Writhlington-Single Hill-Stony Littleton-Foxcote Circular (Radstock Walk 8)

A RADSTOCK MUSEUM. With your back to Radstock Museum turn left and walk along Waterloo Road. Continue as the road starts to gently climb and becomes Tyning Hill. After the last houses, the road flattens and there are open areas left and right. The area on the right was the site of Tyning Pit. Carry on until one of the Lower Whitelands Terraces comes into view. Turn right down a lane beside Lower Whitelands. At the end of the lane follow the concrete path straight ahead until you reach National Cycle Route 24. Turn left and then shortly after, take a right-hand turn and walk with the large grain mill on your right. After a few yards, the path widens and crosses a bridge over the Wellow Brook. Just after the bridge turn left onto a bridleway to the right of a metal gate. Continue on this clearly defined bridleway for 550 yards until you walk past the former St Mary Magdalene Church and reach a lane which is Church Hill. The woods on the right of the bridleway mark the batch of Upper Writhlington Pit.

B ST MARY MAGDALEN CHURCH. Turn left and walk down Church Hill. BE CAREFUL OF OCCASIONAL CARS ON THIS ROAD. Just below the church on the left-hand side was the site of Writhlington Manor House. The road bends to the right then to the left. Continue on, turning left when you reach a T-junction. Walk 60 yards and just before a metal farm gate take the footpath going right. The area directly ahead was Lower Writhlington Pit. Walk through the small copse to a metal kissing gate. Go through the kissing gate into large field. Continue ahead keeping the hedge on your left until you reach another metal kissing gate which leads into woods. Carry on straight ahead through the woods following the clearly marked path close to the left-hand fence. The woods mark the site of Foxcote Pit spoil heap. Cross a wooden stile as you leave the woods. Continue straight ahead to a metal kissing gate. Go through the gate and go uphill to the metal kissing gate ahead. Go through and bear left walking gently upwards, keep the hedge on your left until you reach another metal kissing gate.

C BRAESIDE. After going through the gate, immediately turn left and go through a wooden gate. Then walk diagonally right down the hill towards the houses. About half way across the field Foxcote Mill comes into view. Aim for a metal field gate in the bottom corner beside the Wellow Brook. Go through the gate and walk beside a small building and join the lane in front of the mill. Turn left and continue on the lane, cross the bridge over Wellow Brook and then uphill and pass the former Shoscombe viaduct to reach a crossroads. Turn right in to what is St Julian’s Road with houses, Railway Terrace, on your right and open fields rising on your left. The road initially curves to the left and then to the right and is on the line of the Somersetshire Coal Canal. The road gently climbs and then curves to the left. As the road bears left there is an old metal kissing gate on your right beside the grit bin. Go through and then turn left with the hedge and metal fence on your left until you reach another metal kissing gate. Go through and walk along an enclosed path until you come out onto a grassy patch. On the left is a metal kissing gate. Go through the gate, turn right and walk with the hedge on your right until you reach a metal kissing gate. Go through and walk along a path with a conifer hedge on the left and a wooden fence on your right until you reach a junction with a road and houses. This is Single Hill. Turn right and walk down until you reach a crossroad. On the right is an information board on Shoscombe and Single Hill Halt.

D SINGLE HILL. Turn left into Single Hill No Through Road. Go along to the end, passing and line of cottages including Magpie Cottage and the Primitive Methodist Chapel on your left, and continue straight ahead for 175 yards on a footpath. Carry on to a metal kissing gate, then straight ahead, pausing to enjoy the views to the right towards Faulkland, to another metal kissing gate which brings you onto Hang Hill. Turn right and cross the bridge over the old railway line and Somersetshire Coal Canal. BE CAREFUL OF OCCASIONAL CARS ON THIS ROAD. Continue ahead and down until you reach a lane going left. Go along this quiet lane, passing Brook Cottage and a brick-built pill box on your left, until you reach a parking area and a sign and information board for the Stony Littleton Long Barrow on the right. (If you are not visiting the long barrow, cross the footbridge, turn right and join the walk at E) Cross the footbridge and turn left to cross a wooden stile. Walk ahead and up, keeping the hedge on your left. Take the stile on the left signposted to the Long Barrow. Continue ahead with the hedge on your right until you reach another stile on your right which leads to the Long Barrow.

E STONY LITTLETON LONG BARROW. After visiting the Long Barrow, retrace your steps back to the large footbridge. Don’t cross the footbridge, but go straight ahead keeping the Wellow Brook on your right. Gradually climb towards the farm. Go through the field gate to the farm and join the farm drive. Continue ahead until you reach a road. Turn right, and then walk down the road to the river. BE CAREFUL OF OCCASIONAL CARS ON THIS ROAD. Just before the bridge, go through a Bristol Gate on your left. Continue ahead keeping the Wellow Brook on your right until you reach a metal kissing gate. Go through and walk ahead keeping the metal fence on your right to another metal kissing gate. Continue ahead still keeping the river on your right to reach a footbridge with a metal gate. Cross and go right and through a small metal gate; then turn right, keeping the river on your right, to a second footbridge and then a metal kissing gate which leads onto a road. Beside the Wellow Brook are some large concrete triangular anti-tank structures which were also part of the GHQ line from World War II. Turn left and walk up the lane and just before a house on the right turn right on a marked footpath. Continue ahead through a wooden gate into a field. Carry on in the same direction to another wooden gate. There are good views across the valley towards Shoscombe. Go straight ahead, passing over a small stream, to a wooden kissing gate aiming to the right of the church tower in the distance. Go through another wooden kissing gate, then walk upwards and straight ahead aiming to the right of the farm buildings to a low stone wall with field gate which leads onto the lane in Foxcote. The shorter walk joins from the right. Turn left and walk along the road, passing an open area with large stones on the left, to St James the Less Church.

F ST JAMES THE LESS CHURCH. Continue straight ahead and walk gently upwards along the lane, past Foxcote Farm immediately on your right and the Old Rectory on your left, to where another lane joins from the left. Shortly after this junction and the entrance to The Tythe Barn there is a public footpath on your right opposite a metal field gate. Go through the field gate on the left and walk diagonally right across this field to a wooden kissing gate in the corner of the field. Go through to join a lane. Turn right and walk along this lane. Continue on the lane, with wide-ranging views on both sides of the road, passing a collection of three houses and then a turning on your right signposted The Retreat. The houses at The Retreat mark the site of Foxcote Pit. Continue along the lane for a further 350 yards. As the lane curves to the left there is a narrow path going straight ahead. Follow the path down until your reach a lane. Turn left and walk along the road to a small metal gate beside a wooden field gate on the right. Continue on a path through the woods which climbs gently. After coming out of the wood the path forks; take the left fork up the slope to a wooden kissing gate to the left of a wooden fence and right of a large tree stump. Go through, turn right and then left. Then continue ahead with gardens, buildings and a wooden fence on your right. This is Combe Farmhouse. Keep the tall conifer hedgerow on your right as the path turns right and then left to reach a metal kissing gate. Go through the gate and walk ahead to join the road. Turn right and pass the Old School House on the left and, opposite St Mary’s Rise, Manor Farm House on the right.

G MANOR FARM HOUSE. Continue down the road, which is Church Hill, and about 15 yards after the last house on the left there is a Bristol Gate on your left. TAKE CARE AS THERE IS OCCASIONAL TRAFFIC ON THIS ROAD. Go through the Bristol Gate and continue ahead keeping the houses on your left. After for 275 yards there is a crossing path. Turn right and walk down to the trees. Just before the trees, turn left and walk with the trees on your right to reach a metal kissing gate into the woods. Turn left after the gate and walk along the path until you reach a quiet lane. Turn right and follow the lane down until you reach a junction with Mill Road. Turn left and walk along the road for 200 yards and turn right. Where the road turns to the right, go straight ahead to reach National Cycle Route 24. The tree lined batch of Tyning Pit is immediately in front of you. Turn left and walk along the cycle path until reach Waterloo Road. The buttress wall by the cycle chicane and information board carried a tramway across the railway line. Turn left and walk back to Radstock Museum passing Pines Way and Pines Court on the left.

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