Hemswell and Willoughton
A walk along an ancient route linking two Lincolnshire villages
Google Maps Open Source Maps| Statistics and Files | ||
|---|---|---|
| Start: Hemswell | Distance: 3.6 miles (5.8 km) | Climbing: 23 metres |
| Grid Ref: SK 93027 90945 | Time: 2 hours | Rating: Easy |
| GPX Route File | Google Earth File | About Hemswell |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Start: Hemswell | Distance: 3.6 miles (5.8 km) |
| Climbing: 23 metres | Grid Ref: SK 93027 90945 |
| Time: 2 hours | Rating: Easy |
| GPX Route File | Google Earth File |
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map (1:25,000)
The Walk:
This gentle walk takes you between two quiet villages in an unexplored part of Lincolnshire overlooking the Trent valley and below the prehistoric track, the Jurassic Ridgeway that runs all the way from the south-west of Britain and on into Yorkshire. This section of it is known as Middle Street and forms part of the modern B1398.
Ermine Street, the Saxon name for the Roman military road built by the Ninth Legion, runs from London to Lincoln. It then leads directly north of Lincoln to cross the River Humber at Brough, ignoring all settlements, until finally arriving at York. But Middle Street follows the much earlier, prehistoric Ridgeway closer to the Lincoln Cliff edge. Below it, at regular intervals, lie spring-line villages with early Anglo Saxon names and, from a later date, Danish settlements. Hemswell and Willoughton are two of these ancient villages.
Hemswell Church
Ancient ditches at Willoughton
Hemswell, originally called Elmswell, takes its name from the chalybeate spring (a spring with a high iron content) rising on the north-east side of the village. A maypole has stood by the spring in the village since medieval times and now a new modern one stands proudly in Maypole Street, with a fox on top of the weather vane.
The walk leaves Hemswell across open countryside, leading directly to the neighbouring village of Willoughton. Here there are old stone cottages, old moats and various other remains from Roman times. Wide ditches, in the fields around Temple Garth Farm are all that remains of the preceptory of the Knights Templars. This was one of the three great orders of knighthood from the time of the Crusades.
From Willloughton the walk leads back to Hemswell by way of Southfield Lane, a wide green lane that must have once been the cart road that connected the two villages for centuries.
Acknowledgments: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
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