From the (54) Bus Stop Walk Series 1 – Walk 8 Pitney
A thatched windmill and a rare Gothic Revival church
Easy walking on country lanes and tracks
Distance 10.3 Km/ 6.4 miles
Total ascent/descent 153m
- From the bus-stop (GR454277) go down the minor road SP Pitney. Pass two left turns and 50m(55yds) after the second turn go L by Caves Farm and follow the stony, then grassy track for 300m (330yds). At the road, turn R. Continue 600m (660yds) and just beyond a barn when another road is reached go L.
- (GR445290) Continue 300m (330yds) to No Through Road sign and go ahead, passing Glebe Farm and Farm shop. After 600m(660yds) where the tarmac ends at Pitney Wood House, continue ahead on track past small black shed. After 800m (½mile) go L through gate (SP Leazemoor Lane) and follow a broad grassy swathe between trees to reach another gate and emerge on a road.
- (GR442300) Turn R and after 50m (55yds) turn L (SP Low Ham). After 200m (220yds) at cross-roads continue ahead and ascend, steadily at first, then more steeply for 800m (½ mile) to reach Stembridge Tower Mill (1). Continue ahead for a further 500m (550yds) with houses on the R, to crossroads past playing field.
- (GR428306) Turn L into Long Street and descend into Low Ham. After 900m (1000yds) go ahead at junction by Yew Tree Farm,.
- (GR429295) After 300m (330yds) opposite a road on the right, cross the Bristol gate on the L (no SP) and aim for the far corner of the field. Just before the corner, locate a sleeper bridge on the R, cross and turn L round the edge of the field to reach a gate on the L. Go down the very narrow path between two fences to reach a road. Turn R and follow 200m (220yds) then L along concrete track to ‘The Church in the Field’ (2) turning R to the W door. Continue ahead uphill, parallel to a high stone wall (3) to reach metal gate.
Go through and turn L to follow wall then fence to a step ladder stile, then ahead to locate a gate to a road - (GR436283) Go L descending gently. Ignore L turn by playing field and ascend gently ignoring a R turn by the Rookery but bear R to Pitney (4) Church and Village Hall.
- (GR446285)At the cross-roads continue ahead through the village for 800m (½ mile) ignoring all L and R turns, noting on a wall on the right the AA distance marker London 128¼ miles. Follow the road as it bears R by two farmhouses and ascend gently up Hermitage Hill to reach the main Somerton to Langport road. The bus-stop for Langport and Taunton is directly across the road and that for Yeovil and Somerton is a few metres to the R in front of the Halfway House.
The Halfway House has won numerous awards including the prestigious CAMRA National Pub of the Year and the Daily Telegraph Pub of the Year
FOR A SHORTER WALK
Distance 6 Km/3.5 miles
Follow 1 above then at the No Through Road sign, turn L and descend gently to reach the cross-roads in Pitney village. Here turn L and continue from 7 above.
Refreshments: Halfway House
Pitney Farm Shop
1 Stembridge Tower Mill is the last remaining thatched windmill in England. It was constructed in 1822 and last used commercially in 1910. It was left to the National Trust in 1969 and was refurbished in 2009.
It is Grade II* listed.
2 The “Church in the Field” in Low Ham was built 1623-1669 and a rare example of early Gothic Revival. It is (unusually) not dedicated to any Saint and is Grade 1 listed
3 Grade II listed boundary walling thought to be connected with the C17th Low Ham Manor House.
4 Several archaeological finds have been made at Pitney – the remains of a Roman villa uncovered in the C19th and a Saxon cast bronze brooch, based on a Viking design and now in the British Museum.
For car travellers, park carefully in the minor road leading down to Pitney, or in the small lay-by 200m east of the Pitney turn (by the postbox) or preferably (with permission) at the Halfway House.