Lullington, Laverton & lanes
It seems to be the case that this newspaper’s walking correspondent has a somewhat repetitive mantra, with reference week after week to wet weather and muddy fields and boggy footpaths and the need for yet another walk in quiet lanes. Sometime soon the fields will dry up, spring will appear and footpaths will once again become accessible. In the meantime, here is yet another “quiet lanes” walk and, judging by many of the comments on the Vilewalks Facebook page, it appears that many readers are appreciative of these drier options.
This walk begins in Lullington. Of Lullington, the National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) records “a parish in the hundred of Frome, county Somerset, 2½ miles N.E. of Frome, its post town. The neighbourhood is hilly. Iron ore is abundant, but not worked. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £63. The church is a stone edifice of the 12th century, dedicated to All Saints. It has a Norman font of ancient date, bearing a Latin inscription. The register commences in 1712. The charities produce about £3 per annum. There is a British school, partly endowed. William Duckworth, Esq., is lord of the manor”.
More recently, Paul Newman, in his book entitled Somerset Villages, wrote more poetically. He talked of the village as being “couched in its habitual quietude”. It is a pretty place, comprising of a green encircled by prim grey-stoned tudortype cottages, an old fashioned water pump, a converted Victorian schoolhouse and a church with a yew tree beside it. Nikolaus Pevsner was mightily taken with All Saints Church, describing it as “perhaps the most enjoyable Norman village church in Somerset.” He was most impressed with what he described as the “showpiece North doorway”, writing a lengthy paragraph on its features that include two orders of columns and capitals with animals in profile.
On the fringes of Lullington, the walk passes Gloucester Lodge, an impressive entrance gateway to the Orchardleigh Estate. An impressive pre-19th-century castellated lodge, this picturesque gothic-style building boasts three-storey towers to each side of the wooden portcullis gates. The forecourt is surrounded by semi-circular castellated curtain walls, flanked by machicolated towers, that envelope a landscaped garden. The quiet lanes that lead through to Laverton cross that landscape described by the National Gazetteer as “hilly”, maybe a slight exaggeration! “Machicolated” – I had to look that word up too, and still do not fully understand its meaning.
And so to Laverton. The saddleback church is an absolute gem. There is much Norman work in this quite delightful old building that dates from the 13th century, including a fine Norman doorway with its old shafts and capitals. The saddleback tower itself, two Norman windows with no glass in them, and the arch of a vanished Norman window is visible in the western wall. It is here, too, that we find something of the old rood stairway up which the priest of Laverton would climb each morning to declare the good news, apart from in the Great War when five men of this tiny hamlet gave of their lives for their country.
The workings of a wonderful old clock are on display in the church, an item that in centuries past earned its keeper the princely sum of two guineas for winding and regulating this timely piece of apparatus. “It is a wonderful old clock,” noted one old boy in years gone by. “It has hardly any works; you can understand it easily.”
Leaving the history of this beautiful spot behind, pleasantly undulating lanes – with views across this peaceful corner of the West Country – bring our steps back to Lullington. There is no watering hole in the village, so this will prove a “dry walk” in all senses of the phrase, even postcovid!
Getting there
■ Leave the B3098 at Oldford, just north of Frome, and follow an unclassified road signposted to Lullington. In 1½ miles, park in the vicinity of the village green in the centre of Lullington, close to the village pump.
■ 1. With your back to the village pump, follow the main road in the village to the left. In 250 yards, with Gloucester Lodge, an imposing entrance to the Orchardleigh Estate on the right, turn left along a lane signposted to Woolverton and Bath. In ¾ mile, cross Henhambridge Brook in the bottom of a shallow valley, before continuing along the lane for 650 yards to a crossroads by Sleight Farm. Turn left on the road to Laverton and, at the next junction in 500 yards, keep left once again.
■ 2. In 650 yards, at the next junction by farm buildings, turn left and follow a lane into the diminutive village of Laverton. Having passed Manor Farm and the tucked-away St Mary’s Church, continue along the lane out of the village to reach a crossroads in ¾ mile, ignoring a right turn called Steps Lane along the way. Turn left, signposted to Lullington and Woolverton, and follow Foxholes Lane for 1½ miles back to Lullington.
NOTE: Please maintain social distancing while walking for exercise and only follow this walk if it is local to you during lockdown