Uffington Castle
The start of a new project with our friends Merv and Pud: the Lambourn Valley Way, a 22 miles path from Whitehorse Hill to Newbury. We parked at the Uffington Castle car park and headed south and then east along a wide path ...
... to pass below Uffington Castle, a large iron age hill fort thought to have been founded in the 7th or 8th century BC. On the far slope of the hill is the Uffington White Horse, by far the oldest of the white horse figures in Britain (it dates back about 3,000 years) and is of an entirely different design from the others inspired by it.
We now headed south with a wide spread of farmland to the west.
Further on the path became narrow and enclosed with lovely white flowers.
We passed an intriguing shallow circular depression on the right ...
... and soon entered the main zone of gallops. I have got to confess that I found this section a bit boring , although it was quite exciting when a couple of horses did pass at speed.
We reached the edge of Upper Lambourn and continued along the road into Lambourn. The route took us past the lovely red brick Place (or Hardrett's) almshouses.
The lettering above the doorway says "By John Estbury AD 1502. Rebuilt by Henry Hippisley AD 1852". The initials JE and HH are visible higher up the wall. Pevsner (the original edition) describes the almhouses as "very picturesque", although he credits them to T Talbot Bury, so Mr Hippisley was presumably the builder. The 2010 Pevsner dismisses the almhouses as "very modest" which I think is very harsh.
We finished this first stage at the handsome church of St Michael and All Angels. The oldest parts - the nave and part of the tower - date from 1175-90. As ever, it was restored in the 19th century. Pevsner 2010 says the interior is "one of the most impressive in Berkshire". I wish now thatwe had gone in, but lunch beckoned too strongly.
Conditions: a lovely sunny day.
Distance: 7 miles.
Map: Explorer 170 (Abingdon, Wantage & Vale of White Horse).
Rating: three stars.
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