Details
Location:
Whitwell, St Pauls Walden, Stagenhoe then back to
Whitwell
Weather:
Cool but dry day
Distance:
4.5 miles – Average speed 2.1mph
Elevation Gain/loss:
557 feet
Our Group
Comprised 16 walkers led by Tony Hall.
The Walk
From the pub we walked along The High Street and turned left onto a footpath near the War Memorial. Shortly after that we crossed the River Mimram, which appeared to have a reasonable amount of water flowing in spite of the lack of rain.
After crossing the river, we started climbing up to St Pauls Walden Bury. After short break at the access road to the Bury (see below) we continued to past the west side of the walled gardens to St Pauls Walden church where we turned left along a minor road. We walked along that minor road for quarter of a mile then turned right at Church Lodge onto another minor road, which took us past a line of cottages, until we got to Hitch Wood. We turned left and walked along the access road to Brainkind, Stagenhoe. Just after that access road turned to the south west, we turned right onto a service road and headed towards Pinfold Wood. Just before the only property on that road we turned onto a footpath across a field
towards a small wood for our mid-walk break. The break provided an opportunity to look at the bee friendly planting in the field (some of the plants were Fiddleneck, grown as a green manure) or for grazing the blackberries.
We walked through the wood and onto a track that took us to the west edge of Whitwell at the now disused Nine Wells Watercress Farm.
At the farm we crossed the road and headed uphill to the water tower at the junction of Long Lane and Horn Hill. We walked down Horn Hill until we got to Whitwell Recreation Ground. We walked through the recreation ground and the access road from the High Street. From there it was a short walk along the High Street to the pub for our lunch.
The map of the walk is shown below
St Pauls Walden Bury
St Pauls Walden was the childhood home of Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon later to become Queen Elizabeth. Her daughters, the then Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret spent quite a lot of time there during the Second World War.
The landscape gardens were laid out when the house was built in 1720
All Saints Church, St Pauls Walden
The history of St Pauls Walden goes back to at least the 9th century; in CE 888 Ethelred procurator of the parish, granted land here to his servant Wulfgar, who granted it to the Abbey of St Albans. The naming of the church is a bit odd in not being dedicated to St Paul, but to All Saints. This oddity is that until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Abbots Walden was owned by the Abbey of St Albans. On the dissolution, the manor was granted to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The Dean and Chapter renamed the estate St Pauls Walden.
Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother was baptised at the church in 1900 (there is a wall tablet celebrating this in the church). There is a memorial to the Bowes Lyon family in the graveyard
Stagenhoe
Stagenhoe is a Grade II listed stately home. Records about the manor of Stagenhoe date back before 1066 when it was one ‘hide’. The current manor was built in the 18th Century after a fire destroyed the previous property in 1737. The property has many 19th century and later extensions to the rear and a porch on the west side. The main feature is a stuccoed south facade.
The house is used as a Brainkind neurological centre