My Adventures 3: Hertfordshire walks

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On Tuesday the 28th December 2021 I left home for the last walk of the year.

I drove to Buntingford in Hertfordshire and parked up on the roadside for free on Wyddial Road at the end of Church Street by the River Rib.

Buntingford is a market town in East Hertfordshire . It lies on the River Rib and on the Roman road Ermine Street. As a result of its location, it grew mainly as a staging post with many coaching inns and has an 18th-century one-cell prison known as The Cage, by the ford at the end of Church Street.

The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Buntingford. The town has many Georgian and medieval buildings, such as Buntingford almshouses, Buntingford Manor House and the Red House. Buntingford was a stop-over on what was the main route between London and Cambridge, now the A10.

Buntingford was traditionally located within the parish of Layston – St Bartholomew's Church (Layston), previously derelict and now a house, lies about half a mile to the north-east of the town. St Peter's Church, formerly a relief chapel, is the Anglican church in Buntingford and is an almost nique brick building from the age of the 17th-century Puritans. St Richard's serves the Roman Catholic community. There is also a United Reformed Church in Baldock Road. Queen Elizabeth I is claimed to have stayed at Buntingford in a building now called the Bell House Gallery, on a coach journey to Cambridge. Just up the High Street, The Angel Inn, now a dental surgery, was a staging post for coaches travelling from London to Cambridge. The name of the town is believed to originate from the Saxon chieftain or tribe Bunta; it does not refer to the bird Bunting, or the festive flag-like decorations.

The Cage, Church Street, Buntingford

This building was the town lockup. It was built in the early 1700s. Before a national system of policing was set up many villages had their own lockup. Criminals (often drunks, petty thieves and those starting fights) were held for a short time. They were then either released or sent to a larger town for trial. They were often built as part of a complex including the village pound, stocks and pillory. They date back to around the 1560s. Generally the lockup was used by the parish constable who had the unpaid job of keeping law and order in his own parish.

I walk up Church Street pass the Fox and Duck pub towards the High Street.

Fox & Duck Public House

The pub was built in the 17th Century and has been

a licensed house since 1711, although it only became

the "Fox and Duck in 1743. It is a Grade 2 timber

framed building with steep, old red-tiled roofs.

I turn left onto the High Street and walk up past the many old buildings.

Buntingford’s heyday was in the early 1700s when it became an important stagecoach stop on the way to York. It is even reported that Samuel Pepys stayed at the George Inn. Many of the old coaching houses are now shops and dwelling house but retain the original character with some dating back to the 15th century.

I pause to take photos of the village signpost.

Bunting on the top and showing the flags of France and Spain, as the town is twinned with Luynes in France and Olvega in Spain.

I continue along High Street and come across the Jubilee Pump House.

The Jubilee Pump & Pump House

The pump house was erected in 1897 to commemorate the Diamond

Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The actual pump is believed to be a

lot older, circa late 17th to early 18th Century.

Almost next door is St Peters Church.

St Peters Church was built early in the 17th century on the site of an earlier chapel. The nearby Alms-houses were erected in 1684 by Seth Ward who later became the bishop of Exeter and subsequently Salisbury. Buntingford's heyday was in the early 1700s when it became an important stagecoach stop on the way to York.

I walk on a little further crossing a bridge over the River Rib and the High Street now becomes Station Road.

Here is the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Richard of Chichester.

A Gothic Revival flint and stone church built in 1914-15 from designs by Arthur Young, and financed in part by the colourful Catholic writer and polemicist Mgr R. H. Benson, of nearby Hare Street House. Benson died in 1914, and the church became his memorial. The tower was added later. The church, presbytery and Benson Hall are of historical interest, and occupy a prominent position within the local conservation area.

I turn right onto Aspenden Road expecting to see a watermill down here, but it turn outs it’s just an

Watermill Industrial estate.

I follow the River Rib past the Industrial estate and pass a Housing estate.

I cross the busy A10 and onto a path opposite across a field.

I walk across paths over a few fields heading towards Aspenden.

I walk out into Aspenden.

The place-name is first attested in 1212 and means 'valley of aspen trees'.

I follow a road through Aspenden now.

I pass Bell House, I am unable at this time to fid any real history of this lovely house!

I detour a short way off my planned route to walk up to The Parish Church of Saint Mary Aspenden.

St Mary’s Church stands proud over the village on a small hill at the end of The Street on land adjoining Aspenden Hall and the church’s history is intertwined with that of the hall. There are no records of the dedication of Aspenden Church but the Domesday Book records a priest in residence in Aspenden in 1086.

The church consists of a continuous chancel and nave, with south aisle and tower. The walls are flint rubble covered with cement, the south chapel is cemented brick and the roofs are tiled. There is very little remaining of the original church and most of the existing building was built around 1350. The building was restored between 1500 and 1505 by Sir Robert Clifford. Deep in the north wall of the church nave are some traces of Saxon workmanship, so it is possible that a place of worship has been on this site since about 950 AD.

Just beyond the church is Aspenden Hall.

Aspenden Hall, Aspenden, Hertfordshire (Grade II). A country house of 1856 for for the 2nd Sir Henry Lushington.

I walk back down and continue along the path with views back to the church.

I walk on, now it starts to rain. With the wind blowing the icy rain in my face is far from pleasant. The rain wasn't forecasted.

The farmers around here don't like restoring the paths they have ploughed up and after all the recent rain the fields are like a mud fest. Not enjoying this walk now!

After many muddy fields in the cold rain I reach a wood which is a relief from the wind and mud for a short while.

I exit out into Brook End and walk up the road past pretty cottages.

Back across the mudfest fields with huge clumps of mud attached to my boots. I want this walk over now! First in forever I've not really enjoyed a walk.

After much more mud walking across fields, I reach I walk along a road to Holy Trinity Church in Throcking

Holy Trinity church stands at the northeastern corner of Throcking's square of lanes. The church has structure from two distinct eras, the oldest is the western tower which has its origins in the 13th century albeit added to in the 17th. The remainder of the church dates from the Perpendicular period of late 14th or early 15th centuries, the great church building era of England. The church is small and almost square there being no chancel as such. The church is surrounded almost entirely by a screening wall of mature trees, it is largely hidden from the lanes except from the south. It is at the southern side that entry is found, a pair of wooden gates piercing the screening trees.