The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 3.7 miles (5.95km)
Time to walk: Roughly 2 hours
Difficulty: A mixture of hard surface, tow paths & fields, some of which can be muddy. There are a few hills, but nothing strenuous. There are numerous stiles that dogs will have to be lifted over & please be careful on the short road section
Parking: On road outside the church in Rothersthorpe
Public toilets: None
Map of the route:
Rothersthorpe is a small medieval village that lies 4 miles to the south of Northampton. The Berry ringworks that can be found around the village are medieval fortifications built & occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They were small defended areas of buildings surrounded partly or completely by large ditches & earthworks topped by wooden palisades. They are rare nationally
The Berry is the site of a ringwork which stood at the centre of medieval Rothersthorpe. The site is irregularly shaped with a wide ditch on the north & west sides. There are the remains of an inner rampart in the north east corner & southern end. Features in the west of the interior of the works show the locations of former buildings. Remains of ridge and furrow farming are on the eastern side
The Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal, built in 1815 passes near to Rothersthorpe. Seventeen locks, taking the canal into Northampton & its junction with the River Nene, take about two hours for a boat to travel through
So that’s a small bit of background information, but it’s a gorgeous February day so…
Let’s Walk!
1. Our walk actually starts in the churchyard!
This is the Church of St Peter & St Paul which forms a Benefice with others in nearby Bugbrooke, Harpole & Kislingbury
If you can get inside it has an incredible tale to tell…
Look for the memorial of the crew of an aircraft which crashed on 5th April 1944. The aircraft left RAF Westcott at 1235LT on a training mission on behalf of the 11th OTU. En route, a technical failure occurred & the right wing was on fire. Crew attempted to divert to Milton & tried to extinguish the fire without success. On approach, the aircraft dove into the ground, crashing near the church. The aircraft christened ‘Bertie’ was totally wrecked & all six occupants were killed
Fifty years after the event, a memorial was held in the church. It brought to light the circumstances when the Wellington bomber approached the village, on fire, without controls & on a direct line with the primary school full of children
A hundred yards short of the school, the aircraft suddenly went nose down & crashed. The villagers who saw it were convinced it was an act of selflessness on behalf of the pilot to save the children
In 1992 the aircraft was recovered from the field into which it had plunged. From the wreckage, some small parts were recovered & refurbished into the memorial of the mounted, refurbished propellor with a plaque giving the names of each member of the crew. There’s also a small museum depicting the event…
2. Exit the churchyard through the small gate at the back & continue down Church Street passing the Baptist Chapel, which opened in 1841 & was rebuilt in 1892 on the right…
3. Look for a stile on the right leading into a paddock – this is our way out of the village…
Follow the fence line to another gate in the corner of the paddock
4. Pass through this & continue across a small field…
…to pass through another gate
4. The path continues diagonally left towards a clump of bushes…
…& pass through another gate
5. You’re now heading along a new fence through a gate…
The farmer has installed a new Permissive Footpath…
There’s lots of paths going off but keep to the right path with the new fence on your right
6. Ignore the kissing gate on the right. Climb the new stile next to the metal gate…
…& walk diagonally right (you should see trodden grass) heading towards an old barn in the right corner of the field
7. Climb the next new stile…
…& turn right following the field edge & ditch round & along
8. Exit through a barrier & onto the Gayton road. Please be careful as cars move quickly along here. Turn left & walk up the hill passing the gas station…
At the top of the hill round to the left, past the entrance to Gayton Marina
9. Continue on the road & cross the canal bridge…
Once over, turn immediately down onto the tow path…
Pass under the traditional canal bridge…
9. There’s an impressive new canal-side house on the right where used to be rather a run-down shack. It was home to a yappy little Jack Russell who would run up & down chasing walkers, but sadly he’s no longer here…
Pass Gayton Marina – there were lots of boats being over-wintered & some out of the water having repair work done. In the summer this is a place of activity & always good at weekends watching new boaties learning how to control their hire boat for the first time!
10. At the next bridge cross over the canal to the towpath on the other side…
…to arrive at Gayton Junction. We’ve been walking along the Northampton Arm. Running North to South now is the Grand Union Canal – to the right is Birmingham, to the left London. It was also good to see a familiar boat moored near the bridge…The Cheese Boat
The Cheese Boat is owned by Geraldine & Michael Prescott who wanted a way to combine their passion for narrow boating with something to earn money from. They approached Snowdonia Cheese with the idea of selling their cheeses from their boat on the side of the canals & fortunately the cheese company thought it was a good idea. Success came quickly & they added Caw Cenarth Cheese to their list. Next came Mike’s Homemade Chutneys
11. Turn right towards Birmingham – a good idea as if we wanted to go towards London we’d have to get wet! There were several house boats along this stretch & we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the pack of greyhound, two pugs (including a ‘one-eyed’ wonder) & a jack russell
Cute one
12. The next bridge (47) is a stunner, a classic example of a Turnover Bridge with the horse cobbles leading up & over…
This beautiful old Grand Union Canal bridge not only carries a small road across the canal, but also was built with a walkway so that the horses that towed the barges could go over the water without having to be unhitched
13. It’s worth walking over the bridge just to get the experience of days gone by, but come back as we need to keep on the same side of the canal passing underneath the bridge itself
They could have taken the decorations off it!
Looking across to the right you can see the state of the fields…
14. The path back towards Rothersthorpe starts at the next bridge…follow the track up the side…
& turn right along the bridleway, keeping the hedge on your right
15. Cross the buried pipeline & look for the gap in the hedge at the bottom of the field leading into the small copse
At the bottom’s one of those lovely little places you occasionally come across whilst walking. The picture doesn’t really do the tranquility of the place with the water running through justice
Follow the path through the copse & out into the next field
16. After passing through the gap by the large tree above, look for another gap in the hedge on the right just past the telegraph pole below…
Go through & continue down the hill towards Rothersthorpe ahead keeping the hedge now on the left
17. There’s a gate in the bottom left of the field…
18. Pass through another gate by the thatched cottage…
19. Follow the driveway around the cottage to the end of the walk, back at the church, & safety once more
So that’s the end of a lovely short walk that had a bit of everything.
Maybe combine it with a walk round Rothersthorpe village itself using the details on the map outside the Memorial Garden. the Dovecote is really worth a look at…
Go Walk!