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WALK 1

Chapel Row, Bucklebury and Stanford Dingley

Start/Finish	Junction of The Avenue and Hatch Lane at Chapel Row (SU 571 696); limited parking. Alternative parking/start: Bucklebury recreation ground (SU 552 708)
Distance	11.6km (7¼ miles)
Ascent	230m
Time	3¼hrs
Map	OS Explorer 158
Refreshments	Blackbird Café (0118 9712332) and The Bladebone (0118 9712326) at Chapel Row; The Pot Kiln (01635 201366) at Frilsham; The Bull Inn (0118 9744582) and The Old Boot Inn (0118 9744292) at Stanford Dingley
Public transport	Bus services to Chapel Row from Newbury and Tilehurst (excluding Sundays)

After leaving Chapel Row the route heads down towards the River Pang and the picturesque village of Bucklebury before meandering through woods to the ideally located Pot Kiln pub. The return continues through woods and open fields to call in at peaceful Stanford Dingley before a gradual ascent back to Chapel Row.

From Chapel Row head west along the main road (Thatcham direction), passing The Bladebone pub, and after 250m turn right across the road. Follow the track, signposted to Scotland Corner, through the trees of Chapelrow Common.

Keep left at the split to a junction and turn left for 50m to another junction just after passing a house (right). Turn right and follow the bridleway down through the trees to a lane. Turn left up the lane for 100m, and just after passing a house turn right over a stile in the hedge. Head northwards down through the field with a view across the valley and cross a stile in the lower-right corner. Keep ahead through the next field following the left-hand margin to a four-way path junction beside a footbridge. Do not cross the footbridge, but turn left along the grass strip between fields aiming for the large house.

Cross a stile and turn right along the lane passing Manor Farm, keeping right at the junction towards Bucklebury. After the Old Vicarage turn right, following the surfaced path through the churchyard and passing clockwise round St Mary’s Church. The alternative parking/start is up the road ahead at the junction. Go through gates either side of a track and continue across the field before leaving through a gate.

The manor of Bucklebury, mentioned in the Domesday Book, was granted to Reading Abbey by Henry I. Following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, the manor was sold to John Winchcombe, son of the famous ‘Jack of Newbury’ who had made his wealth in the cloth trade.

The 11th-century parish church of St Mary the Virgin has some impressive features, including an elaborately carved Norman doorway. The colourful east window depicting the Crucifixion, by Sir Frank Brangwyn, is unusual in that the crucified Christ is looking up to heaven, rather than down at the ground. Before leaving, take a look at the curious ‘fly-window’, complete with painted sundial; the realistic fly is a pictorial substitute for the usual sundial motto – Tempus fugit (‘time flies’).

Follow the road northwards, crossing the River Pang, to a junction. Turn right towards Stanford Dingley for 75m before going left up a lane signposted to Old Hawkridge House and Cottage.

At the brick-and-timber house keep right towards a gated (private) entrance and then fork left onto a narrow restricted byway up through the trees with a fence on the right (ignore paths to the left and right). Continue up through Burgess’ Copse, passing over the brow of the hill and down to a dip before reaching a crossing track at SU 556 725. Anyone not wanting to visit the Pot Kiln pub at Frilsham can turn right here to continue with the walk (1.5km shorter route).

Cross over and follow the narrow path down through the trees of High Copse, ignoring a crossing track (private). Go through a gate and follow the right-hand boundary through two fields, separated by a footbridge and gate. Leave through a gate in the top-right corner and turn left along the lane to the Pot Kiln pub. At one time there were a number of kilns here that were used to fire bricks made from local clay deposits; much later the West Berkshire Brewery (now in Yattendon, Walk 2) started brewing in one of the old barns. Continue along the lane up to a right-hand bend and fork left along the track. Keep right (straight on) at the split and follow the track as it curves left back to the junction passed earlier; keep ahead.

Following a good track past Highwood Copse

Follow the track eastwards for 700m, passing Highwood Copse and later descending to a junction. Turn right along the tree-shaded byway for 500m to reach a track; the restricted byway goes straight on through the trees.

Here, turn left and follow the track (permissive path) as it curves right along the field edge towards Pangfield Farm. Stay in the field and turn left following the right-hand boundary through two fields. Go through a gate in the corner beside some trees and keep ahead through the next field, following the boundary on the left along two sides of the field to a lane.

Turn left along the lane for 100m then right up the bank and follow the right-hand field edge. Cross a stile and bear half-left across the field aiming for the church in Stanford Dingley. Cross a stile in the field corner and turn right along the lane.

The name of picturesque Stanford Dingley is derived from the original lord of the manor, William de Stanford, mentioned in 1224, and from the Dyneley family, who lived here in the Middle Ages. The church here is unusual in that it is dedicated to St Denys, who was martyred in third-century France. The church has Saxon origins, although it mostly dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, with a 15th-century white weather-boarded bell turret. Inside there are fragments of 13th-century wall paintings, a brass memorial to Margaret Dyneley dated 1444, and a modern engraved memorial window to the novelist and poet Robert Gathorne-Hardy (1902–1973), who lived in the village for many years.

St Denys’ Church

Follow the lane and, once level with The Bull Inn, fork right across the grass to follow an enclosed path, soon crossing the River Pang beside the former mill (private house) to join a road beside the tile-hung Garden House. Turn right along the road for 400m, soon passing The Old Boot Inn. At the right-hand bend, just before some houses, turn left along a track (bridleway). Enter a field and follow the right-hand boundary to the top-right corner. Go through a gate and follow the bridleway uphill with trees to the right. Continue up along the track passing St Crispins Farm to a road. Turn left and keep left at the junction to get back to the start.

The Bull Inn