Reinterred: Wool Towns Walk Launch

Monday, 15 July 2024

Wool Towns Walk Launch

I got invited to this event today.

Back in 2023 I did the the Challenge Walk in the Suffolk Walking Festival. It was led by members of the Sudbury Ramblers and Clare Walkers, who's leaders Keith Brown and Derek Blake had put it together. As described in a previous new story here...

"Created by the two groups, in collaboration with Suffolk County Council, the circular route takes in Sudbury, Clare, Hadleigh, Lavenham and Long Melford, which are all known as wool towns because of their historic links to the weaving industry.

The project has been in the pipeline since 2017, when Clare Walkers conceived the idea and pitched it to the Wool Towns’ Association, although this was unsuccessful. Sudbury Ramblers then took up the mantle, scoping out the route as part of its delayed 50th anniversary celebrations in 2022. The volunteers then submitted it to the county council to be included in the programme for the 2023 Suffolk Walking Festival.

In addition to the five main towns, the route contains stunning villages like Boxford, Cavendish and Kersey, as well as the three Belchamp villages (St Paul, Otten and Walter) in Essex. It is also a gateway to some amazing history, from stories of powerful barons, the wealth of the wool industry, the impact of religion and the legacy of artists like Thomas Gainsborough.

The Wool Towns Walk, which can be undertaken in full over a period of four days or split into four to eight individual linear sections, will also feature on Ordnance Survey Explorer Series mapping in the future."

As regular readers of my blog will know I do blog posts of all my walks with maps and photos of the route and links to points of interest. Last year I was contacted by the project to ask if they could use some of my photos for the route guides they were creating and I happily agreed hence my invitation to the launch today.

Here are a few of my photos from today.

I'd never been inside The Old Goods Shed before.

Inside they had all the guides for the walk on display. I recognised quite a few of the photos.

Derek and Keith combined to tell the story of the project. Oo look. That's one of my photos being projected behind them.

David Falk from Suffolk County Council then joined them and explained how they had been supported in turning it into a waymarked walk that will be added to the Ordnance Survey maps.

Dawn had come to Clare too to have a little explore while I was in the walk launch. Here everyone was being assembled for a group phot. You can see Clare Castle in the background.