Shillington History Walk 1- Bury End and Woodmer End

The route is about 2 miles/3km longand suitable for anyone who is used to walking in the countryside.  It follows short lengths of road (some without a pavement) and public rights of way across fields- so you’ll need walking boots.  Please note that the ground is uneven in places and you need to negotiate a short section with steep banks.  There are several kissing gates and one stile along the route.  With stops to read these notes and enjoy the sights, the walk will typically take about 2 hours to complete.

With your back to the Village Hall built in the mid 1950s, turn R up High Road.On the right, the War Memorial reminds us of the 33 Shillington men whose lives were cruelly shortened by two World Wars.Cross the road and then turn L into New Walk. 

After 60m, turn R through thefence and follow a footpath towards the far L corner of the meadowThis is one of many well-hedged meadows, which survive between the different Ends of Shillington.  Behind the trees and bushes on the left stood a Victorian mansion, The Gables.  Once a handsome building standing in landscaped grounds, it stood empty and in ruins for over 30 years before being demolished in 2006.  Planning permission exists for a new house on the site.Just before the corner of the meadow, turn L through a metal kissing gate and then R through a gap in the tall hedge onto the Playing Field.  This area was also once meadows but in 1949, the ground was levelled and reseeded for sports pitches.  Many villagers raised the necessary funds and gave practical support- there was a strong desire to make the world a better place after the horrors of World War 2.  Previously, football and cricket had been played on various other fields around the village.Head across to the far left corner of the main football pitch and down the steps through the bushes and onto the lower playing field.Shillington Parish Council acquired this land in 2003 to extend the availability of pitches and other facilities. 

This former meadow, Horn's Pasture is, presumably, named after a previous owner.  The field beyond the hedge on the right is called Stockings, a common name for land that was once wooded, the trees having been cut down long ago or stocked up.Go to the bottom R hand corner and through a kissing gate into the next meadow and keep by the hedge on the RHS.  Just before reaching the far corner, look for a kissing gate on the R and after passing through, head diagonally across to the far L corner and climb over a stile.  Whilst taking care that motorists can see you, as there is no pavement, turn L along the road. 

The third property on the left, Lordship Farm, is one of nearly 30 listed buildings in Shillington and nearly hidden by its  weatherboarded and pantiled but once thatched barns.The buildings almost completely surround a central courtyard- a common arrangement in old farmyards to help contain the livestock.  A little further on is the thatched, chocolate-box cottage at no. 79- another listed building.  On the right, the fields stretch away towards the top of the hill and were once part of a large open field called Windmill Field.  The windmill stood near the top and was recorded in 1652 but had gone by 1746.Where the tall hedge starts on the RHS, take the public footpath and after a short distance, follow the waymarked path L into the bushes.

You are now in the grounds of Shillington Bury and soon cross a deep, linear depression at an angle.  This appears to be part of a medieval moat as it continues for some distance to the left.  If it is a moat that once held water and it completely surrounded the existing house, it would have been very deep at the rear where the land rises.  However, some moats did not completely encircle the property but were just large enough to impress approaching visitors.  They were a status symbol rather than having any great practical value and demonstrated the owner’s wealth. An alternative explanation could be that the depression is not a moat at all but part of a linear pit following a seam of clay that was used for making bricks.

Keeping to the same alignment, follow the path across a small meadow through two more kissing gates and turn left along the edge of a field.  You can now see the rear garden and elevation of Shillington Bury, a rambling building originating in the 16th century.  The site must be much older as Bury End is first recorded in 1409.  George Rush, who lived here for 15 years, wrote about its history in Shillington News in 1991 and speculated that the site had been occupied since pre-Domesday times.  Henry VIII once owned the property and the oldest part of the house that remains today may date from the time of his first tenant, a farmer called John Walyn in 1542. 

The first record of a private owner is in 1764.  The Hanscombes were a prominent Shillington family and owned it between 1856 and 1953.  After several more changes of ownership, a Mr Simpson came to lodgethere and then bought the place.  In 1969, he divided the Bury rather awkwardly into four dwellings with the upstairs of some oversailing the ground floor of others and gardens extending past neighbour’s windows.  He then sold them off for a total of £38,000 on 999 year lease.  George Rush occupied one of the properties in the 1980s, keeping a steamroller in one of the barns, and gained notoriety for building a coal bunker.  Although situated in his garden, it was immediately beneath the window of his neighbours whom he annoyed by noisily filling his coal scuttle late in the evening.  He was also breaking planning rules that protect listed buildings like the Bury, taken to court and forced to remove it.  He stayed for several more years before moving away. Pass through bushes and over a wooden bridge and turn L down the farm track.  Enjoy the view right towards the next village, Upper Gravenhurst, and straight ahead to Sharpenhoe Clappers, a distinctive tree-crowned outcrop of the Chiltern Hills'  that was used as a rabbit warren long ago.After the vehicle barrier, watch out for any traffic and turn L at the road and then R down Bury Road.  All Saints Church and the hills above Pegsdon are visible in the distance.   

Go past houses of many styles including a former Methodist Chapel of 1906 converted to a dwelling in the mid 1990s. 

Past here, Bury End merges into Woodmer End,a part of the village first mentioned in 1255Turn R after passing no 97 onto a gravel drive leading past Clover Cottage into a farm track.  Behind the fence on the L are the houses of Bedford Close on the site where the Bedford Arms pub (built in the 1920s to replace an earlier pub) was demolished in 1992 

Cross a concrete bridge and turn R along a path with the brook on the RHS.  The field on the left used to be a wet, marshy meadow and the brook wasshallower than now and meandered across it, flooding it at times.  This could explain the derivation of Woodmer End from Wood Mere- a body of water by the wood.  After Parliamentary Enclosure in the parish in 1817, the brook was artificially embanked along the eastern side of the valley bottom to give a better water supply to the former watermill about 800 metres further down stream. 

The field started to dry out and in October 1978, the farmer ploughed the field.  He grew arable crops for 15 years or so before taking it out of production and it reverted to grassland.  At dusk, it is not unusual to see an owl systematically searching the area for mice and voles.Ahead, rising from the field and covered with rough grassland and bushes, is a slightly domed mound.  The area is roughly circular and the brook passes on the RHS.  A shallow ditch with an outer bank surrounds the remainder.  Nowadays, the ditch is usually dry but it could once have been deeper and linked with the brook to make a complete, wet moat.  Unlike Shillington Bury, there is no evidence of a dwelling in the centre.

The site is called Church Pannell and a local legend suggests that it was intended to be the site of Shillington Church.  However, when the stones were dumped here for building work to start, they moved away during the night to the top of a nearby hill.  The builders carted them back but the same thing happened again.  Eventually, they gave in and built the Church on the hill, where it still stands today. Whatever its purpose, the site been modified by man, and its construction necessitated moving thousands of tonnes of soil.  One possibility is that it dates from turbulent times in the 10th century when the Danes were invading eastern England.  If so, it could be either a camp that the Danes set up where they reached the limit of navigation on this tributary of the River Ouse or a defensive refuge where the native population sheltered during their attacks. 

Two small archaeological excavations havefailed to reveal its age or purpose and so it remains a complete mystery. In 1961, mains drainage came to Shillington and Church Pannell had a narrow escape from being damaged. 

At first, engineers wanted to build sewageworks here but fortunately, they changed their minds and placed them on the other side of the brook. After exploring Church Pannell from the footpath, turn around and retrace your steps with the brook now on the LHS.  Shillington Church is visible on the horizon about 1 mile ahead. 

Pass through a wooden kissing gate intoanother meadow behind houses in Woodmer Close built in the 1970s.  Two fields away to the right on slightly higher ground once stood Hanscomb Ley Wood- possibly the wood after which Wood Mere gained its name.  As at Stockings, the trees here were grubbed up and the land converted to agriculture a long time ago.  The remainder of the route will be discussed in a later Shillington History Walk.Pass through a kissing gate at the far side of the meadow, turn L over the brook and R into the lower part of  Bury Road.  Follow the road round to the left where it becomes Hillfoot Road and turn left at the T junction with Church St.  At the T junction at the bottom, turn L into High Road, where the Village Hall is on the RHS after 100 metres.