The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 4 miles (can be extended to visit the village centre or either of the 2 nature parks)
Time to walk: Around 2 hours
Difficulty: Mainly across fields & using bridleways which are very muddy at certain times of the year, but the route includes other tracks & alleyways. There are 3 stiles.
Parking: On road parking around South Close (please park considerately). Beware parking outside the club on Station Road as this is time limited
Public toilets: Restricted times in the village. There are 2 cafes in the village centre
Map of the route: None
Thank you to Brenda Scoble for putting this walk together
Long Buckby lies about 4.5 miles north-east of Daventry & has a history going back over 1000 years to the time of the Vikings.
The name ‘Buckby’ is thought to derive from ‘Bukki’s farm/settlement’ or ‘Bucca’s farm/settlement’. The ‘Long’ part refers to the length of the village & was added at the time of Elizabeth I
Near the centre of the village are the remaining earthworks of a medieval castle, which was probably built by the lords of the manor, the de Quincy family, in the 12th century
Long Buckby was once a thriving industrial village: In the 17th century a woollen industry was established & Long Buckby became a centre of weaving & woolcombing. After 1800 this went into decline & was replaced by a thriving shoemaking industry. This was enhanced by the arrival of the Grand Union Canal in the early 19th century, upon which Long Buckby had a busy wharf
The shoemaking industry went into gradual decline in the 20th century & had died out by 2000. The largest of these factories has a world-wide reputation for riding boots & supplied the Royal Horse Guards, the last major order being for the coronation of Elizabeth II
A charter dated 1280 allowed for two fairs in May & August. The August one was a ‘holiday time’ fair when families made the Buckby Feast plum pudding, a rich bread pudding, baked for about 10 hours. It’s still baked today
Since the 1960s the construction of the nearby M1 motorway has caused the nature of the village to change into a residential and commuter village. Long Buckby railway station was opened in 1881 on the Northampton Loop Line. The station, as the nearest stop to Althorp, was the final stop on the rail journey by the then Prince of Wales, his two sons & others following the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales &, as such, it was seen on television across the world
Let’s Walk!
1. This walk starts on the grass verge opposite Long Buckby Junior School, South Close, NN6 7PX
Facing the school, turn left & then cross over to follow Wright’s Road around until reaching the footpath sign which leads up to the left…
2. Go through a gate to the fields ahead which are popular with dog walkers…
On reaching the footpath sign in the picture below take the left fork & pass through the gate – be careful as it’s often quite muddy here!
3. Cross the field, keeping close to the hedge, towards the next gate…
Go through the gate & continue along the path to double gates. Go through these & continue along the bridleway, keeping the hedge on your right
4. Eventually you’ll arrive at a metal gate which leads out on to Brington Road…
Carefully cross the road & go through the gateway with the Bridleway sign & continue through this field, keeping the hedge to the right until arriving at another gate
5. Once through the gate the hedge is on your left &, at the first bend, a big field opens ahead. The designated path (normally well maintained & obvious to walkers) is straight on diagonally across the field to the other side. You can see the houses of the village on the left
At the far side of the field bear right, up to the metal gate…
Go through this & continue on the Bridleway & pass through the next metal gate
6. On a nice day there are good views over the countryside & up to Great Brington. Keep the hedge on your left, & come to the third metal gate…
The village D-Day Beacon is off to your right on a small hill
7. Once through the gate the path bears left between some houses to meet the main road off the A428 (look out for an elephant in a garden & a big green clock on the front of a house)…
Carefully cross this busy road. (At this point a short detour to Cotton End Park could be made by turning right & heading up the road. The park is on the left – click on this link for details)
Otherwise join the Public footpath to the right of the stone cottages which goes left behind the cottages…
…& follow this path to the first stile of the walk which you can see ahead
8. Once over the stile, continue across the field. There are houses on the left & a copper beech hedge which runs to the corner of the field…
Go through the gap following the Public Footpath sign along a narrow path with a barbed wire fence on the right. Bear slightly right at the Public Footpath sign where a stile used to be.
Very soon there will be 2 metal gates on your right. Take the very narrow path straight ahead by the 2nd gate in the picture below. Notice St Lawrence’s church in the distance
9. The path is fenced both sides & definitely requires single file walking. Where another path joins from the left, keep to the right to go over (or under) the second stile of the walk…
Stop to admire the view ahead towards West Haddon
10. Follow the path down the hill, crossing a track, & continue down to a partially hidden bridge across a small stream…
Now head up the other side to join the West Haddon Road where there’s a green bench
Turn left & walk for a short distance on the verge back towards Buckby to the metal gate on the right with a Footpath sign…
11. Go through the gate, & follow another narrow path bordered by barbed wire on the left, up to the third, & rather, high stile at the end…
Join the road here, turning left & then right Pytchley Drive & turn left to go up The Leys up The Banks &, at the top, where the Assembly Rooms are, turn right into Church Street…
12. Go through the Church of St Lawrence’s gates…
The church contains a memorial which commemorates Eliza Gardner, whose “death was instantaneous, arising from fright occasioned by a violent attack made on the house door by three or four men in a state of intoxication with a view to disturb the peaceable inmates in the dead of night”
Turn right around the back of the church. Can you spot the gravestone of one of the village’s most famous resident, actor & comic genius Stanley Unwin on the left?
Stanley Unwin, sometimes billed as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a British comic actor & writer.
He invented his own comic language, “Unwinese”, referred to in the film ‘Carry On Regardless‘ (1961) as “gobbledygook”. Unwinese was a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful & humorous ways, as in its description of Elvis Presley & his contemporaries as being “wasp-waist & swivel-hippy”. Unwin claimed that the inspiration came from his mother, who once told him that on the way home she had “falolloped (fallen) over” & “grazed her kneeclabbers”
There’s actually an ‘English to Unwinese’ translator…give it a ‘Google’
Here’s a clip of him at Speakers Corner…
13. At the bench go right down the steps, through the gate…
…following the Public Footpath signs, through the next gate & then bear left & downhill to double gates
14. Continue through the field ahead, keeping the lone stone in the middle of the field on the left as far as the swing gate…
Follow the path through the trees to the left, which soon comes out onto the road. (At this point there is an option to take a right turn down the road to visit the Mill Park Reserve)
15. At the Lodge Farm sign on the brick wall turn left & head briefly uphill, past ‘Fuschia Pinks’…
…& cross the road carefully at the post box down Syers Green Lane
16. Ignore Syers Green Close on the right & continue to the end of the road. Bear left following the Footpath sign up a narrow tarmac path…
At the top of the path and the Holmfield Terrace sign turn right along the road. The Footpath divides left & right by the house named ‘Caludon’. Go left &, just after 2 bungalows, go left through the gateway…
17. Carry on up the road, turning right at the GR post box. With Greenhill Court in front of you, turn left & go through the park & out the gate to Station Road…the Fire Station is opposite….
Turn right & cross the road at the zebra crossing. Now go left & right into South Close & back to the starting point of the Junior School
So that’s it & what a wonderful walk, packing so much variation into such a small area. It’s one that’s great at all times of the year & also perfect for an evening walk
So…as Stanley would say…
“Prance Along!”