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WALK 3

Aldworth

Start/Finish	Ridgeway car park at end of Rectory Road off the A417 at Streatley (SU 567 812)
Distance	8.8km (5½ miles)
Ascent	170m
Time	2½hrs
Maps	OS Explorer 159 and 170
Refreshments	The Bell Inn (01635 578272) at Aldworth
Public transport	Streatley (off route, accessible by following the waymarked Ridgeway for 2km) has bus links to Reading (excluding Sundays); Goring and Streatley station has good rail links (3.5km off route)

This easy half-day walk follows a short section of the Ridgeway, meandering through the Berkshire Downs just west of the River Thames with views of the Chilterns. The high point of the walk is the picturesque village of Aldworth, a place where giants sleep, before a gradual descent leads back to the start.

From car park, head west up the track following the Ridgeway for 1.7km to a track junction. Turn left along the track, with a view to the west across Streatley Warren to the Chilterns, and then follow the track as it swings right to a surfaced lane. Turn left along the lane for 250m and then right down a track, following it as it swings left at the trees to pass Dumworth Farm to join a road beside St Mary’s Church in Aldworth.

Picturesque Aldworth, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is home to St Mary’s Church, which dates back to Norman times. Inside the church are the ‘Aldworth Giants’, nine larger-than-life effigies of the de la Beche family dating from the first half of the 14th century (see box). The churchyard is the final resting place of the poet Laurence Binyon, especially remembered for the lines from his poem ‘For the fallen’ that are quoted at Remembrance Day services.

Inside St Mary’s Church is the large effigy of Sir Nicholas de la Beche

THE ALDWORTH GIANTS

The influential de la Beche family, many of whom were warders of the Tower of London and Sheriffs of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, had come to England in the wake of William the Conqueror and built the long-since vanished ‘castle’ of de la Beche nearby. A silver seal bearing the name Isabella de la Beche was found in 1871 and is now held in Reading Museum.

According to tradition four of the family effigies, or giants, in the church were known by other names – the largest was known as John Long, and the three others as John Strong, John Never Afraid and John Ever Afraid. The last of the three, whose effigy has disappeared, is said to have promised his soul to the Devil in exchange for worldly riches, ‘whether he was buried inside or outside the church’. However, at his death he tricked the Devil by being buried in the wall, neither in nor out of the church. The arch where the statue lay is on the outside of the south wall.

Although the effigies have suffered some damage over the centuries, probably during the English Civil War, they are still an impressive sight and constitute the largest number of medieval memorials to a single family in a parish church.

Turn left and keep right at the split to reach The Bell Inn. Opposite the inn is a canopied well said to be one of the deepest in England at 111m. Turn right for 20m, and then go left along the enclosed path. Keep ahead across two fields separated by a hedge. Turn left along the track for 250m, then turn right through a gate.

After passing through Aldworth the route heads back towards the Ridgeway, with distant views of the Chilterns

Follow the track downhill, go through the hedge into the next field and keep right to follow the field edge with Westridge Copse on the right, heading east. Later, stay in the field and head north towards Kiddington Cottage. Turn right through a gate and then left (north) along the track past the house. Keep to the track heading north-east between fields. Later fork right to follow a parallel path through the trees and then rejoin the track. Keep ahead to a lane (Ridgeway), and turn left for 900m back to the car park (right leads to Streatley).