Chelsworth Charmer Walk

I wasn't able to do this walk when it was led by Glen recently, as I was busy getting COVID-19 tested, but Joyce offered to run it again...

"Monday 27th July I'll be repeating Glen's recent walk : Chelsworth Charmer for those that didn't make the first date. We will meet at Bildeston war memorial opposite The Crown pub at 1pm for his 10 mile circular walk to these beautiful villages plus Monks Eleigh. Finish time by 4.30pm - short break included but bring your own drink/snacks."

We met as planned but only after exchanging messages about the weather prospects as it rained this morning. We eventually decided to risk it. Fortunately we only had a couple of brief light showers.

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

Not a good start.I'd already come a cross a closed road and been sent back through Stowmarket for a second time and here I had to park down a side street the other side of these road works in Bildeston so I was 5 minutes late to the start. Sorry!

We set off from the centre of Bildeston. The village came into existence over 1100 years ago, according to that article.

And off we went. There was an advert for the forthcoming Scarecrow competition in this window. First prize £50!

Our route took us through a field where the path wasn't obvious, but we found it eventually.

Bildeston Church has a rather unusual tower.  Like many Suffolk churches it is remote from the centre of the village. Simon Knott explains...

"When you find a parish church remote from its village, as you often do in Suffolk, it is pertinent to ask why. More than once I've read accounts in church guides blaming the Black Death, but there's no real evidence to suggest this was the cause of the isolation of any Suffolk churches. But the removal of the village of Bildeston from its parish church is fairly well-documented and researched. Here, beside the church, are traces of a substantial manor house. Until 1960s hedge-removal and deep-ploughing destroyed them, there was also evidence of other dwellings, smallholdings, farmsteads and tenements. 

They were much older than the church, but, of course, this church was built on the site of its predecessor, located for the convenience of the manor house. So, why are there no houses here now? Some time in the 13th century, people from this parish migrated down to the river valley, possibly to be near resources for the budding cloth industry. Soon, this new community was active enough to merit a market, and here, on the main road between Stowmarket and Hadleigh, it became a busy one. Changing patterns of agriculture in the late medieval period meant the disappearance of the remaining community from around the church, and so now St Mary Magdalene stands grand, isolated, and half a mile or so from the large village (almost a small town) of Bildeston. This, conversely, makes Bildeston a rather curious village, since it has a typical Suffolk market place, except for the fact that there isn't a church on it.".

We set off across the fields towards Chelsworth. But that is Monks Eleigh church not Chelsworth, I think.

When we got to Chelworth we took a detour into the Woodland. I'd already lunched before coming out, but others had theirs with them. Joyce suggested I explore the woodland a bit while they ate.

If they were trying to lose me, they failed... I caught up with them back at the gate.

Chelsworth is a very pretty village. As the village site says..

"Chelsworth, formerly known as Ceorleswyrthe and later Chellesworth is first recorded in history in 962 AD, when King Edgar gave the village and its land to his step-mother Aethelflad of Domerham. The charter, written in Latin and witnessed by such notables as Archbishop Dunstan is held by the British Museum. The village boundaries are carefully described in Anglo-Saxon in charter. "

We were impressed by the abundance of hollhocks.

The bridge across the river Brett is very narrow. We watched a van squeeze through with inches to spare.

Now we did a little loop around to the south-east of the village. We weren't sure where to turn right but found a path that got us here, where we should have been, but taking a little shortcut.

We headed on to Monks Eleigh where we found more hollyhocks.

 And another blocked road!

We passed St.Peters, Monks Eleigh Church.

Crossing the River Brett again there was a sign for "lockdown pooh-sticks".

We found a shortcut to avoid a nasty road junction.

We went through Swingleton Green and looped back round to the north of Monks Eleigh, with a view of the church again.

There was still a bit of drizzle about in the air. There is a water tower in the distance.

Back through Chelmsworth where we saw more hollyhocks....

...and All Saints Church, although we didn't have time to visit.

Now we were back to Bildeston, passing the church again.

And here we are back in the village marketplace.

So thanks, Glen for a lovely walk, Joyce for leading us round and Ann, Anna and Roland too for the company.

You can see more details of our walk here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.