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Walks in and around
Monkton Combe
Walk 1
Brassknocker,
Kennet & Avon
Walk 2
Combe Down, Horsecombe Vale & Tucking Mill
Walk 3
Bridging the gap
Walk 4
Somerset Coal Canal & Southstoke
Walk 5
Bluebell Woods &
Riverside Walk
Walk 6
Rainbow's End
Walk 7
Brookside Views
Walk 8
Monkton Combe, Southstoke, Midford |
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Brookside View
Walk 7 - by Nigel Vile
print version of instructions
print version of General Description
print version of map
General Description - A ramble that will put muscle to the
test !
| To the south of Bath the
network of rivers and streams carves out a most dramatic
landscape. There is, of course, the Avon Valley, that
most popular of walking locations, running south to
Bradford on Avon. The Avon is fed by a number of
diminutive streams and rivers, that include the Somerset
Frome, Wellow Brook and Midford Brook. This walk
includes an impressive section of the Midford Brook,
upstream of Monkton Combe, as well as the hillsides to
the south west of the river.
From Monkton Combe, whose former mills are now
overshadowed by the local public school, the walk climbs
steeply uphill to neighbouring Limpley Stoke. St. Mary's
Church, high on a hilltop to the south of the village,
can boast a fair deal of history. The nave walls, for
example, are allegedly those of a small chapel built in
1001 to mark the boundary of land given by Ethelred, son
of King Edgar, to the Abbess of Shaftesbury in 973.
Beyond St. Mary's, fieldpaths and lanes take the walk
through the scattered hamlets of Sharpstone and
Pipehouse. Along the way you may catch a glimpse of the
very private Hinton Priory through the trees. This
former Carthusian priory, founded in 1232, was abandoned
during the dissolution. The remains consist of the
chapter house, the refectory and the outline of the
cloister.
Pipehouse Lane descends steeply down the hillside
into Midford. 'Lane' is perhaps a misnomer. The tarmac
surface soon gives way to a rough, boulder-strewn track
that can resemble a stream following a heavy rain..
It is the simple matter of following the Midford
Brook back into Monkton Combe, with one last surprise in
store along the way.
There, on the hillside above the river, stands the
quite imposing Midford Castle. The main house is shaped
like a triangle, with a circular tower at each corner.
It is said that a society gambler once made his fortune
by turning up the ace of clubs. In the hope of
perpetuating his fortune, he built this residence! |
Instructions:
Distance: 5 miles
Time: up to 2/3 hours
Start: By the Wheelwrights Arms in Monkton Combe
(parking in Village car park opposite the Church)
Maps: OS Explorer 155/142 or OS Landranger 172
Refreshments: Pubs in Monkton Combe and Limpley Stoke
Walk down Mill Lane beside the Wheelwright's Arms. At the
bottom of the hill keep to the right of the mill and follow an
enclosed path to a footbridge across Midford Brook. Cross the
river and follow the enclosed path ahead uphill. Part way up
the hillside, on reaching an unmetalled track, turn right for
a few yards before turning left to continue following the
enclosed path steeply uphill. On the hilltop, on joining a
road by a bungalow, continue ahead to the junction with
Midford Lane. Turn left and follow Midford Lane for 400 yards
to its junction with the A36.
Cross the A36 with care, turn left for a few yards before
turning right into Church Lane. In 400 yards, just before the
church, turn right at a stile and follow the churchyard wall
to a kissing gate. In the next field, follow the well-worn
path directly ahead to a kissing gate in the opposite
hedgerow. In the next field, cross to a kissing gate by a
house opposite, before following the path ahead that shortly
becomes a driveway. At the junction with Ashes Lane, turn left
to reach a staggered crossroads. Continue ahead and, at the
next junction, bear right and follow Abbey Lane, the main
road, up to the A36, emerging at the entrance to Hinton
Priory.
Turn right for a few yards and cross the A36 to a
gate/stile opposite. Cross this stile, bear half-right and
make for another stile halfway down the right-hand field
boundary. Cross this stile, head across the next field in the
direction of a barn to another stile. Follow the left edge of
the next field to yet another stile before crossing a paddock
to a gate in the corner and a track. Cross the stile opposite
and follow an enclosed path alongside a garden to the lane in
Pipehouse. Turn left along this lane. Beyond the last
property, continue along an unmetalled byway that, beyond a
private drive that bears right to a water tower, becomes a
rough, stony track that descends the hillside to the B3110 on
the edge of Midford. Turn right and, in 100 yards, right again
into Midford Lane.
250 yards along this lane, cross a gate to follow a path
signposted to Millbrook. Follow the left edges of two fields,
dropping gradually downhill. Partway along the second field
keep left as the path runs alongside a fence besides an old
railway line to reach a stile. Pass through a small area of
boggy ground to a second stile, before crossing a thin
hillside field to reach the banks of Midford Brook. Follow the
river back to Monkton Combe where you cross a stile to rejoin
the path walked at the outset. Re-cross the wooden bridge on
the left, follow the enclosed path back to the mill and bear
left up Mill Lane to the heart of the village. |
