Brackenbury Ditches and Tyndale Monument (Cotswold Gateway Wotton-under-Edge Walk 2)

(1) Walk towards the Heritage Centre on the corner of The Chipping Car Park then along Market Street. Turn left at the junction with the High Street, then at the crossroads, go straight ahead up Bradley Street. Continue past two turnings as the road curves to the right, then turn left at the junction with Bradley Street. Just past the turning to the Old London Road, take the footpath on your right, following the Cotswold Way signage. Follow the path uphill and through a gate then straight up until you reach Wotton Hill which offers magnificent views across the Severn Vale.

(2) A metal plaque on the wall surrounding the trees at Wotton Hill explains their history. Aim for a kissing gate in the top left-hand corner of the field at the back of hill. After the gate, follow the path along the left hand side of the field.

(3) Turn left and continue to follow the Cotswold Way signage all the way through Westridge Woods. Keep left of a conifer plantation. The well-used route passes Brackenbury Ditches a prehistoric camp, on the left opposite another conifer plantation.

(4) You will eventually reach a large rectangular stone lying on the ground. Keeping on the Cotswold Way, walk between beech trees until you get to a large open area. Follow the way-marked fence on the left to reach the Tyndale Monument, from which there are fine views.

(5) The Tyndale Monument commemorates William Tyndale, the translator of the Bible into English, who may have been born at North Nibley, the village at the foot of the hill. Turn sharp right at the monument and walk around the edge of a big field, skirting an old quarry and turning right when you meet a path coming up from North Nibley. This pleasant ramble will bring you back to the large stone in the woods.

A short distance beyond this at a junction of tracks, take the centre uphill path – (Blue Marker) then continue on this path for about half a kilometre, crossing two other main paths, until you reach the main outbound track. Turn left and continue along it.

After 250 metres, where the main track continues towards Wotton, continue straight until the next junction at the corner of a larger field. Turn right keeping the large field on your right and a wood on your left. When the wood ends after 435 metres, continue ahead on the track past a metal gate until you reach Old London Road.

(6) Turn left and follow the road past the road junction on the right (Adey’s Lane). Take the footpath on the right immediately past this road junction, going over the stile and follow the path straight until it meets a track at a T-junction. Turn right and continue along the track until the yellow waymarked footpath downhill on the right appears after about 300m (waymark on left of track) and take this path. Follow the path downhill, crossing a stile, until it reaches the road (Adey’s Lane) and turn left down the road.

(7) Walk down the road for a short distance and take the footpath off to the right through a kissing gate beside a metal gate. Take the path down the hillside and continue round the outside of a housing estate. At the junction with the estate road continue straight on.

After going uphill you will eventually come to an old chapel (Tabernacle) now occupied by Wotton Auction Rooms. Continue straight ahead down the road, noting the almshouses to the left. At the crossroads go straight ahead and turn left at the next junction (High Street). In a few metres turn right up Market Street to The Chipping.

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