the hill. the woodland to its original state. original its to woodland

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mentioned in 12th century documents. documents. century 12th in mentioned

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emains for the house and the lane. The farm buildings date date buildings farm The lane. the and house the for emains r still

, miles 2½ of walk horter s a For turn left to walk up to the metal metal the to up walk to left turn

when it was owned by Emma Herlinggerrugge. The family name name family The Herlinggerrugge. Emma by owned was it when

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d, Earl of Cornwall in 1276. Prior to the the to Prior 1276. in Cornwall of Earl d, Richar by eated cr

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to the farm. Look for the bridleway sign on a post under the big big the under post a on sign bridleway the for Look farm. the to

you may have to look look to have may you

obvious bank on the left which marks the old woodland edge. It It edge. woodland old the marks which left the on bank obvious

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9

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744 it was mentioned in a boundary charter for King Offa (of (of Offa King for charter boundary a in mentioned was it 744

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bluebells flowering in the spring; later in the year you will see the the see will you year the in later spring; the in flowering bluebells atlington atlington W of map a valley; the down etching str field assy gr ge lar

ack along the valley bottom follows the line of the the of line the follows bottom valley the along ack tr wide The

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ough old scrub with many hawthorn hawthorn many with scrub old ough thr downhill leads path The

ough woodland, woodland, ough thr uphill path the Follow ows. arr white with ees as as ees tr these for out Look hazel. young and oak saleable cut), this

ow flinty path on the right, marked marked right, the on path flinty ow narr a take field, the opposite om om fr ow gr to allowed and animals azing gr of height the above cut e fence. fence. e wir a and hedges between downhill path the Follow

At the next junction turn left, then almost immediately just just immediately almost then left, turn junction next the At ded beech (ie (ie beech ded pollar had It surveyed. was e her woodland the 16 16 8 ough a small wooden gate. gate. wooden small a ough thr go and ow arr the to right

ed. In In ed. clear been never has but centuries the over uses ent differ ough the gate, bear bear gate, the ough thr Go right. the on gate metal ge lar a to

, wood for chair making too. making chair for wood , century 19th the in , later and has been continuously wooded since 1600. It has been managed for for managed been has It 1600. since wooded continuously been has oad until you come come you until oad r the along right turn park, car the om Fr 1

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eenfield, Gr and ark P atlington W 3 alk W cular walk walk cular cir mile 6 a e managed for for managed e wer ea) ar this in s other many (like woods These eenfield Copse, a typical Chiltern beech wood now owned owned now wood beech Chiltern typical a Copse, eenfield Gr is This

This is one of a series of walks through the Chilterns Area Visitor information of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It mainly follows rights of way most of which are waymarked as follows: Chilterns Country Take a picnic to eat on Watlington Hill and enjoy the views. You will pass, or be close to, the Fox and Hounds in Christmas Common (01491 612599). There are also , 'yellow arrow' Footpaths (walkers only) shops and a café in Watlington. 'blue arrow' Bridleways (horseriders, cyclists and walkers) Circular walks near For details of places to stay, visitor attractions and other walks, contact the Visitor Information Centre in the Town ‘red arrow' Byways (open to all traffic) Christmas Common Hall in Henley-on-Thames (tel 01491 578034) or see Discover local history while enjoying www.visitchilterns.co.uk ‘purple arrow’ Restricted Byway (horseriders, cyclists, extensive and varied views. walkers and non-mechanically propelled vehicles).

Please be considerate in the countryside How to get to the start • Keep to public rights of way, Three circular walks from All three circular walks and leave farm gates as you Christmas Common find them start and finish at the 2½ miles, 3 miles or 6 miles National Trust car park at the top of Watlington Hill, • Keep dogs on leads near a short distance from the livestock crossroads at Christmas

Common. Coppiced oak

To plan a journey by There are many other wonderful walks in the Chilterns: public transport from • Visit www.chilternsaonb.org or call 01844 355500 for other anywhere in the country Chilterns Country walks. to the starting point, call • Visit www.chilternsociety.org.uk or call 01494 771250 for 0871 200 2233 or visit information on the Chiltern Society's walk programme, to www.traveline.info obtain Chiltern Society footpath maps or to join the Society.

Watlington Hill is 1½ Learn more about Chilterns commons at miles from the centre of www.chilternsaonb.org/commons Watlington via Hill Road. If you are walking, take This leaflet has been produced by the Chilterns the footpath on the right Watlington Hill Conservation Board as part of the Chilterns just after The Ridgeway Commons Project. The Project benefits from path crosses Hill Road. Follow the path up the hill by the funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund and help 'white mark' to the car park. from volunteers.

By bus: The T1 service by Thames Travel runs from Oxford to Watlington and places in between. The 124 service by Arriva runs from to Watlington and places in between. Check with Traveline.

Text by Dr Mary Webb. Photos kindly provided by © Clive Ormonde an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Description of route: Three separate walks are described, but they can be combined if you would like a longer walk. All three circular walks start and finish at the National Trust car park at the top of Watlington Hill, a short distance from the crossroads at Christmas Common.

The routes follow paths across fields and through woods and some paths can be muddy in places. There are some stiles on Walks 2 and 3 and some paths on these walks are steep. Take care when walking short stretches on, or crossing, country lanes. Walk 1 Wear suitable footwear and allow time to rest and enjoy the 1 3 views. Map: OS Explorer 171 1 1 2 P Walk 1 Common Boundary Banks, a 2½ mile circular walk Walk 2 3 There are no stiles on this fairly level route. 2 4 2 4 1 From the car park, go back to the road, turn right and walk 5 to the junction. Bear right towards Christmas Common. 3 8 6 4 7 2 Just before the next junction, look for the path on the left 7 next to the 30mph sign. Follow the grassy path, bearing right, 5 then left, following the white arrows, passing a house on the 6 right. Here the path becomes a track which leads straight on. Continue until you reach a junction with painted arrows on the trees. Turn right (PY3).

This area was part of the old common land belonging to Pyrton which was sold when the open commons were enclosed. Look out for a mixture of trees, including yew and oak. Some have been coppiced, ie cut at ground level. The size of the multiple 5 6 trunks that have re-grown shows that this took place many years ago. Walk 3 10 After a short distance in this open woodland you will reach a large bank. Pause here to notice the different vegetation on half kilometre either side of the bank. The beech trees are tall and straight and quarter mile there is little ground vegetation. In contrast to the variety of north vegetation you have just walked though, this area has been wooded and managed for either fuel or for chair making for 7 hundreds of years. 9 8 3 Bear right and follow the path alongside the bank passing © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 large pits which are probably old quarries. Continue straight on, Ordnance Survey Licence no. 100044050 ignoring the path going off to the left. You follow the bank for a good distance until the The first wood you walk through, Prior's Grove, belonged to the 3 There is a parallel path on the left through this area which path turns right, Deans and Canons of Christchurch in 1850. Across the rough track, leads to the same kissing gate at the bottom of the hill as the leaving the bank. the wood is Queen's Wood, owned by Deans and Canons of holloway. Windsor. In 1850, these woods were recorded as beech but now The bank marks the also contain conifers and some other species. On the left of the holloway, the ground ancient boundary of 8 At the road, turn right, walk past the Fox and Hounds pub to is more open with the edge of common the road junction. Turn left to return to the National Trust car shrubs, grass and land which stretched park. from the top of flowers. In the Watlington Hill to summer, the flowery Walk 2 Watlington Hill and Park, a 3 mile circular walk grass is full of Boundary bank Northend and also the boundary between Watlington Hill is a special place as it has rare or important plants, butterflies, some quite Watlington and parishes. The bank varies in size now trees and wildlife, some of which you will see on this walk. rare, and bees feeding but you can see it on your right as you walk, still clearly marking on the pollen and these ancient boundaries. 1 With your back to the road, take the narrow footpath in the nectar. These plants left corner of the car park and follow the white arrows. Go grow especially on The field on your right beyond the woodland edge probably through a gate, bear right, and continue downhill. chalky ground so are not seen everywhere. Out of the woodland. Watlington Hill originated as smaller fields taken from rough woodland or On a map dating from 1876-77, the line of huge beech trees on the common land many centuries ago. Notice the old field maple left are shown to continue along the modern National Trust and ash trees along this field edge, still marking the common boundary to the bottom of the hill. They mark the edge of the 4 At the bottom of the hill, the path reaches a wooden kissing edge. common land. The land on the left of your path was shown as gate. Continue through this straight on between hedges and open ground at this time with no woodland. through gates until you reach a junction with a house on the left. 4 The path turns right and follows the line of a wire fence, Turn left along the track until you reach another junction. and continues to the road. Looking across the valley you can see Lower Dean Wood which was once part of Watlington deer park. You will go through this wood 5 Continue straight on climbing up a grassy field to the gate. later in the walk. On the right of the path, there is still a small bank and old trees Once through the gate, turn left. along the old common and field boundary. Coopers Wood is on 2 The path leads through woodland and through a kissing gate. the left. It is different again to the other woodland seen along Continue straight on with woodland on the right. If you pause at the top, you can see a good view of Watlington the path with a mixture of species and open spaces. A map Hill and the obvious dark green yew woodland easy to see all dated 1840 shows that this area was part of the common, but by The path runs along a holloway which has been worn down over year. Below to the right, you can see Lower Dean Wood, 1883, the common was enclosed and Coopers Wood was mixed the centuries previously by sheep and now by walkers. The originally part of the old deer park. The grassy field was shown as woodland as it still is today. woodland on the right here (shown as a narrow strip in the 1870s) a much smaller open area on the 1870s map, surrounded by is beech mixed with scattered yew trees, some conifers and woodland which linked to the woodland you will walk through. 5 At the road, cross with care and enter the field through a whitebeam. The conifers are shown as a plantation on a later map On a clear day you can see across , although the kissing gate. Follow the arrows right across the field to another dated between 1880 and 1913. iconic towers of Power Station are no longer the landmark they used to be. gate, then straight ahead, diagonally left across the next field to Through the kissing gate, the woodland on the right becomes the gate into woodland. mainly yew with some beech. This is an uncommon type of woodland which only occurs in a few places in the south of A little further along you can catch a glimpse of part of The fields you cross were part of Northend Common, which . Yew bark is glowing brown and peeling, with small Watlington Park House on the right. The original house was built joined Christmas Common. In the summer there are plentiful straight needles growing in two rows each side of the stem; the in 1632, but replaced in the 1750s and altered several times since flowers and grasses in these fields. needles are dark and shiny on the top and greyish underneath. The then. trunks often have many new shoots springing out of them, 6 At the bottom of the field, go through the kissing gate and especially when they have been cut. Yew lives to a great age, and 6 The path continues into woodland and is marked by white continue straight on through the wood until you reach a rough has been growing here for many centuries. Yew is very poisonous, arrows. Follow the obvious path. track. but is now an important component of anti-cancer drugs. It is a conifer, like a fir tree, but doesn't bear cones. The male and female This National Trust beech woodland used to contain many For a shorter walk of 2¼ miles, turn right to return to the road flowers are on different trees, the female trees producing seeds conifers, shown on the 1870s map. The end of the National Trust junction. (again poisonous) which are contained in red fleshy, berry-like woodland is marked by two posts and, as the path levels, other structures called arils. Blackbirds and other birds eat these which tree species can be seen. Cherry trees have white flowers in spring but can also be identified by horizontal lines on their shiny 7 For the longer walk, go straight across the track. In 1850 the helps to spread the seeds. In the autumn, look for the red arils of bark. The most impressive trees are huge, straight oak trees track was called the Driftway, meaning that animals were driven the yew which look like little jewels, scattered on the white leaves which are many hundreds of years old. They almost look like along it. It leads to Hollandridge Lane and ultimately to Henley- on the ground fallen from whitebeam trees. elephants standing amongst the other vegetation! Sweet on-Thames. Continue straight for 25m. Following signs for the Yew timber is obvious with its bright red-brown colouration. It chestnut trees can also be seen – their very prickly seed cases (OW), bear right through fairly open woodland. has a fine grain which feels smooth to touch and has been used for protect the nuts inside. The climate is too cool in England to The path emerges on the road, next to The Old Church. many centuries due to its strength and durability. It was famous produce full sized chestnuts so the ones we buy to eat are for making long bows and handles for tools. The oldest example of imported. This woodland area is part of Pyrton parish, showing how its use is a yew spear head, dating to about 450,000 years ago, one complicated ancient parish boundaries can be. This originated of the oldest wooden finds in the world. 7 The path reaches a tarmac drive. Here turn left and continue from the need for each parish to have access to a variety of to the gateway. At the road, turn left to Christmas Common, and natural resources, such as soils, timber and grazing. then left again at the junction to go back to the car park.