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WALK 4

Fosbury Hill and the Chutes

Start/Finish	Tidcombe church (SU291582); limited parking close to church
Distance	13 miles (20.9km) or 10 miles (16.1km)
Grade	3
Time	6 hours or 4½ hours
Maps	OS Explorer 131/Landrangers 174 and 185
Refreshments	Upper Chute – The Cross Keys Inn (01264 730295); Lower Chute – The Hatchet Inn (01264 730229); Vernham Dean – The George Inn (01264 737279)
Transport	None
Note	This walk can be shortened by following the Chute Causeway shortly after Point 2, missing out the Chute hamlets.

This roller-coaster walk through the wooded downs on the Wiltshire–Hampshire border starts at the hamlet of Tidcombe and follows the delightful valley of Hippenscombe Bottom before climbing to pass through three of the Chute hamlets: Upper Chute, Lower Chute and Chute Cadley. The route then climbs again through the parkland of Conholt Park before descending to Vernham Dean, from where a final climb leads to the Iron Age hillfort at Fosbury. Then it’s a fairly level walk over the downs before crossing the Chute Causeway and heading back to Tidcombe, with its charming manor house and Norman church.

Spend a few minutes looking round St Michael’s Church in Tidcombe. The church mostly dates from the 14th century with a major restoration in 1882. There may have been an earlier church here, as the font is believed to be Saxon. From the churchyard there are good views of 18th-century red-brick Tidcombe Manor. The village was known as Titicome in the Domesday Book, derived from the Anglo-Saxon cumb, meaning ‘valley’, and Titta, a person’s name.

1 SU291582 From the church walk up the road, bearing right at the junction and continue up the track. Close to the top turn left, following a track over the fields, to reach a road – Chute Causeway.

The Chute Causeway follows part of a former Roman road from Winchester (Venta Bulgarum) to Cunetio, now known as Mildenhall. Superstition claims that the road is haunted by the ghostly figure of a vicar of Chute. During the plague, the vicar is said to have persuaded his sick parishioners to go to a camp on the causeway, where they would be cared for. However, he never came back and left them to die. His plan failed anyway: he too died from the disease and was forced to wander along the road in penance for eternity.

Turn right for 300m and, at the start of the trees and scrub on the left, bear left along a bridleway beside Scot’s Poor Plantation, keeping close to the fence. Continue straight on through a gate and follow the track along Hippenscombe Bottom to reach Hippenscombe Farm.

2 SU311561 Just past the farm turn right uphill along a bridleway – called Breach Lane – passing Cleves Copse on the left, to reach the Chute Causeway again.

Shorter walk

Turn left and follow the road to the junction – rejoin the route description halfway through Point 3 at SU322552.

To continue on the main route, cross over and continue along the bridleway (track). At the far corner of the small wood turn right, with trees to the left. Keep ahead, ignoring Breach Lane off to the left, cross over Drummer Lane and at the road turn left towards Upper Chute, ignoring the road to the right. Shortly after passing St Nicholas’ Church, bear left at the junction and left again at the next; The Cross Keys Inn is about 400m off to the right.

Although there has been a church at Upper Chute since Norman times, St Nicholas’ Church was entirely rebuilt in the 1860s. The oldest feature is the mid-Norman font (key available locally – details in the porch – if the church is locked).

Continue along Malthouse Lane, and 200m after the junction with Hookwood Lane turn half-right along a path between the fields, keeping ahead along the enclosed path, passing through some trees. Go left at the Y-junction, with gardens on the right, to cross a stile and turn left along the road. Bear right at The Hatchet Inn in Lower Chute.

The Chute hamlets lie in the hilly and relatively deserted border country between Wiltshire and Hampshire. The parishes of Chute and Chute Forest can be traced back to Norman times, and it is believed that the ancient meaning of Chute is ‘wood’ or ‘forest’. Today there are five small hamlets: Upper and Lower Chute (both with pubs), Chute Standen, Chute Forest and Chute Cadley, which developed around what were once farms or country houses.

3 SU311532 Continue along the road and bear left through the hamlet. Shortly after passing two lanes on the left and following the road slightly to the right, turn left along a lane passing the houses of Chute Cadley. Keep ahead along the track passing some woodland, cross a stile and then gently climb through the long field, keeping close to the left-hand boundary and Fisher’s Hanger. Cross the stile and continue to climb through Conholt Park. At the top bear slightly right to reach a stile and road junction (shorter walk rejoins here – SU322552).

Once home to relatives of the Dukes of Wellington, Conholt House was more recently the home of Dutch tycoon Paul van Vlissingen. In 1977 he bought the remote and mountainous Letterewe Estate in Wester Ross; the access he granted to ramblers became a blueprint for subsequent national agreements on access to wild land.

The Hatchet Inn in Lower Chute

Continue straight on in a northeasterly direction along the road for 450m and bear right at the junction for 50m. Turn half-left through a gate and along a path, keeping close to the right-hand field edge. Cross the stile and through the trees, following the path downhill and along the right-hand edge of Boats Copse to eventually reach the road in Vernham Dean; The George Inn is a short distance to the right.

4 SU339505 Turn left along the road and, where it bends to the right, keep ahead over the stile and through the field to cross another stile. Bear slightly right across Conholt Hill road and follow the track between the houses to reach a gate. Continue uphill, keeping close to the fence on the right, and follow it round to the left. On reaching the gate at the top corner of the field, where a track comes up from Warren Cottages on the left, turn right for a few metres through the trees to cross a stile next to a gate. Follow the track up the right side of the field to the ramparts of Fosbury Hillfort (open access land), situated on the southwest end of Haydown Hill.

Fosbury Camp is a fine example of an oval bivallate (two concentric banks and ditches) Iron Age hillfort. There’s not much to be seen on the tree-covered northern side, but the earthworks on the southwest side (overlooking the valley) are well pronounced, with a commanding view. Just inside the fort is a small dewpond, although the name is misleading: the pond is watertight and fills with rainwater run-off, not dew.

Follow the rampart round to the right to reach the area of conifers growing inside the fort. Turn right, cross a stile and follow a track through the earthworks before bearing left through Oakhill Wood to reach Fosbury Farm, with extensive views northeast towards Walbury Hill.

5 SU314571 Continue west past the farm, ignoring the track (Tunball Lane) on the right, and after 500m go through a gate and straight over the cross-tracks; to the left is the combe, known as The Slay. Continue along the track, passing the track to Down Barn on the left, to reach a belt of trees. Keep ahead for 400m and cross over the road – Chute Causeway. Go through a gate and follow the path across the field next to the ancient ditch; on the left are the remains of a Neolithic long barrow. Continue downhill, staying close to the fence on the left, and at the fence corner head for the right-hand side of the small plantation at the bottom of the hill. Just after the trees, pass to the right of the small pond and follow the track up a slight rise and through a gate, then follow the road back to Tidcombe.

The view from the ramparts of Fosbury hillfort

Haydown Hill looking west near The Slay