Wild Humphrey Kynaston, a younger son of the Kynastons of Myddle Castle, who was outlawed apparently for murder, possibly for debt also, in 1491, [took refuge in the cave in Nesscliff Hill] in the Marches beyond the reach of English law. Once when he had crossed the Severn the Sheriff’s officers followed him, and removed some of the planks from Montford Bridge to cut off his escape; but he put his faithful horse to the leap and landed safely on the further side, where the King’s writ did not run. The wonderful leap was long kept in memory by marks dug in the turf on Knockin Heath, and popular tradition now tells of “Kynaston’s Leap” over the Severn, from Nesscliff Hill to Ellesmere, or even to the top of the Breidden Hill.
From Charlotte S Burne’s article in ‘Memorials of Old Shropshire’ by Thomas Auden, 1906.