Winchcombe to Belas Knap Walk Church K C
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Lovely mbe House W a Way inchcom y views of the town, Sudeley Castle and be Way the surrounding countryside. Distance: 5.5 miles/ 8.8 km Lodge St Kenelm’s ay Duration 2 - 2.75 hours W Longwood d Well ol Farm sw Sudeley Hill Dryfield Difficulty: Moderate but some steep ot Langley 32 C Farm Farm sections Brook B46 e A n Sudeley r Start/finish: Back Lane car park, u o Castle b Apple Tree Winchcombe (Grid Ref: SP 023/284) Is . The Home Pub R 2 £1 all day. Toilets 20p in car park. 3 Parks 6 4 B swold Way Cot OS maps: Outdoor Leisure 45, Postlip Mill Cricket C Refreshments: Winchcombe o r Club n d Postlip e Golf Club House Ascent: 771feet/235 metres a B Hall n e e & refreshments L s a m n o Sudeley Corndean e o r Farm B Lodge r Leave Back Lane car park via the far o o F k corner pedestrianPostlip access into Cowl Lane. Turn right and followFarm the road to the High Rising Street. Turn right and walk along Abbey Sun Terrace until you are opposite Vineyard Parks Wadfield y Topograph Street. a Farm Washpool Farm W e No Man’s b m Patch Carefully cross the road and continue Car parking co Deadmanbury B ch for Belas Knap in Gate down Vineyard Street, cross the bridge W Newmeadow 2 Woodpeckers 3 D 6 and shortly turn right through a gate Farm 4 Cleeve Common Source of B Castle waymarked the Cotswold Way. Follow the y R. Isbourne Postlip Warren a Rock W Cotswold Way straight across the field to ld 286m o w another gate and continue for approx 450 s Humblebee Breakheart t o Cottages metres until you reach a road, CorndeanPlantation C E Lane A. Turn left along the road for 300 Southam metres and turn right through a gate Hill Barn Spoonley . 322m waymarked Cotswold Way. Farm Waterhatch W Spoonley Villa Wood Limehill S i 0 0.25 mile ou ane n tham L Solitary ch Wood c Tree o Follow the tarmac drive as it rises past 0 0.5 km m b the cricket pitch. Shortly after a horse Belas Coles’s Hill 5 e 3 C 4 W dressage training area, go throughC the Knap A Post a o Ellenborough Stone y tsw gate on your left and follow the Cotswoldol Park Hotel Blocks d W Way up the hill, noting the fine views backay GWR towards Winchcombe and beyond. © OpenstreetMap contributors and WWaW Station Queen’s Wood At the top of the field, pass through the Cheltenham Radio Dew pond gate and go down a short ramp to a Race Course Masts . 330m T-junction of minor roadsWontley B. Here Farm you can take a slightly shorter route(Disused) to Belas Knap. See ‘Cotswold Way route to Belas Knap’ at end of the route description. View on the Cotswold Way near Corndean Lane Prestbury No ve rt on Pittville Lane Turn right along the lane, noticing the the second field to a gate. Go through Otherise, follow the route notes from D* good view over the Isbourne valley to and continue across the third field to join (see first column) back to Winchcombe via the hills north-west of Winchcombe. a lane. Turn left along the lane (the Old the Sudeley valley. After approx 350 metres at a Y-junction Brockhampton Road) and follow this until of lanes, turn left and climb steadily along you reach the entrance to Sudeley Castle. © Winchcombe Walkers are Welcome 2017 the lane through woods. You may be lucky Keep left and follow the lane, (Vineyard enough to see deer lurking in the trees. The Street) over the bridge and up the slope buildings of Hill Barn Farm come into to Abbey Terrace. Points of interest. view at the top of the lane. Carry on in the same direction past the farm along a Belas Knap: gravel track for 300 metres then turn left Belas Knap is a Neolithic chambered to join the Cotswold Way C. Looking long barrow situated just below the crest forward, you will see the smooth form of of a prominent ridge with panoramic Belas Knap, an ancient long barrow. views over the surrounding countryside. The long barrow consists of a mound trapezoidal in plan and orientated north- south. It is about 55 metres in length, Winchcombe from Old Brockampton Road roughly 20 metres at its widest and Turn right at the top, noticing the between three and four metres tall. attractive Dent’s Terrace on the right (originally alms houses) and retrace your Belas Knap owes much of its present character to a programme of restoration Belas Knap Long Barrow footsteps to the car park. carried out by the Ministry of Works Walk along the edge of the field and climb between 1929 and 1931. Prior to this over the low stone wall and enter the the site was excavated in a series of Neolithic site. The exit path is directly excavations from 1863 and again in 1928. ahead. Under the lintel stone of the ‘false Go over the low stone wall and through entrance’ were the remains of five infants a gate on the left, follow the Cotswold and an unusual round-headed adult, a type Way beside a stone wall to another gate. not normally found in Gloucestershire Dents Terrace Go through and descend to the bottom burials prior to 2200 BC. However dating where the path turns left to follow the of the Belas Knap human remains in 2000, field boundary beside a wood. (The right of Via Cotswold Way to Belas Knap placed them all between 4000 and 3700 way path follows the edges of the field: it does (From point B on the map is approx 0.5 BC. not cut diagonally across). Upon reaching a mile (0.8km) shorter by following the gate go through and descend on a sunken Cotswold Way). Dents Terrace: Almshouses built by path through woods to a stile leading the Dent family in 1865. onto the road, signposted Winchcombe Cross the road, pass through the gate Way D.* opposite and follow the Cotswold Way. Vineyard Street: Once also known After about 100 metres D turn right as Duck Street. During excavation for the Climb over the stile and turn right along along the Cotswold Way and up a short new bridge a stump of the towns ducking the narrow road for approx 500 metres steep section through a wood to a field. stool was found. being careful of traffic. Ignore a path on Go through the gate, turn left and follow the left before the top of the rise and the edge of field keeping the wood on Cotswold Way continue to meet a track on the left your left, then turning right directly up the This is one of 15 National Trails, long waymarked Winchcombe Way E. hill. (The right of way path follows the edges distance walking routes through the best of the field: it does not cut diagonally across). landscapes in England and Wales. The trail Turn left down the gravel track, pass some passes through Winchcombe on its route cottages and bear left down the slope At the top go through a gate and turn between Chipping Campden and Bath. following the Winchcombe Way signs. left following the path beside the wall Ignore the path leading right just after leading to a gate by Belas Knap. Notice the the cottages. Continue down the track, view over Sudeley Valley to your left. At the passing to the right of Wadfield Farm, and Neolithic site there are historical notes on the join the narrow path between hedges to a board. stile entering a fieldF . There is a good view here towards Sudeley Castle and St Mary’s To return, retrace your steps back to Church. Go diagonally across the field to point D by the road. You have a choice a stile on your right in the hedge, go over here. the stile and enter the next field. Turn left along the edge of the field for 100 metres If you wish to take the quickest route and enter the next field.