Delightful Walking Route on Edge of English Cotswolds

Introduction

This evening, I am posting information on a walk through the English countryside undertaken during early summer time.

Information on the walk.

Start and finish was the village of Swalcliffe (pop 218) near Banbury which in turn is about 100 miles north of London. 

Unbeknown to most visitors Swalcliffe and it's immediate environs provide tangible links with the past 2000-3000 years of English history. This covers the Iron Age, Roman period, Saxon, Norman and on to the present day.

The walking route was semi -circular starting Swalcliffe to Swalcliffe Lea and on to the village of Shutford covering 3 miles. Most of this route traversed pleasant rolling countryside.

Outer edge of Iron Age fort (800 BC to commencement of Roman period) defences.  This would have been a defended civilian settlement as opposed to the modern concept of a military fort. 


 Plan of the Iron Age fort.

 

Information on the Roman period can be found in this post. This includes a video of a professional excavation of one of the Roman sites. It appears that the Iron Age community did not oppose the incoming Romans and progressively moved down from their hill top to establish Romanised settlements on the flat land below. This community seems to have become well established and prosperous right up to the end of the Roman period in the 5th century AD. A key ingredient of prosperity was (as remains) rich farming land for cereal growing.

As we progressed along the trail a few kites (birds of prey) were circling overhead.


 Sheep sheltering from the hot sun.

 


 Landscape view


 Landscape view of Shutford


 Close up of thatched houses at Shutford

 

Farm with orchard (and sheep).

Village scene at Shutford.

Pub at Shutford. Sadly, closed when we arrived - during heat of the afternoon!

Shutford Church which almost physically adjoins the pub.In days past these would have been the two most important community centres in the village.

Another view of Shutford Parish Church. This dates from the 12th century.


To conclude the walk we reversed our route back to Swalcliffe making about 6 miles in all.

Overall, a very satisfying day. 

More information on Cotswolds villages can be found on this Chipping Norton web page. 

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