Thornbury Wayfinders

Thornbury Parish after 1894 19.2 K or 12 miles

This version is somewhat tentative. It is more of an idea than a finished article. The main problem is the boundary is not conveniently followed by footpaths especially on the western side around Kington. There are roads that follow the line of the Parish Boundary approximately, but a risk assessment would be required before you sent out a party to actually beat the bounds. And so on.

1. On the way out of the Leisure Centre car park, turn left up the path opposite Vilner Lane that goes around the back of the Leisure Centre. When you come to a path into the field on your right, take it  and head across the field to the far left hand corner. Follow the muddy path into Filnore Woods.

At this stage, the parish boundary is at the top of the field on the right.

2. When a path alongside the allotments joins from the left, turn right and follow the path uphill, which follows the right hand boundary of the wood. Pass the three jubilee limes and the pond (usually dry).

The parish boundary joins the edge of the wood at this point. 

The path descends to a stream then up the other side. At the top, it is worth taking a diversion to the left when the view opens out to the left, but you need to get back to the hedge side path afterwards as you are now following the parish boundary. 

3. The route now follows the parish boundary until you get to The Slad. 

When you come to a kissing gate, go through it and follow the path parallel to the hedge on your left through three gaps in three hedges and then duck through some bushes onto a tarmac lane (Abbey Lane). Turn right and continue up to the A38.

4. Cross the major road with care into a bridleway also called Abbey Lane. 

On the left hand side of the lane, there are the remains of an iron age hill fort. 

After about six hundred metres, the bridleway bends to the left and emerges on Itchington Road. 

5. Turn left and follow the road alongside Tytherington Quarry on your right to a bridge over a railway. Continue up through the hamlet called The Slad to the A38.

The parish boundary heads off up the hill to the right just before you reach the first house on the right.  The word “Slad” comes from the Old English slaed – a valley or dingle. It seems that the railway engineers chose this little valley to put the railway through to the tunnel under the main road.

There is a case to be made for leaving out the bit through Cleve Wood (6 to 10) and carrying on past the traffic lights (both sets). That way you avoid a pair of difficult stone stiles and a dangerous road crossing. I am possibly too averse to walking alongside traffic. On the other hand, you are at least facing oncoming traffic. If you choose this option continue past a garage and the following house to find a Bristol gate into the woods on your right. Continue from 11.

6. Cross the A38 using the traffic lights into Grovesend Road and look for the footpath on the right next to Cleevewood Farm (aka Grovesend Farm). It may be better to wait until you can see over the brow of the hill before you cross.
7.  Go through the small gate into a car park and go straight ahead to a kissing gate into a field. Follow the right hand fence to the corner of the field, where there is a kissing gate into the next field.
8. On the other side of the kissing gate, look for a gap on the right opposite the electricity pylon. Head down the hillside to the right and head up the far side of Cleve Wood. 

The little valley on the right is an example of a “hope.” That is the top end of a valley. There is another at Hope Farm on the other side of Milbury Heath. Cleve Wood is an Ancient Semi Natural Woodland (ASNW). It is also an example of a hanger aka a hanging wood. This is a beech hanger specifically. It was probably so called because the slope made it a convenient place to hang criminals. As you can see, nowadays, it might be better called a swinger! 

Follow the top edge of the wood until the path goes into the trees. Follow the path along the top of the wood until it morphs into an engineered track, which bends off to the left as you come towards the end of the wood. Turn right up to a kissing gate set into a post and rail fence, which leads into the Hacket.

9. Through the gate, turn left and follow Hacket Lane until you see  some uneven steps up to a stone stile on the right. Continue up the woodside to another difficult stone stile leading to some steps up to the A38.
10. Cross the road carefully, when it is safe, and turn left to find a gate into a wooded area. 
11. Follow the waymarked path through the trees until you come out into a field across a plank bridge and a kissing gate. When I checked out the route, there was a clear, trodden path across the field that went down the right hand side of some farm buildings to a gate on the left near a house. 

You cross the parish boundary into Tytherington when you pass the conifers in the woods and reenter Thornbury when you go through the gate. 

12.  Through the gate, turn right down the lane to the Motorway (following the parish boundary). Keep left and follow the bridle path between Milbury Heath Plantation and the M5. 
13. At the end of the bridleway, turn left and follow Cuttsheath Road up to a T-junction and turn left. 

(It is worth stopping to admire the view over the first gate on the left.)

Continue to follow Cuttsheath Road to Milbury Heath/Buckover. 

14. From the pub car park, turn left and head down the footway. Turn left down Old Gloucester Road. (There is a footway on the right.)
15. At the end, turn left along (New) Gloucester Road. You will pass the entrance to Eastwood Farm (Delta Force Paintballing) and Springfield (Supplies and Projects) after which there is a footpath in the hedge on your right.
16. The path heads up the right hand edge of the first field until you pass a small wood on the right and straight up the next field. The path shadows some power lines up the hill to a stile on the horizon. (Dog proof.) There is a second stile on the other side.
17. The path follows the right hand hedge and the edge of Larch Covert to a gap next to an overgrown kissing gate. 
18. The right of way goes straight across the next field to a functioning kissing gate.(When I checked out the route, both gates were protected by an electric fence designed to keep sheep in. There were insulated sections in front of the gates to accommodate walkers.)
19. The path goes diagonally left across the next field to a new kissing gate in the far corner at the opposite end of the opposite hedge from the wind turbine. 
20. Head away from the kissing gate towards an impressive oak tree where a wood on the right threatens to join Groves Gully.To the right of the oak, there is a kissing gate The view is impressive. There is a line of sight between here and the site of the Temple of Nodens on the other side of the Severn at Lydney Park. It is to the right of a dip in the distant hills.
21. From the kissing gate descend the hill below the rampart to a group of poplars that conceal two kissing gates separated by a bridge over another gully.

This is the old boundary between Thornbury and Rockhampton.

In the next field, head towards some white buildings which are beside the tower of St Oswald’s Church hidden by some trees. There is a kissing gate into the next field. Follow the left hand hedge until you reach another gate.

22. Through the gate, turn left and follow the left hand hedge to the end of the field. There are two stiles in the corner, the first of which I found difficult to get over with an artificial hip, but there is a pleasant grassy path through Mount Pleasant Tree Farm to Gully Road. 
23.  Turn left then right towards Luce’s Farm. After some trees on the right, leave the drive and follow the right hand hedge through three field boundaries. The first through the former boundary between Rockhampton and Thornbury has a dog proof stile and the second, which is the present boundary, has two dog-proof stiles and a bridge. The third has a similar stile and a kissing gate. (You are following the western pale or boundary of Eastwood deer park.) After the third, look for a broken stile and plank bridge on the right.
24. In the field over the plank, bear left across the field and turn left parallel to the far hedge. 

The hedge on the right is the parish boundary between Thornbury and Rockhampron. 

This leads you to an enclosed path called Catsbrain Lane. 

Catsbrain Lane is in Rockhampton until it crosses a stream, where you are back in Thornbury. The boundary is complicated here.

25. At the end of the lane, turn right up Newton Hill. On the right you pass Thornbury Rugby Football Club, which is in Rockhampton.
26. Just past Yew Tree Farm, which has a triple gabled frontage, there is a pond, after which, you should turn left through a kissing gate next to a double field gate. The right of way starts by going to the left of the hedge straight ahead. It then goes through a Bristol gate into an enclosed path between a ditch or rhine, which is the parish boundary, and a hedge. When you come out in a field, you keep straight ahead following the ditch on your left. Continue through two hedge boundaries to the field occupied by Henridge Hill. Here there is a stile on your left, which  leads to a path across a smaller field to a gate onto a track called Duckhole.
27. Turn left and then right up Folly Lane. Continue for about 400 metres until you come to a barn on the right. Turn left through a kissing gate opposite. Follow the rhine on the left through a gap (or gateway).
28. In the next field, head right across the field to a field gate and bridge over a rhine. (Strictly speaking, you should stay on the right of way to a footbridge and head across the field from there.) 
29. In the next field, bear left to cut the corner to another bridge and Bristol gate back over the rhine. Turn right  and follow the rhine past a fallen tree to a kissing gate. Continue through a pair of metal pedestrian gates and a footbridge, another similar setup, a pedestrian gate plus a footbridge and stile and a footbridge and stile under a tree. (The footbridge and stile is difficult for large dogs, but there is an alternative a few metres to the left.)  
30. In the next field, follow the far hedge to the left. At the end of the field. Turn left through a gateway towards a farm.
31. As soon as you can, turn left and left again to reach the hedge boundary of the sewage works. Turn along the hedge to emerge over a stile onto Oldbury Lane.
32. Cross the road onto the verge opposite and turn left. Turn right onto the right of way along the drive to Park Mill Farm. Make your way past the farmhouse and follow the track past the castle walls. 
33. When you come to the rectory wall, turn right past a post bearing the legend, Pithay. Follow the wall on your left down to a footbridge over a stream. Over the bridge is a stile leading into a field. 
34. Follow the path across the field to another stile and a kissing gate. In the next field, follow the fence around the top end of the cemetery to a kissing gate under a fine although false acacia tree. Through the gate, follow the path around the paddocks to another kissing gate onto Kington Lane. Be careful, there are one or two drivers who use this lane as a race track!
35. Turn right and follow the road to Wellfield Cottage, where you need to turn left on the lane that leads towards the Mundy Playing Fields car park.
36. When you get to the car park, turn left and descend the field to a footbridge over the Poulter Brook. Head up the field on the far side past the play equipment to the  main exit from the Mundy Playing fields, which takes you through to the Close. Turn right on the High Street and left down Chapel Street to return to the Museum and the town car parks.