Great Cornard Walk

Today we had a circular walk from Great Cornard on both sides of the River Stour.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Wednesday June 10th. We will park at Great Cornard allotments down Blackhouse Lane, Great Cornard CO10 0NL is the best postcode I can find, for a 10am start. I have lengthened the walk we did last year to a circular walk of 10.5 miles. It’s an interesting walk that ventures into Essex. Please bring a packed lunch for a church pitstop, as there are no facilities until we get to The Henny Swan pub which is 9 miles in. We will stop for a drink here and take part in a quiz devised and hosted by Dan. He requests that you bring a pen to take part. I will provide a prize for the winning pair."

This was our route today, going clockwise.

Here are some of my photos.

We met up at the allotments. Joyce was held up in traffic and a little late, but that meant we could shelter in our cars from a heavy shower including hail before she arrived. Would we get wet on our walk, we wondered?

We were soon up Prospect Hill with views back towards Great Cornard.

We saw plenty of poppies today.

We liked this house.

We soon came to Grade 1 listed Little Cornard Church.  To quote from a previous blog post...

The church website tells us.. "The bells were silent for nearly 200 years. We know very little about the history of the bells or why they ceased to be rung, but we can guess that when times were bad and there was no money to effect repairs, they simply fell into disuse and then decay. The Tenor Bell is the oldest, dating back to 1399. It could have rung out to celebrate the English victory at Agincourt in 1415.

In memory of the Rev. Tony Moore, the Little Cornard Church Bells Committee had been fundraising since 2014, and in late 2017 had raised sufficient funds to have the bells removed and transported to John Taylor’s Bell Foundry, Loughborough to be restored to their former glory. 

In 2018 a new Treble Bell was cast and the bells were reinstalled in the tower. The blessing of the bells by the Rt Rev Martin Seeley, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, along with All Saints Vicar the Rev Stephen Morley, was on the 30th of September, 2018. The dedication of the bells by the Right Rev Dr Mike Harrison, the Bishop of Dunwich, followed on the 1st of December, 2018." 

But no chance to visit today as it was locked.

In the field next to the church we saw an unusual sight...

...a peacock!

There are great views from up here.

More poppies.

We also saw fields of ox-eye daisies. They seem to be all the rage this year.

We passed through some lovely countryside.

A nice climbing rose here.

Down Spout lane now.

We paused at the bus stop across the road. Time for me to take my coat off. It was quite warm now.

Now to cross the River Stour into Essex.

We passed through willows and comfrey.

Crossing the river, there was a swan beneath us.

Oops. We've gone the wrong way.

Back past the bridge.

We caught a glimpse of Lamarsh Church, but we wouldn't be going that far south today.

We had a drinks stop by this trailer.

Across the road some Pemba honey was for sale at £7 a jar.

Looking back towards the river just before we started to climb.

The sky was looking ominous ahead.

We passed some variegated milk thistles.

Looking across to Valley Farm.

We've seen a lot more hay bales here before.

Looking back towards Suffolk.

This border was pretty.

The skies looked literally thunderous beyond Great Henny church. We would be visiting there later.

This pylon looks menacing too.

The wind got up and suddenly we started to get some rain.

This field had a patch of pyramid orchids.

The rain was coming down harder now.

We came to the 19th century St. John, Twinstead church, our lunch stop. There was just room for the 7 of us in the porch - the church was closed as it has been deemed structurally unsafe.

The rain was starting to relent as we set off again, but it was still "umbrellas up".

A heron flew past.

We saw several of these odd objects at Fenn Farm.

It turns out they are Sentomol H-Trap Horsefly Control Systems designed to reduce biting fly populations in paddocks. They operate without chemicals or electricity by using a large, black inflatable ball that mimics a large animal to attract horseflies.

The farmhouse at Fenn Farm.

Now we really were visiting Great Henny church. St. Mary's church is thought to have first been built in the 11th or 12th century and then later extended in the 14th century. The church is also registered as a Small Place of Pilgrimage.

Except we couldn't. There was a notice on the lych-gate....

Yes. This church too was closed due to structural damage.

The fieldbind has been battered by the rain earlier.

Downhill now and the black skies were over Suffolk now.

We came to the  Henny Swan. 

Here we were treated to an excellent quiz by Dan. There were 3 teams and partners were chosen by lots.

I was the lucky one and got Roland on my team. He is a whizz at pop music and also good at identifying faces and knowledgeable about TV and films, so "C for CU After Class" ran out the winner as I was able to chip in with a few correct answers in the Food & drink and General Knowledge rounds. Thank-you Dan for the entertaining challenge!

Just 1 1/2 miles to get back to the cars from here.

Back across the river...

... and Shalford Meadow. 

As stated here, legend has it that Shalford Meadow (previously known as Sharpfight Meadow) was the site of  3 battles - between the Danes and the Saxons,  between Boudicca and soldiers from the Roman garrison in Colchester and two dragons...

"On Friday 26th of September in the year of our Lord 1449, about the hour of Vespers, two terrible

dragons were seen fighting for about the space of one hour, on two hills, of which one,

in Suffolk, is called Kydyndon Hyl (Kedington Hill) and the other in Essex, Blacdon Hyl

(Ballingdon Hill). One was black in colour and the other reddish and spotted. After a

long conflict the reddish one obtained the victory over the black, which done, both

returned into the hills above whence they had come".

Well the valley here is a source of many legends about dragons, as we know from other walks - read about the Three Dragons Walk here.

After the meadow it was under the railway then past the little airstrip in the grounds of this house (and aircraft hangar).

Would we get back before the rain came again?

Yes we did!

A favourite walk in some lovely countryside and we were lucky to have only the one shower. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to everyone else for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 10.6 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Sudbury and Bures Walk (Aug 2019)
• Sudbury to Bures Walk (Sep 2022)
• Suffolk Walking Festival Wool Towns Walk Day 2 (May 2023)
• St Edmund Way Part 6 (May 2024)
• U3A Lamarsh Walk (Nov 2024)
• Great Cornard Walk (Nov 2024)
• L is for Little Cornard Walk (May 2025).