eight

Cite this web page
06 November 2024202228 February

 Cross, R. (2022). 'The Fourth Horseman: Tom's encampment tracked down at last,' [online] Survivors: A World Away, 28 February. Available at: https://www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk/a-world-away/the_fourth_horseman_llanvihangel_ystern_lewern.php. Accessed on: 06 November 2024.

 
   

Current style: Harvard

 

 TAGS


 

Search
 New Dawn 2: Last Stand

Episode image for New Dawn 2: Last Stand

 As Dominic Crayle and his enforcers close in on Abby and Jenny a bloody confrontation becomes inescapable

 New Dawn 2: Bad Blood

Episode image for New Dawn 2: Bad Blood

 A political clash between two sisters has worrying implications for the country's future

 The Fourth Horseman location find

Jenny Richards encounters Tom Price on a rural hillside in Survivors episode The Fourth Horseman

 A long sought-after location from Survivors first ever episode has finally been tracked down

Find out more

 Site sections

Terry Nation's Survivors

 Survivors is a 38-episode, three series British post-apocalyptic TV series, created by Terry Nation, and first shown on BBC 1 between 1975 and 1977

 Two Survivors novel were published in the UK, USA and Italy in the seventies: Terry Nation's part-novelisation of the first TV series Survivors was published in 1976; with John Eyers' original follow-up Genesis of a Hero appearing the following year

 A 12-episode, two series remake of Survivors was broadcast on BBC One between 2008 and 2010

 A 36-episode, nine series run of new and original Survivors audio adventures, set in the time and place of the original programme, were released by Big Finish between 2014 and 2019

 Terry Nation's Survivors novel was released as an audiobook, voiced by Carolyn Seymour, in 2014

 Genesis of a Hero was reprinted and republished as a paperback and as a Kindle title in 2015

 A sequel to Genesis of a Hero, entitled Survivors: Salvation, was published in February 2021

 A six-episode original audio drama, Survivors: New Dawn, set two decades on from The Death was released in two three story box sets by Big Finish in November 2021 and February 2022

 Sequel to 'Genesis of a Hero' published
Sequel to 'Genesis of a Hero' published

AUTHOR JOHN EYERS has just published Survivors: Salvation, a long-awaited sequel to his 'cult classic' novel Survivors: Genesis of a Hero.

 Cult of... Survivors
<em>Cult of... Survivors</em>

A BRAND NEW documentary on Survivors first aired on BBC4 on Tuesday 5 December 2006 at 8.30pm as part of a series of programmes celebrating the history of British literary and small-screen science fiction.

 In conversation - Carolyn Seymour: Survivor
In conversation - Carolyn Seymour: Survivor

BIG FINISH RELEASED a two-hour 'in conversation' session with Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) in April 2021.

 Pete Wallbank
Pete Wallbank

ILLUSTRATOR AND ARTIST Pete Wallbank designed the covers for the Sovereign Video VHS release of series one of Survivors.