Thursday 3 November 2016

Shoreham to Otford Circular with a drive to Lullingstone Castle via Eynsford 3rd November 2016

My friend Colin and I set off from Romford to head over to Kent for a walk on the 3rd November 2016. After a short 45 minute drive we arrived in Shoreham and parked up in the free car park in the village.

The walk map and directions are here.

 
The probable derivation of the name is estate at the foot of a steep slope. Steep slope was from the Saxon word scor. pronounced shor, but written sore by Norman scribes.
The village of Shoreham contains four traditional independent pubs: Ye Olde George Inne, The King's Arms, The Two Brewers and the Crown.

We left the car park walk a short distance up Filston Lane and took the footpath next to the Aircraft Museum that was closed, seems to be open on Sundays only.
Run by local enthusiasts, the Museum is largely funded by proceeds made by visitors whose donations contribute to the recovery and preservation of the artefacts. The Battle of Britain, brought the village of Shoreham directly into the war, when on 15 September 1940, a Dornier Do 17Z, part of a force of about 100 German bombers approaching London, was shot down shortly before noon. The invading formation had been challenged by nine RAF squadrons and the battle developed into a series of individual 'dogfights'. The unfortunate pilot of the Dornier was forced to land in a field at Castle Farm, with a Spitfire circling overhead, its cockpit canopy open, and its pilot waving a handkerchief, to signal a warning to the growing crowd of hop-pickers nearby to stay away until the Shoreham Home Guard arrived to recover the German crew. Feldwebel Heitsch, the pilot and Feldwebel Pfeiffer, the observer, were driven to The Fox & Hounds pub in Knatts Valley, where they were bought a brandy before being driven to Sevenoaks Police Station. The museum holds a collection of photographs of the Dornier, along with items taken from the wreckage at the time.


The Darent valley was one of the major areas of Stone Age settlement; and Shoreham is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
It was also known as a smuggling area. Moreover, Shoreham was the most bombed village in the United Kingdom during the Second World War due to the fact the Army took over several manor houses for operational use.
Papermaking was once a local industry; the mill closed finally in 1925.

We  climb steeply up the hill to a wooded area that offers great views back across the Darent valley.


View to Shoreham

Looking down on Filston Farm

We descend back down the hill to Filston Land again and a short way up the lane we enter the footpath that runs through Filston farm.
Filston Farm is 1500 acres on which wheat,peas,oats,oil seed rape and grass is grown as well as pasture for sheep,cows,alpacas and horses.



Oast Houses now converted. But a sure sign you're in Kent.



We made our way through the farmland across paths, missing the first planet Pluto on the Solar System model.  

The model, the largest in the world, was created to celebrate the millennium and shows the relative positions of the Sun and planets at midnight on 1 January 2000.  Considerable effort was required to design an accurate layout that gave public access to every planet.  Each planet is on a concrete pillar, drawn to the same scale as the model as a whole.  On this scale, the nearest star would be in Los Angeles.
We now leave the farmland out onto the High Street in Otford, where we see the first of the planets 'Uranus'. 


We walk up the High Street passing Broughton Manor.
Broughton Manor was the property of the Crown at the time of Henry VIII and was used to house part of the retinue at the Archbishops Palace.
A 16th century house with  17th,18th and modern  alterations.





OTFORD'S rich and fascinating history includes two battles, the construction and ruin of a royal palace and at least 3,000 years-worth of inhabitants.
Since the early dwellers set up home next to the river Darent, Otford has been inhabited by Iron Age farmers, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and royalty.
The ancient village adopted its name in the sixth or seventh century, from the Anglo-Saxon, Ottanford, meaning Otta's ford.
Otta was a man of local authority, and his ford ran where the High Street now bridges the Darent river.







We pass two lovely Tudor buildings called Pickmoss House. Looks can be deceptive. The break in the roofline defines the new and the old. The timber frame to the left replaced brickwork in 1951, even though its heart is a 14th century house.






The residents of the duck house on Otford Pond have been a feature of the village for several years now. They will never go hungry, due to the number of visitors who like to indulge in the age-old pleasure of feeding the ducks. The attractive pond with its willow trees forms a natural roundabout in the centre of the village and is unusual in that it has been granted listed status. The pond is thought to date back to Anglo Saxon times, when it was probably used as a drinking hole for local livestock.


Opposite the pond is St Bartholomews Church. Otford parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, and built as a Chapel-of-Ease to Shoreham. The church dates to the Saxo-Norman overlap, with the addition of a tower around 1175 – spire not added until the 17th century.



In the graveyard is buried Tom Pryce. Auto Race Car Driver. Born the son of a policeman in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales, he entered Formula 1 racing in 1974 with the Token team, but soon moved to the Shadow team. Considered an exceptional driver, and many thought he had the ability to reach the very top of his sport, his best results were a third place in the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix and the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix. He tragically lost his life in a somewhat bizarre accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix at Kyyalami. Another driver had retired his car when an insignificant fire started. Two marshals sprinted across the track to put the fire out just as Pryce and Stuck appeared at top speed. Pryce struck one of the marshals, killing him, but the fire extinguisher the marshal was carrying struck the driver full in the face killing him instantly. The Shadows car careered along down the straight until it hit a crash barrier. Buried at St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, Otford, nr Sevenoaks, Kent.



We sat outside the church on a bench overlooking the pond and shops and ate our lunch. Its far busier here than Shoreham with much noise from traffic passing through.








After seeing a palace on the map, we ask some people cutting down bushes and tidying the green where it was. She points off down the road by some shops.We walked off and after a distance, thought she must be wrong it looks closer on the map so we walk back. But the lady catches us and asked if we found it, well we couldnt say no now so back we went along the road to find it.
We did find it a little further along the road.

Otford Palace, also known as the Archbishop's Palace.
The King of Mercia, Offa, fought the Kentish Saxons in 776 at the Battle of Otford. From those times until 1537, the palace was one of the chain of houses belonging to the archbishops of Canterbury. It was rebuilt around 1515 by Archbishop Warham to rival that of Cardinal Wolsey at Hampton Court. Henry VIII forced Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to surrender the palace in 1537.
When Henry died the palace fell into ruin. The principal surviving remains are the North-West Tower, the lower gallery, now converted to cottages, and a part of the Great Gatehouse. There are further remains on private land, and a section of the boundary wall can be seen in Bubblestone Road. The entire site, of about 4 acres (1.6 ha) is designated as an ancient monument. There are many related buildings in the village, including a wall in St Bartholomew's Church dating from c. 1050.




In 1519 Henry VIII stayed there with his court and hunted in the great Deer Park that was attached to the palace.  The Palace must have met his approval because the following year Henry and Catherine of Aragon along with the royal court stayed there as they made their way to France for the meeting between Henry and Francis, King of France, at the Field of Gold.  This must have been a magnificent occasion, as the court that accommodated Henry was believed to have numbered over 3000.
Between 1532 and 1533 Princess Mary, the future Queen of England stayed there as a refuge from the political and religious turmoil that was engulfing England after the end of her mothers marriage to Henry.

On leaving the palace site, we can see just up the road to where the ladies were that gave us directions. Were they having us on? They sent us a long way round to get there!
Now we looked for the path to continue our journey, but we had a little trouble. The map wasn't clear or we were crap at navigating (probably the latter) and we ended up walking up Station Road before realising we were wrong. Then down another road,wrong again. We were looking for the sun pub to turn off by. Then realising our mistake we were looking for the sun from the Solar System model, Duh!!
Anyway we found the path and headed off into the Recreation ground, where the rest of the Solar System and the sun was!


The Solar System Model
We leave the recreation ground and follow a footpath come bridlepath back towards Shoreham.




There is a white memorial cross in the hillside opposite the village church. It was dug in 1920 as a memorial to local men killed in action.

We exit the footpath out into Shoreham on Station Road after passing the golf course.

We reach The Ye Olde George Inn. Ye Olde George Inn is a 16th century local community pub.


Opposite The Ye Olde George Inn is St Peter & St Paul Church.



The porch is of very solid fifteenth-century workmanship with good, though weathered, carvings in the spandrels and plain bargeboards above. Inside the church the greatest treasure is the rood screen, with its original loft - 6 ft 6 in wide. It shows the Pomegranate of Catherine of Aragon carved on its door, and this may help us date it to the visit of Henry VIII and his queen to nearby Otford Palace in 1520. The pulpit of 1827 is by Blore and is one of two in the county that originally stood in Westminster Abbey (the other is at Trottiscliffe). In the south wall is a window of 1903 depicting Joy, Creation and Love by the firm of Morris and Co. A most unusual thing to find is the painting of Lt Verney Cameron, who led the expedition to find David Livingstone in 1873, painted by Charles Cope RA.



We left the church and head back out onto Church Street and pass Ye Olde George again on its other side.

A recent Halloween decoration ?
We now come to the River Darent and its beautiful bridge!


Here we sat by the river and the Shoreham War Memorial and had a cup of coffee and enjpyed the peace and quiet listening to the river bubble by.

The memorial is composed of a Kent rag stone base and Bath stone plinth with a headstone shaped memorial on top. Interestingly, the inscription on the memorial calls for those who visit the memorial to refer to a large chalk cross located on a nearby hill which could originally be seen from the memorial. The inscriptions were originally carved into the stone, but the names on the plinth have since been covered with bronze plaques.
It commemorates those lost in WWI and WWII as well of those lost in the bomb raids here in Shoreham.




Just across the Bridge is The Kings Arms,Shoreham, a 16th Century Public House.

A historic feature to the left of the front door, is the Jolly Ostler's Box with serving hatch,
believed to be the only complete example left in the country.







We arrive back at the car and decided we didn't have time to extend the walk onto Lullingstone Castle today as we were short on time, so the 6 mile walk ended here. However we did decide to drive to the castle for a look and drove there via beautiful Eynsford.

 Lullingstone Castle is an historic manor house, set in an estate in the village of Lullingstone and the civil parish of Eynsford in the English county of Kent. It has been inhabited by members of the Hart Dyke family for twenty generations including current owner Guy Hart Dyke.



Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the present house was started in 1497. Henry VIII and Queen Anne were regular visitors to the Manor House.
The Tudor gatehouse, built by Sir John Peche, who became Sheriff of Kent in 1495, is believed to be one of the first in England entirely of brick.What survives of the house is largely of the Queen Anne era.
The surrounding 120-acre (0.49 km2) park was previously a fenced deer park, with the castle serving as a hunting lodge. The grounds are located on the River Darent and hidden within are Queen Anne's bathhouse and an icehouse dating from the 18th century. Most of the grounds of the former estate now constitute Lullingstone Country Park.
It also contains some of the oldest oak trees in Britain, wildflowers, a church (St Botolph's) of Norman and possibly earlier foundation but much later restoration and rebuilding, and a walled garden, and used to contain Lullingstone Roman Villa.
The Castle was previously home to the Lullingstone Silk Farm which produced silk for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gown. In 2011, the Castle was the location for the Comparethemarket.com advert 'Tough decision', featuring meerkats Sergei and Aleksandr.
The walled garden - previously a herb garden designed by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde - has recently been converted into the World Garden of Plants by the Castle's current heir (and 20th generation of the Hart Dyke's), plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke. The garden and the castle are open to the public from April through to September.


The castle was closed now and wont open again until April, it had a £8 entry fee.


We drove off back towards Eynsford again passing The Eynsford Viaduct.

This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the delightfully-named ''Bat & Ball'' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. The branch was initially single-track, seeing its first services on 2nd June 1862, but the viaduct was built to accommodate two tracks from the outset, because the line was doubled in the following year. A Maidstone extension from Otford opened on 1st June 1874, this again single-track, but following in the footsteps of the original Bat & Ball line, this was soon doubled, two-track working commencing on 11th August 1875. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley.




After passing through Eynsford we pass Eynsford Castle on the road above it and stop for a quick picture.

Standing within a picturesque village, Eynsford Castle is a rare example of an early Norman 'enclosure castle'. Built by the Eynsford family, the castle became the subject of a disputed inheritance. It culminated in an act of vandalism in 1312. From that point, the castle was abandoned.
Rather than having a keep or motte, like most Norman castles, Eynsford was instead protected by an extensive curtain wall. Today, parts of the wall survive to their impressive full height alongside the remains of the hall building, where the inhabitants would have lived.

The castle was founded shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. There was an earlier, Saxon building on the site, composed of a timber watchtower on an artificial motte. No evidence of this can be seen today.
The impressive curtain wall was built between 1085 and 1087, probably by William de Eynsford I, a knight and sheriff of Kent. In 1130 the wall was heightened and a gate-tower was built to strengthen the castle defences. A hall, which provided accommodation for the Eynsford family, and associated buildings were also erected inside the castle walls about this time. These buildings were reconstructed in about 1250, following a fire.


We now drove on home. A beautiful walk through some of Kent's prettiest villages. A great walk too!


Monday 10 October 2016

Journey home: Mumbles and Cardiff Bay 9th October 2016

On Sunday the 9th October 2016, Dan and I left the Piton Cross campsite after a great WFP meet weekend to head home. ON our way back we stopped off in Mumbles and Cardiff Bay.

We first stopped in Mumbles. Mumbles marks the beginning of the Gower Peninsula’s coastline.
 There’s a Lighthouse built in 1794, and a Victorian Pier. Oystermouth Castle is also well worth a visit, sitting on a hilltop with fabulous views overlooking the sea.
Mumbles (Mwmbwls in Welsh) is a small fishing village situated at the Western end of Swansea Bay, at the entrance to The Gower Peninsula. Currently well known as the birthplace of Catherine Zeta Jones and Ian Hislop, Mumbles was previously a frequent haunt of Dylan Thomas and his friends.
We parked up paid a couple of quid to park and walked up to Mumbles pier that was closed,probably as it was still very early in the morning.

The Mumbles Pier is an 835 feet (255 m) long Victorian pier built in 1898.The pier opened on 10 May 1898 at a cost of £10,000. It was the western terminus for the world's first passenger carrying railway, the Swansea and Mumbles Railway; and a major terminal for the White Funnel paddle steamers of P and A Campbell, unloading tourists from routes along the River Severn and Bristol Channel.
In the summer of 1899, Will C. Pepper, father of the musicians Harry S. Pepper and Dick Pepper, founded a long-running concert party on the Pier called the White Coons.
Today, the pier is used only for fishing and tourism, offering panoramic views of Swansea Bay with the Mumbles Lighthouse on one side and Port Talbot on the other. Halfway along the Pier on the Bay side is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat station. Still housing the historical records of the local Mumbles lifeboat, the House also currently handles the 'Tyne' Class boat. The Pier complex is owned and operated by the Bollom family.


To the right of the pier is Mumbles Lighthouse. Mumbles Lighthouse, completed in 1794, it was designed to alert passing ships of the dangerous Mixon Sands and Cherry Stone Rock - two massive undersea sand banks that have caused the destruction of countless ships and taken the lives of hundreds of seamen over the centuries.
The structure, which sits on the outer of two islands off Mumbles Head, is clearly visible from any point along the five mile sweep of Swansea Bay. Along with the nearby lifeboat station, it is the most photographed landmark in the village.
 In 1860, the oil powered light was upgraded to a dioptric light and the fort that surrounds the tower was built by the War Department.In 1905, an occulting mechanism, where the light was made to flash, was fitted. This was partially automated in 1934.By 1977, the cast iron lantern had deteriorated beyond repair and was removed. A different lantern was added in 1987.In 1995, the main light was replaced and an array of solar panels and emergency monitoring equipment were added.


We walked back to the car passing the numerous boats and yachts to move on, as nothing was open and we needed to press on to see Cardiff before continuing home.

After a bit more driving and a longer than I thought diversion off the M4 we park up in Cardiff Bay.

Cardiff Bay is a diverse waterfront built around a 200 hectare freshwater lake known as ‘the Bay’. Find a great mix of Cardiff attractions, entertainment and events, coupled with vibrant bars and shops that create a truly unique atmosphere worthy of any capital city!

We passed The Millennium Centre and had a quick look inside on our return to the car.
Wales Millennium Centre (Welsh: Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales.

The centre has hosted performances of Opera, Ballet, Dance, Theatre, comedy and Musicals.
The Centre comprises one large theatre and two smaller halls with shops, bars and restaurants. It houses the national orchestra and opera, dance, theatre and literature companies, a total of eight arts organisations in residence. It is also home to the Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre.

Inscribed on the front of the dome, above the main entrance, are two poetic lines, written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis in the Welsh and English languages. The lettering is formed by windows in the upstairs bar areas and is internally illuminated at night.
The idea of this monumental inscription comes from Roman classical architecture. The Romans brought Christianity to these islands, along with the custom of engraving stone. The form of the Celtic cross embodies the cross-fertilisation of indigenous and Roman cultures, from which the Welsh nation first emerged. The monumental inscription is a familiar feature of Roman architecture. The inscription over the entrance of the Wales Millennium Centre is a revival of this classical tradition, and also a recognition of the formative influence of Roman culture upon our nation. We’re lucky to have two languages; one that we share with half the world and one which belongs just to us. Words in songs, stories and poems have helped to make Wales the proud country that it is. —architect Jonathan Adams.


We the pass The Pierhead Building another iconic building.
The Pierhead Building (Welsh: Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade I listed building of the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay. It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.
The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben" or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum.The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the National Assembly for Wales, which also includes the Senedd and Ty Hywel.
Incorporating a French-Gothic Renaissance theme, the Pierhead boasts details such as hexagonal chimneys, carved friezes, gargoyles, and a highly ornamental and distinctive clock tower. Its exterior is finished in glazed terracotta blocks supplied at the end of the nineteenth century by JC Edwards & Co of Acrefair near Ruabon in Wrexham – once described as one of the most successful producers of terracotta in the world.These features, along with the Pierhead's role in the development of the docks, Cardiff and industrial Wales earned it the status of a Grade One listed building.


We stopped in the Wethersppons pub here (The Mount Stuart) for breakfast and a cuppa before a fleeting look at the bay.
This former dock building was erected in the 1880s and served as the long-time offices of the Mount Stuart Dry Docks Company Ltd. The offices were built alongside Graving Dock No.1, part of Cardiff Docks, built by the Marquesses of Bute. The now-demolished Mount Stuart public house stood just outside the dock gates. Both the dock offices and the pub were named after the Marquesses’ ancestral home on the Isle of Bute.






Now back at the car we press on for the journey home another cracker of a weekend. Cardiff deserves a weekend spent here. I'll be back as Arnie would say!


Pitton Cross to Rhossilli,Gower Penisula 8th October 2016

After The days walk from Rhossilli to Broughton Bay circular, we returned to the Pitton Cross Campsite. After some dinner we were going to meet the WFP group back in the Helvetia Pub. But we decided to walk to Rhossilli from Pitton Cross and get a lift back from Paul.
There are footpaths that lead from the campsite that lead to the coastline through open farmland and pathways.

We reach Mewslade, The walk to the beach leads down a wooded path and then through the valley which is owned by the National Trust.


We walk through a valley with rocky cliffs to boths sides,that remind me of Western films where the Indians ambush the cowboys or maybe even where Wile.E.Coyote lays a trap for the Roadrunner.


We reach Mewslade Bay, a pretty bay. At high tide there is no beach here, nut right now the tide is out revealing a lovely sandy beach. Care is needed here when swimming as there is a strong undercurrent.





We walk back a short way an take a path up the cliff to reach the Coast Path to take us to Rhossilli.



We walk onto Fall Bay, we stay up high on the path and don't head down. We need to reach Rhossilli before dark and the light was fading fast.


Fall Bay



Fall Bay

A Lime Kiln
Located on the north side of the coastal path is a ruined lime kiln shown as ‘Old Limekiln’ on the first edition OS map (1879).
Essentially, the kiln has collapsed leaving a mound with a central hollow where the charging hole was located, flanked on either side by two entranced draw-holes.

No after more walking we reach Wormshead and the Coastguard cottage as the sun sets. Spectacular views of Wormshead were to be seen.



We walk back up the path to the pub and join the WFP gang for more beer, lovely.

About 3 miles in all.