Wander along the Wellow Way
Driving west from Hinton Charterhouse, the motorist suddenly encounters this rather fine outlook towards Wellow, with its grand houses and stone cottages clinging to a south-facing hillside above the Wellow Brook. All around lies an impressive natural landscape, where the outlying hills of the Cotswolds and the Mendips meet and merge to form a green, undulating countryside of low hills, valleys and narrow winding lanes bordered by hedgerows.
Towering quite literally over the village is St Julian’s Church, a building of great antiquity that certainly had nikolaus Pevsner reaching for some pretty impressive adjectives. “A proud, little altered, stylistically very uniform church, masculine rather than refined” is how he put it. He also pointed out the quite exceptional tower, described as “a strong, robust piece”. A different picture is painted by St Julian’s website: “imagine the church at Christian festivals decorated with flowers and evergreens, with the harvest of the field and garden and the faithful crowding in.”
The walk starts from Station road car park in Wellow, a reminder that the muchlamented Somerset and Dorset railway once came this way. A quiet lane runs through to the scattering of houses that make up Stony Littleton, with the occasional pillbox and series of concrete tank traps being evidence of what was known as “Stop Line green”. This was a vast series of defence works constructed around Bath and Bristol during Wwii to guard against a potential german invasion. Major green’s booklet entitled War Walks Stop Line green is a fascinating booklet. Sadly, it is long out of print.
A steep climb brings the walk to Stony Littleton Long Barrow, a neolithic tomb that was used for collective burial. A plaque at its entrance boasts that “this tumulus is declared by competent judges to be the most perfect specimen of Celtic Antiquity still existing in great Britain” – it is hard to disagree. it became “much injured” due to “the lapse of time or the carelessness of its former proprietors” but was “restored in 1858 with scrupulous exactness”. it is possible to enter the barrow to a depth of 50 feet from the entrance and to examine the three pairs of burial chambers that lie on either side of the central gallery.
A potentially muddy bridleway and the village ford bring us back into Wellow where a restored signal box will catch the eye, more evidence of the S&D. The trains have long gone, but this marks the course of the Somerset and Dorset railway, that much-missed 70 miles of iron track that ran from Bath to Bournemouth. Closed by Dr Beeching in 1966, the line held legendary status among railway enthusiasts, the initials S&D standing for swift and delightful. To those forced to endure the soot and smoke of the old steam engines, the S&D had another meaning – slow and dirty.
Back in Wellow, the Fox and Badger has always had a reputation for decent homecooked food and a fine selection of local ales and ciders. Until May 17, there is some outdoor
seating with a limited takeaway menu. Whether or not this is open will be weather dependent with there being no cover. The pub is planning to resume indoor service and regular opening hours from May 17, as and when government restrictions are eased.
Getting there
■ Leave the B3110 at Hinton Charterhouse and follow an unclassified road alongside the Stag Inn signposted to Wellow. On reaching the Fox and Badger in the centre of the village, continue along the High Street for 200 yards before turning left into Station Road, which leads to the free car park.
■ 1. Walk back to Wellow’s High Street and turn left. In ¼ mile, turn left on a lane signposted to Stony Littleton Long Barrow. Follow this lane for just over 1¼ miles to a T-junction, ½ mile beyond a property called Greenacres. Turn left on a lane signposted to Faulkland. Follow this lane uphill for 200 yards before turning left on a byway that leads to Manor Farm.
■ 2. Walk through the farmyard to the left of the farm house, pass through a gateway and follow the path ahead that runs alongside a hedgerow on the left. Where this hedgerow ends in 175 yards, keep ahead across the field to a gate in the opposite field boundary. Beyond this gate, follow a path that bears left across to a hedgerow. Follow this field boundary uphill to a gate at the top of the hill. Beyond this gate, a detour to the left will bring you to Stony Littleton Long Barrow.
■ 3. For the walk itself, follow the line of a hedgerow across the hilltop and, where this hedgerow ends, continue across the open hilltop field to a gap in the end field boundary. Beyond this gap, follow an enclosed track for just under ½ mile to join a lane. Follow this lane ahead to a junction and turn left to reach the ford in Wellow. Cross the Packhorse
Bridge before following an enclosed path uphill to the course of the former S&D Railway marked by a restored signal box. Follow Railway Lane ahead to the Fox and Badger pub and Wellow’s High Street. Turn left back to Station Road and the car park.