Mortimer to Bramley
2 August. Seventeen walkers set off from Mortimer station for this walk of just over 8 miles which was partly in Berkshire & party in Hampshire. We quickly reached Foundry Brook, which we followed through fields, before a short section on a country lane. After circumnavigating a large field of crops, we crossed a pretty valley.
Soon we reached a Roman amphitheatre. Standing in the middle, it was easy to imagine being a gladiator!
Shortly after, we walked along the top and then beside the walls of the Roman town of Calleva. The walls were added to the town in about 260 AD as part of a general move to protect the Roman Empire from mounting unrest. Some earth ramparts of an earlier Iron Age settlement were visible outside the Roman walls.
After passing through attractive woods, we turned towards Silchester village, which was our lunch stop.
After lunch, we went back to the Roman town, but this time we walked across the middle of it. The excavated buildings and streets have been covered over with earth to protect them from weather erosion and from vandals. However, from the middle, we could see the town walls to the south & north which gave us a good sense of the scale of the town. An information panel helped us visualise the magnificence of the central civic & commercial buildings.
After completing our crossing of the former town, we reached St Mary the Virgin Church, just outside the Roman walls.
The nave and a small chancel of this church were built by 1167 AD and the north & south aisles completed and the chancel extended in 1230. At that time, the roof was probably thatched, there was no bell tower, all the windows were “lancet” and there were wall paintings, mostly red ochre representations of sprigs & flowers. A modern stained glass window was created in 2005 and placed in one of the original lancet windows. It is quite a contrast to the older windows.
Leaving the church, we crossed a number of fields, went along a country lane, then more fields before reaching a farm with a small paddock of goats.
After the farm, we walked along country lanes to Bramley where we caught the train home.
Terry (with thanks to Christine M and Sigrid for photos)
