Cheshunt Circular Walk

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Walk Map

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Walk Options

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13. Main Walk (15¾ km)

1. Short Walk, omitting afternoon loops (11¼ km)

Walk Directions

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1. Cheshunt Station to the Wildlife Discovery Centre (2¾ km)
• Cross the railway line and turn left into River Lee Country Park, taking the right-hand path at the back of the car park to go alongside the Small River Lea. At the far end go straight across a track onto a woodland path. On emerging into a narrow open area join a cycleway on the left and follow it across the Small River Lea. After going alongside the stream for 350m keep right at path junctions to head eastwards. Cross over the Lee Navigation and turn right at a path T-junction in front of the Old River Lea. Keep left at a triangular path junction to join the perimeter path around Seventy Acres Lake, eventually coming to the new Wildlife Discovery Centre.
1. Arriving from London, leave the station near the front of the train and turn right to cross the railway tracks, via the footbridge if necessary. On the other side immediately turn left into the signposted River Lee Country Park?, with the first of several information panels for the Waterbird Discovery Trail at the back of the small car park. Take the right-hand path through this semi-open area.
2. The surfaced path goes past a series of small wooden structures (for exercising your dog!) with a stream on the right, the Small River Lea?. Later Cheshunt Lake is visible beyond the stream. At the end go straight across a track onto a woodland path, which swings left and right and emerges into a narrow open area, with a Play Boulders sculpture ahead.
3. Pass to the left of the sculpture and join a cycleway running parallel to the railway line. Follow it round to the right to cross the Small River Lea on a brick bridge, then turn left to continue alongside the stream. In 350m fork right at a major path junction, where the Small River Lea is joined by Turnford Brook.
4. Keep to the main path as it veers right and goes between the tree-lined edges of two lakes. Go up to and straight across the River Lee Navigation? on a high bridge and continue across Holyfield Marsh towards the large Waltham Cross Substation. At a path T-junction flanked by a pair of Wildlife Bench sculptures turn right to head S alongside the Old River Lea.
5. In 250m keep left at a triangular path junction to continue along a meandering course between the river and Seventy Acres Lake. You eventually reach a new lakeside building with a bird hide which you could visit, the Wildlife Discovery Centre?.
2. The Discovery Centre to Cornmill Meadows (2¾ km)
• Continue on the perimeter path around the lake, eventually coming to Hooks Marsh car park at the end of Fishers Green Lane. Turn left onto this lane, crossing the Flood Relief Channel. In 250m turn right onto a footpath, initially along a field margin and then veering left up across the field. Follow the footpath around two sides of a large fenced-off area and cross a footbridge over Cornmill Stream into Cornmill Meadows.
1. Continue on the perimeter path around the lake, passing a viewing platform on the shore and a footbridge across the river. The path makes a wide loop alongside Horsemill Stream (a meander of the river) and eventually leads into Hooks Marsh car park. Turn left to cross the wide Flood Relief Channel on Fishers Green Bridge, joining the Greenwich Meridian Trail? (GMT).
2. In 250m turn right off Fishers Green Lane onto a signposted footpath along the bottom of a large farm field, with Hooks Marsh beyond the hedge on your right. In 400m – about two-thirds of the way along the field margin – turn left as indicated by an inconspicuous footpath waymarker post to go up across the field, heading ESE.

   The next 400m might be a quagmire in wet weather. OpenStreetMap shows an alternative path around the field edge (which is not the right of way) but there is no field margin on this stretch so it is unlikely to be any better.

3. If the right of way is not marked out, aim for the left-hand end of the tree boundary on the far side. At that point turn half-right as indicated by another waymarker post to go along the right-hand edge of a smaller part of the field, with a high chainlink fence on your right around part of the extensive gunpowder mills site.
4. In the field corner go through a wooden gate to enter another part of the Country Park and continue alongside the fence, leaving the GMT (which turns left and then heads due south through woodland into Waltham Abbey). At the fence corner turn right to go gently downhill on a broad grassy path between the fence and a closely-packed line of tall conifers.
5. At the bottom of the slope follow this potentially muddy path round to the left. Cross a wooden footbridge on the right over Cornmill Stream into the north-eastern corner of Cornmill Meadows Dragonfly Sanctuary?.
3. Cornmill Meadows to Waltham Abbey (Romeland) (1½ km)
• Keep right and follow the perimeter path around the northern and western sides of Cornmill Meadows. Go onto Waltham Abbey's ring road (Abbey View) and continue past the left-hand side of Highbridge Roundabout. Turn left onto Highbridge Street, then in 100m turn left into Romeland to come to the Crown pub.
1. Keep right to follow the perimeter path in an anti-clockwise direction around two sides of these extensive water meadows, with glimpses of many derelict buildings in the gunpowder mills site. At first there is a water channel on the right, then the Old River Lea as you continue along the western side of the meadows.
   • If it has been repaired, halfway along the western side you could make a short detour to Wake Hide for views across the meadows.
2. Shortly before reaching the south-western corner the path goes past an information panel about the Calico Ditches?. In this corner go through a wooden kissing gate and up a grassy slope onto Waltham Abbey's ring road (Abbey View) where it crosses the river. Turn right and cross this dual carriageway in front of the large Highbridge Roundabout.
3. Carry on alongside the roundabout, with the 2012 Olympic Shield? in its centre. In the corner you pass a Barge Yard information panel and turn left into Highbridge Street, going back across the Old River Lea and heading directly towards the Abbey church. In 100m turn left into a side street to come to the first of the possible lunch pubs on the right-hand side of Romeland?, the Crown.
4. A loop around Waltham Abbey (1 km)
• Leave Romeland in its north-eastern corner and follow a path across Cornmill Stream into Waltham Abbey Gardens. For the full route go through them via the Rose Garden and Orchard to an exit on the far side. Turn right onto Crooked Mile, then right again into Quaker Lane. Keep ahead along Sun Street, passing several refreshment places including two more pubs (the Angel and the Sun Inn). Bear right across Market Square and take the lychgate passage beside the Welsh Harp pub. Turn half-left onto a path leading to the west door of Waltham Abbey church.
  

This section describes a loop around the town, going out via the Abbey Gardens and returning past more pubs and cafés on the pedestrianised Sun Street. One possible short cut is mentioned but in practice you could take any convenient route to the Abbey church.

1. Carry on along the right-hand side of Romeland and bear right through a gap to continue on a path. In 50m follow it round to the right, crossing Cornmill Stream and going through the Abbey Gateway? into Waltham Abbey Gardens?. Follow the main path through the gardens for 150m, turning half-left as you pass the Abbey Church Centre off to the left.

   There are a few picnic benches off to the left as well as a tall wooden sculpture, the Ancestor?. Behind a grille in the wall on the right is a remnant of the 12^thC abbey, the Slype?.

2. When level with the Church Centre fork right onto a path alongside a brick wall, soon going over a colourful mosaic marking the Greenwich Meridian?. In 50m turn right opposite the site of the medieval Bloomery Forge? into the Rose Garden. Take any route through this small walled garden to the exit on its southern side, after which the path forks at a Y-junction.
   • If you do not want to visit any of the refreshment places on Sun Street you could fork right onto a long straight path heading SW towards the back of the Abbey church, where there is a stone slab memorial at the possible burial site of England's last Saxon monarch, King Harold?. If you take this short cut (saving 400m) take the path along the south side of the church to its west door and resume the directions in §E.
3. For the full route fork left and cross a moat on a wooden footbridge into the old Abbey Orchard (and wildflower garden). Turn half-right and follow a grassy path across it to the far corner. Cross another footbridge, leave the gardens and turn right onto a street (Crooked Mile).
4. At the traffic lights turn right into Quaker Lane. Where this swings left keep ahead into the pedestrianised Sun Street, with the Epping Forest District Museum? in an attractive half-timbered building on the left opposite the Angel pub, the first of the refreshment places on this street. Further along you pass Kalik Coffee House and the Sun Inn on the left as well as several cafés.
5. Immediately after the Sun Inn you go over another pavement mosaic marking the Greenwich Meridian?. At the end of the street bear right across Market Place and go through ‘The Gate’, the lychgate passage beside the (possibly closed) Welsh Harp pub. Turn half-left onto a tree-lined path leading to the west door of Waltham Abbey Church?, which is well worth a visit.

   As well as the memorial behind the church marking his possible burial site, there is a statue of King Harold? high up on the church's south wall.
   

5. Waltham Abbey Church to The Showground (¾ km)
• Leave the town by heading west on Highbridge Street, joining the B194 at Highbridge Roundabout and then the A121 at traffic lights. At the town bridge turn right onto the broad path between the Flood Relief Channel and the Lee Navigation, passing Waltham Town Lock and curving round to the right to come to an entrance into the Showground.
1. After visiting the church head W along Highbridge Street, passing the unusual Town Hall? on the left and then briefly retracing your outward route. Keep left at Highbridge Roundabout, joining the B194 and passing the Bake You Happy tearoom. Switch to the right-hand side of the B194 at the pedestrian crossing and go up to the traffic lights.
2. Unless you want to make a long out-and-back detour along Beaulieu Drive to the historic Royal Gunpowder Mills? site (500m away), keep ahead at this junction. You are now on the A121 and in 150m you reach the town bridge across both the wide Flood Relief Channel and the Lee Navigation.
   • If you want to curtail the walk by finishing at Waltham Cross station, simply continue along the A121 for a further 1 km, crossing to its left-hand side at some point. On the railway bridge go down a flight of steps to the station forecourt and cross the footbridge to Platform 1 for trains to London.
3. To continue the walk turn right off the A121 onto the broad path between the two river channels, passing a Viking Ship sculpture and Waltham Town Lock on the left. After the path curves to the right alongside the Flood Relief Channel there is a wide gap on the left into a large open space, the Showground.

If you are doing the Short Walk (omitting the afternoon loops), go to §I.

6. The Showground to Hooksmarsh Lake Bridge (2½ km)
• Stay on the path alongside the Flood Relief Channel for a further 600m, then fork left onto a path curving around the western edge of Hall Marsh Scrape. In its north-western corner turn right to go alongside Powdermill Cut, returning to the Flood Relief Channel. Head north on the path alongside it to Hooks Marsh car park. Turn sharp left onto a path between two lakes which leads to Hooksmarsh Lake Bridge.
1. Stay on the riverside path, which curves round to the left for a long straight stretch. Across the water there is a new housing development, then the first buildings of the Royal Gunpowder Mills site. You eventually reach a triangular path junction, opposite the start of the site's Gunpowder Railway?.
2. At this junction veer left onto a path away from the Flood Relief Channel, with Horsemill Stream on your left. In 75m there is a broad path off to the left which is the return route after the two loops.
   • To skip both afternoon loops turn left at this path junction and cross the stream on a wide bridge. If you take this short cut (saving 4½ km) resume the directions at [?] in §G.
3. For the full walk carry on along the main path, heading NE and gradually curving round to the right between the stream and the floodplain grassland of Hall Marsh Scrape. In 500m you reach a T-junction in front of a more substantial water channel, Powdermill Cut.
   • Halfway along this stretch you could make an out-and-back detour to Snipe Hide, overlooking the grassland. Old information panels show another viewing point further on but Teal Hide has disappeared.
4. Turn right at the T-junction onto another surfaced path, alongside Powdermill Cut. On this stretch the steel Phoenix Hide offers an unusual viewing point across Hall Marsh Scrape. Shortly before the path returns to the Flood Relief Channel there is a small grassy area on the right containing a Banded Demoiselle sculpture.
   • To skip the Hooks Marsh Lake loop veer right across the grass to join the path heading S alongside the Flood Relief Channel. If you take this short cut (saving 2¼ km) resume the directions at [?] in §G.
5. For the full walk go up to the path alongside the Flood Relief Channel, with the other end of the Gunpowder Railway opposite. Bear left to head N on the broad path, with Hooks Marsh Lake behind the trees on your left.
6. In 600m the path turns half-right with the water channel. In a further 250m you pass a Bird Transition sculpture on the left, just before the path enters Hooks Marsh car park.

   Up ahead you might recognise Fishers Green Bridge, which you crossed on the morning route to Waltham Abbey.

7. Turn sharp left onto a path between Hooks Marsh Lake and Seventy Acres Lake, with glimpses of the the Wildlife Discovery Centre 500m off to the right. Follow the path over a high footbridge between the two lakes, at the outermost point of these loops.
7. Hooksmarsh Lake Bridge to the White Water Centre (2½ • 3 km)
• After crossing the footbridge turn left onto a meandering path between Hooks Marsh Lake and a stream, returning to the Flood Relief Channel again. Head south alongside it for 600m, then zig-zag right and left onto a path across the Showground. Cross the Lee Navigation to come to a path junction near a pedestrian entrance to the Lee Valley White Water Centre (which you could visit).
1. After crossing the footbridge (and before the path curves right) turn left onto an unsurfaced side path, heading S. Follow this path for just over 1 km as it meanders along a strip of land between Hooks Marsh Lake and a stream, with Police Pit and later Friday Lake beyond it.
2. At the end of this stretch cross a footbridge over Powdermill Cut, ignoring a boardwalk on the right leading to Friday Lake. Go straight across your outward route, passing the Banded Demoiselle sculpture and joining the broad path between the Flood Relief Channel and Hall Marsh Scrape.
3. You soon pass Fishers Green Sluice, then in 150m a viewpoint across the marshes. In a further 300m fork right at a triangular path junction, briefly repeating a short stretch of your earlier route. In 75m turn left at a path junction to cross Horsemill Stream on a wide bridge.
4. Go through a gate into the Showground and follow a grassy path straight ahead across this large open area, heading SSW. On the far side the path swings round to the right as it merges with another path and crosses the Lee Navigation on the Canal Bridge, with a pedestrian entrance into the Lee Valley White Water Centre down the slope to the left.

If you want to visit the centre (which has a café) before completing the walk, follow the directions below.

5. Detour into the White Water Centre (+~½ km)

1. Go through the pedestrian entrance onto an enclosed path and skirt around a lake to reach the main building. There are steps from the Reception area up to the Brew Street Kitchen and Bar.
2. There are paths from the large Terrace behind the café and around the side of the building to the Olympic course. If it is operating you can watch canoeists and rafters tackling it from a footbridge.
3. To resume the walk retrace your steps out of the centre and bear left onto the path leading away from the navigation, with a fenced-off area on your left.
8. The White Water Centre to Cheshunt Station (2 km)
• Take the path heading north-west away from the centre. After crossing the Small River Lea fork right to head north along the eastern side of Bowyers Water. At its north-eastern corner keep right on a path which passes the Shrine sculpture and joins a lane from Waltham Common Lock. The suggested route is to veer right after 300m in order to go past some wooden sculptures to Pindar car park, but you could simply follow the lane to a crossroads. Either way, turn left onto Windmill Lane to come to the level crossing in front of Cheshunt station. There are several refreshment places less than 150m beyond it on the continuation of Windmill Lane.
1. Follow the path heading NW away from the Canal Bridge, with a fenced-off area on your left. In 250m you cross the Small River Lea on a footbridge. In a further 150m fork right at a triangular path junction and keep right at further junctions to head N alongside a large fishing lake, Bowyers Water.
2. At the far end of the lake fork right at a Y-junction to go back across the Small River Lea on a footbridge. Where the path splits again in front of the Shrine sculpture (of a ‘Green Man’), keep left. In 150m the path merges with a narrow lane coming from Waltham Common Lock.
3. In 300m, shortly after another path joins from the left, there is a group of wooden sculptures in an open area on your right. You could carry on along the lane for a further 200m to its crossroads with Windmill Lane, but the suggested route is to veer right and make your way around the sculptures.
4. If you then continue across the grass in much the same direction as the lane you will reach Pindar car park at the end of Windmill Lane, with Herts Young Mariners Base (an outdoor activity centre) beyond it. Turn left and go along Windmill Lane to the level crossing in front of Cheshunt station.
5. If you want to go straight back a tarmac path leads directly onto Platform 1, for Greater Anglia trains to London. London Overground trains leave from Platform 3, on the far side of the crossing.
   • There are several refreshment places less than 150m away on Windmill Lane: the Red Cow pub and Hackberries Cafe & Bistro on the left; Rose Cafe and the Maltsters pub on the right. Return along the lane to the station entrance and cross the station footbridge to Platform 1 if you want a Greater Anglia train.
9. The Showground to Cheshunt Station direct (2½ • 3 km)
• Follow a path heading north and then west … … fork left on a path which passes the Giant's Chair sculpture in Thistly Marsh. At the next path junction fork left to leave the meadow in its north-western corner. At the end of the path …
1. Veer left into the Showground and follow a clear path across this large open area, at first tracking a line of pylons and later turning left to head W. On the far side the path …

…

2. …
…
3. …
4. At the far end of the lake fork left at a Y-junction. Unless you want to make a short out-and-back detour to an Orchid Area, keep right at further path junctions to enter a meadow, Thistly Marsh.
   • For the detour turn left after 75m, then veer left off this side path towards a short elevated boardwalk overlooking a patch of grassland in front of Bowyers Water; this should contain orchids in late spring.
5. On the path along the right-hand side of the meadow you soon pass the Giant's Chair sculpture on the right. In a further 150m fork left and follow the path round to the north-western corner of the meadow, then through a wooded area for 300m. At the far end turn left onto a lane to come to the level crossing in front of Cheshunt station.
6. …

Walk Notes

1. River Lee Country Park is a large open space between Broxbourne and Waltham Abbey. It is part of the linear Lee Valley Regional Park, which follows the course of the River Lea for 42 km from Ware to the Thames. [By convention the spelling Lee is used for constructed features such as the Navigation and the Country Park, whereas the natural river and place names derived from it are spelt Lea.]
2. The River Lea runs for 68 km from its source in the Chilterns near Luton to the Thames in east London. It splits into several waterways (Old River Lea, Small River Lea, etc) as well as the constructed channels.
3. The River Lee Navigation was constructed alongside long stretches of the River Lea in the 18^thC to improve navigation, which had become more difficult with the increased extraction of water into the New River.
4. The Wildlife Discovery Centre opened in December 2020, replacing the Bittern Information Point. It contains a large bird hide overlooking Seventy Acres Lake and a 5m-high viewing tower with 360° views.
5. The Greenwich Meridian Trail runs for 439 km between Peacehaven in East Sussex and Sand le Mere in East Yorkshire. It was inaugurated in 2009 to mark the 125^th anniversary of the Meridian.
6. Cornmill Meadows Dragonfly Sanctuary is an area of partly-flooded rough grassland surrounded by slow-flowing rivers which together support many species of dragonflies and damselflies. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
7. The Calico Ditches are parallel ditches where cotton cloth was washed and laid out in the grassland to be bleached in the sunshine.
8. The 2012 Olympic Shield commemorates the building of the Lee Valley White Water Centre for the canoe slalom events. It depicts King Harold surrounded by King Henry Ⅷ and various civic and Olympic plaques.
9. Just outside the Abbey Gateway, Romeland would have been part of the church grounds before the Reformation. King Henry Ⅷ had a lodge here, not far from the royal hunting grounds in Epping Forest. The square was used for the town's cattle market until 1977.
10. Waltham Abbey Gardens were laid out by the Denny family, who built Abbey House on the site of the former abbey at the end of the 16^thC. The house was demolished in 1770.
11. The Abbey Gateway was the main entrance to the monastic area, with separate arches for horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians. The interior wall is one of the earliest brick walls in the country, partly built with large medieval red bricks known as ‘Waltham Great Bricks’.
12. The Ancestor sculpture (1992) was carved by artist Helena Stykianides from a single oak tree cut from Epping Forest. It represents an Augustinian canon and has a series of enigmatic images on the back.
13. The Slype is a medieval stone passageway with a vaulted ceiling leading into the cloisters.
14. The Greenwich Meridian was established as the universal baseline of 0° longitude at an international conference in 1884. In Waltham Abbey its location is marked by pavement mosaics in Sun Street and the Abbey Gardens. A small part of this walk follows the Greenwich Meridian Trail, a long-distance coast-to-coast route which was inaugurated in 2009 to mark its 125^th anniversary.
15. The Bloomery Forge smelted iron ore and provided metalwork for the abbey and its farm (a bloom is an iron or steel bar in an intermediate stage of manufacture).
16. King Harold (Godwinson) is said to have been cured of paralysis while praying before the Holy Cross when Earl of Essex. After his death at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 legend has it that his body was brought to Waltham, but some historians have speculated that he is buried in Bosham church, in West Sussex.
17. The Epping Forest District Museum of local history is contained in two historic houses which have been skilfully combined into a single building.
18. The Church of the Holy Cross and St Lawrence, Waltham Abbey was rebuilt in Norman style between 1090 and 1150, the fourth church on the site. When construction of the abbey started in 1177 it was greatly lengthened eastwards but the extended nave, transepts and chancel were all demolished in 1540. The west tower was added in 1556 after the old (east) tower collapsed.
19. Waltham Abbey Town Hall was built in 1904 in a Continental Art Nouveau style.
20. The Royal Gunpowder Mills were acquired by the Crown in 1787, taking over a private business which had been operating for over a century. Production continued until 1945 when the site became a research centre for rocket propellants, but this closed in 1991. A heritage centre has been open to the public since 2001.
21. The Gunpowder Railway is a 2'6" gauge railway which runs for nearly 1 km along the perimeter of the Royal Gunpowder Mills site. It was restored by volunteers and in 2022 started taking passengers on open days.

» Last updated: January 28, 2026

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