Advancing on the Tring Salient

A walk on the gault clay lowlands of the Vale of Aylesbury around Long Marston and Puttenham.

Distance 4 miles (6.4km)

Minimum time 2hrs

Ascent/gradient Negligible

Level of difficulty Easy

Paths Field paths alongside hedges, some roads, canal tow path, 19 stiles

Landscape Mixture of pasture and arable land with thorn hedges

Suggested map aqua3 OS Explorer 181 Chiltern Hills North

Start/finish SP 898156

Dog friendliness Dogs on leads in churchyards and around horses

Parking Along village roads in Long Marston

Public toilets None on route

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Directions
Background
Information

1 From the crossroads by the Queen's Head pub walk north along Station Road which curves past the Boot pub. Continue past the war memorial to visit the Victorian Church of All Saints. Return to the war memorial. Now turn right, down Chapel Lane, towards the medieval tower of the old church, set amid trees beyond the thatched Old Church Cottage.

2 Opposite, go through a five-bar gate and walk diagonally across the field to a stile. Cross a track and climb another stile to walk along the right-hand side of a stream and hedge through two large fields. At the end follow the hedge on the right to a gate. Cross a footbridge and stile then head for a footbridge in the far left corner of the next field, ignoring the stile away to the right. Over the footbridge, turn right to another one and, once over this, walk across pasture to Puttenham church.

3 Follow the lane, past the Cecilia Hall, to a road junction. Turn right to walk along the road, but, where it turns left, carry straight on, past Rectory Stables. At some modern farm cottages go left over a stile by a footpath sign to follow the hedge south then west, around two sides of a field. Over a stile and through another field, the next hedge and stile is the Buckinghamshire county boundary. Crossing a track, the path passes alongside some corrugated iron sheds. When you reach a track, head for the canal bridge beyond its 10-ton limit signs.

4 Walk over bridge No 8, then descend to the canal tow path; follow this through bridge No 7, past two locks, to bridge No 5.

5 Leave the tow path and cross bridge No 5. Bear right to follow the left-hand side of a hedge and stream. Over a stile by a gate, follow the path through two fields, then cross a lane and head north along a green lane, ignoring a stile to the left. Shortly, climb a stile to follow a somewhat overgrown lane beside a stream. Emerging from the scrub, cross the corner of a field, leaving it over a stile to the left of an electricity pole. The path crosses an arable field to a footbridge. Two more stiles bring you to a lane (Astrope Lane) and a public footpath sign, 'Wilstone 1 mile'. Turn right to walk back to the crossroads in Long Marston.

Around Tring there is a curious projection of Hertfordshire into the heart of Buckinghamshire. Now thinly populated it was mostly within the parish of Tring, with only Puttenham as an independent parish. It must have been the Anglo-Saxon administrative area assigned to Tring township. Tiscott and Ardwick, in the far north of the projection, beyond Long Marston, were medieval villages that have vanished, further contributing to the 'empty quarter' feel. Up the spine of this salient is the Wingrave road from Tring that leads to more thinly populated country over the Buckinghamshire border.

The two villages on this walk are a complete contrast. Puttenham is little more than a hamlet while Long Marston straggles along the Wingrave road for ½ mile (800m). The core of Long Marston, however, was west along Church Lane. Although the manor house has long gone, leaving only a fragment of its moat, the tower of the original parish church remains within its churchyard.

This is the story of a church that moved. The tower is the surviving fragment of the medieval Church of All Saints. The partly Norman and later medieval church was built on a site that had became so saturated and unstable that it was downright dangerous. Its last event was a wedding in April 1882 at which only the priest, the happy couple and the witnesses were allowed in. It had been a chapel of ease to St Peter and St Paul in Tring, and only became a separate parish in 1867. All but the tower was pulled down in 1883. A new church, built on the Wingrave road in the cemetery, opened in 1870. The old churchyard had been closed in 1866 for health reasons - the mind boggles!

Much of the material from the old church was reused in the new church, but its north nave arcade came from Tring Church, which was also undergoing restoration at the time. Re-used parts include the 14th-century font, the Jacobean pulpit and various windows of the north aisle. Ironically, the gault clay under the new church proved just as unstable: major structural repairs were needed by 1907. Perhaps wisely, the great tower that had been planned was never built.

Across the fields the Church of St Mary, Puttenham, survives intact. Surrounded as it is by sheep-cropped pastures, it is a picture of Midland tranquillity. The church's striking 15th-century battlemented tower was built in a chequer pattern of flint and stone. Attached to it is a short, three-bay nave with a superb, 15th-century roof. This has figures of saints and angels supporting the cross beams and heraldic bosses. The interior is flooded with light and there are also a couple of fragments of medieval stained glass.

While you're there

About 4 miles (6.4km) east of Long Marston is Pitstone Green Farm Museum. Housed in some farm buildings in Vicarage Road, it has an excellent local collection of rural and domestic 'bygones' and farm machinery. It is usually open between May and September on the last Sunday in the month, and on Bank Holidays.

What to look for

The southern stretch of this walk follows the tow path of the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal. First surveyed in 1793, it did not finally open until 1814. It had 16 narrow locks - just 7ft (2.1m) wide - and a fall from Marsworth to Aylesbury of 95ft (29m) in just over 6 miles (9.7km). It was saved from closure threats in 1959 by opening a marina at the Aylesbury end.

Where to eat and drink

The only refreshments on this walk are in Long Marston, which has two pubs and a shop (for snacks), all on Station Road. The Queen's Head serves food all day, and the Boot is a free house that includes the Boot Wellington Restaurant.