The White Horse Hill and the Ridgeway – A rewarding circular walk

Last updated on 24 Nov 2022 by Thierry

We discovered the North Wessex Downs AONB with the visit of the world largest stone circle in Europe, in Avebury. We went back this time for a circular walk around Ashbury, the White Horse Hill and on the Ridgeway – Britain’s oldest road – going through (pre-)historical landmarks and buildings. You can walk the trail in either direction. We chose to do it clockwise and finish the day with the finest views and enjoyed the sun getting down on the horizon.

The walk starts and finishes close to the village of Ashbury. There are several possibilities to park around, including the White Horse Hill car park (SN7 7QN) or Ashbury Hill car park (SN6 8LZ).

Note: be careful, the walk is not pushchair friendly walk. There are some narrow paths, overgrown sections, uneven surfaces and some kissing gates. We used this walk to test our new child carrier, Osprey Poco.

There is some choice for drinks and food on the way. We have marked the White Horse Inn in Woolstone, where we stopped for a mid-afternoon cold drink in a sunny beer garden.

Wayland’s Smithy

We started our walk on the Ridgeway, not far from the White Horse Hill car park. The Ridgeway National Trail stretches 139 km (87 mi) from the World Heritage Site of Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon (northwest of London). The route follows a ridge of chalk hills and has been used by all sorts of travellers since prehistoric times.

After a short time walking along the Ridgeway, Wayland’s Smithy will appear on the right.

Wayland’s Smithy is a chambered long barrow used for burials, built 5,500 years ago by Neolithic communities.

It was built in two stages:

• a first smaller structure: a box made of stone and wood, used to bury 14 people. An oval mound of chalk and earth was covering the box.
• a second bigger structure added about a century later with stone chambers where several people were also burried.

The structure visible today is the result of restoration following excavations undertaken by archaeologists in 1962-1963.

The name of the site, Wayland’s Smithy, comes from the Saxon god of metalworking, who was believed to inhabit the place, the Smithy. The legend presents Wayland as a helpful Fairy who help human beings under certain conditions.

If a traveller’s horse had lost a shoe upon the road, all he would need to do was bring the horse and a coin to the Smithy and wait awhile.  When he returned, the coin would be gone but the horse newly shod.

Ashbury village

Leaving Wayland’s Smithy, the walk continues on the Ridgeway for about 30 minutes before turning right and going through fields following a footpath (The Ridgeway crosses the B4000 Ashbury Hill road, be careful!).

The footpath continues up to a T-junction. Taking left leads you to a nearby church and the village of Ashbury.

The village of Ashbury lies at the foot of the Berkshire Downs and has been inhabited continuously for more than 5000 years.

The 12th-century church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and several thatched cottages gives the village its charm. Builders have used chalk blocks for some of the buildings but reinforced them with Sarsen stones – much stronger – or bricks.

The church tower is from the 12th century and other parts range from the 13th to the 15th centuries.

The village also has a manor house dated back from the 15th century, made of cut stone, chalk and bricks, very well preserved.

St Swithun church in Compton Beauchamp

Leaving Ashbury on a trail across the countryside, we reach the church of St Swithun in Compton Beauchamp.

St Swithun’s may appear to be a private chapel, but it is not! The parish church is open daily between 9 am and 5 pm.

This lovely tiny church dates from the 13th century and has not seen lots of alteration. Some ancient windows remain, such as the east window (a Decorated Gothic insertion) and the north transept east window (early 14th century).

The interior is the work of the inspirational 20th century English artist Martin Travers, who created a beautiful, sacred space within the tiny building back in the 1930s.

This work on the interior gives a very unique atmosphere to the church.

Time for a cold drink in Woolstone!

Just after Compton Beauchamp and still following the same direction (north-east) on footpaths, we passed next to the hamlet of Knighton, and after 20-ish minutes reached Woolstone.

Woolstone is a lovely village with some traditional cottages.

We stopped for a cold beverage at the White Horse Inn. It was also time for Nelly to have a meal.
After this break, we pursued our walk toward the best part of our adventure!

Dragon Hill, The White Horse Hill and Uffington Castle

Those are three prehistoric sites next to each other located along the Ridgeway.

You can visit the sites at any time, there is no fence around the site.

Dragon Hill

Dragon Hill is the perfect spot for a close view of the White Horse of Uffington. Located just in front of the chalk horse, Dragon Hill is a natural hill, whose top has been artificially flattened. St George would have killed the dragon here, hence the name of the hill. Interestingly, there is a bare patch of chalk on top of the hill, and this would be where the blood of the dragon would have run out, and nothing has ever grown there since.

The White Horse Hill – White Horse of Uffington

The White Horse Hill got its name from the 110m striking chalk-cut figure of a horse carved on its upper slope. Archaeologists have dated the white horse (Uffington White Horse) from the Late Bronze Age or Iron Age, by far the oldest of the 16 or more existing chalk-cut horses that can be found in Britain.

The meaning of the horse is not certain. The horse could be a tribal sign or reflect mythological beliefs, connected with the builders of Uffington Castle.

Be careful not to step on the horse as you will damage it. Same with the slope around, there is excessive erosion due to too many visitors not being respectful of the site.

You can also see the White Horse of Uffington in the movie Robin Hood (2010), where Robin meets William Marshal.

Uffington castle

Uffington ‘Castle’ is a large Iron Age hillfort, strategically located at the top of the White Horse Hill, the highest point in Oxfordshire.

The hillfort measures 220m by 160m and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the western end. Excavations at the site have shown there were box ramparts on top of the banks and sarsen stones lined up on the inner rampart. A wooden door also closed the entrance.

Uffington Castle is approximately 2,800 years old. Local communities built this fort between the 8th and 7th century BC (Iron Age) and have occupied it up to the 4th century AD at least. Several Romano-British and Saxon burials are located close to the fort.

Exiting the fort on the south part (opposite to the White Horse of Uffington) will lead you back to the Ridgeway, and following it downhill will bring you shortly after to the starting point of the walk, closing the loop and the day!

Map of the walk

What about our new child carrier?

We definitely needed a robust child carrier, as the walks we are doing are more and more challenging and the trails we follow are quite often narrow, uneven and/ or overgrown, making the use of our all-terrain pushchair difficult.

Plus, Nelly is growing up and likes to see what is around. Not easy from the pushchair surrounded by high plants and grass!

After quite long research, we have chosen the Poco child carrier from Osprey. The specs were interesting, especially with the integrated sun canopy and rain cover. Also, with the suspended mesh back system being the same as the last hiking backpack Thierry bought for our hiking trip in Brazil, we knew what to expect in terms of comfort and ease to adjust. The carrier is so easy to adjust that changing from Daddy to Mommy takes only a couple of minutes.

After this day out (and a few shorter sessions before), we are very happy with our choice.

The carrier is very robust, very safe, very easy to adjust for the child and the working horse (Daddy).
Nelly seats comfortably looking around or grabbing Daddy’s hair and Daddy’s not tired nor feels any pain at the end of the day, after walking around with about 12kg on the back.

We can only recommend the Poco child carrier from Osprey!

So, what about walking along the Ridgeway?

Do you like hikes mixing great views and landscapes with historical gems?
If you like time outside, walking and discovering historic sites at the same time, you will also enjoy the Surrey Hills AONB.

Have you ever been walking in the North Wessex Downs AONB?
Do you have a similar walk you would recommend?

Please let us know in the comments so that we can add them to our to-do list!