Gilston Park to Harlow Circular 19th February 2021

GPX File Here

Viewranger File Here

On Friday the 19th February 2021, I drove to Gilston Park and parked up by St Marys Church.

The church lies at the end of a lane which peters out into a farm track, with only two cottages for company, but this timeless setting is threatened with imminent destruction by short-sighted planners. The government intends to drop 10,000 houses on the parish in the near future.

The church is locked, but there is a notice in the porch, and the key is at the end cottage opposite. 

The small church set behind hedges was rebuilt in the thirteenth century and the deeply recessed west door is of the Early English style.

I leave the church and walk down the Lane to the two cottages and shortly afterwards take the footpath on my right.

The first Snowdrops I've seen this year, Springs not far off!

Along this track/path (Gilston Park) are some lovely properties and a giant Pudsey Bear!

I follow the path into the grounds of Gilston Park House.

Gilston Park House is an outstanding Victorian Country House designed by Phillip Hardwick, the building was originally constructed in 1852 in a Tudor style with Gothic touches, subsequently altered and extended in 1903 and now converted into private homes.

A 3 bed apartment currently on the market for £575,000.

I follow the footpath out of the grounds into farmland.

Look back to Gilston Park House

I follow the path across more muddy fields, huge clumps on my boots.

I walk out onto the road turning right and follow it up to the junction at Pye Corner and The Plume of Feathers Pub, really hope the pubs open again soon once out of lockdown.

Once a 17th century house now a pub.

On the opposite corner is the village War Memorial.

I follow the Eastwick Road for a way alongside the Fiddlers Brook, passing the Village Hall.

Up ahead I take a footpath on my left pass a Log place and follow the Fiddlers Brook. As I near The Stort Navigation, the path is flooded and with no clear way around, I walk through standing on clumps of grass to minimise the depth but still its halfway up my walking boots.

I make it through and only felt one small speck of water get through, I turn left and follow the Stort Navigation.

With the growth of the malt trade in Bishop's Stortford in the early eighteenth century, attention turned to providing better transport facilities. The River Stort joined the River Lea, and the malt trade at Ware had benefitted from improvements made on that river. A similar solution was therefore sought for the Stort, and a public meeting was held on 11 December 1758. The chief promoter seems to have been Thomas Adderley. A bill was duly submitted to parliament, and became an Act of Parliament in March 1759. It was entitled An Act for making the River Stort navigable, in the counties of Hertford and Essex, from the New Bridge, in the town of Bishop Stortford, into the River Lea, near a Place called the Rye, in the county of Hertford. Commissioners were appointed to oversee the work and to raise the capital to fund the project. They failed in this duty, and the powers of the first act lapsed, as it imposed time limits during which the work had to be completed.

A second Act of Parliament was sought after three men proposed to the Commissioners that they would fund the scheme in return for the tolls. This met with the Commissioners' approval, and the new Act was obtained on 30 March 1766. It was entitled An Act for making and continuing navigable the River Stort, in the counties of Hertford and Essex, and it empowered Charles Dingley, George Jackson and William Masterson to build the Navigation and to collect tolls. They had five years to complete the work, and the powers of the first Act were repealed by the second. Work began on 24 September, under the direction of Thomas Yeoman, who was also the surveyor for the Lee Navigation, and was completed in autumn 1769. The navigation, which included fifteen locks, was officially opened on 24 October 1769.

I pass Latton Lock and walk on up, I can see an industrial unit and a concrete factory beyond the far bank.

A weir overflowing into the River Stort that runs alongside.

I cross the Navigation by a bridge, across another over the river into Templefields Industrial Estate.

After a short walk I reach Redchurch Brewery, where I enter the shop to buy some beers to take home.

Redchurch was started back in 2011 when Gary switched from his career as a solicitor to pursue his then brewing hobby.

I walk back the way I came back over the bridges and follow the Navigation once again.

Just before the lovely narrowboat with smoke billowing from its chimney I turn left onto a footpath and head uphill.

At the top I turn right and follow Redricks Lane, passing the Affinity Water Office and taking a path just after.

Now its just bleak Muddy fields for some way!

I emerge out onto High Wych Road and turn left, care needed here. Very busy road with fast traffic hurtling towards you!

After a distance on that horrible road its a relief to take the path through Sayes Park Shooting School.

I could see and hear someone shooting clay pigeons back down towards the farm.

First daffodils of the year

I eventually make my way past some gorgeous properties and back out onto the road back to the church and my car.

 

Back at the car at just under 6.5 miles. A nice walk!

Kelvedon Hatch to Blackmore Circular Walk 8th February 2021

************

Viewranger File Here

GPX File here

On Monday the 8th February 2021, I went on another local walk due to still being stuck in Lockdown3!

I parked up by School Road in Kelvedon Hatch and walked into The Coppice. It had snowed all night and everything was covered in snow, lovely albeit slippery!

The name Kelvedon Hatch is recorded variously as Kelenduna, Kalenduna and Kelvenduna in the Domesday Book with the latter meaning Speckled Hill. From its early days in the Mediaeval period until the mid-20th century the main activity in Kelvedon Hatch was agriculture. Records from 1871 show 82 households, of which showed only 3 'white collar' households and 4 landowners or of independent means, with the majority of the rest engaged in a local agricultural economy. During the Victorian years, however, many younger people gravitated towards the main towns, encouraged by railway links at Ongar and Brentwood and the decline in the local 'agriconomy' has its roots in that exodus.

The Coppice, Kelvedon Hatch is a 9.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Kelvedon Hatch in Essex.

The site is an ancient semi-natural wood in the valley of a small tributary of the River Roding. It is base-rich alder on the valley floor, and oak and hornbeam in other areas. The geology is complex, with areas of Claygate Beds and Bagshot Beds. The shrub layer is sparse, but the stream provides an additional habitat.

First mentioned in the Domesday Book, the main estate building of the village was Kelvedon Hall. The manor was sold to Sir John Wright, a yeoman from South Weald, in 1538 and it remained in the family until the early 20th century; the manor house was rebuilt in the 18th century by the seventh John Wright. In 1937 the property was bought by Sir Henry 'Chips' and Lady Honor Channon who restored the house and built the entrance gateway and lodges. In World War II it was used as a Red Cross convalescent home.

Other mansions in the area of Kelvedon Hatch are Brizes, originally built in the late 15th century with the current building on the site dating back to the 1720s; and Great Myles, named for Miles de Muntenay, dating back to the Domesday Book but was largely demolished in 1837 although a few subsidiary buildings remain today.

To the west of Kelvedon Hatch in Navestock Parish lies Dudbrook Hall, once owned by the Waldegrave family and which dates back to 1602. During World War II it was used to billet RAF officers based at Stapleford and Weald aerodromes. It is now a care home for the elderly.

The medieval parish church of St Nicholas was replaced by a Victorian one in 1895.

I make my way out of |The Coppice and to an area called Clapgate and passed a breakers yard.

I walk past some Alpacas and see a 4x4 pickup trying to wheelspin its way up the icy track.

I walk out onto Chivers Road and to the outer reaches of Stondon Massey.

Holly Cottage

Stondon Massey gets its Saxon name; stone-dun meaning stoney hill. The name 'de Marcy' (Massey) was added after the Conquest by a Norman family who held land in the area. The very hill that gave Stondon its name was recently under threat, for beneath its gravel layer lies London clay which can be made into aggregate.

Here on the green is a Whipping Post.

Jordan's ghost, as it was known locally, had been freely walking in Stondon since the rather difficult burial of Mr Jordon, churchwarden and medical man in 1754. Tradition has it that after Mr Jordon's funeral, at which eleven clergy assisted, the sexton peered into the Jordon vault to make sure that all was well. To his horror, he found it was not! For there, outside the coffin, lay the still and motionless corpse of Mr Jordon. Eventually the unfortunate remains were securely chained down. Such an usual burial was, perhaps, bound to provide a ghost, although Rev Reeve who recorded this story explains that it was not uncommon practice in those days of body-snatching to chain down coffins.

However, no more has been heard of the ghost since 1845 when he was seen flitting near Stondon's whipping post on the small grass triangle at the junction of Chivers Road. The whipping post, which attracts many visitors and photographers, was completely refurbished in 2000. There is now, on the edge of the green, a village sign designed and made by the people of the parish.

I continue on along a footpath opposite and stop to talk to a robin. I was making clicking noises and it came right over next to me on the fence and landing on my boots!

I make my way past Homestead Farm onto Woolmongers Lane and back onto another path.

I now walk out onto Nine Ashes Lane in the hamlet of Nine Ashes.

After a bit of walking along the road I walk along a track and pass a industrial estate that seemed to partially block the path, but I find my way through and walk across more farmland sign posted St Peters Way and out onto Blackmore Road and walk into the village of Blackmore.

It is thought that the name Blackmore was introduced in the Middle Ages as a reference to 'Black Marsh' or 'Black Swamp'.

It's weird how you take things for granted, how I'd loved to stop for a pint in a pub!

I walk on pass the pubs and tea room before turning into Church Lane.

I pass the 15th- 16th-century Bull Inn, a traditional Essex timber-framed house.

At the bottom of Church Lane I reach the church, but as I thought it was locked up!

The Priory Church of St Laurence church marks the site of a former Augustinian Priory, dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII in 1525. The church is the original building (but without the chancel, which was destroyed at the time of dissolution) and is now the parish church. It has one of the last remaining all-wooden steeples in England. The site still shows signs of the original moat. The village itself is believed to have migrated to a location closer to the chapel of the Priory from around Fingrith Hall during the mediaeval period.

Jericho Priory, on the site adjacent to the church and still within the moated area, was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier 16th-century building which was believed to be the country retreat of Henry VIII and where, in 1520, his 'natural son', Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, was born.

I take the path to the rear of the church and head across some farmland.

I walk out onto Wenlocks lane and follow to the top of the road where I take a footpath to my left.

I follow across this muddy and waterlogged field, cracking through the ice in places covering my legs in frozen icy muddy water.

I pass what appears to be a Christmas Tree farm and follow the muddy and in places flooded path.

I emerge onto Hook end Road and walk through Hook End, walking back onto Blackmore Road and taking a footpath next to fields and a wooded area.

I walk back out onto School Road.

I follow School Road back to Kelvedon Hatch.

The now decommissioned BT radio mast in Kelvedon Hatch Is a huge Landmark in the village famous for its `(Not so) Secret Nuclear Bunker`. Although not directly linked to the bunker the mast did supposedly form part of the `Backbone` defence during the Cold War. The top of the mast is the highest point in Essex and with its ability for line-of-sight transmission to the BT Tower in London, the mast was used as part of their ground breaking `London Radiophone Service` in 1965. This service would allow connection to any landline telephone in the country from mobile telephones from the road, within the greater London area, effectively giving birth to the mobile phone.

Check out this page where two crazies climbed the mast! 

https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/kelvedon-hatch-bt-mast-august-2013.83657/

Photo from the website, a view from the top!

I arrive back at the car after nearly 7.5 miles with my trouser legs frozen solid, great walk though!