Sawbridgeworth to Roydon - Around Essex (15)

Took a while to get under way this morning but by the time I was finally walking the early mist had burned away & it had become a glorious day - shorts & tee-shirt all the way!

Had intended to park in Bishop's Stortford, catch a train to Sawbridgeworth, follow the Stort southwards until I'd had enough & then hop on a train back; easy as the railway, more-or-less, follows the line of the river & the county boundary

First problem was that I couldn't find anywhere to leave the car in Bishop's Stortford for longer than 5 hours; problem number 2 was that the Sawbridgeworth car park was full & so I ended up at Harlow Town station, half-way through my planned walk!

Soon discovered what was to be the biggest problem of my day - I'd forgotten my wrist-watch!
Undeterred, I took a train north!

Sheering Mill Lock & part of the attractive riverside housing estate built on the site of one of Sawbridgeworth's old maltings

Harlow Mill Lock

Never before seen the moorings here deserted or the pub car-park so empty!
Could have popped in for a pint but I hardly felt as if I'd started walking yet!

Highlight of the Day: my weakness for sculptures again!

The River Stort Sculpture Trail has been created since I last walked here &, though I couldn't reach the 'globes' at Burnt Mill Lock because of repair work to the canal, I stumbled across one or two others not included in the original project!

Designed 'to celebrate our heritage of the waterway', the sign on the left isn't part of the trail but is an attractive reminder of the wildlife that can be found along the way

'Mill' by Nicola Burrell, near Laxton Lock

There was a water mill here as early as 1449 which was in use until the end of the 19th century

On driving through Harlow this morning I saw a huge sign proclaiming it to be 'The Sculpture Town'
All news to me until I reached home & did a little research
Apparently there are over 80 works of art on display around the town!

Sounds like a good project for one of these foggy mornings.... particularly as I now have a list & a map!
Here are a couple not on the list, or on the Stort Sculpture Trail, from just above Burnt Mill Lock

Resisted the temptation to visit the enormous
 'Moorhen' pub beside Harlow Marina & headed instead for this older establishment just over the border into Hertfordshire

Originally 'The Bakers Arms', this McMullen pub was renamed the 'Railway Inn' & then became 'The Dusty Miller' when Harlow's new town pubs were named after butterflies & moths!
Nothing to do with the countless mills along the Stort, the pub took its name from the fishing fly!

Beer of the Day: a rather 'dusty' pint of McMullen's AK - I've had this recommended to me but it tasted past its best & lacks flavour

There has been a mill on this site for over 1000 years but the current Parndon Mill is little over 100 years old & is home to artists, craftsmen & a popular gallery

Back on the Sculpture Trail!
This raised walkway in concrete, metal & glass close to Parndon Mill Lock is, unsurprisingly. called 'Over the Weir'!

Last of the riverside pieces
'Flowing Onwards' was created by Angela Godfrey from a piece of Durham gritstone & bears the words of engineer, Thomas Yeoman, from his speech made at the 1769 opening of the canal

Lovely Hunsdon Mill Lock, just east of Roydon

Discovered I could find out the time from my camera which was useful as there is no clock or information screen at Roydon Station! Just had to remember I hadn't altered it when the clocks went back!

Song of the Day: on returning home I was sad to learn that Jackie Leven died last night - composer & performer of a couple of Songs of the Day on LeJog
His 'Some Ancient Misty Morning' seems to fit the bill given our Essex weather at the moment but his recent album, 'Wayside Shrines & The Code of the Travelling Man' is equally appropriate

Stansted Mountfitchet to Sawbridgeworth - Around Essex (14)

Wow! Walking 2 days in a row! Thought those days were over until I get the new knees!

Short walk yesterday & not much longer today but quite tricky to stick close to the county boundary - would have been much easier, though less accurate, simply to march through the centre of Bishop's Stortford!

Bedevilled again by persistent mist & that's likely to be a problem until the cold weather comes - still ridiculously mild for November; by the time I stopped for lunch I was back to shorts & tee-shirt!

Stansted Hall

The original Stansted Hall was built of stone from the destroyed Mountfitchet Castle but it went through many incarnations & many owners before it became the Arthur Findlay College  & home of the Spiritualist National Union in the 1960s

It was William de Montfitchet, great-grandfather of the young knight who took on King John, who built Stansted's Church of St Mary the Virgin in parkland where Stansted Hall now stands

It was William who assumed the new family surname &, busy man, he was also responsible for founding the Cistercian Abbey of Stratford Langthorne in West Ham..... in the days when West Ham was in Essex!

The church is now largely redundant though it remains consecrated & is used for occasional services

Unlikely that Birchanger will mean much to you other than as a service station on the M11 and stepping-off point at the infamous Junction 8 for Stansted Airport... all of which does make this a bit of a noisy spot!
And yet part of the wood that gave the village its medieval name still survives, now under a preservation order





Interesting Footnote: Birchanger featured on the front page of The Daily Mirror on Boxing Day 1913 after Father Christmas arrived here by aeroplane!
It was to be another 30 years before  the airfield was opened & a further 26 before the first terminal appeared

Think this is the first time I've ever posted pictures of a pub I didn't visit! I tried but they weren't opening for another 20 minutes & I was impatient to be tackling the motorway!









So I 'collected' the pub signs rather than the pub & its beer!

Now..... if the beer is as good.......!

Highlight of the Day: negotiating the M11 & its slip roads, the A120 spurs, London Stansted Airport & ending up on the old Braintree to Bishop's Stortford railway line at Start Hill overlooking the complexities of Junction 8!

Wasn't really sure how this was all going to work out, even while I was walking it!
2 bridges, 2 tunnels & new perspectives on roads I've often driven. All this with 'planes roaring overhead almost within touching distance!
Clever stuff!

Birchanger to Little Hallingbury  in an hour & a half without having to pause for a single vehicle!

Here I am above the M11 yet again!
Beats driving along it!

'The George', Little Hallingbury
Enjoyed a beer here in their garden before but, until today, I'd never stopped for lunch

A 17th century inn which was originally known as 'The Shoulder of Mutton' & then the 'King's Head' before becoming 'The George' c1769
In those days it stood on the 18th century equivalent of the M11: the drovers' route to Chelmsford Market & the main cross-country coach route from Bishop's Stortford

Quite busy today, too!
Excellent steak, onion & mushroom Guinness pie!

Beer of the Day: very good 'Eagle' IPA from Wells & Young's; a hoppy, amber coloured beer with a refreshingly bitter bite

At last! Back by water again!
The River Stort Navigation serves as the county boundary with Hertfordshire for much of this stretch southwards from Spellbrook Lock to its confluence with the River Lea
Good to be working with something definite rather than a vague, imaginary line across a field!

The Stort Navigation runs for 14 miles from Rye House on the Lea to Bishop's Stortford; it was opened in 1769
A branch to Saffron Walden was surveyed in 1788 & an extension to link Bishop's Stortford to Cambridge approved in 1814 but neither were built
Now that would have been a good walk!

Approaching Tednambury Lock - lovely spot!

This is land once owned by the Benedictine monks of Bury St Edmunds.... hence the name

Little Hallingbury
          Mill
Built in 1874 & operational until 1952, it is now a popular hotel & restaurant - last time I was there was for Hugh's retirement meal, former headteacher at Alec Hunter, many years ago!

Interesting Footnote: the original mill on this site was called Tednam Mill

Memorial to 17-year-old Scott Clark from Sawbridgeworth who drowned here in November 2004 after a night out with friends

Just about all that remains of what was a huge mill & maltings complex, devastated in 1929 by what is still regarded as Sawbridgeworth's biggest ever fire

Reached Sawbridgeworth, inconveniently, about half-way between trains so popped into 'The Railway Hotel' for a quick pint
Always looks slightly grubby & a bit neglected to me but the people are very friendly!

Glad I made the diversion, witnessing part of the most phenomenol day's play in Test Cricket history! South Africa bowled out for 96; Australia bowled out for 47..... I couldn't believe the highlights they were showing me!
Unique statistic? The only time in the history of Tests that both sides have had a player dismissed twice on the same day!

It was almost enough to send me back to 'The Three Willows' on my way home so that I could finish the day in a real Cricket Pub!

Manuden to Stansted Mountfitchet - Around Essex (13)

A short circular to tie-up this awkward corner of the county! Wanted to edge around the Essex/Hertfordshire border without bumping into the sprawl of Bishop's Stortford, I've walked that often enough in the past, & by ending up at Mountfitchet I'll be able to use the railway to make the next stretch a linear walk

Slightly dull start after a couple of wet, dismal days but the sun was working hard & I finished in lovely sunshine!

Good place to start! This is Manuden's old maltings, one of two in the village
It's next door to 'The Yew Tree' & opposite the church!

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Manuden
Unusually, the war memorial lists only servicemen from 1914-1918; the village suffered no casualties at all in World War II

Fascinating tapestry but almost impossible to photograph without my reflection or the flash spoiling everything!

Old cottages overlooking the churchyard - interesting to note that Manuden is a conservation area & has little modern street-lighting.... yet seems quite happy to accept TV aerials!

This depiction of leather-worker, James Watt, who also owned Watts Yard, is all that remains of that Manuden industry

The archers & fletchers may have gone but the yew trees, central to Manuden's other medieval industry, still stand tall and proud around the village

Hassobury House, Farnham

Little alarmed to find this listed as being in Hertfordshire by The Telegraph, The Independent & upmarket Estate Agents, Fine & Country - had to check my map just to make sure I knew where I was!

A manor since before Domesday, the current house was rebuilt by the Gosling family in 1868

Various bits have been for sale at different times - perhaps a Hertfordshire tag is more lucrative!

Highlight of the Day: when researching today's walk it was with some dismay that I read, in an extract from the 'Herts & Essex Observer', that 'The Three Horseshoes' at Hazel End had closed in June!


Most websites confirmed this & I even found the Estate Agent's publicity for the property

Only the bigreddirectory was adamant that the pub is open for business & they are quite correct!

Reopened only 3 weeks ago, the place was a veritable hive of activity; car park almost full & dining areas busy
Stopped here on many occasions over the years & it's brilliant in these days of mass pub-closures to find another one, after Elmdon, that is fighting back!

Beer of the Day: pint of Adnam's 'Broadside' here - sampled on numerous occasions but the important thing is to know that they serve a good beer!




It's a short & pleasant walk from Hazel End, over the fields to Mountfitchet - I struggle to use the prefix, associating it only with aeroplanes, yet Stansted was a Saxon settlement long before the Norman Lord, Mountfitchet, turned up & added his name to the village!

Mountfitchet's five-storey windmill was built for Joseph Lindsell in 1787
It was last worked commercially in 1910 & scheduled as an Ancient Monument in 1952

Built as recently as 1889, Mountfitchet's Church of St John the Evangelist was originally a chapel of ease for Stansted's villagers... the 'real' church being much closer to William Mountfitchet's grand house

I'll be walking there on my next outing!

Finished the day at one of the county's tourist attractions - even signposted off the M11!
Haven't been to Mountfitchet Castle for many years.... since the children were little
Thought I might have a wander around today but this was as close as I could get - it closed at the weekend, for Winter!

Virtually nothing left of the original castle, built by Robert Gernon, Duke of Boulogne, who came over with William the Conqueror

His descendants took on the name Montfitchet & a young Richard de Montfitchet was its last occupant in the early 13th century

He had been made a ward of King John upon the death of his father but supported the Barons against the King as soon as he came 'of age'

John retaliated by destroying Richard's castle but the knight had the last laugh when he was chosen as the youngest of those charged with upholding Magna Carta after the King had been defeated at Runnymede in 1215

Richard, subsequently, had his land & titles restored by Henry III

 

Not quite the end! Finished with a quick pint here at Mountfitchet's 'Dog & Duck'

Not the only pub in the village but I remember, on my first visit, being attracted by the sign.... or perhaps it was the kids who noticed it! Anyway, I've found my way back here on most visits since - a creature of habit!

Clavering to Manuden - Around Essex (12)

First day of this circumnavigation when the weather has been a bit disappointing
The forecast wasn't great but after the heavy rain over the last few nights I wanted to get out again before all the trees were stripped bare &, in Braintree at least, visibility wasn't too bad
Out on the western border it was a different story: grey & murky to begin with, the fog simply thickened!

Parked in Rickling Green & set out on a circular over increasingly muddy fields towards Clavering, Wednesday's sunny finishing point!

Highlight of the Day: right at the beginning again!
Now, it may look as if I'm going crackers taking yet another picture of a footpath sign & including, for good measure, a defunct & mouldy trig pillar hiding away in a hedge! Not so!
Any other retired souls with nothing better to do with their time than to meander through random web pages may be aware of an unusual & rapidly-spreading hobby.... collecting trig-pillars!
Not uprooting them & taking them home as a garden ornament but visiting them, logging their number & taking a photograph!

No, I haven't taken up the sport, though when the kids were little we often sought them out on Dartmoor when searching for 'letterboxes'!


The only walkers I saw all day were a couple a few years older than me, searching for this elusive stone. I had more faith in my map than they had in theirs & was able to help... much to the relief, I think, of their very tiny & tired-looking dog!

Back in Clavering & I've already disclosed one gruesome tale about the village
Hey-ho! Here's another!
Just to the left of this picturesque scene is the old moat of Clavering Castle & Moat Farm

In 1903 the body of Camille Holland was unearthed here, attracting sight-seers from across the county!

Church of St Mary & St Clement, Clavering
Mostly 15th century: fascinating to read of the village's wealth in the Tudor/Stuart period & its comparative poverty in subsequent centuries

A couple of examples here:
on the left, my favourite of a series of fine brasses &, on the right, an elaborately-carved Elizabethan pulpit

Not unusual to see a 'Benefactions' board such as this in a Parish Church but what intrigues me are the barrels of herring!
Were these imported via the Stort Navigation & Bishop's Stortford?
Seems an awful long way but I don't see any accessible fishing ports closer than the Thames....

.... & yet here's a memorial to a lady whose husband (and brother!) sailed with Captain Cook! And he, a good Yorkshire lad!
For me, this is the most amazing feature of Clavering.... perhaps the world was never such a huge place, after all!

I have several photos taken from this point over the years - I thought it looked a bit sad & battered after the wind & the rain & with a grey sky looming behind..... now, if only I'd been here last week!

Away over the fields to Berden & one of the finest village signs in Essex

Academics have argued about the origin of its name; some preferring 'swine pasture valley', others opting for 'corn valley'

The creator of this sign took both on board & threw in a couple of lucky horseshoes for good measure!
The impressive millennium tapestry can be found in the Church of St Nicholas.... of Santa Claus fame!

Furthest point south today was Manuden & 'The Yew Tree'; on our last visit previous owners had opened early to serve us a drink!

I'd been warned about their fancy prices by a couple of farmers en route but enjoyed their bowl of Irish Lamb Stew (could have been a little fuller... or served with bread!)

Pleasant pub but disappointed they couldn't offer an interesting ale

Nothing left but to head out into the increasing gloom & thickening mist, back over the fields to the car at Rickling Green, an offshoot & partner of the slightly larger Quendon


Cricket has been played on the village green here since the middle of the 19th century & on opposite sides are the pavilion & the pub, both bearing the name 'The Cricketers Arms'!

Another pleasant-enough pub but set out too much like a cafe for my liking, though the restaurant area looked cosier & the staff were very friendly

Beer options rather dull & it did occur to me I've never been here in sunshine or even 'sitting-outside' weather.... I need to be careful in my judgements!

So, what was all that about Santa Claus?
Well, this is where you will find the grave of William Winstanley, 'the man who saved Christmas'!
Defying Cromwell's anti-Christmas legislation, Winstanley held carol services & led festivities for the villagers at his home in Quendon despite the fear of reprisals from Parliamentarian soldiers.
Post-Cromwell he assumed the pen-name of Poor Robin Goodfellow to promote the kind of Christmas Dickens 'pinched' for 'A Christmas Carol'
It's amazing the stories you stumble across when you go for a walk......

Beer of the Day: had to wait until I reached home for a bottle of Woods 'Shropshire Lad' left over from my last visit to that county - darker bitter with a bite that I wish was a bit sharper! Quite like this but have always felt there's something missing! Bit like today's walk..... visibility!