Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 14 : Gomshall to Guildford
Blackheath forest & River Wey
| Length | 14.8km (9.2 miles), 3 hours 50 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 7 hours 30 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | Nos.187 and 186. Gomshall, map reference TQ 089 477, is in Surrey, 10km east of Guildford. |
| Toughness | 3 out of 10. |
| Features | There is much that is ancient, beautiful and surprising to be enjoyed on this walk. It starts in Gomshall, passing some of the pleasant buildings on its outskirts, before crossing fields to the interesting church and village of Shere - on the Tilling Bourne stream - a place packed full of fifteenth and sixteenth-century timber-framed buildings. Then the walk continues through the massive gnarled trees of Albury Park and the pine woods of Blackheath Common, and so to lunch in the middle of the forest at the gourmet Villagers pub. From there, the route offers a glimpse of Great Yangley Manor House, and follows the Downs Link path and the River Wey into Guildford, for tea at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Short stretches of the Downs Link can be muddy. |
| Shortening the walk | You could call a taxi from the lunchtime pub. Or you could turn right at the double asterisk [**] in the book's walk directions, along the A248, to catch a train back to London from Shalford. |
| History |
Gomshall Station is where it is because, in the 1840s, the site for a railway station was decided on a given day by whichever shortlisted spot had the greatest number of people waiting. The publican at the Black Horse, Gomshall, provided free beer for those willing to wait at his site, as he wanted the station to be at Gomshall. Gomshall is detailed in the Domesday Book 1086) as having 'land for 20 ploughs, 30 villagers, 8 smallholders with 18 ploughs, 6 slaves'. Of Shere, it reports: 'Queen Edith held it. Now it does not pay tax - 19 villagers and 6 smallholders with 12 ploughs. A church. 6 slaves.' By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it had grown into a small township of perhaps 40 houses (most of which remain today), housing blacksmiths, wheelwrights, weavers and tailors. St James' Church, Shere, was built in 1190 (its lychgate was designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens). It is a rare example of a church in the Early English Transitional Style (with the round Norman arches giving way to pointed ones). The nave pews have numbers - at one time people paid rent to the church for them. In 1329, anchoress Christine Carpenter was enclosed in a cell on the north wall of the church (receiving food through a grating on the outside wall) for three years. She then returned to the world before petitioning to be re-enclosed. The bishop consented: 'The said Christine shall be thrust back into the said enclosure that she may learn how nefarious was her committed sin.' The Alms Chest in the church dates from about 1200 and was used to collect money for the crusades fought in the Holy Land. Guildford Castle, with its impregnable Norman keep, was granted by James I to the Mayor of Guildford for £5 3s 10d. |
| Lunch | The suggested pub is the Villagers (tel 01483 893 152), Blackheath Lane, which serves good-value gourmet food from midday to 2.30pm daily (groups of more than 15 should book). An earlier lunch is possible in a pub or tea shop in Shere; or at the William IV pub (tel 01483 202 685) in Albury Common, which serves food from midday to 2pm daily. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each April. |
| 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. |
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Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
