Ash Walks

Length 7km. There are two stiles to climb. Circular walk starting at the Ash Car Park on The Street, opposite Chequer Lane.

This is a gentle but long walk across fields, with short walks along the rural lanes in Staple.  The extension of the East Kent Light Railway from Eastry to Wingham Colliery was completed in late 1912. Passenger services began in 1916 and were withdrawn in 1948. The station was very crude, a single platform with a small wooden shelter. The line was lifted in 1954 and most signs of its existence have disappeared. The walk follows the line of the railway from Ten Acres field across to the Durlock Road.

Ten Acres is an open managed field brought by the Jack Foat Trust for the use by the people of Ash. Off The Street are two other fields also owned by the Jack Foat Trust (Street End Field).

It is thought that Durlock Stream may derive its name from ‘Dur’ – the old German for water.

Staple’s Church (St James) has an attractive Lych gate and an one handed clock in its tower. At Barnsole, there is the attractive Gander Court and the Black Pig pub which if it is open is worth a look with its beamed bars and a secluded garden.

After crossing Fleming Road, there are good views of Ash and Woodnesborough Church on the higher ground to the right. Both Ash and Woodnesborough Church Towers were once navigational points for ships in the Channel.

On the return walk to Ash Moat Farm House dating from the 16th century can be seen. Coming up to St Nicholas Church there is Chapel Cottage, formerly a Nonconformist chapel.

St Nicholas Church is a Grade 1* listed building and is also notable for the brasses in the church.

For details of the walk that you can download please go to Ash to Staple Walk.

Length: 7 kms. Stiles: 2

This  circular walk takes you into the parish of Woodnesborough. There is a section of this walk where the path is very uneven and which becomes waterlogged after heavy rain.

There are a number of points of interest. Toll Cottage is an early 19th century house that used to serve the turnpike road to Sandwich. The Street End Field is an open green space purchased by the Jack Foat Trust for the people of Ash.

Coombe Lane Cottage has typical Dutch gables. Many influences of this Dutch influence can be seen in this area.

Christian Court is a good example of a period farmhouse.

Marshborough Farm is an lovely example of an old farmyard with an enormous thatched aisled barn and oast house.

Goss Hall is a 17th century farmhouse and farmyard with an aisled 16th century barn and 17th to 19th century barn and cow house.

Hills Court – only a small cottage and the remains of the old walls now exist on the site of one of Ash’s former Manor Houses.

For details of the walk that you can download please go to Ash to Marshborough.

You will see many Hall Houses from the footpath walks. These were built mainly in the 14th and 15th centuries for yeomen farmers and their workers. These houses consisted of a large hall which extended to full height, containing an open hearth from which the smoke escaped through the roof. Windows were unglazed and had shutters.

Normally two storey sections were built at one or both ends of the hall. At one end on the ground floor were the buttery and pantry and at the other a parlour. On the first floor were the chamber and the solar.

From the 16th century onwards Hall Houses were usually ‘modernised’ by the provision of brick fireplaces and chimneys, the addition of a first floor within the hall and cladding of the timber frame in brickwork, plaster or tile hanging.

From the outside the identity of the Hall Houses is not always apparent but their proportions normally give a clue.