Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 24 : Cookham (round walk)
Stanley Spencer, Bisham & The Wind in the Willows
| Length | 15.8km (9.8 miles), 4 hours 50 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 6 hours 30 minutes. |
|---|---|
| OS Landranger Map | No.175. Cookham, map reference SU 886 850, is in Berkshire, .5km north of Maidenhead. |
| Toughness | 3 out of 10. |
| Features | The road from Cookham Station passes the very ordinary house where the artist Stanley Spencer lived and worked for some 15 years, until his death in 1959. Later, the route enters Quarry Wood, consisting mainly of beech trees on a thin layer of chalky soil, down to the fourteenth-century Bull Inn in Bisham, a hamlet with its own abbey and church. The Knights Templars, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I all stayed in Bisham - the abbey is now a sports centre. The Bisham lunch pub is 3.8km (2.3 miles), 1 hour 10 minutes, from the start of the walk. After lunch and a peek at the abbey, and a visit to the interesting memorials in Bisham Church, beside the Thames, the walk continues up through woods to Winter Hill, with its views out over the Thames and Marlow's reservoirs. Mole, Ratty and co - of The Wind in the Willows fame - inhabited the riverbank and wild woods here; at least, according to their author, Kenneth Grahame, who lived nearby. The last stretch of the walk is alongside the Thames, through the National Trust's marshland at Cock Marsh - an area created by the silting up of the river over the centuries. It contains five ancient burial mounds and provides a home for water voles, redshanks and mallards. The walk returns to Cookham via the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church (where there is a memorial stone to Stanley Spencer) and continues to Stanley Spencer Gallery in the High Street, and to the Kings Arms pub for tea. |
| Shortening the Walk | After lunch, you could walk 1km from Bisham to cross the river to the station in Marlow. Or you could miss out the pub at Bisham and stay on the east side of the A404 and perhaps eat a picnic on Winter Hill. Or, 3km before Cookham Station, you could cross the Thames by the railway bridge to catch a train from Bourne End. |
| Walk Options |
Marlow via Cookham Circular 8km (5 miles) from Marlow to Cookham, 7.2km (4.5 miles) from Cookham to Marlow.
This is a variation on the Cookham Round Walk But it is substantially a new walk too. Basically it is directions for going along the river from Marlow to Bourne End or Cookham (which needs little directions) and then going back over Winter Hill, sort of reversing the afternoon of the Book One Cookham walk. Or one could do the morning of the Book One Cookham walk as an afternoon. |
| History |
Bisham Abbey was a Tudor residence, granted to Anne of Cleves by Henry VIII. The Hoby family exchanged the title for their house in Kent, and resided at Bisham until 1768. All Saints Parish Church, Bisham, was founded in the twelfth century. The western tower is built of clunch (chalk). The church is chiefly remarkable for the monuments erected by Lady Hoby for her husband Sir Thomas, Elizabeth I's guardian and ambassador to the Court of France, who died in Paris at the age of 36, 'leaving with child behind his woful wief The corps with honour brought she to this place.' She commissioned her own tomb, on which she is depicted with all her children, and also a monument to 'two knights' (her husband and brother), lying side by side in their armour. The Dial Close home of Ken-neth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows, is now a preparatory school. Cookham was inhabited by ancient Britons, Romans and Saxons, and in the Domesday Book is listed as containing '32 villagers, 21 cottagers, 4 slaves, 2 mills, 2 fisheries and woodland at 100 pigs'. In 1140, a Norman church was built on the site of Holy Trinity Church, Cookham. The north wall of the church is built of clunch, probably quarried at Cookham. The artist Sir Stanley Spencer died in 1959, and there is a memorial stone to him in the graveyard of the church. Spencer was born in 1891, in a Victorian semi-detached house called Fernley, in Cookham High Street. He lived and worked from 1944 to 1959 in a house called Cliveden View (passed on this walk) and attended services at the Wesleyan Chapel in the High Street, which is now Stanley Spencer Gallery tel 01628 520 890). From Easter to October the gallery is open daily 10.30am to 5.30pm; in winter, Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays only, from 11am to 5pm. There is a very small admission fee, or you can get an impression of the place by buying a postcard at the desk. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime stop is the Two Brewers tel 01628 484140), Saint Peter Street, Marlow, reached through Church Yard and down an alleyway. Also The Bounty at Bourne End, further on in the walk, has a sign welcoming walkers to lunch. |
| Tea | There is a pleasant tearoom (and garden) at weekends (and weekdays for groups by prior arrangement): The Two Roses, Cookham, just beyond the Kings Arms in the High Street (tel 01628 520875), although this pub also has a garden. |
| New Walk Options |
Marlow via Cookham Circular [details] Download and print the PDF file. Tip: In the Print screen, select Page Scaling : Multiple Pages per Sheet. Try 2 pages. |
|---|---|
| Major Updates | The lunchtime pub has closed, so there is a short detour over the Thames to Marlow for a new one. [details] |
| 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
