Cotheridge

Apart from the landscape, the most striking feature of the walk is St Leonard’s Church at Cotheridge.

With its whitewashed exterior walls and weather-boarded tower it resembles no other church in Worcestershire. The nave and chancel were built in about 1125 but the age of the tower is uncertain.

Some people think it is earlier than the main body of the church but most believe that it is later, having been added in about 1300. Even that date would make it older than Worcestershire’s other timber church towers, at Warndon, Dormston, Kington, Pirton and Besford. The lower stage of the Cotheridge tower is solidly built from substantial oak boards fitted together using the tongue-andgroove method. This firm base supports massive oak crucks faced with weather-boarding.

If you’re lucky enough to find the church unlocked, you can admire some remarkable 15th-century floor tiles, a 17th-century pulpit and a fascinating memorial to Thomas Berkeley, who grew up at Cotheridge Court. Thomas belonged to a branch of the family which owns Spetchley Hall, near Worcester, and Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Apart from Cotheridge, this part of the county may seem to lack historical interest. However, Iron Age farmers have left their mark on the landscape, mostly through cropmarks, some of which occur just to the south of Frenchlands Lane.

Unfortunately, cropmarks, even when they haven’t been destroyed altogether by modern farming methods, are almost imperceptible, except from the air. But occasionally they are visible from ground level if the light is right – strong, lowangled sunlight is best. Basically, they show up as irregularities in a crop, such as a patch of corn growing unusually tall and strong because it has been sown over a former ditch or midden. Conversely, corn sown above a buried wall will be stunted and perhaps sickly.

Frenchlands Lane leads to Elms Farm, which was first recorded in 1240 as a tenanted holding.

Presumably, it was held from the local lord of the manor, who may have occupied the timber-framed, moated house which stood until the late 1700s beside the lane, about 500m from the farm. Though the house has gone, the moat is still visible as a small wetland area where bulrushes are struggling to hold on in the face of encroaching brambles and trees.

Directions

1 Walk up Church Lane to the A44 and turn right on the grass verge.

After passing the last of Cotheridge’s houses cross to a field-edge footpath.

Change to the other side of the hedge when you come to a gate. After crossing a stile, ignore a cross-path and keep straight on through two more fields to meet Ankerdine Lane at Tinkers Cross. Turn right.

2 Take a path on the left after 400m.

Walk straight through three fields, ignoring a cross-path. Cross a stile in the corner of the third field but don’t attempt to cross another stile (badly overgrown) in front of you. Turn right instead, on a fenced path which leads past farm buildings to the Elms Farm access track. Turn right. The track eventually becomes Frenchlands Lane and you will come to some stables.

3 Take a footpath opposite the stables and go diagonally to the far left corner of a field, then continue to the left corner of the next field. Keep going along the left edge of a third field then go through a hedge gap at the far side so that you continue in the same direction as before but on the other side of the hedge. Approaching Partridge Farm, go through a gap to return to the other side of the hedge. Ignoring a cross-path, climb a stile and keep going in much the same direction through two more fields.

4 Turn right at a junction, pass a cottage and keep straight on at another junction to meet Bell Lane.

Turn right and walk across Broadheath Common, parallel with Bell Lane, then straight on at a crossroads, along Lightwood Lane.

Just after passing a house called Springfield, take an easily missed path which soon enters a field. Walk along the edge, heading towards the Malvern Hills. When the hedge turns a corner don’t go with it but continue across the field to the far hedge.

5 Cross a footbridge then turn right into another field. Go diagonally left, passing Little Lightwood Farm to join the farm access track at a gate. Walk to Lightwood Lane and turn left to the A44. Cross to a stile opposite and take the right-hand path. Walk across a field to the far side. Cross a footbridge and turn right to walk to Church Lane at Cotheridge.

FACT FILE

Start: Church Lane, Cotheridge, off the A44 west of Worcester, grid ref SO786547.

Length: 5¼ miles/8.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Sheep pasture, boggy in places, with no hills.

Footpaths: Mostly good enough, though several stiles are missing their steps and some of the taller ones may be difficult for some walkers. Waymarking is patchy.

Beware dogs at Elms Farm (we found they retreated when yelled at, but only after they hadd covered our new jackets with muddy paw-prints).

Stiles: 17.

Parking: Church Lane, near St Leonard’s Church; or by the A44 at its junction with Lightwood Lane.

Buses: 420 Worcester-Hereford via Cotheridge, daily, or 308 Worcester-Martley via Broadheath Common, Mon-Sat; www.herefordbus.info or www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bust imetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Nothing actually on the route, but the Plough Inn, Bell Inn and Broadheath Post Office Stores are all close by.

Please note this walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be accurate at the time of publication.

No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss, accident or injury, however caused.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer 204.