Hereford is a cathedral city in Herefordshire that lies on the banks of the River Wye and is 16 miles from the Welsh border.
Hereford is first mentioned in The Hallmarked Man in Chapter 59. When Strike is interviewing Jade Semple, wife of the missing Niall Semple, he recalls “a glass case full of gleaming Rhodesian silver in Hereford, situated in the best fortified army base in the UK, where the fences were topped with barbed wire, cameras watched the perimeter, within which photography and sketching were forbidden, and where the nature of what happened behind some of the closed doors was covered by the Official Secrets Act.”
Hereford is mentioned again in Chapter 78 during conversation between Strike and Robin. Strike quotes the poem by James Elroy Flecker:
“We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go Always a little further; it may be Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow Across that angry or that glimmering sea…’
This poem was also one of J.K. Rowling’s X header photos before the book was published.
Strike tells Robin the poem is ‘Adopted as a kind of mission statement by the SAS. It’s carved into their mess bar at the base in Hereford and it’s on the clock tower, which is inscribed with the names of men killed in service. One poor bastard survived commando operations, then got killed in a bloody hit and run in America.’
Strike tells Robin he has been to the SAS headquarters once.
The SAS headquarters in Hereford is mentioned again in Chapter 97: “Strike was reminded of the captured Daesh flag he’d seen at the SAS headquarters in Hereford, which was framed, and facing a captured WW2 swastika on the opposite wall.”
Strike goes to Hereford in Chapter 101 to meet Rena Liddell in The Golden Fleece. On arriving in the city, he parks his BMW in a multi-story car park and goes in search of an early lunch. He ends up at the Beefy Boys restaurant and has a Dirty Boy Burger.
After eating his burger and taking a trip to the bathroom he walks to The Golden Fleece on Owen Street.
On the rooftop of the pub he can see the tall spire of St Peter’s church.
At the end of the book, in Chapter 124, Strike goes to Hereford again, to St Martin’s church, which has a fair share of SAS graves.
Find the Hereford locations on the map below, with the route from the car park to the Beefy Boys to the Golden Fleece:
