The Roman Way - Part I

First side - Stonesfield to Cirencester

In 2011 buoyed by our success at completing the Shakespeare Way we agreed it would be good to get back into the Cotswolds. P had found a book by Elaine Stearne “The Roman Way” published by Reardon Publishing, Cheltenham, 2010. ISBN 9781874192022. It looked interesting and covered our area.

 

The Long Distance Walkers Association describes the Roman Way thus.

 “The Roman Way follows a triangle formed by three Roman roads from Chesterton, near Bicester in Oxfordshire, to Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and on to the Roman walled town of Silchester in Hampshire, returning to the Roman military fort at Alchester near the starting point. The route follows Akeman Street as it crosses the limestone heights of the Cotswold Hills to Cirencester, then south-east following the Ermin Way across the Wiltshire Downs and descending to cross the River Kennet as the Romans did on the way to Silchester. The way continues through the heathlands and pine forest north to Dorchester-on-Thames. From this Roman settlement, the route goes directly north to the east of Oxford and across Otmoor, the marsh where the Romans built a bridge to reach the fort at Alchester.”

http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Roman+Way

 

We didn’t start recording our walking progress on this Blog until we had nearly completed the Roman Way so these memories are nearly 10 years old. We started at the village of Stonesfield on 13 May 2011 and finished just over a year later on 29 June 2012. We (N, P & T) claim to have done 160 miles out of the official 174 miles, in 15 separate outings, roughly 11 miles for each stage. For stages 9 to 13 inclusive T’s son S joined us. Over the years we have found it useful to plan on an average of 2 miles an hour, this includes sandwich stops, photo stops and comfort stops and if we are lucky a short time sampling local beers! Most of the walking days were Fridays. At the time of writing we only seem to manage between 6 to 7 miles for each stage! 

 

We missed the first bit from Chesterton to Stonesfield (13.3 miles) as we had done most of that on the Oxfordshire Way in 2008. We also missed Ampney St Peter to Cirencester (3.75 miles) because the bus connections really weren’t helpful and missed Warborough to Dorchester-on-Thames (1.5 miles) because of floods in May 2012. However we also added extra miles to reach far flung bus stops.

 

For most of the stages we have used public transport to get to and from the route. In 2011/12 the Traveline website http://www.traveline.info/index.html proved most useful. We admit to using the following non-public transport links, a lift from and to the route at Bimbury Lodge thanks to T’s Mum and from Aston Tirrold to Didcot Station and from Cholsey Station to Aston Tirrold thanks to P to connect to our favourite (private) cream tea stop.

 

We have split this summary into three roughly representing the three sides of the triangular route; (A) Stonesfield to Cirencester, (B) Cirencester to Silchester and (C) Silchester to Bicester (Alchester). We have left out much of the chat and banter as your reporter can’t really remember that far back. The main features of the walk, from our collective points of view are included and more memorable incidents (good and poor), interesting places, views etc are mentioned.

1. Stonesfield to Minster Lovell – 13 May 2011, 9.9 miles (15.9km)

We must have met up in Oxford and taken the S3 bus out to Stonesfield. It was a lovely day and “great to be back in the Cotswolds”. Crossed over the Evenlode river and uphill over the railway to skirt North Leigh Roman Villa (well worth a visit), Grid Ref: SP3968 1547. We stopped at the Villa and then walked on up the slope to the hamlet of East End. The path took us through some pleasant farmland towards Wilcote and an avenue of ancient pollared ash trees.

Wilcote Ash trees

The walking was good and we soon made it to Ramsden where we stopped for a refreshing drink in the Royal Oak. This is where we were first asked “Will you be dining with us?” (It was a bit posh). 

We had our packed lunches further on along Akeman Street. The track was actually following the line of the Roman Road. We crossed the site of WW II RAF Akeman Street. Research later indicated that this was a reserve airfield in case nearby Brize Norton was unavailable. We were finding the guide book excellent full of useful information and clear directional instructions. The route left the line of the Roman Road and we gently descended into the Windrush valley, counting the species of trees in the hedges to estimate their age, as suggested in the guide book. We skirted Crawley to head upstream (west) along the river Windrush towards Minster Lovell.

 

 

Ruins of Minster Lovell Hall

 

Pond, Minster Lovell

The ruins of Minster Lovell Hall are well worth a visit (SP3245 1135). 

We were getting tired now and nearing the end of that days walk. Up the hill to the old A40 where we were able to catch a bus into Witney and then onto Oxford and our respective homes.

 

 

 

 

 2. Minster Lovell to Bimbury Lodge – 3 June 2011, 11.5 miles (18.5km)

We cheated a bit on the transport for this one. T&P travelled by car to T’s Mum’s house and then got a lift up to the A40 in Minster Lovell where they rendezvoused with N who had come out from Oxford on the bus. The arrangements worked well and we were soon walking back down to the river Windrush.

Windrush at Minster Lovell

We followed the course of the river upstream towards Burford. Crossed the line of the Roman Road at Asthall. T believed that the late actor, Bob Arnold (Uncle Tom in the “Archers”) came from Asthall. The other people of note were the Mitford sisters. The guide book has a synopsis and there is plenty on the internet about Asthall manor and its owners.

 

We stopped for an early drink in the Maytime Inn (another gastro pub). N was interested as there was some motor bike connection. The landlady’s son was into high performance motorbike racing or something. We carried on along the course of the Windrush passing the Swan at Swinbrook onto the hamlet of Widford and evidence of a deserted medieval village. 

Windrush near Widford

We must have stopped by the river side to have our various snacks and then found our weary way into Burford. It was hot and busy and we had a welcome drink outside a pub in the main street (can’t remember its name). Suitably refreshed we headed uphill crossed the main A40 and crossed the open fields to the south of Burford towards Signet on the A361. The countryside was very attractive and we made good progress along a lane called “Job’s Lane” to Holwell.

Countryside near Holwell

 

The village was very quiet and we carried on towards the line of the Roman Road once again and eventually arrived at our chosen end point Bimbury Lodge (middle of nowhere). The plan was for T’s mother to meet us there. She took her time but eventually arrived. We then drove back with her to change cars. We dropped N off near his home and then T dropped P off. Yes it wasn’t really in line with our public transport principles but we were now far from bus routes. 

 

3. Bimbury Lodge to Ampney St Peter – 24 June 2011, 11.2 miles (18km)

We used the good services of T’s mother again. However slight change from last time. We all meet in Oxford and took a bus out to Carterton where we met T’s Mum who then gave us a lift to Bimbury Lodge, (SP2123 0773). As we were aiming for Cirencester we would be returning via train from Swindon (eventually). All worked OK and furnished with a small fruit juice and Cheddar Minis each (Thanks Mum) we arrived at Bimbury Lodge and followed the route of Akeman Street.

 

Wild flowers on Akeman Street

There was a riot of wild flowers along the way and a most delightful dry valley at Sheep Bridge (SP1917 0695). Just before Sheep Bridge we crossed the line of the Seven Shires way that we were to follow several years later!

Sheep Bridge

 

 

 

Our route followed the Roman Road until we veered off towards Hatherop. There were a couple of guys repairing / rebuilding a stone wall as we approached Coln St. Aldwyns and we had a chat about how long it took, costs etc. (All facts now lost from the memory). The day had started fine but it was now becoming over cast and as it was now afternoon we found the New Inn (bit posh again). One drink and we headed off towards Cirencester. We crossed the river Coln (tributary of the Thames) and headed up a gentle slope towards Coneygar Cottages.

Sheep at Sheep Bridge!

Out onto a minor road and picked up the line of Akeman Street again for at least 2km. The path turned SW towards Ampney St Mary or Ashbrook. It was spitting with rain as we approached the village. The guide book gives an explanation why the village has two names. Great care was needed to follow the right path through Ampney Crucis and eventually out onto the main A417. The decision was to take the bus into Cirencester which would give a connection to Swindon. To walk on to Cirencester would be to miss the bus to Swindon and it was now raining! So we dropped the Ampney St Peter to Cirencester section. The bus fare into Cirencester was rather expensive for the distance travelled. We got a good connection to Swindon and a train back to Didcot and then Oxford and Reading. A long day. Plotting the route again on the map looks impressive and also a bit daunting. Not sure we could undertake such a venture today.