Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 1 : Henley (round walk)
Temple Island, Hambleden & the Great Wood
| Length | 15.8km (9.8 miles), 4 hours 30 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 7 hours 50 minutes. |
|---|---|
| OS Landranger Map | No.175. Henley-on-Thames, map reference SU 764 823, is in Oxfordshire, 10km north-east of Reading. |
| Toughness | 2 out of 10. |
| Features | Route-finding is easy on this mainly flat walk along the Thames, or up on the wooded geological terrace above it. The walk starts in Henley (famous for its rowing regatta in late June or early July) and goes along the Thames towpath, with rowing instructors on bikes shouting instructions to their crews, past Temple Island with its neo-folly, to the 250-metre footbridge over the weir at Hambleden Mill, where canoeists practise in the stormy waters. From there it is northwards to the suggested lunchtime pub in the well-preserved hamlet of Hambleden, which has a huge church out of all proportion to the population. After lunch, the walk for the next 2.5km is through the Great Wood, the endlessness of which gives an inkling of how most of Britain must once have been. From the village of Fawley with its church and mausoleum, the walk returns to Henley and its many tearooms, past the manor of Henley Park, along the Oxfordshire Way. |
| Shortening the Walk | You could get a bus back to Henley from Mill End (there are about three buses each hour) or a taxi from the pubs in Hambleden or Fawley. |
| History |
Henley, with its 300 listed buildings, is said to be the oldest settlement in Oxfordshire - a Roman grain store and skeletons of 97 supposedly unwanted children were excavated at Mill End in 1911. Fawley Temple, the neo-folly on Temple Island, is maintained by the Henley Regatta on a 999-year lease. It was built by James Wyatt in 1771 for a local landowner, Sambrooke Freeman, and has Etruscan-style murals inside. Hambleden Mill, mentioned in the Domesday Book, was used for grinding corn until 1955. Hambleden means 'village in a valley'. Charles I spent one night at the manor house in Hambleden whilst fleeing from Oxford to St Albans in 1646. St Mary the Virgin Church, Hambleden, has a memorial with alabaster figures representing Sir Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633), his wife and their ten children - with the children shown carrying skulls if they died before their parents. To the left of the monument is the oak muniment chest used by the Earl of Cardigan in Balaclava, where he led the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. And to the left of this chest, tucked in an alcove, is a reusable stone coffin. The churchyard contains the grave of the bookseller WH Smith, who became (posthumously) Lord Hambleden. The village of Fawley from the Old English for 'clearing') is listed in the Domesday Book as having 13 villeins, one cottager and five slaves. In 1086 it was given to a Norman, Herbrand de Sackville, as a reward for guarding his master's estates in Normandy during the invasion of England. The churchyard in Fawley contains a large circular neoclassical mausoleum built by John Freeman for his family around 1750. |
| Lunch | The suggested Lunch pub is the Stag & Huntsman (tel 01491 571227) in Hambleden, which serves gourmet food (for instance garlic snails) from midday to 2pm daily. If you are too early for this pub, you could continue on for 4km to the Walnut Tree pub (tel 01491 638360) in Fawley Green, which serves food from midday to about 2pm or 2.30pm daily. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each January. |
| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
|---|
Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
