Love local, love history? Winter, when the leaves are off the trees and hedges, is a good time to see more of the architectural features of historic buildings on our patch. While we may be limited to local by lockdown, we can use this as an opportunity to learn more about local history when out on walks. Are you familiar with the Well Tower at Willey Farm on the North Downs Way, have you seen the front of the Queen Anne style red brick Fryern House by the golf course, and the fourteenth century oak barge board on the east gable of Chaldon Court by Chaldon Church? None of these can be seen easily from public footpaths in Summer, but are visible at present.
The Guides to the six Chaldon Walks with history and nature notes are free to download from the Chaldon History website and make great self-guided walks (and/or the detail can be read on the sofa, avoiding the mud).
Do follow current Government guidance on COVID.
Chaldon’s public footpaths are an important part of its past as well as its present. The village has a notable history of looking after its public paths and rights of way, with significant work done in the 1920s by Martin Coles Harman and others. It feels very appropriate that in the 2020s there is again a focus on our footpaths and bridleways. As well as the guides, in October 2020 the tradition of walking all of them twice a year to check their condition and make formal reports was re-established.
The six walks between them cover the network of official paths and bridleways within the parish. The guides enable you to walk the routes and they provide interesting historical detail, as well as some nature notes. Download and print them off to take with you (or read them on the sofa). If you don’t have a printer at home, then download the PDF onto your phone as there is limited signal on the routes. The Guides have been put together by Liz Bonsall with contributions from Adele Brand, Madeline Hutchins and Lizzy Maskey. Find them here https://chaldonhistory.org.uk/chaldon-walks/