Asthall, Widford and Swinbrook

St Nicholas, Asthall

We met up with our friends Sally and Malcolm for this walk in West Oxfordshire (it's on the Oxfordshire County Council website). We started at the Maytime pub and soon reached the charming church. It is Transitional Norman from about 1160, with 13th and 14th century additions and late 19th century restorations.

Overlooking the churchyard is the extremely imposing Manor House, which dates from about 1620. It was altered and enlarged in 1916 and the right hand bay was added at this point.

We walked up past the Manor House and turned right to follow the road to Widford, with the River Windrush to our right. After a while there was a fine view across the river valley towards the tiny 13th century church of St Oswald, all that remains of the medieval village of Widford. The church was built on the site of a Roman villa.

We turned right, crossed the river and right again to double back along the opposite side of the river. Reaching the chapel, this was the site of the abandoned village. I suppose an archaeologist might have been able to detect some vestiges of it. We admired the delicate colour of the two Copper Beech trees.

Inside the church there were 1th century murals and very high 19th century box pews. The inhabitants would have been invisible when they were sitting down.

We walked across fields to enter a narrow walled path which led into Swinbrook.

The church is an interesting mixture of Transitional Norman, with later Perpendicular and Decorated  elements - apart from the tower which dates from 1822. Inside, there are extraordinary 17th century monuments to members of the Fettiplace family, whose grand house stood nearby until it was demolished in the early 19th century.

We walked through the village and then continued across fields parallel to the river. As lunch time was approaching as we came level again with Asthall, we crossed back over for an underwhelming lunch at the Maytime Inn.

We again crossed the river, impressively full of water ...

... and carried on along a slight rise overlooking the curving valley.

When we hit a road, we turned right along it, then right again to follow the river back into Asthall.

Conditions: cloudy, mild, a little sun.

Distance: said to be 5 miles, but seemed a little less.

Rating: four stars. A delightful area of ancient settlements which none of us really knew. And a very nicely designed and documented walk.

Flower of the day

We saw this impressive Star of Bethlehem by the path at the edge of Swinford.

Talking point of the day

We saw a Crow trap at one point. It was a sort of wood and wire cage with a bait bird in one section and a captive bird in another. The farmer we ran into explained that the Crows were vermin which took the young of other smaller birds and the goal was to kill as many as possible. A bit of googling reveals that it was a Larsen trap and that the wild bird lands on the roof and falls through a trap-door into the body of the trap. The bait bird was clearly being provided with food and water and it is clear that this was a legal activity being done correctly, but we felt a bit uncomfortable about it. I suppose it is a case of the chocolate box country being confronted by the real country. I wasn't too surprised however to discover a website devoted to opposing Crow trapping.