Westbury and the White Horse

Another town walk with Merv, starting at the Old (i.e. former) Town Hall. It was built in 1815 at the expense of Sir M M Lopez. It was nicely restored (Pevsner) in 1972-3 when shops were inserted behind the columns.

Then to the church of All Saints, in the Perpendicular style but much renewed (Pevsner again).

The West end is unusually dramatic for a parish church. It dates from 1847.

Soon after we found ourselves in the former Angel Mill, now flats. It dates from the late 18th century.

Then on the opposite side of the road the Laverton Institute of 1873, now the Town Council offices. It was was designed to "provide a place for educational, religious, philanthropic, scientific and political purposes".

Further along the road was a real surprise: this arrangement of houses forming a square open at the bottom, with the houses along the sides rigorously symmetrical. A plaque revealed that it was built by Abraham Lavington in 1869 for workers evicted for voting for him in an election. This helped the campaign for the Secret Ballot Act which came into operation in 1872.

Even more interesting to me were the set of seven Almshouses at the top of the slope.

The central plaque reveals that "These seven houses were designated as Almshouses for the use of old or disabled factory operatives and their widows". The benefactor was William Henry Laverton in memory of his his late uncle Abraham Laverton, November 27 1876.

To conclude our exploration we headed out of town to see the famous White Horse. We parked at a view point and then walked a mile or so along the road and then up onto the ridge and along it. Here is the Horse, becoming clearer as we got closer through the haze.

When we got right up close we found a shocking discovery. The Horse is thought to date from as early as 1742 and it is shown on a map of 1773, with a later version said to have been cut by a Mr Gee in 1778 (all this from a helpful information panel). Now for the shock. In the mid 1950s it was concreted over to prevent the overgrowth of grass and in 2012 volunteers gave it a makeover as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. This is what it looks like now. Awful!

Just beyond the White Horse are the impressive earthworks of an Iron Age hill fort known as Bratton castle.

We headed back to the car and left for our second destination of the day: Farleigh Hungerford Castle.

Pembroke

Pembroke Castle from the Mill Bridge

We are staying near Pembroke, visiting old friends, and clearly we have to have a look around the town. We start our exploration at the castle, where we also acquire a copy of the Town Trail which I had found online here.

The castle, where Henry VII was born, dates back to the Norman Conquest. The first earth and timber castle was built in 1093, although there is speculation that an iron age hill fort preceded it. It was replaced by a stone castle in the early 13th century and this was progressively enlarged up to the mid 15th century.

This is the initial view that we had as we approached along Westgate Hill.

Once we walked through the Barbican and the Great Gatehouse I was delighted to see my first Red Admiral of the year - an unexpected delight.

Once inside we climbed the Henry VII tower and enjoyed this marvelous view to the north. On the left is the well-named Great Tower. It was commenced in 1204 and is 25m high and 16m in diameter. It is a rare example of a circular keep.

We had a very enjoyable ramble around the castle building, although we resisted going underground to see the Wogan, a vast natural cavern which was a shelter for cave dwellers during the ice age.

Emerging from the castle we turned right to reach Main Street and pass St Mary's church. On the left was Pembroke Town Hall with its splendid clock tower. The building dates back to 1820.

Heading along Main St we came to Orielton Terrace, a lovely group of presumably Georgian or early Victorian houses.

On the right after this was the rather handsome Congregationalist (?) church which we were warmly invited to visit by some very friendly worshippers.

A bit further on was the former Wesley Chapel, now an antiques centre.

We doubled back here and turned left into the New Way, the first street to breach the town walls and turning left at the bottom follow the line of the former walls. We passed the Gun Tower, one of six defensive towers.

Further along was the Gazebo. The base was originally another defensive tower onto which a gazebo was added in the 19th century. It has lately been restored and is now a rather lovely private house.

We headed back up towards Main St and then followed Black Horse Walk which brought us down to the Upper Mill Pond, with the 13th century Barnard's Tower on the right.

The pond had impressive wildlife including a family of Moorhens, herons and Cormorants. A passing local advised us that there was a great view point behind the reed beds and I duly took advantage of this excellent tip off.

We headed along the side of the pond and reached the bridge at the end. This offered a final, splendid view of the great castle.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: about 3 miles.

Rating: four stars. The castle was really impressive, but the town seemed to be in decline. We spent time discussing how it might be revived, but without coming up with any very convincing ideas. WE thought its remote location was probably the core challenge to renewal.

Chipping Norton and the Rollright Stones

The Town Hall

Another walk with my friend Merv. We started in the centre of Chipping Norton near the Town Hall of 1842 and headed west along the A44 soon bearing right across a field to eventually emerge into open country.

This led us to the edge of Salford from which we headed north towards Little Rollwright, passing the attractive Rectory Farm.

As we approached Little Rollwright we were struck by the neatness of the surrounding countryside with the trees planed in orderly rows.

We skirted the Manor House to reach the church of St Philip, built in 1617.

Inside this small and unprepossessing church we were surprised to find two handsome tomb-chests, also early 17th century to members of the Dixon family.

We headed across farmland to encounter the Rollright Stones. There are three elements. The first is a set of standing stones known fancifully as the Whispering Knights. They are what remains of an early neolithic (4000-3500 BC) burial chamber.

A little further on is the Stone Circle known as the King's Men. These date from the later neolithic period and form a ceremonial circle. Many were re-erected in Victorian times and apparently there were once more stones forming a continuous circle with ceremonial entrances. The circle is surprisingly large.

Finally, there is an outlying stone, on the other side of a road, known as the King's Stone, but also said to resemble a seal balancing a ball on its nose. This is thought to date from the Bronze age (1800-1500 BC).

Retracing our steps to the stone circle, we were struck by this fabulous temporary public sculpture, Three Dancing Fairies by David and Adam Gosling, inspired by a painting by William Blake. Well done to them!

We retraced our steps past the Whispering Knights and followed a field path down to a road. This in turn led us, via Over Norton, back to Chipping Norton. We detoured to Church Lane to locate the almshouses, founded by Henry Cornish in 1640.

Then, reaching the main road, turned right past the much altered Guildhall ...

... and bore left into Market Street with an attractive line of buildings.

I especially liked this one of 1890 almost opposite the Town Hall.

Conditions: Grey and cool, maybe 12 degrees.

Distance: 8 miles.

Map: Explorer 191 (Banbury, Bicester & Chipping Norton)

From: AA: 50 walks in the Cotswolds

Rating: four stars.

Huntingdon

Huntingdon and Godmanchester bridge

We are on the way back home from a dinner in Cambridge and it seemed to be an excellent opportunity to detour slightly for a look around Peterborough. It is a town of Saxon origin and gained a Royal Charter in 1205.

We started at the 19th century Riverside mill and crossed the medieval  which dates from about 1332. There was apparently a rivalry between the two towns (Godmanchester was the more important in Roman times) and there are differences in the cutwaters between the Peterborough side and the Godmanchester side. Two of the six arches on the Peterborough side are beautifully decorated and one of them is shown above.

We passed the Old Bridge Hotel and turned left into Castle Moat Road. On the left was a mound which was once the site of Huntingdon Castle, built in 1068. A little further on, on the right, are the St John's Almshouses, built 1843-51 and upgraded in 2011. The central double gable is an unusual feature.

We retraced our steps and turned left into the long High St. soon reaching Castle Hill House, a fine Georgian mansion of 1787.

Opposite is St Mary's church, dating from Saxon times but mainly 13th century. The tower was rebuilt 1608-20 and is approached by a very pleasant flower-lined path.

There were some attractive Georgian town houses on the left hand side as we approached the town centre, but we especially enjoyed the Commemoration Hall (1842).

Soon afterwards we arrived at the spacious Market Hill, the centre of the town. On the left was the Town Hall of 1745.

On the right was a rather incongruous Sopwith Camel (presumably a replica). Some of these WW1 planes were apparently made nearby.

Continuing the war time theme, in the centre of the square is the ‘Thinking Soldier’ a rather fine war memorial sculpted by Kathleen Scott, the widow of Scott of the Antarctic.

Continuing round the square we come to All Saints Church, medieval but with many later alterations and additions. These include a font in which Oliver Cromwell was allegedly baptised - he was certainly born and brought up in Huntingdon.

Finally, there is the very interesting building which now houses the Cromwell Museum.

It was originally the infirmary hall of the Hospital of John the Baptist. This was later much reduced in size and then became a school. It was rebuilt in the later 19th century century, but remains a very characterful building.

We continued up the High St passing the imposing George Hotel, once a coaching inn.

On the right we admired this keystone on a bank window.

At the top was the splendid Whitwell House of 1727.

The only drawback with this exploration was there was nothing for it but to retrace our steps. Huntingdon was historically a linear town.

Conditions: bright but cold.

Distance: about 3 miles there and back.

Rating: four stars.