Broadway (From Worcester News)

Broadway

9:40am Monday 24th January 2011 in Local walks By Julie Royle

CHOOSE a clear day for this walk if at all possible, because there are panoramic views from the hill above St Nicholas’ Church at Saintbury.

Fortunately, given the scarcity of clear days in these parts, there is much else to enjoy on the walk, especially if you have an interest in history, archaeology or architecture.

For instance, there’s a Bronze Age tumulus at the top of the hill; look for it on the right before you begin to descend towards Saintbury.

There were formerly many other prehistoric monuments in this area, which is traversed by Buckle Street, a prehistoric track. Some of the monuments survive, but others have been damaged or destroyed, by ploughing for agriculture and by landscaping for a golf course.

St Nicholas’ Church is notable for its prominent hillside position and lovely setting. It’s also a charming building in its own right, with some interesting features, including various carved heads.

It dates mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries but also has some Norman work, such as the south door. This has been blocked up but the Norman arch and tympanum survive.

Before the Normans arrived, however, there was already a Saxon church on the site. Not much of this remains, other than a rare Saxon sundial carved above the south door. Some people believe the Saxon church was built on a site already in use for pre- Christian worship.

St Peter’s at nearby Willersey has pinnacles and gargoyles and an attractive little porch built in the 13th century.

It stands in a quiet position at the edge of the village, which has some fine houses and wide greens beside the main road. Opposite the Bell Inn there is a large pond with resident ducks.

FACT FILE

Start: Broadway; grid ref SP099375.

Length: Six-and-a-quarter miles/10km.Maps: OS Explorer OL45, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable, orchard and woodland, with one moderate ascent and one relatively steep descent.

Footpaths: Part of the walk is in Gloucestershire and the footpaths there are excellent. In Worcestershire it is, all too predictably, more of a mixed picture – excellent in places, but poor elsewhere. There are also some discrepancies between the situation on the ground and the rights of way mapped by OS. However, there are no substantial problems.

Stiles: Six.

Parking: Broadway.

Public transport: Bus 550/551 or train to Evesham then Castleways 559 to Broadway and Willersey, Mon-Sat; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Broadway and Willersey.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk eastwards along High Street, towards the hills. Just before East House turn left on a bridleway (Bibsworth Lane). Stay on the bridleway at a junction with a footpath, walking under the bypass to find another junction with a footpath. Stay on the bridleway, turning right to enter a pasture.

Turn left, following footprints and hoofprints. When you enter another field the route is less clear but if you look carefully you’ll see there’s a trodden path, which goes diagonally right uphill. Climb past the eastern end of woodland (Bibsworth Covert) and past two large oak trees. Cross an access track and head for a wooden seat. Having passed the seat, go through a gate on to a golf course and turn left. The bridleway then skirts round the golf course, and is screened from it by trees for most of the way.

2 Cross Campden Lane and take a footpath opposite. Follow an intermittent line of trees across a field at first and then keep to the edge before descending to St Nicholas’ Church at Saintbury. Pass through the churchyard to find a waymarked junction and turn left, soon entering a field. Follow the right-hand fence to a gate marked ‘private’. Turn left across the field, pass through a line of trees and cross the next field to a stile. Turn right through an orchard and keep straight on through fields until you come to a junction where you can turn left towards Willersey. Walk through the churchyard and along Church Street to the main road.

3 Turn right through the village to a crossroad and go left on Collin Lane, then soon second left on Collin Close. Ignore a left turn by The Middle House and take a footpath on the right after West Winds. The path is easily followed along field edges and past a farm.

After this point it’s unclear and although, strictly speaking, it crosses arable fields (but has not been reinstated after ploughing) you will probably find yourself having to keep to the right-hand field edge instead, which is soon bordered by a strip of woodland marking the course of a dismantled railway. When you reach a stream you should turn left, following the stream for 100m then turning right across a field, passing an oak tree to reach a footbridge at the far side and then turning right to the field corner. Again, however, with the path ploughed up, and waymarking absent, most walkers just keep to the right-hand field edge, beside the dismantled railway.

4 Go through a gap in the field corner to the former railway.

Turn right, then turn left after a few paces, ducking under a willow tree and a fence bar, then proceeding through fields to Collin Lane. Turn left, then take an easily missed path on the left after 500m, opposite the access road to Gorsehill Abbey Farm. Walk through fields to the bypass and then turn left to find a tunnel under the road. Ignore a misleading waymark at the far side and turn right instead, to a junction in the field corner. Turn left towards Broadway, shortly crossing a former railway bridge. The path is now easily followed to Broadway High Street.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer OL45.