Walking in the North Wessex Downs. Steve Davison
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Название: Walking in the North Wessex Downs
Автор: Steve Davison
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о Путешествиях
isbn: 9781783622122
isbn:
The Bull Inn
WALK 2
Ashampstead and Yattendon
| Start/Finish | North edge of the recreation ground in Ashampstead (SU 565 769); limited roadside parking |
| Distance | 6.9km (4¼ miles) |
| Ascent | 65m |
| Time | 2hrs |
| Map | OS Explorer 158 |
| Refreshments | Casey Fields Farm Shop at Ashampstead; The Royal Oak (01635 201325) and village shop at Yattendon |
| Public transport | None |
This easy walk meanders through fairly level farmland and visits two interesting villages, Ashampstead and Yattendon. Step inside St Clement’s Church near the start of the walk to see its medieval wall paintings, while the Church of St Peter and St Paul at Yattendon is the resting-place of a poet laureate. Yattendon is also home to the award-winning West Berkshire Brewery.
Stand facing the large green in Ashampstead and turn right to a crossroads. Go left down Church Lane for 100m before turning right through a gate to enter the churchyard. Follow the path passing just left of St Clement’s Church, and leave the churchyard through a gate on the western boundary.
Ashampstead dates back to at least the time of the Norman Conquest, when William the Conqueror gave the lands to William FitzOsborn. St Clement’s Church dates from the late 12th century, with later additions. The church contains a real treasure – surviving fragments of 13th-century medieval wall paintings. Those on the north wall of the nave depict scenes from the birth of Christ, while on the chancel arch can be seen the remains of the Last Judgement, with the figures of Christ and the Apostles and souls being admitted to heaven (left) or dragged down to hell (right). The paintings were uncovered only in 1895, having been plastered over following the Reformation in the 16th century.
Medieval wall paintings inside St Clement’s Church, Ashampstead
Head west across two fields separated by a gate and turn left along the concrete track (bridleway). Just before Casey Fields Farm Shop turn right following a track through trees. Enter a field and continue alongside the trees on the right for 175m to a track and marker post. Turn left across the field, passing just left of a tree to the trees on the far side. Keep ahead through a gate and follow the left-hand field edge. Go through gates either side of a track and continue between the trees (left) and hedge (right). Go through another gate and follow the hedge on the right. At the field corner turn left for 75m, still following the hedge, and then turn right through a gate.
Head diagonally left across the corner of the field, cross the boundary into the next field and turn right following the right-hand field margin for 200m. At the marker post head diagonally left across the field, passing a wooden electricity pole mid-field. Cross a stile, continue through the small paddock and leave over another stile. Bear left up the road to a junction in Yattendon beside The Royal Oak, with the village store opposite.
The Royal Oak at Yattendon
Like Ashampstead, picturesque Yattendon was mentioned in the Domesday Book, when the manor was held by ‘William son of Ansculf’. Inside the 15th-century Church of St Peter and St Paul is a memorial to Sir John Norreys (d.1466), a distinguished soldier in the reign of Elizabeth I and lord of the manor who built the present church; the Norreys family, and their descendants, held the manor of Yattendon until the 19th century. On the north wall of the nave there is a tablet (Latin inscription) commemorating Harriet Molesworth, her son Robert Seymour Bridges (1844–1930) and his wife Monica Waterhouse. Robert Bridges, a doctor by profession, became poet laureate in 1913; his works include ‘London snow’ (1879).
The village is also home to the award-winning West Berkshire Brewery, originally established in 1995 in a barn at the Pot Kiln pub (Walk 1). The brewery and shop is located 400m south of the church along Church Lane and then left along Chapel Lane (SU 554 741).
Keep left past The Royal Oak, and shortly after passing the village hall turn left at the footpath sign. There are two paths here; follow the second option through the churchyard, passing just left of the Church of St Peter and St Paul before leaving through a gate in the far corner. The first path stays outside the churchyard and then turns right, rejoining the other path at the gate.
Continue north-eastwards between trees (left) and a hedge (right); the woods have a good display of bluebells in late spring. At the end of the wood keep ahead through the field for 600m following the right-hand boundary to a crossing track; Calvesleys Farm is to the right. Keep ahead, now with a wood on the left and open field to the right. At the corner follow the field edge round to the right (marker post) for 250m. Shortly before the next field corner, turn left at the marker post and head north-east down through the trees to a track. Turn right (east) along the dip in the field to a crossing track – Pinfold Lane.
Turn left up the track back to Ashampstead, later following Church Lane past St Clement’s Church and turning right at the crossroads to get back to the start.
WALK 3
Aldworth
| Start/Finish | Ridgeway car park at end of Rectory Road off the A417 at Streatley (SU 567 812) |
| Distance | 8.8km (5½ miles) |
| Ascent | 170m |
| Time | 2½hrs |
| Maps | OS Explorer 159 and 170 |
| Refreshments | The Bell Inn (01635 578272) at Aldworth |
| Public transport | Streatley (off route, accessible by following the waymarked Ridgeway for 2km) has bus links to Reading (excluding Sundays); Goring and Streatley station has good rail links (3.5km off route) |
This easy half-day walk follows a short section of the Ridgeway, meandering through the Berkshire Downs just west of the River Thames with views of the Chilterns. The high point of the walk is the picturesque village of Aldworth, a place where giants sleep, before a gradual descent leads back to the start.
From car park, head west up the track following the Ridgeway for 1.7km to a track junction. Turn left along the track, with a view to the west across Streatley Warren to the Chilterns, and then follow the track as it swings right to a surfaced lane. Turn left along the lane for 250m and then right down a track, following it as it swings left at the trees to pass Dumworth Farm to join a road beside St Mary’s Church in Aldworth.
Picturesque Aldworth, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is home to St Mary’s Church, which dates back to Norman times. Inside the church are the ‘Aldworth Giants’, nine larger-than-life effigies of the de la Beche family dating from the first half of the 14th century (see box). The churchyard is the final resting place of the poet Laurence Binyon, especially remembered for the lines from his poem ‘For the fallen’ that are quoted at Remembrance Day services.
Inside St Mary’s Church is the large effigy of Sir Nicholas de la Beche
THE ALDWORTH GIANTS
The influential de la Beche family, many of whom were warders of the Tower of London and Sheriffs of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, had come to England in the wake of William the Conqueror and built the long-since vanished ‘castle’ of de la Beche nearby. A silver seal bearing the name Isabella de la Beche was found in 1871 and is now held in Reading Museum.
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