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WALK 1

Lechlade and a Thames Meander

Start/Finish	Market Place next to St Lawrence’s Church in Lechlade (SU215995); parking at Memorial Hall and sports ground along Burford Street (A361) (SU214998)
Distance	15 miles (24.1km) or 8 miles (12.8km)
Grade	1
Time	6 hours or 4 hours
Maps	OS Explorer 170/Landranger 163
Refreshments	Lechlade – several pubs, café and shops; Buscot – tea room in village shop; Radcot – Swan Hotel (01367 810220); Kelmscott – The Plough Inn (01367 253543); St John’s Lock – The Trout Inn (01367 252313)
Transport	Bus links to Swindon and Cirencester
Note	A long circular walk through three counties which can be shortened by missing out Radcot and Kelmscott.

The walk starts from the town of Lechlade on Thames and follows the Thames upstream to the hamlet of Inglesham with its unspoilt church before heading off towards Buscot; a short detour can be made to visit the village (owned by the National Trust, with small shop and café). On reaching the Thames south of Kelmscott a decision has to be made: short or long route? The short walk heads back along the River Thames, while the long walk heads off through farmland passing the hamlet of Eaton Hastings to reach Radcot and the oldest bridge over the Thames. From here the walk follows the meandering Thames Path back to Lechlade with a short excursion through the village of Kelmscott, passing the former home of William Morris.

Lechlade-on-Thames, on the edge of the Cotswolds, is dominated by the fine 15th-century St Lawrence’s Church (there is evidence of a 13th-century church on the same site). The Perpendicular-style church, decorated with gargoyles and grotesque sculptures, is built of local stone from Taynton Quarry near Burford, which also supplied the stone for St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Inside there are some good memorial brasses, including one to local wool merchant John Townsend(d. 1458) and his wife Ellen. One of the best features is the 15th-century chancel roof. Only fragments of the earlier church remain, including two stone plaques, one of which depicts the martyrdom of St Agatha.

The late author and architectural historian, David Verey, described the parish church as ‘One of the six finest churches in Gloucestershire’, while in 1815 the great English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1827) was inspired to write about the church in his ‘Stanzas in Lechlade Churchyard’:

Thou too, aereal Pile! Whose pinnacles

Point from one shrine like pyramids of fire

Obeyist in silence their sweet solemn spells,

Clothing in hues of Heaven thy dim and distant spire

Around whose lessening and invisible height

Gather among the stars the clouds of night.

At the bottom of Bell Lane, off the High Street, is the site of the old wharf and the point at which the river was crossed by means of Tidford ford, in use until Ha’penny Bridge was built in 1792. The bridge is named after the amount of toll levied to cross; the toll-house still stands on the bridge and forms part of the eastern parapet.

The oldest bridge on the Thames, at Radcot

1 SU215995 From the Market Place go west along the High Street and then left into Thames Street (A361) to cross over Ha’penny Bridge. Immediately turn right following the Thames Path, later passing the confluence of the River Coln and the point where the disused Thames and Severn Canal joined the Thames. The Round House on the opposite bank was built to accommodate the lock-keepers and is one of several along the route of the canal.

The Thames and Severn Canal was built in the 1780s to connect with the Stroudwater Navigation, built a few years earlier, thereby linking the Rivers Thames and Severn – the first inland waterway route between London and the Midlands. However, the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal captured most of the Bristol trade and the coming of the railways in the mid-1840s started a slow decline in trade; the last boat travelled along the canal in 1911. The Cotswold Canals Trust is working to re-open the canal.

Cross the footbridge and follow the path away from the river towards Inglesham, cross the stile to join a tarred lane; to the right is the interesting Church of St John the Baptist.

Inglesham is Wiltshire’s most northerly hamlet, and borders the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Although very small, the hamlet has two points of interest: St John the Baptist’s Church and Inglesham Polo Club at Lynt Farm. The church, now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, may date back to late Saxon times, but has remained substantially unaltered since the early 1500s. Inside are the original box pews, while a carving on the north wall of the Mother and Child is believed to be Saxon.

Turn left along the road (away from the church) and then right along the main road (A361). At the junction follow the lane left towards Buscot for ¾ mile (1.2km). Turn left towards Buscot Wick Farm, and after passing a small grassy area and tree, go right past a house. Follow the track round towards another house and take the gate on the right; keep to the left field boundary and follow the track past a new barn. Later head diagonally right across the field, passing to the left of a large oak tree. Go through a gate by another oak tree and follow the field edge. Turn left through a gate to diagonally cross the corner of the field to a gate and road (A417).

2 SU225981 Cross over and take the path opposite with Buscot Parsonage over to the left. Cross the stile at the far side of the field and turn left along the lane towards St Mary’s Church in Buscot.

Buscot, formerly the most northwesterly village in Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire), is owned by the National Trust and can be visited by a short detour from Buscot Weir. However, the route does pass St Mary’s Church, which is definitely worth a visit. The church, which dates from about 1200, has an interesting pulpit with wooden panels believed to have been painted by the early 16th-century Flemish artist Jan Gossaert (1478–1532), while two of the beautiful stained-glass windows are by the pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

Bear right through the churchyard and leave via the lych-gate. Continue across the field and through a kissing gate, then follow the enclosed path to reach a lane at Buscot Weir. Turn right, away from the river, for a short distance before heading left across the grass to the far right corner. Cross the footbridge and stile and continue with the field boundary on the right. At the corner go right and left into the next field, with the field edge and house on the left; keep ahead and cross the stile next to the gate to go right along the track (byway) towards the A417. Just before the road turn left through a gate and walk diagonally across the field. Keep ahead through a gap in the hedge, cross the footbridge and follow the path right and left before going over a gentle rise, keeping the hedge on the left. On reaching a large footpath sign, bear diagonally left over the field and along the track towards the river, passing through a gate.

St Mary’s Church at Buscot

Shorter walk

Follow the path round the right-hand side of a building to cross over the river via the bridge and turn left along the Thames Path (see Point 5) back to Lechlade and the Ha’penny Bridge.

3 SU247985 Before reaching the river, cross the stile in the fence on the right and follow the left field edge; continue through several fields. Cross a footbridge to the left of The Grange and later a concrete track leading to Rhodes Farm. Continue over the footbridge and field to reach a stile and tarred lane. Keep ahead, passing St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Eaton Hastings; the route is now following part of the D’Arcy Dalton Way.

Although today a parish of scattered settlements, Eaton Hastings was once a thriving village. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon word tun, meaning ‘homestead or village by a river’; ‘Hastings’ derives from Ralph de Hastings who held the manor in the 12th century. The Norman church of St Michael’s and All Angels, around which the village was centred, sits close to the south bank of the Thames.

Shortly after passing the church, go through the small gate just to the right of the house driveway and keep close to the fence before continuing over the field. Cross the stile, footbridge and track leading to Lower Farm, go over the stile in the fence opposite next to the wooden pole and follow the fence on the left. Continue across the open field, aiming for the small gate in the hedge to the left of the larger gate. Cross the footbridge and go through another gate to keep ahead past an area of scrub on the left. After the next field cross stiles either end of a footbridge, and continue through three more fields, crossing at stiles and passing Camden Farm over to the right, to reach a small old windmill. Continue past the pond, cross a stile and follow the left field edge; cross another stile and pass to the right of a large pylon. Keep ahead through the field, and at the field corner cross a stone stile to join the road (A4095).

Radcot boasts the original three-arched bridge, claimed to the oldest bridge on the Thames. The smaller single-spanned bridge, closest to the Swan Hotel, was built in 1787 along with the new river cutting and takes the river traffic.

4 SU286994 Turn left towards Radcot and after crossing the second bridge the Swan Hotel is to the right; turn left through the gate along the Thames Path, signposted ‘D’Arcy Dalton Way and Kelmscott 3’. Continue along the riverside path for about 3 miles (4.8km) and just before Kelmscott, where the Thames Path goes left off the gravel track, keep ahead along the track towards the village, later joining a tarred lane. Go past the entrance to Kelmscott Manor and at the split bear left to reach The Plough Inn.

Kelmscott is famed for its connections with the founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris (1834–96). The pre-Raphaelite designer, interior decorator, writer and painter is best remembered for his still-popular furnishing designs, rich with flowers, leaves and birds. Morris worked with other great pre-Raphaelite artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Kelmscott Manor, which dates from 1570, was bought by Morris in 1871 as his summer retreat and contains many examples of his work. The house, now owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London, is open on Wednesdays and some Saturdays through the summer (01367 252486 for details). When he moved to Kelmscott, Morris wrote:

What better place than this, then, could we find,

By this sweet stream that knows not of the sea,

That guesses not the city’s misery,

This little stream whose hamlets scarce have names,

This far off, lonely mother of the Thames.

Morris is buried, with his wife and daughter, at Kelmscott’s 12th-century St George’s Church (short walk off-route).

Turn right and left following the lane round the pub, passing the stump of an old village cross. Take the enclosed footpath on the right of the house driveway and shortly turn left with the field boundary on the left through the next field, now with the fence on the right, to reach the river.

Old Father Thames at St John’s Lock

5 SU247986 Turn right and continue along the Thames Path (shorter walk rejoins here), later passing Buscot Lock. Near St John’s Bridge, ignore the alternative Thames Path that turns away from the river, but instead cross the river via the new bridge. Turn right following the left-hand riverbank under the bridge; The Trout Inn is on the far side of the river, accessible via the road bridge. Continue past St John’s Lock and Old Father Thames statue, and immediately after Ha’penny Bridge turn left up to the road and cross the river, retracing the route back to the Market Place.

St John’s Lock, the first lock on the river, is named after a medieval priory dedicated to St John the Baptist, built where the Trout Inn now stands. The first bridge over the river here was built in 1229, though the present structure is much more recent. Overlooking the lock is the recumbent figure of Old Father Thames, originally created for the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London. The statue was later used to mark the source of the river before being moved to St John’s Lock in 1974.