{"id":2255,"date":"2021-05-22T03:34:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T02:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2255"},"modified":"2021-05-16T13:54:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T12:54:44","slug":"heddington-morgans-hill-the-wiltshire-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2255","title":{"rendered":"Heddington, Morgan\u2019s Hill &#038; the Wiltshire Downs"},"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('Heddington.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\/51139829616_1cdd545b60_z.jpg\" title= \"51139829616 view from Morgan&#039;s Hill looking north\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829616_1cdd545b60_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139154387_36c2c730e3_z.jpg\" title= \"51139154387 track to Morgan&#039;s Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139154387_36c2c730e3_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140603134_1df6a2dc6b_z.jpg\" title= \"51140603134 Bloody Ditch\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140603134_1df6a2dc6b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042748_eca8297394_z.jpg\" title= \"51140042748 looking back along the Wessex Ridgeway towards Morgan&#039;s Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042748_eca8297394_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829551_b7cc9310cd_z.jpg\" title= \"51139829551 Bloody Ditch 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829551_b7cc9310cd_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042688_f589a69973_z.jpg\" title= \"51140042688 looking north from the Wiltshire Downs at Morgan&#039;s Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042688_f589a69973_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829391_23b650e750_z.jpg\" title= \"51139829391 lesser butterfly orchids, Bloody Ditch\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829391_23b650e750_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139153962_037c4611b5_z.jpg\" title= \"51139153962 bee orchid, Bloody Ditch\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139153962_037c4611b5_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829276_1a8e65f2f5_z.jpg\" title= \"51139829276 corn bunting on the Wessex Ridgeway\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51139829276_1a8e65f2f5_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042333_502c5e518c_z.jpg\" title= \"51140042333 common blue butterfly on a knapweed seedhead, Bloody Ditch\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51140042333_502c5e518c_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=2255\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2255','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 \/>\nHeddington lay in thatch and mellow brick, cradled by the Wiltshire downs, as pretty and sleepy as a summer photograph from long ago.<\/p>\n<p>We passed the tiny half-timbered Ivy Inn and were soon walking through green pastures towards the hills.<\/p>\n<p>At Harley Farm we crossed the neat garden and the cornfields beyond, to join the straight old track that leads as a deep chalky holloway due east up on to the crest of Morgan\u2019s Hill. A crowd gathered here to see local man John Morgan hanged in 1720 for the murder of his uncle. Today the hill has a gentler reputation as a nature reserve with wonderful views to all quarters.<\/p>\n<p>We sat in the sun and wind among wild thyme and common spotted orchids to eat macaroons like the Famous Five, gazing north over a landscape striped and chequerboarded in white chalk and green barley and beans. The wind moved the unripe barley in silky waves and brought us the sweetly pungent smell of the bean flowers.<\/p>\n<p>The patchwork variety of the plants and creatures of the reserve came as a striking contrast to the shaven uniformity of golf course grass on the south slope of Morgan\u2019s Hill. Soon we were down in a long valley that looked south towards Salisbury Plain, following the ancient Wessex Ridgeway between fields of oats and beans and barley, just as the old song names them.<\/p>\n<p>Corn buntings are in severe decline across the UK, their habitat degraded and food sources diminished by pesticides. But now one of these chunky little birds with a striped chest and thick bill kept us company, flitting a little ahead and perching along the fence wire.<\/p>\n<p>The way home ran past the Iron Age hill fort called Oliver\u2019s Castle. Here on 13 July 1643 a Parliamentarian army suffered heavy defeat by Royalist forces. Many of the Roundhead casualties were troopers in flight; they rode in panic over the steep edge of the down and crashed to their deaths in a heap of men and horses.<\/p>\n<p>On this sunny afternoon the banks of the \u2018Bloody Ditch\u2019 were thick with bee and lesser butterfly orchids. Wandering here, it was hard to give credence to the awful scenes of the long-ago disaster that gave this flowery cleft its ominous name.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 8\u00bc miles; easy; field paths and trackways <\/p>\n<p>Start: St Andrew\u2019s Church, Heddington, Calne, Wilts SN11 0PL (OS ref ST 999663)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 43 from Calne<br \/>\nRoad: Heddington is signed off A3102 between Calne and Devizes<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorers 156, 157): Stockley Road north out of Heddington. In \u2153 mile, opposite row of cottages, right (SU 001666, stile); follow field path (unwaymarked) for \u2153 mile east, then north-east to Harley Farm (006671). Through gate into garden (unwaymarked, but it\u2019s a Right of Way); half right to stile. On across 2 fields to stony lane (006675). Right; in 300m, ahead at bend (009675). In \u00bd mile dogleg right\/left across road (018673, \u2018Byway\u2019) and on.<\/p>\n<p>In 500m, reach Morgan\u2019s Hill Nature Reserve gate on right, with another gate\/track on left (023672). Take middle track between them along north edge of reserve. In 500m, right (027672, gate, white arrow), diagonally across nature reserve. At top, through gate onto golf course (025671). Dogleg left\/right down path through golf course; in 300m bear right (025668, arrows) to cross road near Club House (023667). On along Wessex Ridgeway. In 1\u00be miles pass Plantation car park (015642); in 300m, right (013639, \u2018Leipzig Plantation\u2019) up road. In just under 1 mile, near Oliver\u2019s Castle, dogleg left\/right and on (005648). In \u00bc mile, left through gate (003651); down steep cleft. In \u00be mile at bottom of hill, on left bend just after gates on right (992655), go right through hedge gap by wooden post. North along path; in 300m cross marked Byway and on (992658, \u2018Restricted Byway\u2019) to Heddington.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Ivy Inn, Heddington SN11 0PL (01380-859652, <a href=\"http:\/\/ivyinnheddington.co.uk\">ivyinnheddington.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: George &#038; Dragon, High Street, Rowde, Devizes SN10 2PN (01380-723053, <a href=\"http:\/\/thegeorgeanddragonrowde.co.uk\">thegeorgeanddragonrowde.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info:  Calne TIC (01249-814000); <a href=\"http:\/\/visitwiltshire.co.uk\">visitwiltshire.co.uk<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heddington lay in thatch and mellow brick, cradled by the Wiltshire downs, as pretty and sleepy as a summer photograph from long ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2255","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\/2255","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=2255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}