Paulerspury

Parish Path Group

A short stress-buster Walk No.2

A short stress-buster with plenty of history and a hint of mystery. There is evidence that people have been walking this part of the world since the Middle Stone Age (10,000 years or thereabouts) – now it is our turn! Please respect the countryside we have today. Landmarks are numbered in the text and marked on the map at the end.

The circular walk starts and ends at the Parish Church (1) and, just for fun, we will walk it withershins. Go through the wicket-gate by the Church notice-board and follow the metalled path through the churchyard. (Pre-war this path was lined with iron railings.) Before leaving the churchyard look back at the Church. The simple Early English architecture shows you which is the oldest part of the building (13th century).

Continue through the kissing gate and turn left. As you pass the end of the churchyard you are surrounded by history for it was here that the Elizabethan Manor House used to stand in terraced gardens (2). The Throckmortons were probably the most famous Lords of the Manor. Unfortunately when the great families tired of the big house it fell on hard times and ended its days as the Parish Workhouse.

Follow the well-worn path down through the Warren to the bridge over the stream (3). Here you can choose between a longer or a shorter walk. Both climb the bank ahead of you. The longer one bears slightly to the right and the shorter one to the left.

The shorter route first: follow the left branch of the footpath to the kissing gate. Archaeology shows that dwellings once lined this side of Lower Street. Pass through the gate into the modern street, turn left and follow the road to the end. There are some interesting older properties along here: the Old Post Office for one and a littler further on is a small redundant chapel (4). It was built by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1811 and packed in a hundred or more worshippers in its prime. At the end of Lower Street you re-join the longer route. See (*) below.

The longer walk: from the bridge take the right footpath and find the kissing gate amongst the trees. Cross over Lower Street and take the lane almost opposite - Scriveners Lane. At the top of the lane turn left on to Careys Road. On the corner is the only thatched cottage left in Pury End. You can often tell former thatched cottages by the steeper pitch of their roofs. Walk along Careys Road.

Almost immediately on your right is a former pub (5). The Bricklayers Arms was opened in 1850 but the origins of the pub go back to Elizabethan times. It is rumoured that Sir Walter Raleigh may well have stayed here whilst courting the daughter of the manor, Bess Throckmorton. The pub fell into disuse in the 1950s and was threatened with demolition. It was saved by conversion into a private house (1960). It was only then that the Tudor brew house was demolished.

Continue down Careys Road. For this section of the walk you are on The Grafton Way – a fairly short long distance footpath! (You may be inspired to do it all one day.) The stone cottages on your left (6) – Long Row – were one centre of Paulerspury’s lace making industry. Next on your right is Manor Farm. With 160 acres it was sold off from the Grafton Estate in 1919 for £2,700. Some damage was caused when a parachute mine landed here in September 1940 (7). Local people were lucky to escape serious injury.

At the bottom of the hill you re-join the shorter route. (*) Follow the line of Careys Road and the Grafton Way sign over a wooden footbridge and through a gap into the field on your left. Walk round the field keeping the hedge on your right. Behind this tall hedge is one of several mediaeval hollow ways (8) that run through the Parish. It is amazing to think of them being worn down to such a depth by thousands of ancient feet. You are also following the edge of the deer park that was laid out by Sir John St. John in 1409/10. It would have lain between you and the Church and over the hill in the middle distance.

At the corner of the field turn left, keeping the field on your left. As you walk uphill glance back occasionally till you can see the A5 in the distance. Now you are part of an even older landscape with the Romans’ Watling Street never far away. Experts think there was a Roman settlement on the hill below where the Church stands. There were also two Roman farms or villas in the vicinity of Park Farm (9).

Continue uphill till you leave the field. Turn left and follow the metalled driveway back to the village. Walk through Park Lane with its many varied styles of architecture to the Green, admiring the old pump (10) as you go.

The walk ends at a rather unusual war memorial with a rather unusual history of its own, but lack of space prevents me from going into all that!

Longer route: approximately 2 miles (3 km) taking 45 to 55 mins.

Shorter route: approximately 1½ miles (2.25 km) taking 35 to 45 mins. Suitable for young and old, but not for buggies.

The PPG has been set up to help improve and raise awareness of our Village paths. Thanks go to those who are already helping. Any additional information to make these ‘trails’ more interesting would be gratefully received.

Map extracted from Leonard Goff’s map of Paulerspury – with permission.

First published July 2006