Walking Lansdown (Off Topic #16)

I had a copy of The Battle of Lansdown by John Wroughton for my birthday and last weekend finally managed to get out and do the full battlefield walk it describes. I had done part of the walk many years ago but that was before the recent signage had been put in place by the Battlefield Trust that makes understanding the landscape a whole lot easier.

One of the signs erected with the aid of money from the Lottery Heritage Fund

My companion for the morning was Andy who is a keen walker rather than a military history buff and who kindly put up with my ill-informed historical ramblings as we trudged across the field. Being a proper walker Andy also came prepared with a supply of Eccles cakes to stave off hunger and I was pretty glad of this by the time we got half way around.

Andy enjoying the historic Lansdown trail

We parked on the road near the monument and followed the lane to the left that leads to Hanging Hill and the extreme left of the Parliamentarian position. The view from this point takes in the whole valley below and Freezing Hill beyond where the Royalists were initially encamped.

Looking from Hanging Hill towards Freezing Hill

Cutting across the field to our front the footpath dropped off quite steeply down towards the valley where we joined the lane that leads to the foot of Freezing Hill. On the morning of 5th July 1643 Hopton’s Royalist army was entrenched on the top of this hill facing Waller’s Parliamentarians across the valley.

Looking up Freezing Hill - it looks a lot steeper on the ground!

We climbed to the top of Freezing Hill through the site of the old earthworks and I admit I found it pretty hard going carrying a small rucksack and an Eccles cake, just how you would carry a sixteen foot pike up that hill I really don’t know. From the top it’s hard to understand why the Royalists ever decided to quit the position and attack the enemy on the other side of the valley but that’s what they did and with some success.

Looking from Freezing Hill towards Lansdown

Descending Freezing Hill we took a left and, crossing the main road, (do be careful it’s a very busy road) followed the lane to Lower Hamswell then up again by a path to the point where the extreme right of the Parliamentarian line had been. For a while here the path forms part of the Cotswold Way and the views of the surrounding countryside are fabulous. Finally we ended up at Waller’s wall, which was the scene of the final act of the battle where Waller’s men made their last stand before slipping away to Bath under cover of night. The battle was claimed as a Royalist victory but was really pretty much a draw.

The view from Waller's Wall looking towards the Royalist line (those trees weren't there in 1643)

The whole walk took about three hours and although there are some steep bits there’s nothing that the average fifty-something can’t manage without lots of stops, a litre of water and, of course, an Eccles cake.

If you’re tempted to have a go then you must buy John Wroughton’s book, which comes with a separate waterproof laminated map of the walk. The correct sort of Eccles cakes can be obtained from any branch of Sainsbury’s.