2nd October 2011 Leckhampton Hill, Glos

This was a walk done many times before, starting out at my front door and making a circular trip around and up Leckhampton Hill and back. This is a 6.5 mile walk which takes around 2-3 hours depending on the pace and the company!

This time it was done with Mike, Liz, Geoff, Shona, Dean and Trudy, plus two friends (Rich & Flick?) from his apartment building - 9 in all, a record!


We left Croft Street, following streets up to Burrows Field, then through Leckhampton village, Collum End Rise and then up through fields towards Daisy Bank Road. The stretch from the fields to Daisy Bank Road follows the old tram track which used to take quarry stones down to the tram terminus at the Norwood Triangle. 


Norwood Triangle

We followed the road, passed the car parks for walkers, bikers and dog walkers and headed along, past houses on Our left until the road, which has turned into a track, meets the extension of Sandy Lane in Charlton Kings. We turned right along the track towards Seven Springs and past Lilley Brook golf club on our left until we joined the Cotswold Way, turning right up the escarpment to walk along the hill top. The new dry stone wall (see previous walks e.g. 17th March 2011) is now complete and looks marvellous. We then followed the escarpment with great views of Cheltenham and beyond.

Devil's Chimney

The escarpment with the new dry stone wall on the left, leads to the highest point on the Cotswold Way (925 ft) and has great views over the town and as you follow the track, you can also see the various hills towards to Malverns and even the Black Mountains in Wales. It is a site of Iron Age hill fort and long barrow and famous for its old limestone quarries. Old tramway lines criss-cross the hill from the days of limestone quarrying and the remains of kilns and quarries are still very much in evidence. It is a site with a great deal of cultural and historical significance as much of the stone removed from the quarry on the Hill was used for buildings in Cheltenham - and also parts of Magdalen College, Oxford. 


The track leads past the Devil's Chimney, a substantial pillar of stone left standing next to one of the upper inclines, but nothing is known as to who left it there or why. 

Just after the chimney, we stopped for a team photo and once done, we started downhill with a choice of routes. The quickest is to follow the old tramway path but this is quite steep, so we opted for the more leisurely descent towards the car park where I re-joined Daisybank Road and the tramway path which we'd followed on the way up. We re-traced my steps over farmland, Collum End Rise and Burrows Field before getting home, showering and racing to the Jolly Brewmaster for refreshments.






An OS view walk is below, courtesy of QUO digital mapping/OS