Hadleigh Walk

Today we had a different walk from Hadleigh vis Kersey with a treat for fans of The Detectorists.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Tuesday April 4th  Hadleigh walk approximately10-11 miles . We will meet at Morrisons, Calais Street, Hadleigh, Ipswich IP7 6LBfor 10.30am. We can park for free here all day. Toilets available here.  It's likely to be muddy so please come prepared. 

If you are a fan of The Detectorists, then you will enjoy that we are visiting the Church at Aldham which appears in the series. We will have a quick stop here for a drink/snack.  At mile 6, we will be at Kersey Mill where you can have a drink if you wish."

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

We hadn't started from Morrisons before. Dawn went in search of their scotch pies before the start but they don't do them any more so had to make do with a couple of cheese and onion pasties.

We had a beautiful spring day for it. We passed some familiar landmarks from this walk. This is the Row chapel, dedicated to Blessed Mary Magdalen and St Catherine. We didn't go in as their regular Tuesday service was in progress.

The building site has got even bigger.

What lovely blossom!

We passed this monument to the martyr Doctor Rowland Taylor. Dr Taylor was chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer in the 16th century and appointed by him to the rectory of Hadleigh. Taylor was also a protestant and was a victim of Catholic persecutions. On the orders of Mary I he was burnt at the stake on Aldham Common in 1555. 

As we headed eastwards across the high ground, in the distance to the west we could see Kersey church.

The blackthorn blossom is at its best now.

We went as far as the curiously named Shooting Box house (now valued at £1.36m)... 

...before doubling back to St. Mary's, Aldham church.

As Simon Knott says. "If the church is pretty, the view from it is doubly so - to the south, the land drops away alarmingly, into a valley full of sheep. You may even think you recognise it, and you could well be right, for the second season of the popular TV series The Detectorists was filmed here, as a small display in the porch of the church reminds you. The church appeared in the opening credits of each programme, the two main characters searching for buried treasure in Aldham Vale below the churchyard.". I thought the church looked like an upside down shoe with a stiletto heel/ Here is the valley below,

From the churchyard we had a view in the distance of Kersey church.

Inside the church we admired the ends of thee pews.

Simon says "The benches are mostly Cautleys from the 1920s, but he incorporated a couple of earlier ones. These are unlike anything else I've seen in Suffolk, and their primitive quality suggests a local origin. The one to the west apparently shows a bear, or possibly a lion. My first impulse was that it was some kind of heraldic device, but what is the shaved off object it holds in its mouth, and is the pattern emerging from beneath the head really fur? Back in 1999, my six year old took one look at it and decided that the creature isn't eating the bird, but the bird is flying out of its mouth. Could it be a dove? And could the three objects issuing from beneath the head actually be tongues of fire? In which case, could this be some strange composition representing Pentecost, and the descent of the Holy Spirit?"

We headed on westwards. This was the view looking back.

We attempted to cross the River Brett at Aldham Mill,,,

... no can do!

The river rushed on by,

We got buzzed by a buzzard.

We weren't heading back yet, but had a view of Hadleigh.

We recrossed the river at Cosford Bridge. 

We stopped for lunch refreshments at Kersey Mill.

Onward through the grounds,

We got some lovely blackthorn blossom again at Noakes Tye farm.

...and some pretty daffodils a little later.

We climbed up from Kersey Vale....

... and passed Coram Street Farm...

..before descending to the River Brett once more.

 

There is another building site near where we usually park.

Then it was back to our starting point. What a lovely spring day for a walk and Aldham church was well worth a visit. Thank-you Joyce for taking us there and thank-you to our walking companions for the company.

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