Quorum Horsell Common
Saturday March 15, 2008
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Quorum Horsell CommonSaturday March 15, 2008 |
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Horsell CommonKey FactsStart/Finish: Horsell Common west car park, which is situated off the A245, Shores Road. Distance: 7km or 4˝ miles Time: Allow 2 hours, excluding refreshment stops Type of walk: Easy Walking
Directions(1) From the car park, go along the hard track towards the road. Halfway there, take the side-path slightly to the right and cross with care the road junction to Cheapside. Follow the lane beside the trees, along to The Plough public house. (2) After the pub, cross the road, continue along to your left for 1 50m, then turn right into Horsell Common Road. Join the path through the trees to your left. This will take you past some houses. Continue ahead on the road and at the far end of the tarmac stay on the track ahead to the right-hand bend. (3) Go on round the bend to the main road. Cross with care to Horsell Common and take the left hand path ahead, which will take you to the far boundary of the common. Carry on between fences for 100m and, in the next field, join the track ahead. Pass around the S-bend over the Bourne stream to the next houses at Deep Pool. Follow the track to the right, past houses and into the trees. Horsell Common originally formed part of the manor of Pyrford, owned by the Earl of Onslow, with the local inhabitants having certain ‘common rights such as the grazing of cattle, cutting of wood for fires and extracting gravel and sand for their own use. In 1970 the Earl of Onslow placed the management of the common with a committee of local trustees who later purchased it, becoming a registered charity in 1959. The Horsell Common Preservation Society now owns over 80% of the Borough’s common lands. (4) Just before the nursery drive on the left, take the horse track to the right through the trees and, after 100m, fork right on the side track which ends at the drive of Border Farm, near the road in Mimbridge. Join the road and follow the pavement right, along the road past Nippy’s Tearooms. Cross the road just before the Mim Bridge. (5) Immediately before the bridge, enter the field on your left and follow the bank of the Bourne to the end of the field (600m). Cross the footbridge and carry on along the bank from field to field, to the horse track crossing (1 km). (6) Walk along the horse track to the right, to the perimeter hard track at the corner of Horsell Common (400m). Cross to the path, which bears slightly left. (7) Follow the path straight ahead into the heath for 100m. Turn left on the first cross track (but not back left to the perimeter). Stay on this horse track for 250m until you reach a fork. Take the left fork and keep on to open heath for 750m. Bear right to a cross track after 200m (near Anthony’s). Around 20% of the Common is heathland (150 acres). In The past. the heath would have been maintained by grazing cattle or by proper management by fire. Today’s management requires The removal of birch and pine saplings to prevent These from engulfing the heather and further depleting the internationally important heath. (8) Turn right here on to main pathway. At the cross track, turn left to skirt the sandpit. Keeping the sandpit on your right, follow the path around, to rejoin the main path. Sand and gravel have always been taken from the common. There are a number of pits all over the common, but the best known is the large pit near Anthony’s. It is popularly believed that the large exposed area of yellow sand is where H G Wells’ Martians landed in his 1898 novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ but this part of the pit was not dug until after the Second World War. The older part of the pit (known to Wells) is now hidden in the trees to the west; these trees would have been mere saplings at that time, if there at all. (9) Continue left on the wide, straight track, past the pond on your left. After 600m, this path will bring you back to Horsell Common west car park.
This site was last updated 09 Mar 2008 |
