The Cotswold Way - Guidebook to the National Trail

Guide to the 102-mile Cotswold Way (National Trail) between Chipping Campden and Bath. The route is described in both directions. It meanders through the beautiful Cotswold landscape, visiting honey-coloured villages and old market towns, and ends in the World Heritage City of Bath.

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SECTION 3

Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill

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Distance:  61⁄2 miles (101⁄2km)
Maps:  Harvey’s Cotswold Way 1:40,000, OS Landranger 163 Cheltenham & Cirencester Area 1:50,000, OS Explorer OL45 The Cotswolds, and 179 Gloucester,         Cheltenham & Stroud 1:25,000
Accommodation: Cleeve Hill and Bishop’s Cleeve (+11⁄2 miles (21⁄2km))
Refreshments: None until Cleeve Hill (just off the route)ț

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On this short, but rather strenuous, section of the walk, a fair amount of height has to be gained. It’s both a scenic and historically interesting stretch, beginning shortly after leaving Winchcombe with magnificent Studeley Castle seen across the fields, then passing near the tree-enclosed site of a Roman villa, before the walk leads steeply uphill to discover Belas Knap, the first of the great Neolithic burial chambers of the route. The way then treads a wide expanse of country en route to Cleeve Common, a vast, moorland-like area of unenclosed land. On its tour round the common the way makes a long 4 mile (61⁄2km) loop (not all of it on this section), whereas a few hundred yards on paths and tracks heading west would bring you onto the continuing route! Such is the nature of long-distance walking. However, visual gains are substantial, for splendid panoramas are a just reward for following the waymarked path. Cleeve Common is above the 1000ft (305m) contour, while lying just below it on the northern slope is the small village of Cleeve Hill, where bed-and-breakfast accommodation can be found.

Having entered Winchcombe along the B4632, follow the road into the centre of town but, shortly before reaching the parish church, turn left into Vineyard Street (signed to Sudeley Castle). Immediately after the road crosses the River Isbourne go through a kissing gate on the right and walk ahead across a meadow to a second kissing gate at the far corner. With a hedgerow on your right maintain direction with Winchcombe seen through gaps in the hedge, and eventually come onto Corndean Lane. Bear left along the lane for about 400 metres. Shortly before it curves to the left, enter a drive on the right where a sign gives 11⁄2 miles to Belas Knap.

SUDELEY CASTLE
The present Sudeley Castle dates from the 15th century, but this is a re-building by Ralph Boteler of an earlier 12th-century castle. Boteler, who became lord chancellor and was made Baron Sudeley, created a magnificent building, but he backed the wrong side in the Wars of the Roses and his property was confiscated by Edward IV. The castle eventually passed into the hands of Henry VIII, after whose death his widow, Katherine Parr, married Lord Seymour and came to live here. Shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Mary, in 1548, Katherine died and was buried in a lead coffin in St Mary’s Chapel. Today the remains of the Elizabethan banqueting hall, the tithe barn, Portmore Tower and St Mary’s Chapel all survive and date from Boteler’s time. The castle and grounds are open to the public.

Walking up this drive the outer edge of Cleeve Common can be seen above to the southwest. Pass a cricket pitch on the right, soon after which the drive curves. Here you go through a kissing gate and walk up a sloping meadow towards woodland, on the way gaining a splendid view left to Sudeley Castle. At the head of the slope come onto a junction of lanes at grid ref: 019263. Walk up the lane ahead (sign to Belas Knap) for a very short distance to a signed path on the right opposite a lay-by. This lay-by is about 400 metres from the site of Wadfield Roman Villa – not open to the public.

WADFIELD ROMAN VILLA
Situated above Winchcombe and hidden from the Cotswold Way by a screen of conifers, Wadfield Roman Villa is one of several Roman buildings in the district. The site was excavated in 1894–5, having been discovered 30 years previously by a farm worker while ploughing. Occupying an exposed hillside overlooking the north-east, the villa consisted of a courtyard, at least two heated rooms, and two others with mosaic pavements. A shed on the site contains sections of floor mosaic.

The path rises through woods, and when you emerge from them, bear left along the lower edge of another sloping meadow. On coming to a corner turn right and walk up the slope, through a kissing gate at the top and continue along the left-hand boundary of a hilltop field, alongside more woodland and into an enclosure containing Belas Knap, a Neolithic burial chamber and one of the finest historic sites of the whole walk. An information board gives details (grid ref: 021255).

Having entered the walled enclosure, allow due time to study the barrow, then leave it and head a little south of west along the right-hand boundary of a large field, following the line of a drystone wall. At the end of the field continue on a farm track until it dips into a hollow at Wontley Farm, where another track breaks away to the right by a barn. This is the route to follow. It rises through more large open fields and passes beneath a line of high-voltage power cables.

Eventually the track takes you through a gate and then offers several path options. Take the right branch ahead, which leads over a rough, moorland-like area brightened with much gorse. This is the start of Cleeve Common, the highest land on the Cotswold Way. Ahead you will notice three tall transmitter towers which will appear and disappear with annoying frequency throughout the long loop of the common.

Many tracks criss-cross the common, but at all junctions there are distinctive marker posts to guide you, the direction to maintain being roughly north-west. On coming to a steep and narrow cleave, you descend to the Washpool, a small pond probably used as a sheep-dip. Passing alongside it, the way then curves round the foot of the hills keeping left of a wall-enclosed woodland.

BELAS KNAP
A fine example of the chambered tombs, or long barrows, of the Severn-Cotswold Group. The name means hilltop beacon, which suggests the site was used by the Saxons, for it stands above Winchcombe, which was occupied during Saxon times. Belas Knap, a wedge-shaped mound measuring some 178ft (54m) long, 60ft (18m) wide and about 13ft (4m) at its highest point, dates from about 3000bc. At its northern end is a false portal with two horns lined with drystone walling and blocked by a massive slab. When it was excavated in 1863, the remains of five children and the skull of an adult were discovered behind the portal. There are two chambers along the eastern side, one on the west and another at the southern end, reached by shallow passages walled with stones laid in almost identical fashion to many of the drystone walls seen along the Cotswold Way. No less than 26 burials were found to have been made in the paired north-east and north-west chambers, and the remains of two males and two females in the south-eastern chamber. The 1863 excavation also revealed Roman coins and pottery.

The path forks, with one branch heading right over a stile into the walled Postlip enclosure. Do not cross this, but instead bear left to find a waymark post directing a narrow path steeply up the hillside. As a consolation for the effort involved in climbing this slope, fine views are to be had off to the right.

Waymarks lead you on and across the fairways of a golf course, with the village of Cleeve Hill coming into view below. Should you require either refreshment or accommodation, follow signs directing you to the clubhouse. Beyond this a road leads directly into Cleeve Hill, which has accommodation and refreshments (grid ref: 984268), while the much larger Bishop’s Cleeve lies just below. This too has accommodation, including (at present) camping facilities.�

CLEEVE COMMON
Cleeve Common contains the highest land on the Cotswolds escarpment at 1083ft (330m). The last expanse of unenclosed land in the region, it covers an area of about 3 sq miles (71⁄2 sq km) and is designated a grade 1 site of special scientific interest, with various orchids, glow-worms, and many different types of butterfly attracted by its range of habitats. In spite of the common’s popularity with walkers and golfing enthusiasts, there are large areas that seem as remote as almost anywhere in Britain. Because of its height, this large upland plateau is often swept by mists, when it can be a bleak and mysterious place. But in good conditions the vast panoramic views revealed are among the finest anywhere along the Cotswold Way. The Malvern Hills and Brecon Beacons are among the distant features.

CLEEVE HILL
A very small village that seems to hang from the steep north-west slope of Cleeve Common, with notable views over the plain below. Several Iron Age earthworks above the village tell of long-past settlements. One, known as the Ring, covers about 1⁄2 acre (1⁄4 hectare), and within it there is what may have been a hut platform. On Cleeve Common, Cleeve Hill Municipal Golf Course is owned by Tewkesbury Borough Council.