Circular walks in Oxfordshire More downloadable leaflets available for free from www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/walksandrides Three walks around Wantage, taking in: Letcombe Regis Letcombe Bassett Childrey West Challow East Challow Wantage Getting to the start There are several car parks in Wantage. The long stay car park is located off Limborough Road, OX12 9AJ. Limited street parking is also available in the villages along the route. Car parking map courtesy of Vale of White Horse District Council. Public transport When out walking, it is always wise to let someone know where you are going or, if possible, have someone with you. For timetable enquiries, please call Traveline Take your mobile with you, and make on 0871 200 22 33. sure it is fully charged. If you use your You will also find information and Oxfordshire car to access the route, please park with County Council public transport timetables in care – do not block farm gateways or most Oxfordshire libraries and Tourist village facilities, and do not leave Information Centres. Alternatively, write valuables in view. enclosing an A5 stamped addressed envelope to: Oxfordshire County Council, Please follow the Countryside Code: Public Transport, Speedwell House, Speedwell Street, Oxford OX1 1NE. Be safe – plan ahead and follow any signs Easy-to-follow routes Leave gates and property as you find them Each walk is marked with metal Protect plants and animals, and signposts where the path leaves the take your litter home road, and with waymarks on gates and stiles at every change of direction. Keep dogs under close control The appropriate Ordnance Survey map to Consider other people use on this route is OS Explorer 170. This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence: 100023343 (2008) Points of interest A A mill has probably been on the Clarks E Opposite the church in Childrey is the Mill site since Saxon times. The mill early 16th century manor house race, which the path follows, powered (remodelled during 1900) of the the mill until the middle of the 19th Fettiplace family, one of the greatest century when a gas engine was local landowning families in the Middle installed providing steam power. Ages. Charles I spent a night here in In 1910 the new mill was built 1644 on his march from Oxford to incorporating roller plant. The flour is Marlborough. Also during the Civil War sold to local commercial bakers. it is believed that the mediaeval glass in the church was nearly all destroyed by Roundheads pursuing the King’s B Downland turf stretching up to the troops. Only one window survived, now Ridgeway is excellent for training the north window. It tells the story of gallops and has resulted in racing the Virgin Mary’s life but mistakes were stables being set up at Letcombe made in its repair – Mary’s head was Regis. The turf is springy and rarely replaced by a man’s. becomes waterlogged in winter. The Cedar of Lebanon tree in the old Like the rest of the village, St Andrew’s Rectory garden is thought to be the Church is of mixed periods. Fragments oldest living in Britain, planted by the of mediaeval glass and a simple rector, Dr Edward Pocock in 1646. Norman font can be found inside. F The Wilts & Berks Canal was opened C Letcombe Bassett was immortalised in 1810 to connect the Thames at as Cresscombe in Thomas Hardy’s Abingdon with the Kennet & Avon ‘Jude the Obscure’. The village is Canal at Semington. A branch was famed for its racehorse stables and constructed to serve Wantage and was formerly well known for its carried flour, malt, corn, bricks, tiles watercress. The old cress beds, fed by and timber out of the Vale and brought clear springs, can still be seen at the in coal, iron ore and stone. Competition bottom of the hill. The central channel from Brunel’s Great Western Railway was used to control the water flow to and the lack of water resulted in the the gravel beds on either side. canal being abandoned in 1914. It is St Michael’s Church is of Norman now being restored by the Wilts & origin. Inside, 17th century table-tombs Berks Canal Trust. are carved with skulls, reflecting the obsession with death during the plagues. The oldest building after the church is the 14th century Rectory Barn, which has four bays divided by mediaeval If you would like to give us feedback about crucks (half trees connected together) these walks, you can email supporting a long thatched roof. [email protected] You can also upload photos of your walk online at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ D At West Challow, one of the oldest countrysidephotoupload bells in England is housed in the bellcot Alternatively, call 01865 810226 or write to: of the little stone-roofed church. ‘Paul Oxfordshire County Council, Countryside the Potter made me’ is inscribed in Service, Signal Court, Old Station Way, Norman-French on the bell, which was Eynsham, Oxford OX29 4TL. probably cast in 1290. .