Thursday 23 October 2014

Bird Henge Trail Stage No 5 Corton Chapel to Knook


825 yards.Return the way you came from the old Chapel under the railway bridge.  and continue straight ahead rather than returning to Upton Lovell. You will come to  Alice Dredge's Bridge (above) where according to local folklore a serving maid of that name fell in and drowned many years ago. The amount of water shown here is exceptional. This photo was taken in January 2013 after months of incessant rain in the wettest winter for decades. The bridge is, of course,much more recent. You will notice that the path here is slightly raised. Before decades of erosion it would have been even higher, raised as a causeway to take pedestrians above the water meadows which were deliberately flooded in the early spring to encourage the early growth of the grass for the sheep.You can see surviving drainage pipes and dips where the old water channels were.  Cross the river to Stage 6. You will hear and maybe see a train or two along the line on your left. This opened in 1856. Heytesbury station was closed in 1955 - Beeching was not responsible. It was possible until then to                                         send live chicks by train - see last image.


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