Nailsworth

There are many charming 17thcentury buildings, ranging from former millworkers’ cottages to mansion houses.

To the east of the road, squeezed into a narrow valley, stand the old cloth mills, now converted to other purposes.

For anyone interested in industrial architecture, 18thcentury Dunkirk Mill is the most notable building. Behind the mills, former packhorse ways climb steeply up to Minchinhampton Common.

One of the hills rising out of the town is so steep it is known locally as Nailsworth Ladder.

Well maintained footpaths link Nailsworth with the village of Avening, which has its own dense network of narrow lanes crammed with old cottages.

On the northern edge of the village is a group of prehistoric burial chambers, one of which has a rare ‘porthole’ entrance. The church of Holy Cross occupies a steep, sloping site and is Saxon in origin, though it was rebuilt by the Normans.

It contains a memorial to Henry Brydges, who was a notorious pirate until he returned home to the Cotswolds, married a wealthy clothier’s daughter and settled into a life of blameless domesticity at Avening Court.

South of Avening is Chavenage House, an ancient E-shaped manor house which was rebuilt in 1576 and remains unspoilt today. An avenue of majestic trees links it to nearby Chavenage Green. Oliver Cromwell is said to have spent a night at Chavenage House in 1648, on a mission to persuade the owner Colonel Nathaniel Stephens to vote for the impeachment of Charles I. Stephens reluctantly agreed, but his daughter cursed him as a regicide and he subsequently fell ill.

Local legend has it that he was driven away to hell in a coach whose headless driver was wearing royal robes.

FACT FILE

Start: Old Market West, Nailsworth (near Stroud), grid ref ST849996.

Length: Eight miles/13km.

Maps: OS Explorer 168, OS Landranger 162.

Terrain: Pasture, arable and woodland; some slopes, but nothing serious.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent.

Stiles: 13.

Parking: Old Market West.

Public transport: Train (daily except Sunday mornings) to either Cheltenham or Gloucester then Stagecoach Cheltenham-Stroud 46 (daily) or Stagecoach Gloucester- Stroud 93 (daily) to Old Market, Nailsworth; traveline.org.uk or 0871 2002233.

Refreshments: Nailsworth, and the Weighbridge Inn.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk along Old Market to Spring Hill and turn right. Cross Bridge Street to the clock tower and go left on George Street. Cross a cattle grid and turn right on Pensile Road. Very soon, you will be aware that there is common land bordering the road on your left (part of Minchinhampton Commons). Walk on the common if you prefer but try not to lose sight of the road as it’s easy to miss the point at which you need to turn off it. Ignore a footpath which crosses the road and then turn right when the road forks at Scar Hill.

Take the next footpath on the right, descend into a valley, cross a track and proceed through woodland to meet a driveway.

Turn left to meet a lane and turn right.

2 Turn left at the Weighbridge Inn, pass Iron Mills and then take a bridleway on the right, climbing through pasture to enter Hazel Wood. Keep straight on at all junctions, climbing to the top edge of the wood, then proceed along a green lane, past a field. On returning to woodland, turn left on a track, then fork left onto a bridleway after 500m. Follow the bridleway to a lane and turn right, then soon right again. Turn left at Woodstock Close, descending to a valley bottom. Cross a footbridge, turn left through the valley then gradually make your way uphill to Avening church.

3 Go to the top right corner of the churchyard, through two gates and left past the top edge of the churchyard. Proceed to a lane, turn right, then right again on another lane used by the Macmillan Way.

After 200m leave the lane on the left, still on the Macmillan Way, which is easily followed across fields to the B4014, then across more fields to a minor lane. Cross the lane then go diagonally across a field to a hedge/wall corner. Keep to the right of the hedge/wall, heading towards Chavenage House.

4 Leave the Macmillan Way, turning right beside a lane and keeping straight on at two junctions. Fork right at Chavenage Green, to walk along the north side of the green. Turn right at the far side. After 100m fork right, signed ‘restricted byway’. When the byway bends right, keep straight on instead, into a field. Descend by the left edge at first, then walk along a holloway before swinging left. Go through a gate to the next field and walk along Ledgemore Bottom (the local name for a valley), beside a wood. At the far side of the field, turn right on a concrete track which becomes a field-edge bridleway. Turn left at a junction onto a hedged track, Longlength Lane.

5 Turn left at a farm, then right, signed ‘public path’. Descend to a lane and turn right onto a footpath. Pass stables, walk along a grassy bank and then descend to a lane. Turn right, then take the first footpath on the left. Walk along a field edge then go straight on along a green lane to meet Tetbury Lane.

Descend to the A46, cross over and go down Butcher Hills Lane to Old Market, Nailsworth.