GPX Download file HERE
Viewranger File HERE
On Monday the 14th of December 2020, Pete and I drove to the Historic Market Town of Eye in Suffolk and parked up on Castle Street.
From here we walked a short way up to the Eye Parish Church. As with nearly all churches during this Covid19 pandemic, it was locked shut.
The Grade 1 listed Church of St Peter and St Paul, dating from the 14th century, is seen as one of the finest in the county.
A 13th-century Early English doorway was retained from an earlier building. The 15th and again the 16th century brought periods of new work and renovation. This included installing an altar tomb to William Honnyng in the South or Lady Chapel, and one to Nicholas Cutler to the north-west of the nave. The church was restored in 1868 by James Colling, a London architect. A notable added feature of the church is the magnificent late 15th-century rood screen, which has a loft and rood designed by Ninian Comper in 1925. The screen is thought to originate from Great Massingham Priory in Norfolk.
Historically Eye (a name is derived from the Old English word for ‘island’), would have been surrounded by water and marsh, with just the church of St Peter and St Paul and the castle on higher ground.
Next to the church is Eye Guildhall.
The Guildhall of St Mary, now offices and shop. Late C15, probably for John Upson. Rebuilt 1875 by JK Colling as headmaster's house for adjoining Eye Grammar school until 1965, now offices and shop.
Hard to believe now but in the 15th and 16th Centuries East Anglia was, apart from London, the wealthiest and most densely populated area in England due, primarily, to the wool and cloth trade and the region’s strategic position facing the Low Countries across the sea.
Despite Victorian ‘improvements’ the corner post still has its medieval carved figure of Archangel Gabriel, and two arched window heads also have original carving. Eye also has a few timber framed thatched cottages remaining, typical Suffolk sights.
I am getting to grips with using my new Garmin Etrex 20x GPS, am was trying to find the start of my planned walk I mapped out. So as a nice consequence we got to wander around Eye a little.
We pass a building called Gatehouse on Church Street.
3 houses. Early C16, remodelled mid C19. Plastered and colour washed timber frame.
At the end of Church Street we reach Eye Town Hall.
The Town Hall is an Italianate designed Town Hall, built in 1857, with a clock tower used for locking up local criminals!
Just pass the Town Hall we can see The Queens Head PH.
The Queen’s Head dates back several hundred years as an ale house, but the original bar was only the small Cross Street end of the main bar with a fireplace. The back of the bar was the family home. In the 1800s an off licence was put into the pub (you can see the archway behind the main bar). The Cross Street Bar was a butchers shop until the mid 1900s, the tiled floor and couple of ceiling hooks remain. The garden was originally part of the industrial area of Eye which flourished as a major market town until Diss overtook as the regional centre with the introduction of the railway.
There is a monument to Lieutenant-general Sir Edward Kerrison. Kerrison fought in the Napoleonic wars and was slightly wounded in the Battle of Waterloo, after his horse was shot under him. He was also a Conservative MP for Shaftesbury, Northampton and then Eye, the site of his monument. The commemoration was made in 1888 by J. K. Colling.
 |
| Monument to Sir Edward Kerrison. |
We walk back up Castle Street, crossing over a bridge and turning right into The Pennings and walking by the River Dove.
We follow the track up before taking a very muddy path that leads to Fiddlers Lane.
At the end of Fiddlers Lane, we turn left onto Cocks Road.
We follow Cocks Road, very wet and muddy but thankfully quiet with little traffic.
At the end of Cocks Road we cross the Hoxne Road and into the road opposite.
This road was busier but still pleasant to walk along.
We pass Waveney Egg Farm. A little while later a tractor towing a trailer passes us. We could hear screams from what we assumed was chickens or maybe turkeys as it approaches. Felt sorry for the animals for a brief while, but I do love a roast!
We turn right and follow Nuttery Vale down to the end.
We pass Goldbrooks Boarding Kennels and cattery and then cross over the bridge.
At the end of Nuttery Vale on the corner was this gorgeous cottage. I stand on the verge to get a photo over the hedge. As I do the owner pops up!
"Oh sorry" I say , "Lovely Cottage, do you mind if I take a picture?"
I ask "Is there much History?" Apparently the first part is 14th Century, then 15th century and just before the building was listed the last part added in the 1980s.
He then went on to tell us about all the other houses in the area and history of the whole area.
As fascinating as it was we needed to get on with the walk, hoping he'd stop talking soon.
Just before we broke away he told us to check out his neighbours mural on the old Forge opposite.
On the corner is a well, we turn left onto Cross Street and walk on.
Some beautiful cottages down this road and so quiet too!
We turn left onto Abbey Hill.
We stopped about roughly King Edmunds Head was found.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves if you excuse the pun. So I'll tell the story of King Edmund and Hoxne.
The Legend of St. Edmund.
Edmund was crowned king of East Anglia on the 25th December 855 probably at Bures St. Mary in Suffolk. In 870 the Danes advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund.
Legend has it that he was killed on the 20th November 870 (although some record this as 869), in a place called Haegelisden, local tradition believes this to be Hoxne.
When hiding from the Danes, under a bridge, his presence was given away by a newly married couple who spotted his golden spurs gleaming in the water. After being captured he refused to renounce his faith and was tied to an oak tree, was beaten, shot with arrows and then beheaded. His head was thrown into the wood.
Edmund's followers found his body but his head was missing. Whilst they were searching for it they heard a cry of "here, here, here" and traced the cry to a wolf who had Edmund's head between his paws. His head and body were reunited and buried nearby, a wooden chapel being built over the spot.
We reach St Edmunds Memorial, we climb the steps and walk through the field to the cross.
It was here its believed that the vikings tied King Edmund to an oak tree and filled his body with arrows before beheading him! Pleasant chaps those Vikings!
On the 11th September 1848 St. Edmund's Oak fell to the ground under its own weight. The trunk was only 12 feet high up to its separation into branches, but measured 5 feet in diameter and had a circumference of 20 feet. The trunk producing about 7 and a half loads of timber and its limbs about 9 loads and its branches 4 loads of battens and 184 faggots.
Inside the trunk, at about 5 feet from the ground and a depth of about a foot, was found a piece of iron which appeared to resemble an arrow head. Presumed to have been lodged there at the murder of King Edmund.
The piece of wood, with the arrow head in it, is at the Moyes Hall Museum in Bury St. Edmunds in their store room.
St. Edmund's Monument
A monument was erected on the site of the fallen oak by Sir Edward Kerrison. Possibly erected some time after 1848 although some accounts say that it was erected by his son Sir Edward Clarence Kerrison as late as 1879. However a newspaper report, of the 1st November 1878, describes it as a stone monument surmounted by a Maltese cross. It bore the inscription "St. Edmund, King and Martyr, Nov. 20th AD. 870, oak tree fell August 1848, by its own weight."
On the 27th June 1905 there was a severe thunderstorm and the monument was badly damaged. Portions of the shaft were scattered many yards away and the brick pedestal, on which it stood, was all that remained.
We follow on down Abbey Hill and turn right onto a footpath.
We cross the River Dove again pass a pig farm and down a track and out into Hoxne.
We walk out the Swan PH on Low Street.
What a perfect and beautiful Village this is!
Hoxne today is a busy, friendly village with a good community spirit plus a great village post office and shop, and an excellent public house with restaurant: the Hoxne Swan.
The village is also well known because of the so-called Hoxne Hoard, which was discovered by a metal detectorist in 1992. It is the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain. The treasure consists of 14,865 Roman coins in gold, silver and bronze from the late 4th and early 5th Centuries, and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery. These items now reside in the British Museum in London.
We stop in the shelter for lunch.
We walk on up Church Hill towards The Church. At the top of the hill is Green St, a refuse truck stops and then beeps and just reverses at us! We jump out of the way and I make my way across to the Church.
I walk up to the Church of St Peters and St Pauls.
There has been a church and small priory on the site since before the Norman Conquest, although there is now nothing left of the priory. Most of the building is C14th/15th Perpendicular. The very tall tower was built by John de la Pole who is buried in a magnificent tomb in nearby Wingfield.
Again locked up, shame as there are ancient paintings on it wall and an elm chest thought to be 14th century!
We pass The Swan Inn and walk on down Eye Road.
We pass Abbey Hill again and divert up it a short distance to see Goldbrook Bridge.
It is said that Saint Edmund, King of East Anglia, hid under Goldbrook Bridge to elude the pursuing Danes. A newly married couple saw the king's gold spurs and gave his location away to his enemies. According to the legend, Saint Edmund put a curse on all couples who cross the bridge on their way to get married.
Jean Ingelow's poem 'The Tradition of the Golden Spurs' tells of this legend and she added the following note:
About the year 870, the Danes under Hingvar invaded East Anglia, which was then governed by Edmund, a king of singular virtue and piety.
After defending his people with great valour, Edmund was at last defeated in a battle fought near Hoxne in Suffolk. Being hotly pursued, he concealed himself under a bridge called Gold-bridge. The glittering of his golden spurs discovered him to a newly-married couple who were returning home by moonlight, and the bride betrayed him to his enemies.
The heathen Danes offered him his crown and his life if he would deny the Christian faith, but he continued steadfast, and when he was dragged on to the bridge, he pronounced a malediction (or warning) on all who should afterwards pass over it on their way to be married, the dread of which is still so strong in the neighbourhood that it is said no bride or bridegroom has ever been known to pass over it to this day.
Here beneath the bridge is where King Edmund would have hidden.
Next to the bridge is Hoxne Village Hall, complete with a plaque and statue of King Edmund.
We cross back over the bridge and turn left onto Eye Road again and walk on.
We take a footpath to our right and follow the path and fields.
We cross the River Dove again and follow a muddy path.
We follow some steps down to what looks like a old Mill, but I can't find any information on this.
Back up the steps and follow the path whilst watching a Kestrel take off from a post ahead and hover above hunting.
After much walking we reach the road Upper Oakley and follow this before taking a footpath on our left and walk along for quite a distance before we reach Brome Avenue.
 |
We walk out onto Victoria Hill and we walk our way back into Eye.
 |
| Linden House |
Margaret Thompson, a militant suffragette who campaigned with Emily Pankhurst before WW1, lived in Eye at Linden House, an impressive 17C brick house in Lambseth Street.
After much walking we walk pass the Town Hall and back up Church Street.
We walk back into Castle Road and up to the Castle, its shut for the year sadly!
Eye Castle is a motte and bailey medieval castle with a prominent Victorian addition. Built shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the castle was sacked and largely destroyed in 1265. Sir Edward Kerrison built a stone house on the motte in 1844: the house later decayed into ruin, becoming known as Kerrison's Folly in subsequent years.
So after a 10.5 mile walk we are back at the car, and just in time it seems. The shy is darkening and rain looming. A great walk and full of history!!
