Walking Helmdon’s Footpaths

an article by Roger Miles

Roger Miles.
Starting to write in April 2020, I’m struck by the thought that the people living in my Cross Lane home 200 years ago would have known the Helmdon field paths to neighbouring villages much as they are today. Helmdon still nestles in a shallow valley, ringed by working arable and pasture farmland that rolls gently and changes with the seasons. Footpaths within the village and radiating outwards provide routes where people walked to work, and for other essential aspects of their lives. Today we lack those imperatives but can walk the same paths for exercise and enjoyment.

The 1926 Ordnance Survey map shows Helmdon very much as it is today, including the footpaths, although a path through ‘Allotment Gardens’ west of Church Street has since been replaced by the road and houses of Shortlands Close.

In 1949 legislation required local authorities such as Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) to establish and maintain a definitive map of the historic paths in their areas and to designate them as Public Rights of Way (PROWs). The latest edition of the NCC definitive map for Helmdon was produced in 2016. It shows Helmdon has 44 individually numbered footpaths and bridleways totalling some 20 miles of routes the public can walk freely. A framed earlier copy of the definitive map hangs in the Reading Room for all to see.

For many years the Parish Council has invited someone to act as Paths Warden for the Parish, liaising with landowners and NCC to resolve issues and to facilitate improvements. I took on this enjoyable role in October 2006 and am supported by a group of residents who help to identify and solve problems, such as cutting back summer nettles and brambles. A special effort is made to keep clear the permissive path along the former railway track towards Astwell. This is not a PROW but walking is permitted under agreements between the land owners and the Parish Council. There are two other permissive paths in the Parish, one around the churchyard and the other goes over the former Great Central Railway viaduct.

When I became the Paths Warden I inherited some interesting old maps and notes of meetings of previous paths enthusiasts. One outstanding document is a sketch map of the paths drawn by Jean Spendlove; it includes notes on landscape features and some of the old field names. Whilst ‘ Wicket Mead’ is well-known and popular with dog walkers today, I suspect that few could find their way through ‘Pit Furland’ to ‘Stockford’; regrettably I rarely meet anyone when walking the open path down the side of ‘Big Bleaks’ on the way to Weston. Just 20 minutes away from the War Memorial, this path, like many of the others around Helmdon, offers lovely views across a wide landscape.

Equally good are the views from the higher path to Stuchbury that starts at the stile opposite the school and runs up past the viaduct to a meadow where Lady’s Smock flowers surround the path in late Spring. Also on this route one often sees Buzzards circling slowly overhead.

In 2004 a questionnaire survey for the drafting of a Parish Plan found that many residents wanted more information on the village footpaths. Working with the Paths Warden, a group prepared a map and leaflets for five circular walks. Some lively discussions followed the testing of drafts where instructions such as ‘go round the tree’ and ‘walk diagonally across’ proved not easy to follow! Copies of the map and leaflets are included in the welcome pack for new residents and are available to all, thanks to the village charities who funded the printing.

In 2006 Helmdon joined a national scheme supported by South Northants Council that promotes ‘Walking for Health’ by offering sociable group walks led by someone who knows the route. Thursday afternoon walks throughout the year, weather permitting, are followed by tea and cake in the Reading Room.

Monday evening walks for ten weeks in the summer venture further afield and enjoy beautiful views and sunsets. The aim of getting back to The Fat Landlord just before dark is usually achieved, although once out near Stuchbury dark clouds quickly turned dusk to night for 15 walkers with one small torch between them. Also the further-away paths do get overgrown quickly in summer and so some wading through nettles and high crops is required in places.

When I’m out walking I often meet a group who’ve come some way to enjoy the variety of paths around Helmdon. Their appreciation underlines how fortunate we are that so many historic paths have been preserved and are readily accessible. Furthermore the paths are being improved as farming changes and stiles can be removed or replaced with kissing gates. Mud is an inevitable winter problem so this year the Paths Group experimentally installed some plastic matting in very muddy parts of the Wicket Mead paths. Some sections sank into the mud so people walked beside them but the overall response was favourable!

Today the whole country is in the fourth week of the Covid-19 emergency; the ‘stay at home’ restrictions do allow limited going outside for exercise and in Helmdon our footpaths are being well-used to lift our spirits. At this worrying time I feel especially fortunate to live here.

Roger Miles
2020

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