Walking With Royalty *

A few days ago, my wife and I took one of our favourite walks near to where we live, namely from Swineford, up to North Stoke and onto to Landsdown Hill, site of the famous English Civil War battle. We are very lucky to be so close to such wonderful countryside as well as so much history, from the Iron Age onwards. I'll cover more in other Blog posts, but for the moment I shall concentrate on this walk. So without further ado.

The view from the car park at the start of the walk. The small hill topped by trees just off centre at the top of the ridgeline is Kelston Round Hill. To me it always looks like the classic hill that young children draw. Only recently did I find out that the summit had a tumulus burial on top of it. Not a bad place to be buried.

The Lord of the Rings moment on the walk. This is an old and still legal road that runs down from North Stoke to Swineford and is an ancient trackway. It is the easiest route down from the village. Time and erosion has made it 12' deep or more in places.

Another view back down the trackway.

Old workers cottages in North Stoke. Some years ago one was being renovated and the decorators had come over from Switzerland. Let's just say that you need some serious money to be able to live there, or at least in these older buildings.

My wife on top of the steps leading to the parish church of St Martins. Normally to the right of the picture as spring from up the hill is constantly providing water to a cattle trough, but due to the exceptionally dry weather this year, it has dried up.

A view from the church steps to the main farmhouse, which has the most stunning views and a very nice garden too. Frankly the sort of house, garden and view I would love to have!

The church of St Martin, built on the site of a Roman temple.

A rather poor shot looking towards the original west entrance of the church. There has been much restoration from the 19thC onwards.

The original eastern end of the church can be seen by the archway.

Wall plaques marking the families involvement in India. Fascinating stuff for a chap like me.

More of the same.

Rather hard to read, even in the best of lights, but one family memeber died on the day War was declared on 3rd September 1939.

The baptisimal font was carved from an old sacrificial altar.

I found this very moving and poignant.

Fighting that Harry Patch attended the dedication. He lived for another year after this.

North Stoke is behind the treeline on the middle left. The track by the wall is part of the Monarch's Way, the route taken by Charles II after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The view is towards Bristol and not clear in the photo, but you can see the Black Mountains in Wales on most days.

Another view across towards the Severn Valley and beyond. 

A view towards the Mendips and Keynsham, but the latter cannot be easily seen. Over this hills in the middle distance came the Duke of Monmouth and his army. He got as far as Keynsham before turning back.

A stone marker at the end of the Parliamentarian left flank on Landsdown Hill, carved with a contemporary image. 

Information boards are dotted across the original line at the start of the battle.

A view towards where the Royalist troops, most particularly the Cornish one, attacked from. The terrain is rough and broken but the defending troops would not have seen them until almost the last minute and most likely would not have had too much time for more than a few shots before the attackers could have closed with them. 

The hill in the middle is one side of the saddle over which both sides cavalry fought a running battle before the main battle was joined.

Another nice marker stone.

Sir Beville Grenville's monument.

Sadly falling into disrepair in places. The monument is covered in graffiti, much of it from a long time ago, than can only be seen easily in centre light.

The info board from the final Parliamentarian position.

Another marker from the same place.

Looting was obviously part and parcel of battles and campaigns during this and many other wars.

A view from the Parliamentarian position and the clear and open ground that the Royalists would have had to have crossed at the end of the battle. I can see why they were reluctant.

The Parliamentarian soldiers lined the stone walls, which made a very strong defensive position. 

The rather beautiful valley that the Parliamentarian troops retreated down, unbeknownst to the Royalists.

You'll have to take my word for it, but the next field to the stone marker and there are the remains of an iron age settlement, which can just be seen if you look carefully enough. In this photo, there is a small ridge running on the left side of the image to the middle of the trees at the top. For much better photos and information, see the following:

https://www.bacas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Lansdown-Little-Down-Field.pdf

* The reason I chose this title is for no other reason than walking part of the Monarch's Way and the fact that my wife is a Princess. Sadly this does not make me a Prince, but just a commoner!

We are certainly spoilt for choices of places to go round these parts, but I hope to visit a few more places that might be of interest from a gaming  and history perspective. At present we are entering yet another heatwave where it will be too hot to paint (currently forecast to be 34C on Thursday!) or to much else to be honest. As always plenty of plans but for once the glorious weather rather than lethargy on my part of putting pay to any progress.

At least I feel over Covid now and am trying to build up my stamina again for bike rides, but am not overdoing it, as I don't want to regress having come this far. So until next time keep healthy and stay safe.