6 Royal Oak – Cromhall 11 K or 6.8 miles
This walk is based around the misadventure of Thomas Till, which may have led to the Berkeley Poaching Affray of 1816. There are views across the valley of the Little Avon, a Grade 1 listed church, rich woodlands and a glimpse of the Tortworth Estate.
To get to the start, take the number 60 bus from Rock Street, Thornbury to the Charfield Primary School stop.
From the bus stop, cross the road and turn right past the Pear Tree micropub (now shut). After the last house (The Laurels), turn left into a field. The footpath goes more or less straight ahead across the field to a gap in the hedge. Join the track alongside the hedge on the right, which comes out past a gate onto Churchend Lane.
Look back over the gate for a view of the Tyndale Monument.
Turn left and follow the lane towards the eponymous church.
If you have time visit St James’ Church, which is no longer used, but it is looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust. It is a grade I listed building, with a larch tree in the churchyard. Inside there is a bier for transporting coffins and a huge copy of the Ten Commandments written on the wall and information about the church and an infamous train crash in Charfield.
Continue along the road past the church. Head around the bend and look for a kissing gate ahead by a road junction on the left.
Head through the field along the right hand hedge to a pedestrian gate. Continue on the track past a new plantation with a mixture of pines and broad-leaved trees to another gate, past a pond on the left. Keep going on an enclosed path past a quarry on the left. (There is another on the far side of Churchend Lane.) You will come out at a kissing gate on the other side of the tunnel under the lane to a major road known as The Downs.
Cross the road carefully to a kissing gate and follow the enclosed path to a pedestrian gate at the far end.
Follow the path around the left hand edge of the field until you reach the entrance into the wood on your left.
Follow the ride straight ahead through the wood to the far corner.
I have seen roedeer on both sides of these woods. Oddly, the named wood on the present map – Brand Wood – is shown as cleared ground on the 1882 map. As you follow the ride through the woods, The Old Plantation is on your right together with Hunt’s Wood, half of which has been cleared. Jones’ Wood has also been cleared on the left as you leave the wood.
In the corner climb the stile out of the wood and the other straight ahead. Veer right downhill past a conifer wood to an enclosed track near Little Wood. At the other end, bear left under a power line to a pair of stiles near a tall tree. Go straight down the hill to a field gate, which is quite tricky because it is unhinged. Next follow the right hand hedge to a bridge over a stream. Go straight across the next field to a stile by the gate and cross over the main road to the Royal Oak pub.
The Royal Oak is a splendid pub with a well inside and a long history. Two hundred years ago (1815) it was the scene of an inquest into the death of Thomas Till, the popular son of a local farmer, who had been killed by a spring gun, set by keepers to deter poachers in Priest Wood a mile away. The inquest declared this to be an accidental death. Such was the outcry against the verdict that it led to an incident known as The Berkeley Poaching Affray. This led in turn to another three deaths, the loss of an eye, a man lamed for life and the exile of seven men to Australia (a tale told elsewhere).
Eleven years later, spring guns were made illegal.
Head up to the pub whether it is open or not. You are looking for a path just to the left of the pub past Hayes Cottage through a Bristol gate into a field with an impressive oak tree in it.
Follow the path around the left hand hedge to emerge through a Bristol gate onto Tortworth Road. Turn right. (There is a decent verge on the far side.)
When you can, turn left on Knapp Lane. Keep right past a house.
Keep going past Lake Lodge, which is the back entrance into the Tortworth Estate.
The Tortworth Estate is private property, but it is open to the public on the first Sunday of the month from February to October (10 till 5) It stays open for an extra hour between April and August. The main attractions are Tortworth Lake, Bloody Acre Camp (an iron age hillfort) and teas supplied to support local charities. Bloody Acre Camp got its name from a Civil War massacre. Most large estates go bust because they sell off the land to pay for the big house, in this case Tortworth Court. The Tortworth Estate survived by selling off the big house and keeping the land.
Go through the gap next to a field gate and follow the boundary of the Tortworth woods over a ford and through a wooden gate into a field. Continue along the boundary of the woods around the right hand edge of the field until you come to a kissing at the top of some steps.
Follow the right hand hedge to a field gate onto a road.
Turn left and follow the road past Keepers Cottage. At a junction, keep right and follow the road past a wood that may be called Abbotside Wood.
After the road from Milbury Heath joins from the right, you are following Priest Wood on the right.
This is the site of the death of Thomas Till by Spring Gun in 1815.
Over to the left, on the other side of a field is the site of a Roman villa, which was on the bank of the steam that you crossed earlier and which serves Tortworth Lake.
At the end of Priest Wood, past a private wood sign put up by the Tortworth Estate, go over the stepover stile into a field. Head across the field to another stepover stile to the corner of Jones’ Wood. Follow the path along the bottom edge of this wood. You will cross two or three stiles as you emerge into a field and follow the right hand hedge past a house onto a road.
Turn right and follow Cuttsheath Road up to Baden Hill Common.
On the way, you will have the opportunity to admire some dead hedging on the right. The Common is looked after by Tytherington Parish Council. There is a disused Carboniferous Limestone Quarry, that has been more or less filled in and areas of grassland, woodland and scrub.
Continue up Cuttsheth Road and turn right at the staggered crossroad towards the motorway.
On the way, you may notice a dip in the road where it crosses a little stream. The valley on the right is an example of a “hope”, which has given its name to a farm. As you head towards the motorway bridge, you have a solar farm on your left and the “hope” on your right.
Cross over the motorway bridge.
If you look right as you cross the motorway, you can see the bridge next to Hope Farm.
Turn left on the bridleway between the motorway and Milbury Heath Plantation. Continue around the right angled bend to the right. Keep going as the track widens into a road past a couple of houses.
When the road bands to the right, turn left through a kissing gate into a field and turn right.
Follow the hedge on the right and the edge of the farm buildings. Keep going on the same line until you come to a stile and footbridge into a wood.
Turn left and follow the path alongside a wire fence on the left. You will emerge through a Bristol gate onto the A38. Take Care!
Turn left and then right to cross the carriageway carefully to a stone stile at the top of a footpath. Negotiate the stiles and steps and follow the path to a similar set up at the end of the wood.
Turn left on the Hackett and look for a kissing gate on the right.
Descend through the edge of Cleve Wood to a ford at the bottom of the hill. Ascend the path on the other side to a kissing gate/gap into the next field.
Bear right and follow the hedge on the right on the path alongside the Miller Homes development to emerge through a kissing gate onto Morton Way.
Cross the road and turn left and then right into Chiltern Park.
Turn left and then right on the second path between the houses. Turn left at the cross path and head up to Malvern Drive. Turn left and walk up to Grovesend Road. Cross the road and turn right and then left onto a pair of paths.
At the end, turn right and follow the path alongside a green open space.
Towards the end, the path bends around to the right. Follow it and then turn left to an underpass beneath Streamleaze.
Follow the path straight ahead then around to the left and right and then left again.
Follow the hedge on your right around the houses until you come to a substantial path on the right.
Follow this past the back entrance to a school to emerge next to Rock Street Car Park.
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