U3A WTT Breedon on the Hill Stuart Galloway Version 2

Route Summary

The walk starts in the car park of Breedon Priory Garden Centre. Postcode is DE73 8AZ, which oddly takes you to a road opposite the entrance. Plenty of parking and Beth’s Kitchen on the same site has nice food at reasonable prices. (Toilets next to the café).

Route Overview

Category: Walking Length: 7.380 km / 4.61 mi Parking: Breedon Priory Garden Centre Date Published: 26th October 2016 Difficulty: Medium Rating: Unrated Surface: Average Refreshments: Beth's Kitchen Last Modified: 26th October 2016

Description

A circular walk around Breedon that takes in the history of the area.

Waypoints

Breedon (52.80286; -1.40512)

The name Breedon on the Hill is derived from the Celtic word bre for hill and the English word dun for hill. Hence in its current form the name combines three forms of the word hill. Briudun, an early spelling, has been traced from AD 731.

Medieval Hagiography Manuscripts record four saints buried in Breedon-on-the-Hill. They are Friduricus, donor of the Mercian Royal Monastery built in Breedon during the seventh century, King Eardwulf of Northumbria, and relatively unknown Anglo-Saxon Saint Beonna of Breedon and Cotta of Breedon.

In 1874, a branch of the Midland Railway was built through the eastern part of the parish and Tonge and Breedon railway station was built at Tonge. In 1980 British Railways closed the line and thereafter the track was dismantled.

1 / 11 The track bed through the parish is now part of National Cycle Route 6 and is called the Cloud Trail running from Worthington to Derby City Centre.

Walk back to Ashby Road and turn left onto The Green

War Memorial (52.80213; -1.40327)

The war memorial was unveiled on 28th November 1921 with the names of 13 villagers who lost their life in WW and only two who lost their lives in WW2

Walk up the hill on Melbourne Lane past The holly Bush Inn. Near the top of the hill at a fork in the road road take the right hand option, which goes round the church and past the car park.

2 / 11 The Bulwarks (52.80658; -1.39911)

The hill top has been inhabited for perhaps three thousand years since the Iron Age. There are substantial earthworks of an Iron Age fort from around the first century BC. They are known locally as the “Bulwarks” but much of the eastern side of the enclosure and boundary has been lost by the quarrying of limestone. The hill top setting of the fort and subsequent monastic community would always have been dramatic but the quarrying has resulted in a much more spectacular setting for the church close to the edge of the man-made cliff. However it does mean that a lot of archaeology has been lost including a Saxon cemetery and monastic cells.

Enter the church yard.

St Mary and St Hardulph Church External (52.80604; -1.39947)

The location of the church seems odd considering it was built in the time when the only options for transport was horse, carriages and by foot. The carriages would have difficulty ascending and the old and infirm would not have been able to attend public worship. The story goes that the church was started at the bottom of the hill but the foundations were carried away by doves to the top of the hill. The founder and workmen were so awed by this event they completed the church at the top of the hill.

Strange mists and a figure carrying a scythe are said to have been reported at this site.

Proceed into the church.

St Mary and St Hardulph Church Internal (52.80592; -1.39989)

3 / 11 The first Christian monastery at Breedon was established in the final quarter of the seventh century, probably in 676. King Aethelred, third son of the first Christian king of Mercia, founded it. Like many Christian communities it took over the previously important pagan sites. In early Christianity Breedon was very important as in 731, Tatwin a priest at Breedon was made Archbishop of Canterbury.

In its heyday the Priory at Breedon would have been extensive with a major monastic church. Little remains of that community but the existing church incorporates some of the best Saxon carving in Britain. The highlight is the Breedon Angel, believed to be the Angel Gabriel, making a Byzantine style blessing. It is in the bell ringing chamber of the tower but there is a modern replica at the west end of the south aisle of the nave which is more accessible for the casual visitor

There is much to enjoy and reflect on in the church including some impressive memorials to the Shirley family in the north aisle. They are carved in Chellaston Alabaster from a few miles north of the site.

Apart from the famous Breedon Angel, there are many pieces of Saxon carving from the 8th—10thcentury church, lead encased to protect it from the damp, set into the walls of the south aisle. It is now all inside the building but some

4 / 11 would have decorated the outside of the Saxon church. There is around sixty feet of frieze, the most extensive collection in Britain, which would have formed bands around the church both inside and out. In the Lady Chapel at the east end of the south aisle there is particularly well preserved set of human figures.

The existing church is only part of the original monastery church and includes 12th, 13th and 15th century features with other additions. The octagonal font is also 15th century with well-carved heraldic decoration Several times in the past the church has come close to being lost as there many reports of it being dilapidated and in a "ruinous state".

Exit the church and graveyard onto a path bordering the quarry.

The Beacon and Breedon Hill Quarry (52.80601; -1.39898)

The Beacon

This was first lit for the Queens golden jubilee in June 2002. It is part of the national chain of beacons. To the south is Beacon Hill and to the north Crich

Breedon Hill Quarry

The earliest known printed reference to quarrying at Breedon Hill seems to be in the topographer William Burton’s 1622 ‘Description of Leicester Shire’. The commercial development of Breedon Hill stone, however, was made possible by the opening in 1833 of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, the first steam-worked public railway conveying both passengers and freight in the Midlands.

The quarried rock is dinantian limestone laid down between 326 and 359 million years ago in the Lower Carboniferous era. It has been dolomitised, which is the process of the replacement of calcium with magnesium ions to produce dolomite. The quarry produces decorative aggregates and sand.

Take the path down hill with care, as it is quite steep. As you go down, notice the information boards which provide more history of the hill. When you reach a path crossroads take the left hand path which leads to a road called The Delph. Turn left here to the T-junction with Main Street. Breedon Hall is on your right.

5 / 11 Breedon Hall (52.80241; -1.39903)

The hall started off in 1620 as timber framed building and was bought by the Curzon family and enlarged. Over the years since it has been further enlarged. It has changed hands and is now a bed and breakfast. The picture was taken in 1870 and show Nathaniel Curzon in the trap.

The Hall is reputed to have a ghost whom people believe is one of the Curzon family. One of the residents of the Hall heard a bell ring one night and when she went to investigate she found no one there, but she did see a shadow disappearing.

Walk down to Main Street and on your left is a Lock Up and Pinfold.

LockUp and Pinfold (52.80209; -1.39826)

6 / 11 These are both situated on the corner of Main Street and The Delph. The Village Round House or Lock Up was built in 1793 was where offenders where held until being moved to a town prison. This carried on until 1885 when the Round House/Lock Up closed. Next to it is a Pinfold where stray animals were held; a payment could be made by the owner to release them.

James Banton Story

Villagers at Breedon-on-the Hill in Leicestershire looked up in surprise when James Banton, a local man, came running along the high street waving a stick and shouting, I just killed a bobby! He had, too. When he sobered up he told detectives all about it. He explained that the police had caught him and a friend poaching six months previously, and that they had gone out for a few drinks, and decided to go down to the police station and retrieve their nets, which had been confiscated. On the way they met PC Thomas Barrett, 35, one of the officers who had caught them. Banton picked a fight and in the struggle beat the officer to death with his own baton. I expect I will be hanged for it, he added.

Three months later Banton and his accomplice were tried for murder. The judge directed that the accomplice should be acquitted because he had left the scene before the attack on the policeman. Banton had guessed rightly he was hanged on Tuesday, November 30th, 1886, at Leicester Prison.

Walk further along Main Street until you reach the Victoria School building on your left.

The School (52.80381; -1.39575)

7 / 11 Charles Abney Hastings as a memorial, built the school in 1874 to his wife, Edith. His name had been Abney but he took his wife's name Hastings either on their marriage or on her succession to the Scottish title of Loudon on the death of her brother, the last Marquess of Hastings.

Abney Hastings was created Lord Donington in 1880. He built this school a year after purchasing the Breedon estates of the 7th Earl of Stamford and Warrington.

There are two inscriptions on the front of the school.

DEUS MEUS ILLUMINA TENEBRAS MEAS (GOD ENLIGHTEN MY DARKNESS)

Your challenge is to translate the rest.

Today it is too near the main road and the quarry to serve its original purpose and lies empty, but it remains a remarkable building.

Turn round and walk back to Doctors Lane and turn left into this road. Walk down the road until it bears right and then take the path on your left until it reaches the Cloud Cycle Trail. Turn right onto this path.

If you prefer a slightly longer route carry on up Main Street until you see a path on your right. Take this path until you reach Tonge Lane. Walk down Tonge Lane until you reach Tonge and take the Cloud Trail at this point.

Cycle Track (52.79990; -1.38672)

8 / 11 The Cloud trail is the bed of the former Midland Railway branch from Melbourne to a junction on the Leicester to Burton on Trent line near Ashby de La Zouch. Built in 1867 and closed by Beeching in 1982. It now forms national cycle route 6.

In WW2 a section of this line was requisitioned by the military. The line was named the Melbourne Military Railway. The British Army and Allied engineers used it for training and to prepare them for the invasion of mainland Europe. Engineers practised the demolition and rebuilding of railways and the running and maintenance of a railway line and its rolling stock. There was also a bridge building school at Kings Newton.

The railway track was handed back to the LMS on 1 January 1945 who then submitted a bill of £25,265 to the War Department to restore the line.

Continue along the Cloud trail with a slight diversion to get over the A42. The path goes alongside Cloud Hill Quarry on your left.

9 / 11 Cloud Hill Quarry (52.79269; -1.39259)

Cloud Hill quarry is in the same Dination limestone as Breedon quarry. Cloud Hill produces various types of road surfacing material, premixed concrete and agricultural lime.

On the opposite side of the quarry is Cloud Wood, which is a 33 hectare ancient woodland and site of Special Scientific Interest. It stands on Keuper Marl and Boulder Clay and is one of the most floristically rich sites in the country. Fortunately or not depending on your point of view, this SSI and the cycle track we are on have constrained the quarry development.

Continue along the cycle track until you see a path on the right just before the car park. Take this path through Mill House Farm.Turn left onto the Farm track back to Breedon Lane and return back to Breedon on the Hill. There is a shorter route - see item 12 but this involves a difficult stile. This is a quiet lane but you should be aware of the possibility of traffic. There is a footpath to the right after the A42 bridge that avoids road walking but the stiles are very awkwardly placed and overgrown.

Alternative Route (52.78854; -1.39572) There is a shorter route back to Breedon Lane here but involves a difficult stile. Instead of turn left down the farm track carry straight on behind the farmhouse and follow this path back to the road just befoe the A42 bridge.

10 / 11 11 / 11