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| Walk 2 From Peters Church to Coppice Wood |
MAP |
| Starting from the front of St. Peter's church on Riverside (turn right off the southern end of High Street, before the bridge ) take the signposted path into the trees along the river bank. There is a good view of The Bull public house through the trees on the right. Cross the entrance road to the industrial estate and continue along the lower route along the lake side thence up the bank and onwards along the riverside path. After passing under the road bridge bear left at the fork. Climb over the fence and turn right following the path along the hedge. At the concrete road bear left. For the Shorter route: (Point A on map) Fork left through kissing gate and follow the concrete road to the top of the hill. Pass through the next kissing gate, turn left into the trees.(Point B on map) For the Longer route: (Point A on map) Fork right along the track by the lake. On the fishing lake waterfowl are common, watch out for great crested grebe, swans, mallard, moorhens, tufted ducks, Canada geese and herons. There is a good view of Tyttenhanger House in the trees across the lake to the right. Continue along the track as far as the gate on the tight hand side, follow the yellow waymark arrow over the stile. Twenty yards along the rough track turn left along the waymarked path across the rough grass. At the end of the wooded area on the left turn left around the edge of the wood, twenty yards on turn right at way mark post. Continue straight on to belt of trees known as Triangle Wood, go through the trees and turn left across carparking area. (Intrepid walkers may continue straight on here and reach Colney Heath.) Cross the track, negotiate the stile and walk along the field path to the corner of the small wood called Blount Spring. Turn left and follow the track bearing right round the edge of the wood. At the field corner turn left and follow the path along the hedge. Continue along this path skirting Coppice wood until the end of the wood is reached at the corner of a field, turn left, then right through the metal kissing gate some fifty yards further on. Cross the track into the trees. (Point B on map). Both routes: On the far side of the small belt of trees turn left and walk along the roadside verge as far as the footpath sign immediately before the children's play area. Turn left into the field and follow the hedge side path to the field corner, turn right into the playing fields, then turn left and follow the path along the boundary of the field until reaching the gap in the hedge where there is a waymark and a small piece of fencing. Turn left into the allotments and follow the path round the edge to where it leads into Richardson Close, between numbers II and 13. Cross Richardson Close, follow the pavement round to the right, then turn left into High Street. Walk along High Street back to the starting point in front of the church. Points of interest: St. Peter's Church Built in 1825 by Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, it is a plain rectangular building of red brick with a slate roof and Italianate style windows. The front wall has been recently renovated. Prior to 1825 there was no church building in London Colney, the village formed part of the Parishes of Ridge, Shenley and Colney Heath. The ecclesiastical Parish of London Colney was not officially formed until 1909. The Bull Public House The Bull can be traced back to 1726, it was originally called the Black Bull. One of a pair of inns, as the tradition was for the gentry to stay at one inn while their servants resided at the twinned establishment. The Bull and Butcher, which closed in 1926 was alongside the Bull. Tyttenhanger House. Tyttenhanger house was built in 1654 by Sir Henry Blount (hence Blount Spring wood). It was probably designed by Peter Mills, surveyor to the city of London. It stands on the site of two previous manor houses, both in the ownership of the Abbacy of St. Albans. It is at the centre of a network of small farms, which would have been part of the original estate. The estate came into the possession of the Caledon family in 1834, from whom the house was purchased by the present owners who use it as offices as well as living accommodation. Coppice Wood. Old coppiced trees can be seen in the wood, these have many thin trunks growing from ground level rather than one thick trunk. Coppicing is the practice of regularly cutting trees back to near ground level in order to harvest the straight poles of wood produced. |
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