Location Map Introduction A11 A landscape of rolling chalk valleys, pockets of ancient woodland, seasonal streams and picture- BURY ST The A14 EDMUNDS perfect clusters of thatched lime-washed cottages – NEWMARKET the area between Newmarket and Bury St Newmarket Edmunds is special in so many ways. Climb its occasional steep slopes and it promises the most stunning countryside views. Take time out amidst Rides 39 40 its quiet leafy lanes dotted with local brick and flint barns Three circular routes to enjoy on foot, B1085 and the occasional smart stately hall or gatehouse, and Moulton by bike or on horseback between The Newmarket it cannot fail to charm you. Newmarket & Rides are With countless sites of moated farmsteads, medieval located around Barrow churches and mills, the remains of a motte and bailey, a the villages of malt kiln and packhorse bridge, this is an historic area Moulton, Gazeley with thousands of tales to tell. and Barrow The Newmarket Rides offer a mix of off-road, quiet lane between Newmarket and on-road routes for walking, cycling and horse riding. and Bury St Edmunds. The bridleway and byway network here is quite extensive and very popular for horse riding. Some Public Transport routes are also used by farm vehicles, so please take care at all times when following these routes. Moulton is just 4 miles (6km) from Newmarket train station. Barrow is approximately 6 miles (9km) from In wet weather off-road paths become very muddy and Bury St Edmunds train station. therefore more challenging if cycling – be prepared to walk some sections! If you Both villages are served by bus. are not keen on off- Visit www.travelineeastanglia.co.uk road cycling, you or telephone 08712 002 233 for more information Did you know? may prefer to Discover great days out across at The path which stick to quiet www.discoversuffolk.org.uk roads. winds its way through this landscape Produced by Suffolk County Council and is probably the oldest road in Britain Council and was already ancient when the Romans came. It is still a very popular long distance path today. Prehistoric in its origins, it runs along the chalk spine of , stretching 100 miles from Ivinghoe Beacon (Buckinghamshire) to Printed by Suffolk Design & Print IP2 0JB 01473 260600 Heath (Suffolk). 460-ESE-150311 Church. An old Blacksmith’s still sits on the green in Turning left 4 along Moulton Circuit front of The Chequers and a six storey Victorian tower the Dalham Road, mill masquerades as a house. As you descend into the climb steadily then The Travel & Trade Route village, passing the water tower, you follow National run gently into Start: Near the Packhorse Bridge, Moulton Cycle Route 51. This route is very well signposted; just Ashley. As the route Park: In the village or at the Village Hall look out for the blue markers. reaches a flat-topped Distance: 8 miles (13 km) A number of ancient woodland sites grace the chalk plateau you look down across the ruins of All

Picturesque Moulton’s famous flint, stone and brick upland here mainly on pockets of boulder clay, 1 Saints Church and its Packhorse Bridge dates from 1446. Spanning 20m originally private manorial woods from Domesday times parochial past at Silverly. At the over the it sits on the ancient Bury to or medieval coppices for firewood and fencing. In Gazeley Road turn left for a stop at The trade route. Built to allow packs to swing Gazeley, if you are on foot, you can follow the Icknield Crown 5 . clear over the low parapet walls, and unusually wide Way through Bluebutton, Blocksey and Brick Kiln enough to take carts, nowadays it is just pedestrians Woods 2 to Dalham village and then back to Retrace your steps to the Gazeley Road that make their way over the bridge. Moulton. Between April and June this a beautiful which, after the junction you came from, bluebell walk. runs steeply downhill. Take care on your Leave on the Moulton Road to Gazeley, climbing for approach to the junction with the about 1km before the road levels out. At the top of the Further on the Dalham Road, Dalham offers a B1085. After crossing, the route rise, on a very clear day, Ely Cathedral, the mix of lime-washed thatched cottages lining continues downhill. Look out for the ‘Ship of the Fens’, is visible some 15 the river bank, a rare conical malt kiln Icknield Way 6 which crosses at the miles away. It is said this is how the towering some 8 metres by the bottom of the valley, and turn left to village got its name – Gaze-Ely. roadside, a Queen Anne Hall, weather-boarded smock mill and St follow the River Kennett for the next 2 Gazeley clusters around the Mary’s Church full of fine wall km. The track, initially wide then narrow, massive medieval All Saints paintings. At the 16th century Affleck passes through woods to Moulton at the Arms, allegedly haunted by a gray lady, medieval St Peter’s Church, crowned with its golden fish of a weather vane. turn right 3 over the River Kennett, up a steep climb. Here you pass Lower From here it is a very Windmill complete with beehive ‘cap’. Built short distance in the 1790s, it is also known as ‘Opposition back to the Mill’, perhaps for originally stealing trade Packhorse away from Ashley’s Upper Mill or Bridge. Did you know? having sails which turned in the opposite The River Kennett in this area direction. flows northwards from Dalham to Kennett, then on to join the near Mildenhall. The river has shrunk in size considerably since Moulton’s packhorse bridge was built to span it in the 15th century. The Newmarket Rides Three circular routes to enjoy on foot, by bike or on horseback between Newmarket & Bury St Edmunds

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B1085

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17 11 KEY TO MAP 20 Moulton Circuit 21 The Travel & Trade Route Gazeley Circuit The Deer & Beer Route Barrow Circuit The Explorers’ Route Off-road routes

Map based on Ordnance Survey Copyright mapping. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright. 1km ½ mile Suffolk County Council Licence No. 100023395 2011. After the church at a bend in the road is a Gazeley Circuit Barrow Circuit bridleway signed to the right18 . This offers a The Deer & Beer Route The Explorers’ Route steep descent past Hearse Wood; a sometimes muddy and well ridden track by horse riders Start: Gazeley Village Start: Barrow Village Hall or The Three Horseshoes pub and a challenge for walking and cycling. You Distance: 9 miles (14.5 km) Distance: 8 miles (13 km) can rejoin the main circuit at Frogsend Farm 17 Follow National Cycle Route 51 onto Higham Road. 7 As its name suggest, Barrow sits on higher . About ¾ km out of the village, at the junction curiously ground. Its centre clusters around At New Potash Cottages19 , turn right to named ‘Beggars Bush’ 8 take the right fork, signed crossroads with an historic heart full of join National Cycle Route 51 and follow Desning Hall. The long straight road eventually takes a sharp moated halls and medieval fishponds. All its markers as you descend, sometimes left where you have 2 options – on-road or off-road 9 . Saint’s Church is rich with memorials quite steeply, towards Hargrave –mind and bright altar paintings. On-road, keep following Route 51 along an undulating the sharp bends by Frogsend Farm! and winding route towards Barrow. You will pass ‘Castle Head through Barrow towards the village Where the road bends to Hargrave 20 Holes’, Denham’s levelled earthwork remains of a motte green and turn left onto the Bury Road12 . and bailey timber castle. When you meet Denham Road continue straight on. This is Church Street 10 turn right towards Denham, passing Denham Estate, a Leaving Barrow, on your right is an with St Edmund’s, with its redbrick tower, the local deer farm, to the solid medieval brick and flint off-road route along a well defined track Old Rectory and Hargrave Hall off to the right. Church of St Mary, backed by the 16th century moated signed ‘Byway’13 . Initially very easy to follow, This very quiet road eventually meets a bridleway at Denham Hall, to Jillings Farm 11 . this byway becomes a field edge path. You a bench – a great place to catch your breath! 21 can follow it along the edge of ancient Offroad, at the sharp left,9 turn right along a You now enter a section of off-road cycling Wilsummer Wood before meeting the main bridleway, signed as a dead end, uphill to towards Abbot’s Farm. The bridleway is well road where you either head north back to Desning Hall Cottages, past a phone box, used by horse riders and can get very muddy Barrow or south towards Hargrave20 to re-join through a gap by an electric gate and through and rutted in wet weather – take care and if the circuit. the farm yard of Desning Hall, a site cycling be prepared to walk this first section. (‘Daeseling’) recorded in the Domesday Book. Bury Road is a gentle downhill. Turn right at Twite’s Bridge The bridleway soon opens up to a wide As you leave the farm and medieval barn 14 and climb steadily into Great Saxham. Look out for the grassy track and then becomes a concrete behind you, turn left onto a bridleway following carved nutmeg on the gateway to Great Saxham Hall15 . track before meeting the Denham Road. a field edge track. For the next 3kms the route In 1588 explorer John Eldred introduced nutmeg to At this point you can join the skirts and crosses arable fields. If cycling, take England. His Great Saxham home, replaced by the Gazeley Circuit or turn care. In or after wet weather this route can be present house in the 1790s, was known as ‘Nutmeg Hall’. right, climbing slightly very muddy and hard work – great fun, but very to Denham challenging! After the village, at the brow of a hill, a very wide bridleway to your right16 offers off-road riding Church, before After crossing a field, travel through a tree- past woodland known as ‘The Park’. You can winding your lined avenue, arriving on the Denham Road at rejoin the circuit later on at Frogsend Farm17 . way back to Jillings Farm11 . Barrow. Here, you rejoin the main circuit and all your This quiet, winding country lane leads to St Andrew’s hard work pays off as turning right you cruise Church, a well-earned stop after nearly a mile of uphill on a 3km long downhill all the way into Dalham. riding and another Great Saxham site with overseas Either turn right back to Gazeley or join the connections – this time beautiful stained glass probably Moulton Circuit. from Switzerland.