A trip to Monkton Farleigh
Place names can usually be relied upon to offer some sort of insight into the origins of a settlement. In the case of Monkton Farleigh, a pretty place just off of the road from Bathford to Bradford-on-avon, the ‘Monkton’ clearly points to some sort of monastic activity here in centuries past. More precisely, it was a cluniac priory, founded in 1125 and extant until 1538. Today, its scanty remains – including small fragments of zigzag, as well as a pair of tall lancet windows – lie hidden away in the very private manor house.
The village itself has attracted favourable comments from all the guidebook writers who come this way. Brian Woodruffe, for example, in his tome ‘Wiltshire Villages’, writes of a historic hillside village with a panoramic view across to the northern rim of Salisbury Plain. The village street rises sharply and the stone cottages on its north side – and I quote Woodruffe – “keep it company in stepwise fashion”. On the opposite side, there is St Peter’s church, sandwiched between the buildings of church Farm and the octagonal chimneys of the Victorian rectory.
From Monkton Farleigh, a tree-lined avenue that in a former life would have been the grand approach to the local manor, brings the walk to a short section of the Macmillan Way. I say a short section because the whole route runs for some 290 miles from Boston in lincolnshire to abbotsbury in Dorset, passing through castle cary along the way. Its significance is that this was the birthplace of Douglas Macmillan who started the noted cancer charity back in 1912 with a donation of £10. Back then it was known as ‘The Society for the Prevention and Relief of cancer’. The Macmillan Way was created to encourage sponsored events to raise money for this charity.
Beyond this section of the Macmillan Way, the walk passes through the intriguingly named Blue Vein before reaching Kingsdown. I speculate, but in geology ‘vein’ is a sheetlike body of crystallised minerals within a rock. These hilltops above the By Brook Valley were once riddled with small quarries and stone mines so my guess is that Blue Vein had something to do with this. Many of the cottages in Kingsdown were once home to quarry and mine workers, while in the tree cover opposite the local Swan Inn is the decaying entrance to the former Swan Mine. Walk through its passages, passing old pit props and rusting chains, and the grand finale is a well-preserved crane. Only venture this way if you know what you are doing; this is not a show cave!
elevated lanes and paths with views towards Salisbury Plain return the walk to Monkton Farleigh, where a couple of further surprises await the visitor. Initially, there is the Monks’ conduit in a field on the right, a curious 14th-century building located over a spring. This was the source adam’s ale, or water, for that cluniac priory. Back in the centre of the village is another source of ale, the King’s arms. This imposing 17th-century hostelry is known as much for its rather fine food as its beers, and is also wellknown for its ghosts. Perhaps the best known is that of a woman who can be heard wailing pitifully on the anniversary of her death, caused by her runaway coach crashing into the wall of the pub.
GETTING THERE
■ Follow the A363 from Bathford towards Bradfordon-avon. Two miles from Bathford, turn left on the road signposted to Monkton Farleigh. In ¾ mile, park on the roadside in the vicinity of the village school.
■ 1. With your back to the school, follow the road to the right to a junction in the centre of Monkton Farleigh. Turn right and walk down the village’s main street, shortly passing the church on the right. At the bottom of this main street, just past Church Farm, turn left on a road signposted to Kingsdown. In 350 yards, cross a stile on the right and follow a tree-lined avenue for 1¼ miles to a gate and road by a property called Avenue Lodge, crossing a fence along the way. Pass through a gateway opposite, cross a field and walk through a copse to a stile, before crossing the next field to a gate and road. Turn left and, in 80 yards, cross a stile on the right and follow a footpath down to a gate and footbridge over a stream.
■ 2. Continue along a causeway before following the right edge of a field for 600 yards to a stile in its bottom corner. Enter the adjoining field, turn left and follow its left edge for 700 yards to an arch at the top of the field, the path passing around a ‘dog leg’ along the way. Turn right beyond this archway and follow the right edge of the next field for 200 yards, before passing through a gap on the right into the adjoining field. Turn left and walk up the edge of this field for ¼ mile to a gap in a wall and join the Bathford to Melksham road. Turn left and, in 25 yards, turn right on to a signposted byway. Follow this byway through to a lane, turn left and continue for ½ mile to a T-junction with Henley Lane by a telephone box, ignoring a right turn along the way. Turn left and, at a junction in 125 yards, turn right into a road called Prospect.
■ 3. In ¼ mile, at the top of Doctor’s Hill, turn left into Lower Kingsdown Road. Follow this road – partway along it has collapsed and is a Tarmac path – for ¾ mile to a junction with the main road from Bathford to Melksham. Turn left and, in 100 yards, turn right on to an access track to One Hundred Acre and Swan Hill Cottage. Keep on this track, it shortly bears left and right, and continue for 250 yards to a gateway and field.
■ 4. Walk ahead into the main part of the field before turning left and walking along to a gate at the far end of the field. Cross the next field, passing beneath electricity cables, to a gate and stile opposite. Continue along a path by an area of woodland before continuing across a field to a gate and road that heads up to Farleigh Rise. Cross this road and follow a path opposite along to a gate. Follow the left edge of the field ahead to a gate and road in Monkton Farleigh. Turn right and follow this road, it shortly bears left, back to a junction in the centre of Monkton Farleigh. Turn left, and shortly right, back to the village school.
NOTE: Please maintain social distancing while walking for exercise and only follow this walk if it is local to you during lockdown