{"id":2199,"date":"2021-02-06T01:29:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T00:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2021-02-25T15:58:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T14:58:53","slug":"fyfield-down-the-grey-wethers-wiltshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2199","title":{"rendered":"Fyfield Down &#038; the Grey Wethers, Wiltshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('FyfieldDown.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799692236_65a3ee0d80_z.jpg\" title= \"50799692236 The Devil&#039;s Den, a neolithic passage grave on Fyfield Down\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799692236_65a3ee0d80_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808942_93a3d5e9d1_z.jpg\" title= \"50799808942 southern edge of Fyfield Down 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808942_93a3d5e9d1_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808732_dddb049af1_z.jpg\" title= \"50799808732 southern edge of Fyfield Down 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808732_dddb049af1_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808362_871fa39df4_z.jpg\" title= \"50799808362 The Grey Wethers sarsen stones on Fyfield Down 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799808362_871fa39df4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799691826_2af38db4c8_z.jpg\" title= \"50799691826 The Grey Wethers sarsen stones on Fyfield Down - a river of stones\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799691826_2af38db4c8_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50798945418_607397564b_z.jpg\" title= \"50798945418 The Grey Wethers sarsen stones on Fyfield Down - a river of stones 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50798945418_607397564b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799807902_e07b1fac53_z.jpg\" title= \"50799807902 The Grey Wethers sarsen stones on Fyfield Down - a river of stones 3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799807902_e07b1fac53_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799807637_cd7daee107_z.jpg\" title= \"50799807637 Among the Grey Wethers on Fyfield Down\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799807637_cd7daee107_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799690896_2ae11ea833_z.jpg\" title= \"50799690896 wintry sun on the White Horse Trail\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799690896_2ae11ea833_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799692766_601d5dd375_z.jpg\" title= \"50799692766 looking north over the Marlborough Downs from the White Horse Trail\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50799692766_601d5dd375_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2199\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2199','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nThe sun had broken through at last, rolling away a cold blanket of mist to reveal the Wiltshire Downs and their subtle undulations. We stepped out under a blue sky, hearing horse hooves pounding along an unseen gallop in the hollow where Manton Stables lay hidden.<\/p>\n<p>This wide open downland is horse and cattle country, the gallops tending to stretch along the tops, the cattle grazing the dry valleys below. A very fine Charolais bull, contentedly recumbent, kept a lazy eye on us as we passed on our way to the Devil\u2019s Den.<\/p>\n<p>Neolithic men raised the huge stones that form the structure of this passage grave. After the end of the last glaciation, these sarsens \u2013 \u2018saracens\u2019 or foreign stones \u2013 lay scattered all across the downs, easy pickings for the builders of Stonehenge and other ancient monuments.<\/p>\n<p>We followed a wide path west through a shallow valley where a great congregation of lichen-stained sarsens delineated the curve of the hollow. Local people, seeing their resemblance to an enormous flock of sheep in bedraggled fleeces, named these clustered stones the Grey Wethers. Cows moved slowly among them, and a handsome ginger-and-white Simmental bull licked one ruminatively for the minerals it contained.<\/p>\n<p>Sarsen stone is composed of sandstone bound together with a glassy silica. In his book \u2018The Stonemason,\u2019 Andrew Ziminsky calls it \u2018diamond-hard, tougher even than granite.\u2019 Nonetheless, three centuries ago in his \u2018Palaeographia Britannica,\u2019 antiquarian William Stukeley warned masons not to build with sarsen; \u2018It is always moist and dewy, and rots the furniture.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>We shadowed the river of stones up the valley, then took to the ancient downland tracks that are the pride and joy of Wiltshire\u2019s walkers. The Herepath (a Saxon word for \u2018warpath\u2019) led to the Ridgeway, a high road of braided ruts with a stunning view westward over many miles of downs and wooded valleys gilded by the afternoon sun.<\/p>\n<p>Sarsens lay alongside the Ridgeway, and sarsens bounded the White Horse Trail, another venerable downland track that led us homeward between leafless hedges. A yellowhammer perched high on a bush, its breast sulphurous in the sunlight, and fieldfares flew over with vigorous wing thrusts, flocking together for protection and company in obedience to an age-old winter instinct.<br \/>\nHow hard is it? 7\u00bd miles; easy; downland paths and tracks<\/p>\n<p>Please only walk within your Tier area, or enjoy this as an armchair walk till restrictions lift. And please consider others when you park.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/gov.uk\/government\/publications\/the-countryside-code\">gov.uk\/government\/publications\/the-countryside-code<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Start: Gravel Hill car park, Downs Lane, near Fyfield, Wilts SN8 1PL (OS ref SU 159700)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Follow \u2018Manton House &#038; Hollow\u2019 on A4 (Calne-Marlborough) between Fyfield and Manton. Car park 1 mile on left.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorer 157): Follow gravelled trackway west. In 700m left through gate (153703); on through field, with fence on left. In 500m, left (149701) down slope beside fence; left through gate (150698) to Devil\u2019s Den stones (152697). Return to gate; on along grass track through Grey Wethers valley. In 1 mile path curves right to metal gate (137706). On with fence on right to corner of Wroughton Copse (138711); left down slope; left along Wessex Ridgeway\/Herepath (133710). In 300m cross gallop (130709); bear right for 550m to stile onto Ridgeway National Trail (127714). Right for 1 mile; right onto White Horse Trail\/WHT (125729). In \u2154 mile fork right at copse (132723), cross track and on (WHT). Through wood (135720), then grassy track (WHT). In 600m, left on Wessex Ridgeway\/Herepath (143714); in 100m right (\u2018Byway\u2019) to car park. <\/p>\n<p>Info: <a href=\"http:\/\/uksouthwest.net\/wiltshire\/fyfield-down\">uksouthwest.net\/wiltshire\/fyfield-down<\/a>;  <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Stonemason by Andrew Ziminski (John Murray)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sun had broken through at last, rolling away a cold blanket of mist to reveal the Wiltshire Downs and their subtle undulations. We stepped out under a blue sky, hearing horse hooves pounding along an unseen gallop in the hollow where Manton Stables lay hidden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}