Monkton Combe on Down
the old topographical guidebooks throw up a wealth of charming quotes. Take this one, for example: “It is down a hill to paradise, down into one of those beautiful hollows which make the country round Bath like a little Switzerland. here is one of our fine schools and we envy the boys their youth in such a superb piece of Somerset.” This was Arthur Mee writing over 65 years ago, with the village in question being none other than Monkton Combe.
Dominating the village is the local public school, whose motto of verbum tuum veritas - ‘your word is truth’ - gives a clue as to the founding principles of this noted public school. It was back in 1868 that the Revfrancis Pocock, the local vicar, founded Monkton Combe School for training the sons of missionaries. The local church where Pocock served, incidentally, has been somewhat unfairly described by one critic as “a rather ugly Victorian building of the Gothic style with a saddle roof”.
Quiet lanes take the walk through to Midford, a mecca for industrial archaeologists with its collection of disused railways. Both the Somerset & Dorset and the Bristol & North Somerset Railways passed this way, which explains the profusion of viaducts in the village. If the setting looks familiar to older readers (or enthusiasts of classic British comedy films) it is because many of the scenes in the 1953 movie The Titfield Thunderbolt were filmed here. The film centres around a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line open after threats of closure by British Rail.
The course of the S&D Railway is followed from Midford through to Tucking Mill, the initials translating to ‘swift and delightful’ to some as opposed to critics who preferred ‘slow and dirty’. A much-loved and missed railway running from Bath Green Park to Bournemouth West, it inevitably fell victim to the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Along this section of the walk, look to the left at one point and you will see Midford Castle. From the air, the building resembles the ‘clubs’ symbol in a pack of playing cards. There is a theory that this is because it was constructed from the winnings of henry Disney Roebuck, an 18th-century gambler and the original owner of this Grade-1 listed building.
NOTE: Please maintain social distancing while walking for exercise and only follow this walk if it is local to you during lockdown
Tucking Mill has a picturesque reservoir, now a fishery for the disabled, a vast railway viaduct and a cottage that purports to be the home of William Smith, the chief engineer on the Somerset Coal Canal. I say ‘purports’ because Simon Winchester, in his book The Map that Changed the World, argues that a more rundown property just along the road was Smith’s home when he worked on the canal’s construction. That map, incidentally, was the classic first geological map of england & Wales, drawn up by Smith and inspired by a rock formation back in the village of Midford. All this means that there’s so much history in such a small area, not forgetting the grave of harry Patch at Monkton Combe, the last surviving combatant from the First World War who passed away in 2009 aged 111.
getting there
■ At the bottom of Brassknocker Hill, follow the narrow lane that leads into Monkton
Combe. In ½ mile, immediately past a right-hand bend by the church, turn right into the village’s car park.
■ 1. Leave the car park, turn left for a few paces before turning right to St Michael’s Church. Walk through the churchyard to a gate and Tucking Mill Lane. Follow this lane around to the left and continue for ½ mile to Tucking Mill. Continue following this lane for just under ¾ mile to a crossroads in Upper Midford. Turn left and follow Old Midford Road down to the B3110. Turn left for a few paces before crossing this busy road with care to a lane opposite signposted to Twinhoe (see note at the end of this piece). Follow this lane for 350 yards as it runs below a vast railway viaduct to a gate on the left and the former S&D Railway, now a shared use path that is now route 24 on the National Cycle Network.
■ 2. Follow this path to the left across Midford Viaduct and on to the former Midford Station. Continue on the former S&D for ½ mile and, immediately before Tucking Mill viaduct, pass through a gateway on the right and follow a stepped path down to Tucking Mill reservoir. Turn right at the bottom of the steps and follow a path along to Tucking Mill Lane. Turn left and retrace your steps along this lane back to Monkton Combe Church and the car park.
■ NOTE Crossing the B3110 in Midford is quite dangerous with a bend to the right and traffic that clearly does not obey the speed limits! It is advisable to turn left when you reach the B3110 and walk down past the Hope & Anchor before crossing this busy road, as this will give you much better sight lines. Having crossed the road lower down, turn right back up to the lane signposted to Twinhoe.