On Foot

from Sherborne Times November 2022

Pause for Thought

On Foot ST LUKE’S CHAPEL AND KINGSTON RUSSELL STONE CIRCLE

Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 5 1/2 miles Time: Approx. 3 hours Park: Parking by Abbotsbury Castle just off the B3157 Walk Features: In the shadow of Abbotsbury Castle, this walk starts with a gentle ramble down Park’s Lane before heading into Ashley Wood and then a steady climb through and out of Ashley Chase Estate to meet The Ridgeway to take you along to Kingston Russell Stone Circle. There is a short descent to Gorwell Farm followed by another climb as you head back towards the drive running through the estate. The woodland sections are charming and there are good views across the Bride Valley from the track along The Ridgeway. After visiting Kingston Russell circle there’s also the opportunity to extend the walk with a detour to the Grey Mare and her Colts, a Neolithic burial chamber. The Ridgeway can be surprisingly muddy! Refreshments: The Ilchester Arms, Abbotsbury >

Each month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar.

We completed this walk as the trees were turning and summer yielded to autumn, but it would also make an ideal spring walk as daffodils, bluebells and garlic clothe the valley floor in Ashley Wood. The woodland around the Ashley Chase Estate shelters the beautiful and intriguing remains of St Luke’s Chapel. The route has an airy ridgeway section above the Bride Valley, rich with Neolithic history and good views across the Bride Valley and Abbotsbury Castle. The valley has a delightful, secluded feel, with a shifting sense of time. There are dips, climbs, twists and turns making for a varied and absorbing route.

Directions Start: SY 557 864 1 There is parking next to the entrance to

Abbotsbury Castle (at the intersection with the

South West Coast Path) as well as a few other spaces along the road nearby. 2 Head down the road, away from the castle and the main coast road. After just under 1/2 mile, as the road bends to the right, bear left at a small triangle, to head along Park’s Lane, a stony track.

Descend gradually for just over 1/2 mile and then leave the track at a dip to turn right into Ashley

Wood though a small metal gate. Head along the stream and ravine, past impressive old ash trees, and in a ¼ mile reach the remains of St Luke’s

Chapel. The chapel was built on land given to

Cistercian monks from Netley Abbey by a local landowner around 1246, but after the Dissolution

the community left and the chapel fell into obscurity and all that remains now is the western end. A small altar has been constructed from the debris, and a wooden crucifix resides over the graves of Sir David and Lady Olga Milne-

Watson, who built the large house nearby in the early 1920s. They saved the remains of the chapel and requested that they be interred in this serene and peaceful spot. The surrounding woodland is a magical place for calm reflection as well as providing a natural canopy in the absence of the chapel roof. 3 After exploring the chapel, leave the altar behind you and turn left, heading slightly uphill along a path twisting through the woods and undergrowth.

After 200 yards, leave the wood through a large metal gate with a stile, and make your way across a field, keeping the wood just to your left. Go through another large gate and head towards farm buildings to then pass them on the right. In another 200 yards, you will meet the drive which passes through the estate. 4 Turn left onto the drive and start to head downhill, soon meeting the entrance to Ashley Chase House.

Keep on the drive, heading more steeply downhill between trees and after 300 yards the drive starts heading steeply uphill, with tracks off either side.

In another 300 yards, look for a path on your right to leave the drive, over a stile. Now make your way diagonally across this field, still heading up, to meet the path running along the top of the hill. 5 Leave the field in the top right corner via a stile and now head along The Ridgeway. After ¾ mile, you will reach Kingston Russell stone circle. After visiting this you may want to detour by continuing along The Ridgeway to the Grey Mare and her

Colts, about 1/2 mile further along. 6 If not, turn right at the stone circle to leave the track via a large metal gate and stile and head downhill, keeping the hedgerow to your left. The path soon meets Gorwell Farm in the valley bottom. Go to the right of the farm and then turn left along a track to pass in front of the farm buildings. After 100 yards, turn right, almost back on yourself, and follow a track beneath trees to emerge into a field. Start to head towards the left and head slightly uphill into a pleasant, small, shallow valley. Keeping a hedge on your right, head up the valley and after 500 yards, leave the field through double stiles. 7 Ahead is a small copse standing in a large field.

Go just to the right of the copse to pass it and at the other end, strike out across the field, starting to head downhill towards another valley bottom.

Here, cross through a scrubby border with a pond to your left and then start to head uphill, keeping the copse behind you and passing sparse trees. In 300 yards, as you reach the top of the hill, you then turn sharp right and follow a fence and then a hedge, passing Ashley Chase House to then meet the drive you walked along earlier. 8 Turn left on the drive, to leave the estate and past the start of Park’s Lane to walk back to your car and the start of the walk.

Dorset AONB have a brilliant resource, Land of Bone and Stone which tells you more about the rich archaeology of the South Dorset Ridgeway area – dorsetaonb.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/Explorer_Guide_Download.pdf

A selection from Paul and Emma’s On Foot series will feature in a book of West Dorset walks, out in 2023.