On Tuesday the 26th of May 2020, Dan,Pete and I set off to drive to Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire. After about 45 minutes we arrive and park in the free East Lane car park next to The Bull Public House.
GPX File Here.
ViewRanger File Here.
We walk out onto High Street and turn left up the hill.
We pass no 8 & 10 High Street, formerly The Two Brewers. Renewal of the license for this pub was refused in 1906 when the licensing authorities concluded that Wheathampstead had too many beer houses (there were around 26 licenses). The premises are now in use as tea rooms.
Now a little further we pass St Helen's Church.
St Helen’s Church is the oldest church in Wheathampstead but the exact date of its origins are unknown. The originally wooden Saxon structure pre-dated the Norman conquest, but no records survive which establish the date upon which it was founded. An ambitious scheme of restoration was begun during the early part of the 13th century, the original Saxon church having become dilapidated. The Normans rebuilt and lengthened the chancel in around 1238AD. The east window triple lancets which still survive in the structure today date from this time as do the window and doorway with its dog-tooth decoration on the north side of the sanctuary. However, from the Lincoln Cathedral Registry (Wheathampstead fell within the See of Lincoln up until 1845) the building of the central tower dates to about 1290AD, which is the first definitive date that can be ascribed to the church. St. Helen’s is built of flint rubble, or Totternhoe clunch, with flint facings and limestone dressings. There being no stone of this type in the area, it is thought that the medieval builders used stone from the Midland quarries shipped down the River Ouse to Bedford and from there conveyed by horse and cart along the Roman roads to Wheathampstead.
The Spire
Crowning the tower is a splendid “broach” spire constructed of wood set at a very steep angle on a square base, and rising to a diminishing octagon. It is clad externally with strips of lead arranged in a herringbone pattern. The present spire is an 1865 reconstruction of an imagined earlier medieval version.
A little further still we pass The Swan Public House.
The Swan was built in about 1500 as an open hall house consisting of two bays with additional buildings at each end. It is timber-framed, the spaces being filled originally using wattle and daub and later with bricks. In the past it has had its own brewery, malt house, accommodation for travellers, barn, stables and blacksmith’s forge. The chimney was added in about 1680 and a new frontage in about 1750. A fire in 1900 destroyed an even older part of the building. Currently The Swan is a Grade II listed building. During a refurbishment in October 1981 a 16th century fireplace was uncovered, together with ancient cupboards, clay pipes, centuries old bricks, beams and walls made of cow dung, lime and horse hair. Some of the beams are ships beams, one having a picture of the ship drawn on it.
We walk up past the last of the houses and take a path and walk alongside a field.
We walk along Dyke Lane and then take a path and we are now walking along Devils Dyke.
The Dyke probably defended one side of a 1st century BC Celtic settlement belonging to the Catuvellauni tribe.
Tradition links the Devil's Dyke to the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 54 BC. The prominent archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler suggested that it was the site where Caesar defeated the native resistance, led by Cassivellaunus and forced the native British tribal leaders to submit to Roman rule. Sir Mortimer's suggestion has taken on the aura of established fact, but it is impossible to know if it is true or not.
If true, that would suggest that it was a site of great importance, though it is a stretch to call it the first capital of Britain, which is what it is called in a display at the Verulamium Museum in St Albans. It is thought to have been an 'Oppidum' or tribal capital for the Catuvellauni.
We leave The Devils Dyke back onto Dyke Lane and Cross Marford Road and into Sheepcotes Lane, where we cross the River Lea.
The river is teaming with dace and chub.
We walk up a little further and take a footpath on our right and follow the river for a way.
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| The River Lea. |
After some distance we walk out onto Waterend Lane and opposite Waterend House.
A fine old brick mansion. It was probably built by Sir John Jennings a well to do Hertfordshire land owner in about 1610.
On his death, Richard Jenyns inherited the properties. Here was born on the 5th June, 1660, Sarah Jenyns, who was baptised in the Abbey of St. Albans on the 17th of the same month. Despite an income of £4,000 a year, the family fortunes faltered severely and Richard Jenyns died insolvent in 1667.
Sarah Jenyns spent much of her time at Waterend, but in 1673, the pretty and self-willed girl left Hertfordshire to go to Court in London. Two years later she met and fell in love with Colonel John Churchill, who became First Duke of Marlborough and Queen Anne's great General. Sarah, as Duchess of Marlborough, became the Queen's favourite and close confidant, and held great influence at Court. Though much travelled in later years, she always had great affection for the area of her birth and often returned - then living in Holywell House, St Albans.
We walk back a little way to a bridge that spans the pretty River Lea and again watch the fish dance in the currents.
Now back up the Hill passing Waterend House again.
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| Waterend House. |
We walk up the road and hill before taking a path on our left at the top of the hill.
We walk through Warren Wood in the area of Ayot St Peter, before following a path down an embankment taking a path towards Ayot St Lawrence.
We cross over Codicote road and take a path alongside Stockings Wood Reserve.
We leave the path and we are now on Bride Hall Lane and walk up the road.
Here we pass Shaws Corner.
Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; now a National Trust property open to the public as a writer's house museum. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the small village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire, England. It is 6 miles from Welwyn Garden City and 5 miles from Harpenden.
Built as the new rectory for the village during 1902, the house was the home of playwright George Bernard Shaw from 1906 until his death in 1950. It was designed by local architects and local materials were used in its construction. The Church of England decided that the house was too large for the size of the parish, and let it instead. Shaw and his wife Charlotte Payne-Townshend relocated in 1906, and eventually bought the house and its land in 1920, paying £6,220. At the same time the garden was extended and Shaw bought land from his friend Apsley Cherry-Garrard, bringing the total to 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).
Shaw is known to have written many of his major works in a secluded, home-built revolving hut located at the bottom of his garden. The tiny structure of only 64 square feet (5.9 m2), was built on a central steel-pole frame with a circular track so that it could be rotated on its axis to follow the arc of the Sun's light during the day. Shaw dubbed the hut "London", so that unwanted visitors could be told he was away "visiting the capital".
After Shaw's and his wife's deaths, their ashes were taken to Shaw's Corner, mixed and then scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden.
Walking up we reach Ayot St Lawrence old Church.
Old St Lawrence Church is a ruined building in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and dates back to the 12th century.
The building was partially demolished in 1775 by Sir Lionel Lyde, 1st Baronet, whose country house was nearby. It was replaced as the village's parish church by new St Lawrence Church, a neoclassical structure which Lyde had built on a nearby site.
Although Lionel Lyde and his wife Rachel are commemorated at the new church, the old churchyard remained in use. Burials include Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865 – 1946), whose maternal grandfather was rector of Ayot St Lawrence. Earl Cavan was a Field marshal and his resting place is registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Although the Earl was not a casualty in the normal sense of the term, the entry refers to the "memorial to the casualty in the form of a large 7' red granite celtic cross".
We walk up the road to The Brocket Arms, closed due to the Pandemic. We asked if we could sit in the beer garden to eat our lunch, but we could not. So we walk back to the church and sat in the shade out of the hot sun against the church walls and next to the pretty cottage pictured above.
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| Brocket Arms |
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| Tudor Cottages. |
After a rest and lunch we walk on and to the New Ayot St Lawrence Church.
The church was commissioned by Sir Lionel Lyde, a merchant who had a country estate at Ayot St Lawrence. According to Historic England, construction was financed with profits from the slave trade.
The architect was Nicholas Revett, the co-author of The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece, a multi-volume publication which appeared from 1762. Revett had visited Greece to study its architectural heritage. One of the sources of inspiration for the church may have been a temple on the island of Delos.
The style of the church has been described as Palladian, although this is something of a misnomer as, in contrast to Revett, Palladio never visited Greece. Palladio was an expert on Roman architecture, and the Palladian style was derived only indirectly from Greek architecture. There is some debate as to how Revett's neoclassicism should be categorised. Greek Revival is arguably not the ideal term, and some scholars prefer "Grecian revival".
The front of the church with its portico and screens of columns is designed to be viewed from Sir Lionel's home, Ayot House, across a parkland setting.
On either side of the church is a mausoleum for Lionel Lyde and his wife Rachel. Lyde is alleged to have said of this arrangement that ‘since the Church united us in life, she can make amends by separating us in death’. The urns are raised on tall plinths and sheltered by aedicules.
The church is locked due the pandemic.
After some back and forth, with the GPS not settling down. We select the correct path that leads behind the church and we walk on.
We walk along paths and alongside Harepark Spring woods.
We pass Lamer House and Lamer Park ,onto Codicote Road and along another path.
After much walking and onto The Hertfordshire Way we arrive back in Wheathampstead. Its very busy now despite the Pandemic Lockdown the fields next to The River Lea are filled with families picnicing,kids swimming and playing in the river.
We walk back up into Wheathampstead.
Settlements in this area were made about 50 BC by Belgic invaders. They moved up the rivers Thames and Lea from what is now Belgium. Evidence for them was found in Devil's Dyke, at the eastern side of Wheathampstead. The Devil's Dyke earthworks are part of the remains of an ancient settlement of the Catuvellauni and thought to have been the tribe's original capital. The capital was moved to Verlamion (which after the Roman conquest the Romans would rename Verulamium, which in turn would become modern St Albans) in about 20 BC. The Devil's Dyke is reputedly where Julius Caesar defeated Cassivellaunus in 54 BC, although this claim is disputed. Some historians suggest that the dyke was part of the same defensive rampart as nearby Beech Bottom Dyke, which, if correct, would make the area one of the largest and most important British Iron Age settlements.
Later, the village is recorded in the Domesday Book under name Watamestede. It appears that a church existed at Wheathampstead before the Norman Conquest, as Wheathampstead was given by Edward the Confessor to Westminster Abbey, but it is very difficult to determine whether any portion of the present St Helen's Church is of Saxon work. The original structure was demolished in the reign of Henry III, the oldest portion of the present church, in the chancel, is assigned to the year 1280.
Some historians have claimed that in 1312 the barons who leagued against Edward II and his favourite Piers Gaveston, gathered their troops at Wheathampstead, and whilst there refused to receive emissaries from the Pope, although there seems to be no other documentary evidence of this.
Up until 1859, Wheathampstead and Harpenden were part of a single rectory. Prior to that date, several of the rectors of Wheathampstead-cum-Harpenden after 1238 went on to have unusually successful ecclesiastical careers. Richard Sampson, who held the position in the 16th century, was in 1523 appointed Lord President of Wales, and in 1543 consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Richard Pate, another rector, was in 1554 consecrated Bishop of Worcester. Lambert Osbaldeston was also master of Westminster School, and became more famous later for a controversy with Archbishop Laud; having used libellous language he was, in 1639, deprived of his living and fined £5,000. Henry Killigrew, in 1661, was made Master of the Savoy. John Lambe, whose father mainly devoted his life to the alleviation of the sufferings of prisoners, was also a rector, and was made Chaplain in Ordinary to William III and Mary II. John Wheeldon (1773–1800) was the author of several works, and Queen Victoria's private tutor was also a former rector.
We stop by the Pretty River Lea next to The Bull PH for pics.
Now back at the car we change our boots for our shoes and walk back to the Mill Quay next to the Bull PH.
Here we sat and drank my home-brew beer. MacBrew Pandemic IPA and paddled in the river.
The river was teaming with fish, we sat watching Dace,Rudd,Chub,Gudgeon,Perch and minnows dance about in the currents.
A great end to a fantastic walk, its been a while since I've had a beer at the end of a walk due to pubs being shut due to the lockdown.
The River Lea is one of the main reasons why Wheathampstead is located where it is. The first human immigrants after the last Ice Age came from the continent up the Thames and the Lea and settled in the valleys that were rich in woodland and pasture. The remains of tools from the Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age have been found in this area. In the first century BC, the Catuvellauni tribe settled here and this part of the Lea Valley has been occupied ever since. Following a treaty between King Alfred the Great and Guthrum the Old in 886, the river formed part of the boundary between Saxon England and the Danelaw, though this boundary was moved several times in later years.
The river may derive its name from the Celtic ‘lug’ meaning ‘bright’, hence Lughton, now Luton. Both the river and the town may have been named after Lugh, the Celtic god of light and of the harvest.
The source of the Lea is a natural spring that rises from the chalk aquifer at Leagrave in the Chiltern hills north of Luton. It flows some 42 miles through Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and north-east London, where it becomes the Lee Navigation, and discharges into the Thames at Bow Creek. Tributaries further downstream include the Ash, the Rib, the Mimram, the Beane, and the Quin which together with the Lea, are officially classified as chalk streams – naturally shallow, fast-flowing and high in nutrients. There are only about 200 such streams/rivers in the world and most of these are in England. Chalk streams support a wide range of wildlife including species such as otters, water voles, mink and kingfishers and many species of coarse fish.
The river enters the parish of Wheathampstead about 200 metres east of Batford Mill on the Lower Luton Road and leaves at Flint Bridge, which is also the boundary between the Ayot and Brocket estates. Riparian landowners in this stretch include private house-owners, farmers, livery stables, the Parish Council, the Verulam Angling Club and the Ayot estate, based at Waterend House.
Until the railway arrived in the mid-19th century, the river was an important route both for trade and for travel, as well as providing a source of power through its watermills and food in the form of fish. There was a flourishing trade in watercress, which was grown in beds fed by springs such as those at Batford, Castle Farm (formerly Cresswell Farm) and Lemsford.
The river has been managed, diverted, dredged, and controlled for hundreds of years, often with the aim of draining the surrounding marshes to create dry land for grazing and for growing crops. In medieval times, the manor of Wheathampstead was the main supplier of corn to the abbey of Westminster. Whilst many of these changes remain today, work is underway to address their negative impacts, part of a commitment made by the UK Government to improve the quality of all waterbodies (rivers, lakes and coastal waters) in the UK.
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| 29 miles to The River Thames! |
A great 10 mile walk out in the sun!
