Decus Sabrinae Vallis

Decus Sabrinae Vallis is the motto of Thornbury Town Council. It used to be written under the Town’s coat of arms and is now the motto of Thornbury Wayfinders. It means something like “The Jewel (or Honour) of the Severn Vale.” In practical terms, it emphasises the relationship between the historical market town and its surrounding villages, reflecting its former roles as seat of Thornbury Rural District Council from 1894 and before that the Hundred of Thornbury.

Due to carelessness, Thornbury was not included in the “Forgotten Landscape” project promoted by South Glos Council, even though two thirds of the regular walks in “Discover the Lower Severn Vale Levels” produced by the project are within walking distance of Thornbury, which is the obvious base from which to explore them.

It is the purpose of this piece to put Thornbury at the heart of the “Forgotten Landscape” by presenting three walks.These three – The Slow Ways Nature Trail, The Five Villages Footpath Walk, and the United Benefice of Thornbury, Oldbury and Shepperdine Heritage Walk – are sufficient to link Thornbury to a significant section of the Forgotten Landscape Project. They are quite long at ten miles each – suitable for U3A A walkers. And each is different in concept. The first presents three different approaches to nature. The second is dedicated to fundraising, but could easily be adapted for other purposes. The third is a church of England Heritage Walk, but it would have a completely different flavour if the focus was on Oldbury Marsh and a Putcher Pie or an Oldbury Tart instead of on St Arilda’s Church.

Discover the Lower Severn Vale Levels

We start from a set of maps produced and splendidly presented by the Forgotten Landscape project under this title. On the Thornbury side of the M48, these are: 1) The Hill Hike, 2) The Windbound Wander, 3) The Oldbury Outing, 4) The Oldbury Kington Loop and 5) the Long Littleton Loop. The sixth is is the Two Bridges Loop, which is in easy reach at Aust.

The Slow Ways Nature Trail

Woodwell Meadows, Aust Wetland and Co-Forest Acorn

5) and 6) are linked by two routes developed by the Slow Ways project, designated Austho one and Ausbro one according to the Slow Ways nomenclature. Austho one (Aust-Thornbury 1) ends in the Mundy Playing Fields; but we are going the other way, so we start at the Mundys and head along the Jubilee Way to Littleton on Severn. This is well worth doing for glimpses of the Poulter Brook, views across to the Forest of Dean on the way up to Kington Grove and views of the two bridges from the Woodwell Meadows SNCI (Site of Nature Conservation Interest. (This last one requires a tweak of the route.) From Littleton the route leaves the Jubilee Way to bend round to a path under the M4, which comes out in Aust near the Boar’s Head, which is where Ausbro one starts.

Ausbro one (This is Aust to Bradley Stoke, but we will stop in Almondsbury.) It leaves the Boar’s Head down “Common Lane” to reach the new Aust Wetland, which was set up by ASEA (The Avonmouth and Severnside Enterprise Area) and handed over to be managed by South Glos with the help of the Bristol Zoological Society, which is promising water buffalo to help manage the site if they can find some! There is already plenty of birdlife to see if you have the knowledge and equipment to see it.

The route heads south away from the Two Bridges Loop, past Bilsham Farm, over the M4 to Greenditch Farm and Awkley. From Awkley, the route leaves the minor road to head SW past Co-Forest Acorn – 10,000 trees, planted by Co-Forest, which was set up by Storm Consultancy of Bath. A forest bridge and shelter, designed by fourpointten.co.uk are planned to enhance this Foundation Wood.

A village shop, an impressive church, a garden centre and two pubs are distractions on the way to the T1 bus stop. It is perfectly possible to walk back to Thornbury from Almondsbury, but we believe in promoting public transport and ten miles feels enough. (The route is described as “Hortham” in the 5 to 9 section of On the Buses.)

The Five Villages Footpath Walk

The Forgotten Landscape Project also produced a set of six leaflets describing walks in the Parish of Olveston. Apart from exploring the village itself, these walks take in Tockington and Old Down and even reach up to the A38. The work of of linking these paces to Thornbury has already been done by Thornbury Rotary Club, who produced a ten mile route during lockdown as a fundraiser to make up for not being able to put on their famous Swimathon. This encpsulates the six parish walks, but also visits Elberton and Littleton on Severn – touching on walks 4) and 5) in “Discover the Southern Severn Vale Levels.”

The Five Villages Footpath Walk is something of a misnomer, as there are at least six villages en route – even if you don’t count Thornbury. The route is designed to be easy to follow as a fundraiser, and the paths are so familiar that it is difficult to know what to say about them. With a bit of tweaking it could make a pub crawl – White Hart – Littleton, White Hart – Olveston, The Swan – Tockington, The old Fox – Old Down, The Ship – Alveston and what you will in Thornbury if they’ll let you in after five pints! Or in a different mood, you might visit some churches – St Mary’s Thornbury, St Arilda’s Well in Kington, St Mary de Malmesbury in Littleton, St John the Evangelist in Elberton, St Mary’s in Olveston, The Methodist Church in Tockington and St Helens in Alveston. Apart form St Mary’s Thornbury and the Methodist Church we have here most of the North Severnside Benefice except for St John’s in Aust.

The Thornbury, Oldbury and Shepperdine Heritage Walk

If the North Severnside Benefice and the Five Villages Footpath Walk provide us with a solid link between Thornbury and the Forgotten Landscape just north of the M48, The United Benefice of Thornbury with Oldbury and Shepperdine helps us to cover Oldbury Marsh through their annual “Ride and Stride” walk to celebrate Heritage Open Day In September.

One route between St Mary’s Thornbury and St Mary’s Shepperdine follows the Severn Way/Thornbury Link via Duckhole and Rockhampton Rhine before heading across the levels to Shepperdine and its gem of a corrugated iron church.

The route to Oldbury follows the Severn Way past the old nuclear power station and the sailing club to the Anchor and the Oldbury on Severn Community Shop, where one might stop for refreshment if we were not focused on the United Benefice, which requires us to continue up the hill past the Primary School to St Arilda’s Church on the summit of Cow Hill.

The return journey to St Mary’s Thornbury is well worn and provides few difficulties unless the bridle paths are full of mud and puddles.

There are other ways the link with the Forgotten Landscape could be made, the route of Thornbury Running Club’s Riverbank Rollick, a route using The Jubilee Way, the Severn Way and the Thornbury Link to the Severn Way and the many variations of a walk to Oldbury and/or Littleton form Thornbury used by the Ramblers. But the above Three are sufficient for now.