Local F*ck You Lockdown Beer Walk 8th January 2021

• GPX File here
• Viewranger File Here

Well Lockdown3 is put into play, I have to stay local and all pubs are shut! Well F*ck you Lockdown, even though Boris seems to not want anyone to enjoy themselves, I am! So a walk from my front door, drinking my Homebrew enroute. F*ck you Boris! :D All within the rules and regulations of course!

So I walk up my road and into a local park and follow the River Rom, crossing over Bacon Link and continue to follow the river until I reach Cornell Way. A chilly one today zero Celsius this morning.

I walk into Cornell Way and down another road that leads out into Countryside.

I turnt right to follow a path to Havering Country Park, I walked a short way up a very muddy path before the path was covered in water. It was far too deep to walk through, so I turned back and I'd do the walk in reverse.

I walked up along a path at the end of Lodge Lane, before picking up the London Loop path that'll lead me to Hainault Golf Course and over into Hainault Forest.

After walking along paths, I reach Hainault Golf Course. At least I have no fear of being hit by a stray golf ball today as the course is shut because of the lockdown.

I leave the golf course and start uphill, this is warming me up!

I am now walking through Hainault Forest.

Though it initially comprised at least 17,000 acres, Hainault Forest was only a section of the huge ancient Forest of Essex, which had covered nearly all of that county for centuries. Hainault Forest was a royal forest which was therefore subject to "forest law" which dated back to the reign of King Canute (1017-1035). It was a royal hunting ground, the use of which was reserved for the sole pleasure of the king. The forest was kept stocked with game which were supervised and managed by officers of the king. Over the centuries, the name of the forest has been given as Hyneholt, Hineholt, Inholt, Henholt, and Heynault. By 1720, it was most usually known as Hainault. The Saxon term "Héan holt," meaning the high wood. 

However, despite its royal designation, certain considerations were granted to those who lived on the perimeter of the forest. Common people who were willing to pay a small fee were allowed to pasture their horses, cattle, and sheep in the forest.

In addition to those animals which could legally graze in the forest, there were also a number of different wild animals which inhabited the wood. Through the eighteenth century, a stag was released in Hainault Forest every Easter Monday for a stag hunt which was popular with hunting gentlemen in the vicinity of London, but that practice was discontinued in 1807. Fallow deer, the descendants of those hunted by earlier monarchs, still roamed the forest during the years of the Regency. The wolves and wild cats of old were gone by the early nineteenth century, but foxes, martin and badgers still thrived there. The Essex County Hunt periodically hunted foxes in Hainault Forest, with the permission of the Crown, through the first half of the nineteenth century. Rabbits, hares, squirrels and other small animals also made their home in the forest, along with a host of bird species. Another, more dangerous, form of wildlife had made its home in the deeper parts of the Hainault Forest through much of the eighteenth century; highwaymen, including the infamous Dick Turpin. However, by the early nineteenth century, persistent and successful hunting for that particular form of wildlife had driven them from the forest for good.

I now reach The Miller & Carter Pub formerly called The Camelot and before that (before I remember) it was called The Beehive. Obviously closed can't have people enjoying themselves.

Local farm workers were once the main customers at the Beehive Public House. Rabbits were skinned on the bar and traded. In recent times the pub has also been known as the 'Camelot', and 'Miller & Carter'. The lovely thick-sliced ploughman lunches with lavish portions of cheese and pickle now seem a thing of the past.

Well I just so happened to have bought my homebrew and glass with me, so I stopped for a pint  of MacBrews  'Fairy Ale Of New York'.

I walked on up Manor Road, drinking my beer as I walked.

I reach the junction of New Road in Lambourne End.

Walking up New Road I take a footpath on my right and out along another muddy path. Nothing but mud today!

After following the path for a way, I eventually reach Lambourne Church of St Marys and All Saints.

The church was built about the middle of the 12th century, but in the 13th century the chancel was almost entirely

rebuilt. Early in the 16th century the bell turret was added. In the middle of the 18th century both the chancel and the nave were largely remodelled, most of the windows being renewed and the north and south doorways of the nave reset. During the removal of defective plaster in 1951 on the north wall of the nave there was disclosed the stone jamb, part of the head, and deep splay of one of the original Norman Lights. This has been preserved. The walls are of flint rubble, covered with cement; the dressings are of limestone and brick; the roofs are tiled, the bell turret and west gable are weather boarded and the spire is covered with lead.

The Chancel (29ft. by 19ft.) has a small 13th century lancet window in the south wall, now blocked. The thicker walls at the west end probably represent part of a 12th century chancel.

More beer required!

In 1704-5 the west gallery was built at the expense of William Walker of Bishops Hall.

The renovation was so thorough that the interior gives the impression of a Georgian

church, an effect heightened by the large number of painted hatchments and of the 18th

and early 19th century monuments. A print dated 1824 gives a good general view of the

interior at this time, including the three decker pulpit with an enriched sounding board

and the box pews. It also shows a late 18th century monument above the altar, blocking

the east window. An upper tier was added to the gallery in 1820.

The glass in the south windows of the chancel was installed in 1817 and re-set in 1959. It was brought from Basle. The subjects are as follows:

the Choice between Good and Evil, dated 1630.

the Adoration of the Magi, dated 1637.

the Incredulity of St. Thomas (with the Annunciation in the spandrels), dated 1623.

Christ and St. Peter on the sea (with the Apocalyptic Vision in the spandrels), dated 1631.

the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Virgin and Child and St. Anne and the Virgin and Child (with St. Christopher and a female saint in the spandrels), dated 1631.

Each has a German inscription and a shield of arms.

12th century south doorway, apparently rebuilt but with original voussoirs in the arch over the tympanum, west of the doorway is an original window now covered with cement and blocked similar to that in the north wall. In the west wall is a doorway dated 1776 and a window of the same date.

The bell turret stands at the west end of the nave on chamfered oak posts with tie beams and curved brace, probably of early 16th century date.

I walk up Church Lane and take a footpath that takes me over more fields before reaching Mutton Corner (Lambourne Woods). Marked as Great Wood on the maps.

Walking through Lambourne Woods I come across a WWII Pillbox.

It would have formed part of the Outer London Defence Ring when the Stapleford Abbots airfield was taken over during the war becoming RAF Stapleford Tawney

I walk on and I can now see Stapleford Aerodrome, I have been hearing the whirr of a helicopter for some time now.

Stapleford opened as Essex Aerodrome in 1933 as a base for Hillman's Airways, which provided a service to Paris and other European cities using De Havilland DH.84 Dragon and DH.89 Dragon Rapide biplanes. Amy Johnson was one of the Hillman Airways pilots. After running into financial difficulties, Hillman was bought up by Whitehall Security Corporation Ltd and merged with three other airlines that they already owned to form British Airways Ltd. Operations began in 1936, but after 4 months all flights were moved to Heston Aerodrome, leaving just a small number of private aircraft.

The RAF took an interest in the airfield in 1937, and in 1938 No 21 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training school was established at Stapleford. Training was provided by Reid and Sigrist Ltd, under contract to the Air Ministry. One of the most famous students was J.E. "Johnnie" Johnson who became the RAF's top scoring pilot and reached the rank of Air Vice Marshal.

The airfield was requisitioned shortly after the start of the Second World War as RAF Stapleford Tawney. A long perimeter track and dispersal points were built and some accommodation buildings were erected. By the end of March 1940 the airfield was ready to become a satellite station for North Weald.

The first squadron to make regular use of Stapleford was No. 151 Squadron, making patrols from the base from August 1940. Six aircraft were lost and two pilots, including squadron leader Eric King, killed in action on 30 August. After a short stay, the squadron was moved to RAF Digby, Lincolnshire, but one aircraft struck a crane after take off and burst into flames. The pilot, Pilot Officer Richard Ambrose, was killed; he is buried in Epping cemetery.

No. 46 Squadron arrived in September, having lost all their Hurricane fighters when the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk while evacuating the squadron from Norway.

Other units to use Stapleford included the secret No. 419 Flight, formed in August 1940 as the operational air-arm of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). They were intended to use Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys to drop agents and supplies behind enemy lines. Westland Lysanders would be used to pick up agents as well as other important people. Because of heavy Luftwaffe attacks on North Weald, the flight moved to Stapleford on 4 September. The Whitley was a rather large aircraft to use Stapleford's grass runways. Only two operations were carried out from Stapleford; one to Brest and the other to Fontainebleau. The flight then moved to RAF Stradishall, Suffolk, on 9 October.

Other squadrons at Stapleford were No. 242 Squadron and the RAF's oldest, No. 3 Squadron and, in 1941, a new Air Sea Rescue squadron was formed at Stapleford - No. 277 Squadron.

In March 1943, Stapleford was taken out of Fighter Command and placed under the command of No. 34 Wing of the Army Co-operation Command.

Stapleford played an important part in the preparations for D-Day and many units arrived. On 20 November 1944 a V-2 rocket landed in the middle of the airfield leaving a crater 60 feet in diameter. On 23 January 1945 another rocket landed on the airfield camp site killing 17 personnel and injuring 50. A number of the personnel are buried in the church cemetery at North Weald.

Stapleford's wartime role ended in 1945, with the last personnel leaving before VE Day.

A memorial at the airfield recalls those who lost their lives.

After drudging through thick oozing and sinking mud I make it back onto a path that leads me away from the airfield.

I walk out onto Stapleford Road and walk up a short way before taking a footpath through Old Rectory Farm to reach the church of St Mary The Virgin at Stapleford Abbots.

Historically there is evidence of a church on the site prior to 1300 AD. The Abbey Chapel built in 1638 AD is behind the choir stalls and is the oldest existing part of the church. Memorials in the Chapel link the Abdy family with Albyns, the nearest house. The Church Tower was built in 1815; however most of the church was built in 1861. The bells were cast at the famous Whitechapel Foundry. The oldest relic in the church is the stained glass window dating from the 14th century. It depicts Edward the Confessor holding a ring and sceptre. Tradition says that the big sapphire in the Cross of the Imperial Crown is the original stone from the ring.

The Parish of St Mary Stapleford Abbotts will long be remembered as one of several resting places where the body of St. Edmund the Martyr King of East Anglia was rested on return from London to Bury in the year 1013 AD. It is recorded in Bury St. Edmund’s register that one night in 1013 the Lord of the Manor of Stapleford was miraculously cured of a lingering illness by the presence of the body of St. Edmund, which had been rested overnight at Stapleford Hall. In return for his recovery the Lord of the Manor granted the Manor and its lands to the Abbey forever. Thereafter the village was known as Stapleford Abbotts. The dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1513 AD decreed that all the land be effectively passed to the Crown. To this day 2,758 acres remains Crown Land, though much is farmed.

I walk back up the path to Stapleford Road and head on down the road before I take the next path on my right.

I take the path next to Willow Hall and walk across.

The path comes out onto Bournebridge Lane, I turn left and immediately onto another path.

I am now on the path that leads me into Havering Country Park, nearly back.

I stop to say hello to the many friendly horses.

I reach Clockhouse Lane, where I jump on a 365 bus to take me home. Really didn't fancy the road walking back!

A great 10 mile walk! Cold not so picturesque as elsewhere in the UK, but lockdown has stopped all that for now!

Eye to Hoxne ,Suffolk : A Tale of King Edmund & Vikings

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 head back down Church Hill and back through Hoxne.

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!!