Hidden Wiltshire Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Another location recording and once again it didn’t quite go to plan. The never ending rain led to some of the worst flooding we’ve seen in years and when faced with the sight of a car marooned up to its windows in a flood we decided the sensible thing to do would be to turn round and find another location. But as ever you will have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were.

In this episode we welcomed a guest. Emma Heard runs the Weird Wiltshire website, and we asked Emma to join us to tell us some of the stories she’s gathered over the years about strange goings on in Wiltshire. 

But first we had a quick rundown of what the Hidden Wiltshire team have been doing since the last podcast. 

Glyn delivered a talk at Trowbridge Museum about all things hidden Wiltshire. He must have done something right as they’ve asked him to go back and do another one!

We wanted to congratulate our friend Paul Whitewick after he clocked up 100,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. He began by making films about abandoned railway lines, canals and roads but this has evolved over time. Basically anything intriguing that Paul has discovered from looking at old maps is fair game. You’ll find a link to his channel in the links section below. 

Meanwhile our own Paul attended a public drowning in Salisbury. This was not some sort of gruesome form of Medieval torture but a demonstration of how drowners would have flooded meadows years ago in order to raise the temperature of the fields to promote earlier grass growth. The demonstration was at the water meadows in West Harnham and was attended by a couple hundred people. We’ve talked about this practice often at Hidden Wiltshire so it was fascinating to see it in action, and interesting to hear that the practice may be reintroduced in some places as a flood defence measure.  You can find out more at the Harnham Water Meadows Trust website using the link below. 

Glyn wrote a blog about Rybury Camp in the hills above Pewsey Vale after he was asked by local farmer Tim Daw to take some drone footage of the area. Tim is famous for building a modern day long barrow at All Cannings. (We interviewed Tim a couple of years ago in Podcast 35 – there’s a link to this below.) Glyn filmed the area in a time of drought when crop marks can reveal many previously hidden historical features. Tim had a theory that there may once have been a henge in the area. You can read Glyn’s blog using the link below. 

Next Elaine talked about her blog on the subject of the Knights Templar entitled Temple Bottom and of the Last Templar. She gave us a brief history lesson on the Knights Templar and their link to the Knights Hospitaler. You can read Elaine’s blog by using the link below. 

Finally Paul talked about his most recent walk in the countryside around Tisbury. You will find a link to the associated blog below. This walk included visits to three castles - two obvious ones (Old and New Wardour Castle) but also the lesser known Iron Age hillfort of Castle Ditches that commands the heights above Tisbury. 

We then moved onto the special topic of this episode of the podcast. Emma Heard began Weird Wiltshire as a lockdown project in 2020. Since then it has developed and grown, and despite having a day job Emma spends a lot of her time exploring and listening to stories of ghosts, spirits and strange goings around Wiltshire, thereby keeping alive a folklore tradition dating back many hundreds of years. She shared with us just a few of the stories she has come across, and we finished by sharing some of our own. 

Then on to the wrap up for this episode: 

There are still a few copies of the Hidden Wiltshire book available on the website – link below. 

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is called appropriately enough, “Play Dead”. 

Podcast Specific Links: 

Paul Whitewick’s YouTube channel can be found here Paul Whitewick 

The Harnham Water Meadows Trust website can be found here Harnham Water Meadows Trust 

Our interview with Tim Daw can be heard here All Cannings Long Barrow - An Interview with Tim Daw 

Glyn’s blog about Rybury Camp can be found here Rybury Camp

Elaine’s blog, Temple Bottom and the Knights Templar can be found here Temple Bottom and the Last Templar 

You can read Paul’s blog about his most recent walk in the countryside around Tisbury here Tisbury and its Three Castles 

You can find Emma Heard’s Weird Wiltshire website here Weird Wiltshire. She is also on Twitter (or whatever it is called these days) where she is known as @WeirdWiltsBlog and Bluesky (whatever that is!) at Emma Heard Bluesky 

Other Links: 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle 

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative 

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

It only seemed like a few days since our last podcast recording – and that’s because it was! Glyn, Elaine and Paul assembled at a secret location to record our first podcast since June. There was much to catch up on and, though we say so ourselves, it went swimmingly with much hilarity and spontaneity. However, there was one small problem – the mics failed to record. Anything. Anything at all. So we reconvened three days later in the same outdoor location to do the whole thing again. You will have to take our word for it when we say that the loss of the original recording will forever be a loss to humanity! 

We’re not going to tell you where we recorded. You will have to listen to the podcast to find out. But it provided lots of wonderful ambient noise as we waffled on! 

But first we opened with a review of some of what has been going on in the Hidden Wiltshire world since June. And there was a surprising amount to talk about. So we picked out some of favourite moments. 

In what was a busy six months Elaine highlighted her blog entitled The Selwood Triangle, which you can find using this link - The Selwood Triangle. It had over 5,000 views in just four months and whilst the record is held by Glyn’s Boxhill Circular Walk blog with over 12,000 views that particular blog was published a few years ago. However, Elaine’s blog attracted a huge amount of attention on social media and sadly brought out some of the worst of the social media warriors with one or two particularly unpleasant comments. But the overwhelming number of people enjoyed it, understanding that it was just a bit of fun! 

Elaine also highlighted her Fisherton Anger blog which you can read here - The Lost Settlement of Fisherton Anger. A little known village whose name has long since been lost as it became subsumed by Salisbury. But some of its streets and monuments can still be found if you know where to look. Fortunately Elaine does as she used to live there. 

Paul had his usual sojourn across the Channel in the last couple of months so his activity was mainly confined to November with two longer walks - Egbert's Stone, The Harrow Way and a Splendid Bottom, and Tisbury and Oddford Vale. Both were suggested by Hidden Wiltshire follower Jill Caudle. The first provided a rather neat connection with the location for today’s recording. 

Meanwhile Glyn has been concentrating on his talks and delivered one at Royal Wootton Bassett Library and another at Salisbury Library. Glyn also led three walks for Wiltshire Museum in support of Anna Dillon and Hedley Thorne’s exhibition there entitled Wessex Airscapes, which was accompanied by a wonderful book – Elevating Wiltshire written by Anna’s father Patrick Dillon and illustrated with her paintings and Hedley’s aerial photography. Finally Glyn wrote an article on his Top Ten Secret Spots for Emma Heard’s Weird Wiltshire. 

Before moving onto our main theme we had a good old rant. We have been collaborating with the aforementioned Hedley Thorne and Paul Whitewick (of YouTube fame) to highlight the challenges the public have in accessing many of our green and blue spaces. In particular we talked again about the anomaly of Open Access areas in which there is a right to roam, but as an example of extreme irony cannot be reached without trespassing in so many cases. Paul Whitewick supported by Hedley Thorne recorded a great YouTube video about this which you can see here - How is it illegal to access public land. 

Our main theme in this podcast was a look at some of the 39 rivers that flow through Wiltshire, which include three River Avons and even the Thames! But it was also an opportunity to have a bit more of a rant – this time about the pollution of our rivers. However, on a more positive note we focused on some of our better known rivers including the Bourne and the Hampshire Avon. Of course Paul got in more than one mention of his beloved Till. And we couldn’t not mention the Wylye and in particular Steve Dewey’s blog The River Wylye and of course his blog about The Nine Mile River. Which isn’t. Nine Miles. Nine Mile River 

Then on to the wrap up for this episode: 

There are still a few copies of the Hidden Wiltshire books available on the website – link below. 

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is a new one from Steve entitled, appropriately enough, “Sprung”.  

Other Links: 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle 

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative 

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about our latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

In this episode of the Bluebell Podcast Glyn is joined by our French correspondent – Paul! And without any messing about we start the podcast with a mention of both bluebells and France, and Paul’s endless battle to stop his French ruin from crumbling around him (OK it’s not that bad but maintaining it is like painting the Forth Road Bridge. Or owning a yacht. Or a horse!)
Once again it’s bluebell season and regular followers of Hidden Wiltshire will know we like the odd bluebell (or clochette as they’re called in France). We’ve seen some nice bluebell photographs in the Facebook Group from both Elaine Perkins (Bentley Wood) and Glyn (Oakfrith Wood) and we’ve no doubt there will be a lot more to come! They are present in abundance in France (both blue and white) as well as early-purple and green-winged orchids but we won’t be sharing photographs of those as it’s not Wiltshire!
It’s been around three weeks since the last podcast now that we’ve moved to monthly broadcasts. But with Glyn’s week on Dartmoor and Paul having relocated to France for a while, we’ve not got a lot to report. But before he went Paul and his usual walking buddy Stu did manage a walk to Grovely Wood which began with sublime coffee and cake at the café at Langford Lakes. Whilst many people know of the Lakes it’s surprising how many have never visited, or at least haven’t been for years as was the case for Stu and Paul. It’s well worth the effort. Similarly, whilst most people are familiar with Grovely Wood, the guys had an amazing encounter there in a hidden part of the wood. You can read all about this in Paul’s blog on the website using the link below. This may well feature in a future podcast as this delivered one of life’s special and unexpected moments.
In conjunction with Wiltshire Museum we’ve put together a new programme of guided walks led by Glyn and Paul. These are ticket only events and Wiltshire Museum will be advertising them on their website soon. We will let Hidden Wiltshire followers know as soon as tickets become available but if you subscribe to alerts about new blogs on the website you won’t miss out.
The main feature of this episode of the podcast is an interview we did with farmer Tim Daw a few weeks ago. Tim has farmed in the Pewsey Vale for decades and is now semi-retired. (Do farmers ever retire?) But instead of buying a yacht or taking up golf, in 2014 he decided to build a long barrow which he calls a Novolithic Long Barrow. As his website says “It has internal chambers with niches and is used as a columbarium or place for cremated remains in urns to be kept.” And “The Long Barrow at All Cannings is a spiritual place where people of any or no faith can come to remember and give thanks for the lives of their loved ones.” 
It was a real privilege to interview Tim on a beautiful sunny day at the long barrow and to have a guided tour of the interior. Despite being surrounded by the remains of so many people it really was the most calming and spiritual of places. And like any good long barrow it is aligned to the sunrise of the winter solstice when the sun illuminates the internal stone passageway.
It is possible to book a tour of the interior of the long barrow at Tim’s website linked below. The entry fee goes towards the upkeep of the barrow, but you can visit the exterior for free at any time. However we think it’s worth every penny to see the interior which is a very special place indeed.
Our conversation with Tim was wide ranging and fascinating. Just like his near neighbour and farmer David Carson, Tim Daw has a keen interest in history and archaeology. How can you not living in Pewsey Vale? So apart from a conversation about the long barrow itself we also chatted about the wider area and in particular the mythical “white donkey”!
Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Play Dead”. But there was no play acting in Tim’s long barrow! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.
Links:
You can read Paul’s blog about Langford Lakes and Grovely Wood here Grovely Wood and the Woodsman
All Cannings Long Barrow All Cannings Long Barrow
Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Glyn was hoping for an easy edit for this episode of the podcast as he had less time than usual to do it. This was all the invitation Paul needed to say exactly what he wanted knowing that Glyn didn’t have the time to cut it out! But being responsible podcasters we stuck to the brief. The main feature was a glorious walk we put together for Wiltshire Museum based around Hippenscombe Bottom, so beautifully painted by Eric Ravilious in 1937. And there was a special announcement at the end of the podcast.
But first we discussed our news since the last podcast.
In that podcast Glyn talked briefly about his visit to Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse. Since then he has written and posted a blog to the website about it (see link below). But apparently Bincknoll is pronounced “Bynol’ in Wiltshire! Which begs the question “how do pronounce Long Knoll and Little Knoll”?
Meanwhile Paul has travelled to the far northwest of the county to the Cotswolds west of Malmesbury, for a walk around Brokenborough and Easton Grey. There’s a blog about this walk on the website (link below). He has also written a blog about his visit to Bentley Wood, a collaboration with Hidden Wiltshire contributor Elaine Perkins, who suggested the route and provided a number of the photographs. You’ll find a link below to that blog.
Elaine also posted a description of her recent visit to Sherrington and Boyton, off the beaten track in the beautiful Wylye Valley, where she found some fantastic hidden treasures. We’ll be pulling that together as a blog along with some of Elaine’s lovely photographs in due course.
And whilst on the subject of the Wylye Valley, we mention the café and gallery at Langford Lakes Nature Reserve run by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. The gallery and café is open from 10:00 to 16:00, Wednesday to Sunday. At the moment there is an exhibition there entitled “Woodlands” featuring art, photography and 3D work including the photographs of brilliant woodland photographers Stephen Davies and, a friend of Paul’s, Nigel Hudson. The exhibition is on from 2 April to 2 May 2022 and you’ll find a link below.
This podcast’s main feature is the stunning landscape and history of Hippenscombe Bottom. Paul wrote a blog which was an amalgam of some five visits to the area which he posted on the website on 21 January 2022. There’s a link to the blog below. This walk was put together at the request of David Dawson at Wiltshire Museum and we’ll be doing a guided walk with the museum there later in the year. There are many route options but the highlights of this walk are the tiny village of Tidcombe and its “humble” church, Tidcombe Long Barrow, Fosbury Camp (an optional extension but well worth the effort), Chute Causeway, the Devil’s Waistcoat and the glorious Hippenscombe Bottom itself. Paul discovered this bottom purely by chance following a momentary glimpse as he drove up Conholt Hill towards Chute Causeway a year ago. Screeching to a halt in the road above he grabbed a photo of the bottom that coincidently was from the exact location that Eric Ravilious painted it in 1937. Little has changed since 1937 although we suspect the shooting estate is now operating on a far more industrial scale.
Parking for this particular walk is a challenge. As shown the walk starts from the church in Tidcombe but at best it is only possible to park three cars here. Scot’s Poor is a slightly better option with parking on the wide verge on the byway. The route map has been amended in the blog to include this location in order to provide alternative parking options.

Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Shadows Travel Fast” because that’s exactly what they do in this part of Wiltshire. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
And so to the special announcement. Well you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what it is!
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Links:
Glyn’s blog about Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse can be found here: Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse
Paul’s blog about his walk round Brokenborough and Easton Grey can be found here: Brokenborough and Easton Grey
Paul’s blog about his walk in Bentley Wood can be found here Bentley Wood
WWT Langford Lakes Art Exhibition Langford Lakes Art Exhibition
Paul’s blog about Hippenscombe can be found here Tidcombe, Hippenscombe and the Devil's Waistcoat
Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

A slightly shorter episode this week, although not by much. Whilst we have plenty of subjects in the pipeline to talk about we’re beginning run out of ideas. It’s not that we’ve said everything there is to say about Wiltshire but that finding the time to get out and explore is increasingly difficult. So we’re contemplating recording the podcasts on a monthly basis rather than every two weeks, just to give us the time to visit more interesting locations. We’d really appreciate ideas about new locations from followers of the podcast.
In the two weeks since the last podcast Glyn has again been pretty much tied to his desk, although he did manage to do a muddy eight mile walk to Bincknoll Castle and the Broad Town White Horse near Wroughton. It sounded like the mud tempered his enthusiasm! 
Paul has done a few walks, albeit one was in Sussex on the border of the Surrey Hills. He walked to the top of the highest point in Sussex, which is not on the South Downs as he’d always thought, but on Black Down near to Haslemere. The hill was very reminiscent of the New Forest.
Inspired by Hidden Wiltshire contributor Elaine Perkins, Paul re-visited Newton Tony to look at its past role as a transport hub. It once had an important railway but long before that a Roman road passed nearby. There is a blog about the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website and it’s linked on the Facebook pages but we will record a podcast about it sometime in the future. Elaine has also written her first Blog for the website. You’ll find a link below.
Another walk Paul did was in Bentley Wood, again with useful tips from Elaine Perkins. This was Paul’s first visit and he put together a route that also included Hound Wood and Blackmoor Copse. Whilst most of the route was in woodland the varied nature of the woods and copses was very noticeable. Probably not one for a podcast but a short blog and photos may follow soon.
Meanwhile, Glyn and Paul met with Tim Daw and recorded an interview with him at the modern day long barrow he built at All Cannings, something he has called a Novolithic long barrow. The perfect name we thought. We’ll be putting out a podcast with this fascinating interview soon.
Glyn has also received another hand written letter together with a book written by the grandfather of one of his Twitter followers Jonathan Steadman. The book, by A R Steadman (who was the head teacher of Marlborough Grammar School), is about the countryside around Marlborough from prehistoric times through to the 1960s. It would make an interesting comparison with the book The Land of Lettice Sweetapple which is about the history of the same area.
And finally Hidden Wiltshire has once again featured in another publication. Glyn wrote an article about Blind Houses for the March edition of the Wiltshire Buildings Record Newsletter. If you can get hold of a copy there are many hidden Wiltshire gems in there.
The main feature this week is Wiltshire’s Chalk Badges. The county’s military links are well known and long lasting. As far as we have been able to identify there are four locations where regimental badges can be found carved into chalk hillsides, albeit one is not strictly a regimental badge. 
Fovant is the most famous location where eight or nine badges can still be seen carved into the hillside next to the A30. Glyn wrote a blog about it on 18 October 2018 (see link below). Mostly carved by soldiers during the Fist World War (some are later) there would initially have been around 20 badges. Many are now overgrown. Just a little further along the valley there are two more badges at Sutton Mandeville. The final badge is called the Lamb Down Badge and can be seen by the A36 at Codford. This solitary badge was carved by soldiers of the 13th Training Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces in 1917 as a form of punishment! Finally we have the famous giant Kiwi carved in 1919 by New Zealand soldiers. At 420 feet (130m) high it’s enormous and its construction was designed to distract riotous soldiers awaiting transit home to New Zealand.
Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “From the Edge of Grey to Green” because that’s what happens to the white/light grey of the chalk if it’s not regularly cleaned! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Links:
Paul’s blog about Newton Tony and its role as a transport hub can be found here Newton Tony - its Railway and its Roman Road
Elaine Perkins’ first blog for Hidden Wiltshire can be found here Throope Down Walk
Glyn’s blog about the Fovant Badges and Chiselbury Camp can be found here Fovant Badges and Chiselbury Camp
Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Since the main part of this podcast is about a short five mile walk we thought this would be a shorter episode than normal. But how wrong we were. We still managed to blather on for what seemed like hours!
We kick off with some concerning news about some unedifying scenes in the Facebook Group today with a discussion about Paul’s bottom. This is a family show and we’ve no idea what prompted such a debate. Much!!
Despite eye watering petrol and diesel prices we’ve managed to get out a little in the last two weeks. Glyn had a weekend in Wells but that’s in Somerset so we’re not interested! But he did see the sad spectacle of the broken spire of St Thomas’ Church, blown down during Storm Eunice like a scene from Hot Fuzz, also filmed in Wells. Meanwhile Paul had a reminder of how grim London is, but since that’s not in Wiltshire we’re not interested in that either.
But Paul did manage to do a day long walk based in the hills around Aldbourne, visiting the site of the abandoned village of Snap on the way. We’re grateful to Andrew Rumsey, Bishop of Ramsbury, for helping us find it. There’s a link to his fantastic book, English Grounds, below. Paul posted a blog with lots of photographs of the walk on 9 March. There’s a link to it below. We’ll do a podcast about it sometime.
Another recent blog posted on the website was one about the Russian scientist Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik who defected in the 1980s and moved to Shrewton. He worked at the UK Department of Health's Centre for Applied Microbiology & Research (CAMR) at Porton Down and went on to do some ground breaking research into tuberculosis and other drug resistant infections. He is buried in one of the churchyards in the village. You’ll find a link to the blog below.
Otherwise, Glyn has been playing with his new toy, a 360 degree camera which he’s managed to hook up to our outside recording equipment. Watch out for content produced with this gear in the future. If it ever stops raining. Meanwhile Paul has walked a few of his regular routes onto Salisbury Plain. The current extensive Army training exercises and the heavy armour have made a dreadful mess of the sodden ground on the Plains. But nearby the haven that is Parsonage Down is beginning to show the first signs of Spring and there’s been some interesting research taking place about the impact of grazing on the flora there.
Our main subject this week is the walk that Paul and his walking buddy Stu did in November 2021 which was the subject of a Blog dated 26 November entitled Medieval Inglesham – Three Counties Walk. Continuing this episode’s theme of straying beyond Wiltshire this walk in the extreme north-east of the county involved brief forays into neighbouring Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. But this was necessary in order to reach our objective.
This part of Wiltshire forms a finger shaped wedge into Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. But we began the walk in Lechlade-on-Thames in Gloucestershire, and very nearly got no further than the splendid Sourdough Revolution artisan bakery and café. We could quite happily have stayed there all morning! But we were on a mission so we re-crossed Halfpenny Bridge and followed the south side of the Thames, safely back in Wiltshire, en-route to our objective – the Church of St John the Baptist at Inglesham via a thoroughly ugly lock-keepers cottage that looked like a concrete cooling tower on the way. 
We were concerned the church might be locked but were relieved to find it open. And oh my, what a sight awaited us as we opened first one door then another. We’ll leave you to read the blog and look at the photographs but suffice to say this spectacular and unique little church was thoroughly worth the trip. And of course, having forgotten what he’d had for breakfast this morning, Paul managed to also forget that he’d posted something on the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook page about a feature on Channel 5 about the church where Tony Robinson interviewed our favourite stonemason Andrew Ziminksi. It was broadcast on 8 October 2021.
From the church the walk took us to Buscot Weir via Buscot Wick before returning to Lechlade via the Thames path, criss-crossing counties as we went. We passed by the impressive Buscot Old Parsonage where American voices were to be heard. In the podcast Paul said he didn’t know who owned it after its previous owner, art collector Peter Francis Carew Stucley, died in 1964. Subsequent reading revealed it is now owned by the National Trust who also own nearby Buscot Park. Stucley’s will stated that the property should be rented furnished to American citizens actively pursuing literary, artistic or academic studies. And it clearly is to this day.
In all the walk was a flat and easy five miles, although at this time of year it may be boggy in places.

Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Fragile” because it sounds as though it was performed on a church organ! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Links:
Andrew Rumsey’s beautiful book, English Grounds – A Pastoral Journey, can be found here English Grounds and at other booksellers of course.
The Blog about the Aldbourne Circular Route can be found here Aldbourne Circular Route
The Blog about the Russian exile to Wiltshire Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik can be found here Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik
You can follow the walk in this episode of the podcast here Medieval Inglesham - Three Counties Walk
Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since the last podcast. The succession of storms had an impact and Paul foolishly agreed to appear on BBC South Today to talk about the deprivations of a whole three days without electricity. What an embarrassment. Thirty minutes or so after the BBC left the power came back on! Meanwhile Glyn was dodging the roof of the Wetherspoons pub that was flying low over Trowbridge.

But what we experienced in the south was nothing compared to our fellow countrymen in the north, some of whom went for weeks without power a short while ago. And certainly nothing compared to those people who live that way every day of their lives. This minor inconvenience was a sobering reminder of how fortunate we are.
Paul has also recommenced volunteering for Natural England. The Parsonage Down volunteers have been stood down since December. But the venue this week was the stunning Prescombe Down, which Paul visited during a walk in June 2020. The walk can be found at the link below and was called Eden’s Last Post. We covered it in podcast 17. Prescombe Down is part Natural England National Nature Reserve and part SSSI (which Natural England is responsible for monitoring). The Natural England team spent a day brush cutting and “tree popping” in what was a truly hidden side valley, visible only from the entrance to the valley itself or from a bridleway high on the slopes above. This really is a beautiful place with a sense of remoteness about it, often closed to the public because of the local shoot.

Glyn is also back to volunteering for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, counting sheep at Dunscombe Bottom close to Knook Camp which is busy with Army personnel at the moment.
Following in the footsteps of the last podcast and the story of Sarah Lucas and her family who last lived in Wiltshire 30 years ago, we had another of life’s wonderful coincidences. Something that would complete a circle for us. We recently received a book order from Wiltshire thatcher Brian Chalk. Since he lives only around 15 minutes away Paul said he’d deliver the book. We then received an email from Brian to say that Kay Chalk, who featured in podcast 11 and in the walk Paul did in August 2020 which was written up in the blog dated 27 August 2020 entitled Searching for Kitt’s Grave (In Memory of Kay Chalk 1929-2019), was his mother! Anyone who listened to podcast 11 will know that when he found the bench erected in memory of Kay Chalk, Paul became quite emotional as Kay was almost the same age as his own mum albeit Kay lived a lot longer. It was a poignant reminder.    Brian shared some photos of his mum and told us the story of how, from the age of 5, she used to walk to school alone from her parent’s lonely cottage at Hut and Lodge Farm on Ox Drove, down Church Bottom to Broad Chalke – a distance of around 3.5kms. And the real shock for Paul was that Kay’s ashes were scattered by the bench that bears her name. This might explain why Paul was so deeply affected by the experience of being there. You can almost feel Kay’s presence. Brian shared photographs and more remarkable stories about his family who have lived in that part of Wiltshire for hundreds of years. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out more. But for Glyn and Paul, this is what makes Hidden Wiltshire so worthwhile. Joining the dots and connecting to the history of Wiltshire through its present day inhabitants. 
We eventually got to the main theme of the podcast – the World War II RAF bases of Blakehill and Ramsbury. Glyn takes us on a journey through the landscape of what used to be two RAF airfields. 
Blakehill Farm is now an important Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve and the north Wiltshire headquarters for the Trust (the southern headquarters is at Coombe Bissett Down (spelled “Combe” on the 1:25,000 OS map)). It adjoins Stoke Common Meadow and lies to the south west of the Saxon town of Cricklade - once home to the Royal Mint from 979 to 1100 AD. RAF Blakehill was the base for a number of tactical air transport squadrons that operated RAF C-47 Dakotas and Horsa gliders. The airfield played a key role in the D-Day landings when the Dakotas towed gliders full of airborne troops to France in support of Operation Overlord in June 1944. It also served as a listening post during the Cold War. Little remains of the airfield’s past but the runways are still evident from above as crop marks. It is now a vast hay meadow of 264 ha/650 acres and when Glyn visited in June 2017, armed with permission from WWT to fly his drone, it took him 90 minutes to walk from the entrance at Stoke Common Meadow all the way across to the far side of Blakehill Farm. You’ll find a link to his original blog with photographs and links to more information about the reserve and its past below.
RAF Ramsbury, to the south west of the village of Ramsbury, started life as a base for the Training Units from RAF Bomber Command. Pilots were trained on two-engined Airspeed Oxfords before moving on to four-engined Avro Lancaster bombers located at other bases. But following America’s entry into the war it became a base for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) for troop carrying operations. As with RAF Blakehill, C-47 Dakotas operated from Ramsbury but this time they were USAAF aircraft. Apart from carrying paratroopers they also towed American Waco as well as British Horsa gliders. Again, Ramsbury played a critical role in supporting the D-Day landings in June 1944. Little remains of the airfield now but you can read more about it in Glyn’s two blogs dated 14 March 2019 and 15 June 2019 linked below. There are lots of photographs. There’s also a link to a website about the history of the airfield below.

Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today could only be “Eyes Looking East” for a host of obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Links:
The Eden’s Last Post blog about a walk that takes in Prescombe Down can be found here - Eden's Last Post
The Searching for Kitt’s Grave (in Memory of Kay Chalk 1929 - 2019) blog can be found here - Searching for Kitt's Grave
Glyn’s 2017 blog about Blakehill can be found here - HW Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s page about Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows can be found here - WWT Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows The webpage includes a link to the RAF Blakehill Farm website.
You can find Glyn’s brief blog about his first visit to RAF Ramsbury here RAF Ramsbury Commemoration
You can find Glyn’s blog about his second visit to RAF Ramsbury here RAF Ramsbury Memorials
More about the history of Ramsbury Airfield - Ramsbury Airfield
Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Glyn has a new toy. A 360 degree camera which he assures us will be used for nothing more suspicious than making videos for the Hidden Wiltshire YouTube channel whilst out walking. So watch out for more news on this, and more of our ugly mugs. Meanwhile Paul is traumatised having sold all his camera gear without having the foresight to sort out a replacement kit.
Unfortunately we’ve received another complaint from a Mr Jenkins about how long it takes us to get to the main subject of each podcast. In the last podcast it took us 29 minutes (apparently) to get to the point. We’ll see if we can do better and maybe get through an entire episode without getting to the point. Some would argue we already do!
Back on the subject of videos the countdown is on for the YouTube premier of Hidden Wiltshire’s first serious crack at making a film. Our 40 minute film starring local historian David Carson is based around the villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors and the surrounding hills, taking us on a historical journey from Neolithic times up to the English Civil War and the Swing Riots of the 19th century. The film premiers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 15 February and viewers can use the Chat function to talk to the Hidden Wiltshire team as we watch the video together. There’s a link to the YouTube channel below.
We posted a blog a few days ago about the walk Paul did based around Lacock and the Wilts & Berks Canal. For those who don’t use Facebook it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the Hidden Wiltshire website for regular blogs. You can subscribe to alerts which will notify you when new blogs are posted. There’s a link to the Wilts & Berks Canal walk below.
A quick mention also of the exhibition by aerial photographer David Abrams called Ancient Sites from the Air. David’s incredibly detailed photographs include many in Wiltshire and can be seen at Salisbury Museum until Sunday 15 May. More details in the link below.
Finally, before we get on to the main subject, we thank some of our lovely Facebook Group contributors for their posts about their walks and finds. A special mention goes to Elaine Perkins who’s posted details and photos of some terrific walks recently. Just the sort of thing we’re looking for.
The main subject of this episode of the podcast is the walk Glyn and Paul did recently together with Hidden Wiltshire follower Bo Novak, around Old Winsley and Turleigh which took in the curiously named “The Elbow”. We recorded some audio as we walked so this podcast is a mixture of indoor and outdoor recording. We’ve mentioned this walk a few times but we were inspired to do it following correspondence with Sarah Lucas. Sarah moved away from Wiltshire some 30 years ago and listening to the podcast brings back memories of her youth. She lived with her family in Old Winsley and during the last war her mother worked as a nurse in what was a TB clinic and is now Avonpark Retirement Home. Her grandparents owned a house by the Kennet and Avon Canal called The Elbow. Sarah asked if we would do a walk and take some pictures in the area. We were happy to oblige. It’s an area Glyn and Paul knew little about so it was great to have Bo along to act as our guide. You’ll find a link to the blog about the walk below.

Then on to the wrap up:
Thanks as usual to Steve Dixon for the music. His piece leading into our main subject is called “Canopy”. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Links:
To watch the Premier of the video click here Alton Barnes, Alton Priors, Pewsey Vale - A History
You can find the blog about the Lacock and Wilts & Berks walk here Lacock and the Wilts & Berks Canal
Details of David Abram’s exhibition at Salisbury Museum can be found here David Abrams: Ancient Sites from the Air
You can follow the walk on the blog on the Hidden Wiltshire website at Old Winsley, Turleigh and The Elbow


Glyn’s photographs can be seen  on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud, He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

It’s the eleventy seventh of January and we’re sick of the endless grey days but Spring is in the air. We’ve seen snow drops and crocuses, and the River Till behind Paul’s house has finally risen from its dry river bed. It won’t be (that long) before we’re out taking photos of bluebells again, although in an act of extreme provocation Glyn has already posted bluebell images on his Twitter feed.
Things have been a bit busier since the last podcast. The Hippenscombe walk has finally been posted on the website and Facebook pages. It’s been a real labour of love with Paul returning to the location five times in all to refine the walk and capture photographs in something other than flat grey light. It’s been quite a struggle to get the right balance of distance for the walk whilst taking in all the locations that really should be seen in this part of Wiltshire. Since we had to admit to not being finely tuned athletes some of the climbs along the walk proved to be pretty challenging, one of which saw Paul prostrate in the mud!
It was also good to get the Quaker’s Walk blog up on the website after we did the walk as part of a podcast with Steve Dixon.
Since the last podcast Glyn has delivered his talk to the Bratton History Association on the subject of Wiltshire Blind Houses, the main topic for this episode of the podcast. Glyn plans to visit every Wiltshire Blind House, just as he undertook to visit every Wiltshire hill fort (seems he may have been beaten to this)! We then managed to disappear down an enormous rabbit hole talking about hill forts and whether they were really forts at all. Rather than muse about the purpose of these from a base of our limited understanding we thought it would be far more sensible to invite an expert onto the podcast to speak about them. Watch this space.
Meanwhile we’ve got a few more walks planned which Paul and his walking buddy Stu will be scheduling over the next month or two. Meanwhile Glyn and Paul will be joined by long-term Hidden Wiltshire follower and contributor Bo Novak (who was responsible for the guided walk Glyn led in Bradford-on-Avon last year) on a walk based around Winsley. A walk that we were asked to do by Sarah Lucas who lived there some 30 years ago before she moved to Scotland. We’re planning to record some audio whilst we walk for a future podcast.
Speaking of recording, we are almost ready to release the film we made with David Carson last summer around Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the surrounding hills. This will be posted on YouTube. It’s been a long haul and a lot of work!
Then on to the main topic of this episode of the podcast - Wiltshire’s Blind Houses. When Glyn delivered his talk he illustrated it with a number of slides, and you can see the photographs in his blog from 24 January 2021 (see link below). We talk about the origin and purpose behind these little lock-ups which in fact had a relatively limited life, having become redundant once Wiltshire’s constabulary was founded in 1839. 
They were built for the temporary detention of troublemakers, drunks, criminals and miscreants, but were also used to detain prisoners in transit from the assize courts to gaol. They come in various shapes and sizes – round, square, octagonal but are always small buildings designed to house one or two prisoners for short periods. Glyn was armed with a range of fascinating and amusing stories about individual blind houses. One was even constructed for the set of the BBC series Cranford and seems to have been a replica of the Steeple Ashton blind house. The replica now resides on a West London housing estate!

Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject could only be the curiously titled “Holgar the Can Man” for obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Links:
You will find the Glyn’s blog and photographs used to illustrate his talk here Blind Houses
Glyn’s photographs can be found on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Something a little different in this episode – not a walk but a whole area!
We open with a mention of Glyn’s talk at the Bratton History Association on the subject of Blind Houses at 4:00pm on Sunday 16 January. The event will be held at Bratton Church Institute. It is but a vicious rumour that Glyn will be performing his talk as dance.
After saying we’ve had a quiet two weeks we then embark on an extended round up of the last two weeks, in which mud featured large. Lenka Stokes asked in the Facebook Group whether anyone could recommend a walk that didn’t involve mud. This was a tricky one! The answer wasn’t quite a resounding “no” but people did struggle with ideas. 
Meanwhile, Paul has done two walks this week, one in Wiltshire and one just outside. The walk outside Wiltshire was just over the border in Oxfordshire taking in a stretch of the Ridgeway, which of course extends into Wiltshire and includes Avebury. Being a little closer to home than North Uist and France (Paul having taken some flack for a Facebook post about prehistoric monuments in these two places) it’s well worth venturing over the border to see the Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle and Wayland’s Smithy. He did though make comparisons with similar monuments in Wiltshire in order to justify the mention! This part of south Oxfordshire did though trump Wiltshire for mud. It was shocking!
Paul’s other walk was firmly in Wiltshire, albeit not too far from the Hampshire border. David Dawson at Wiltshire Museum has asked us to lead a walk to include Tidcombe long barrow, Hippenscombe and the Kinwardstone (aka Kenwood Stone or Devil’s Waistcoat). So, accompanied by his trusted walking buddy Stu, Paul knocked together a route which he proceeded to trial. The weather was grey and drizzly so did not show this beautiful part of the world in its best light. Watch out for a blog and podcast about this in due course. But despite the weather and the mud Paul and Stu did complete the walk, throwing in an extension to include the Iron Age bivallate hill fort of Fosbury Camp – a worthwhile deviation.
Hippenscombe features in British water colourist Eric Ravilious’ famous painting “The Causeway”. Recently both Glyn and Paul have been to see the unique exhibition of his paintings, entitled Downland Man, at Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. It was interesting to compare the landscape that Ravilious painted in 1937 to how it looks today. The area now hosts industrial scale game shooting, something that is not so evident in Eric’s beautiful painting. He also painted the aforementioned Uffington White Horse, thereby completing the circle! The exhibition is on until the end of January so there is not long left before the pieces are returned to their owners. The Causeway in particular will henceforth be kept in a dark room for several decades to reduce light damage so for many of us this will be the last chance to see it. It should be noted the exhibition is now getting very busy so it would be wise to book ahead.
The main subject in this episode of the podcast was Whitesheet Hill near Stourhead, and the surrounding area. We discuss the myriad prehistoric monuments on Whitesheet Hill, nearby Long Knoll, and Park Hill Camp at Stourton as well as medieval Mere Castle, and memories of the Second World War by way of Zeals aerodrome and the poignant Dakota Memorial close by Whitesheet at Beech Clump. As usual in our part of the world, there are immense views everywhere, including across Dorset and Somerset.
In the podcast Paul mentions the connection with the late 18th/early 19th century poet Percey Bysshe Shelley with this area, and in the process gets it completely wrong. Paul said Shelley met his first wife, Harriet Westbrook here. In fact it was his first love, Harriet Grove, whose family owned Ferne House at nearby Donhead St Andrew. This must be a first – issuing a correction at the same time as the podcast is released! What is even more hilarious is that we discovered that Wikipedia cited Paul’s Hidden Wiltshire blog about Long Knoll and Little Knoll on their page about Long Knoll. If only they knew!
Then on to the wrap up:
Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject is entitled “Downland” for obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.
Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop and Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Links:
Details of the Eric Ravilious exhibition at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes can be found here Eric Ravilious - Downland Man
We talk in further detail about the whole area around Whitesheet Hill in a number of blogs on the Hidden Wiltshire website – links as follows
Whitesheet Hill
Zeals and Dakota Memorial
Castle Hill, Mere
Park Hill Camp, Stourton
Long Knoll and Little Knoll

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist
Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative
And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop  and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far