Bremhill, Wick Hill and Maud Heath's Monument

This is a good area for wild flowers. In the spring, the woods are full of bluebells and heavy with the scent of wild garlic. The lanes are embanked with cow parsley, ragged robin and wild arum. The hedgerows are alive with small birds including wrens, chaffinches and long tailed tits. Pheasants stalk the meadows and larks and hawks hover over the downs.

Many of Bremhill's old stone cottages have thatched roofs. The 13th century church has a porch with a fan vaulted roof and a rare ornately carved stone pulpit dating from the 14th century. The Reverend William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850) was rector here from 1804 until his death. His poems were admired by the Romantic poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, who visited him at the old vicarage. One of his poems is dedicated to an old soldier and is carved on the wall of the church close to the south porch. Like Wordsworth he wrote about country folk at the time when they were not considered worthy of notice. He had a habit of keeping sheep with their bells tuned in thirds and fifths. Their descendants still graze in the shadow of the church tower.

Further along the route, on reaching Maud Heath's Causeway, there is a viewpoint from the crest of the down and the panorama can be appreciated all along the ridge. You could see over the North Wiltshire Plain to the Cotswold Hills, and it is possible to see the curve of the horizon.

Along the ridge, the carved figure of Maud Heath stands proudly on top of her monument, looking towards Chippenham on the plain below. In 1474 she left all her money to build the causeway from the hill where she sits to the town. In January of 1990 severe storms beheaded poor old Maud and her head fell from the monument rolling down the hill into a bramble patch. Fortunately, her head was recovered and returned to its rightful place during repairs and restorations undertaken in 1990 and 1991.

From the monument, the causeway leads from Wick Hill and passes through Langley Burrell. A poem by William Lisle Bowles is inscribed on the column. It reads "From this Wick Hill begins the Praise/Of Maud Heath's gift to these Highways". There is also a newer inscription commemorating Maud's gift. This appears on the inscribed stone situated on the top of Wick Hill.

From Wick Hill the walk continues on the ridgeline past Bencroft Plantation and to Bencroft Hill where there is a small nature reserve. Afterwards, the walk continues down to Hazeland Farm before returning to the village of Bremhill.