We had another good turn out for our April monthly meeting at St Mary’s Church. Russell Cherry, our speaker, has walked the Ridgeway more than once with his trusty canine companion and shared stories of the locations along the Ridgeway with pictures of his travels.
The Ridgeway is an ancient trackway which has provided a reliable route between Dorset and the Wash for over 5,000 years. The track followed the higher ground which was drier, easier to walk along due to less vegetation and the higher view point all provided protection against attack.
The Ridgway is now an 87 mile long National Trail running between Avebury in Wiltshire to Ivanhoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. Starting at Avebury Russell told us about the stone circle and other nearby prehistoric monuments and then took us with him on a virtual walk. Passing Barbury and Lydington Castles, both Iron Age hill forts, the pretty hamlet of Hallam, the white horse at Uffington and the Iron Age site of Alfred’s Castle. Reaching Ashdown House Russell told us about the battle of Ashdown in 871 CE where King Alfred defeated the Danes’ before moving onto Wayland’s Smithy, a neolithic site which is around 5,000 years old, and which was named by the Saxons who thought it had been built by one of their gods Wayland the smith. At Uffington we heard about the Iron Age hill fort and burial ground and White Horse Hill, the horse is 300 ft long and 150 ft high and every seven years a scouring event is held to replenish the chalk and keep the horse white. The last stage of the walk took us to Grimm’s Ditch, another Iron Age earth work with a defensive role similar to that of Offa’s Dyke, and then Compton Hundred which was an administrative area near Didcot. In the 1800’s sheep fairs were held in Isley with some 400,000 sheep being sold over time. There are also gallops running alongside the pathway before it drops down to Streatly by the Thames.
Along the way Russell also provided some useful tips for good watering holes near the pathway where decent food can be found -nif you can tear yourself away from the amazing views from the Ridegeway of course.