Stubhampton Bottom

Walk

Iwerne Minster is a small village that sits on the A350 between Blandford and Shaftesbury. It lies on the far eastern edge of the Blackmore Vale just before the hills rise to Cranborne Chase. Prehistoric activity in the area is clear to see with the two Iron Age Hillforts of Hambledon (with Neolithic roots) and Hod (with Roman influence) on its southern border. Closer to the village, near Park Farm, is another historic settlement of a Roman villa and a selection of other tumuli scatter the eastern slopes. The village follows the valley of the River Iwerne which gives the village its name, its Celtic translation meaning ‘Yew Tree Stream’. However, some locals believe it is an acronym for ‘Inland Waters Ever Running Never Ending’. The village contains a number of interesting properties including Clayesmore, the Chantry, the old village club and the Vicarage. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary and dates from the mid-12th century. A few renovations have occurred over the years including the halving of the church steeple during the 19th century.

Walk down Church Road and turn left onto the little Church Street. Head to the end to Dun’s Lane, with The Old Vicarage sitting on the corner. The Old Vicarage, now renamed Devine House, is a boy’s boarding house for Clayesmore School. It was built in 1836 buy Rev. William Blannerhassett, the vicar of Iwerne Minster. In 1860 he committed suicide and apparently still haunts the building today! In the garden there used to be an exposed stone tank, sometimes referred to as the cellar, fed by a natural spring which then supplied house with water. It was here his presence was most felt. In 1977, when the house was sold, the tank was covered and little has been heard since.

Turn right onto Watery Lane and head down to the 17th century Brookman’s Farm. Take the channelled footpath ahead that leads into an open field and continue across to the base of the steep chalk slopes. Climb up the steps in the trees and turn left climbing up Preston Hill. Cross over the first track then merge onto a second and, when it splits, fork left onto the grassed route. The views look back down to Iwerne Minster as the conical peak of Duncliffe rises behind. Turn with the boundary to the right walking up to Preston Woods on the peak. Preston Hill is scattered with earthworks, some believed to be part of a lost medieval settlement. On its western edge sits a medieval field system while on the higher slopes to the right is an earlier Romano-British field system.

Squeeze between the two periods of agriculture to a junction and walk straight through the gate ahead. The views now open up to the south, towards Blandford, yet little settlement is visible, portraying a perfectly rural Dorset scene. Follow the edge of the field down to the corner and turn left, entering Preston Wood. Skim the corner of the forest and exit onto a track. Turn left following the sign for Great Peaky Coppice and stay on the same route, ignoring all diversions, weaving between the trees.

Placed at the top of the hill are more medieval earthworks. A farmstead survives as a rectangular enclosure with an entrance from the north west and a depression on the eastern side, suggesting a building. It neighbours a circular earthwork with a ramped entrance sitting close to the road, called Bulls Pit. Little is known about its purpose with the only suggestions matching its name.

When the track bends to the right to enter the field with the medieval remains, continue straight ahead onto a grassed path. Follow the track up to Boyne’s Lane, the higher road connecting Blandford to Shaftesbury. This ancient route dates back centuries to when the ancient people accessed their chalkland earthworks on Cranborne Chase. Following the ridge of the hill, high above the wild and untamed Blackmore Vale below. It was further rooted into history during the 9th century when King Alfred, who often stayed in Wareham, would travel to Shaftesbury Abbey to visit his daughter Æthelgeofu (or Elfgiva or Algiva) the abbess. When William the conquer enclosed Cranborne Chase as his hunting grounds, this road ran along its border, channelling unwanted traffic south and off the hunting territory. It failed to become a turnpike with the lower route favoured, which ran through the villages of Iwerne Minster, Fontmell Magna and Compton Abbas, offering refreshment and rest for the weary traveller. Today the majority of the route is taken in preference to the lower road, despite the notorious Dinah’s Hollow.

Cross straight over the road onto a farm track. Follow it to the trees then veer off to the right to keep the woodland on the left, down to the bottom corner. On the opposite slopes to the right are the earthworks of Harbin’s Park, buried under trees. Consisting of a square enclosure, surrounded by a bank and ditch, it is believed to be the oldest medieval Deer Park in Dorset with records dating back to 1279. It continued to be used as a Deer Park into the 17th century but has been left to the elements ever since. Today it is part of Stubhampton Estate, which was recently purchased by a private investor who is currently modifying and improving the site with no limit to cost. A large palace like building is also almost complete, constructed near the site of the old farmhouses.

At the corner, turn left onto the old drove road of Green Lane, connecting Shaftesbury to Blandford. Gently climb up through the trees in the wooded to pass ruins and quarries of old lime kilns. Follow the bridleway alongside Lime Pit Coppice to the road and turn right, skimming past the developing Stubhampton estate. The name Stubhampton derives from the surrounding worked woodland, translating to ‘the tree stump village’. 

Take the next footpath on the left entering Great Peaky Coppice. Keep the woodland on the left, over the peak, with views of Cranborne Chase, and then steeply down through Hanging Coppice. At the bottom, turn left heading deeper into the trees and climbing up the valley of Stubhampton Bottom. Stubhampton Bottom is the source of the River Tarrant which continues south, through the seven Tarrant villages before meeting the River Stour at Spetisbury.

Stay on the same route for just over a mile, ignoring all the diversions as they veer off up the steeper slopes. Stubhampton, like Green Lane, was an old Drove road, but connecting Shaftesbury to Wimborne. At the top of the hill is Ashmore, the highest, and possibly oldest, village in Dorset. The drove road of Stubhampton Bottom continues to Washers Pit where it meets the road. It is famed for a number of ghost stories. In the early 1700s the local Squire of Ashmore, George Barber, was awoken in the middle of the night by his daughter, Elizabeth. She had had a vivid dream of a woman in white being attacked at the Pit. The Squire sent men down immediately to investigate only to discover a woman in white hanging close to death, by her own hair. She was rescued while her attackers disappeared into the darkness of Cranborne Chase. Despite being saved, she apparently relives her tragedy, frequently appearing, still hanging from her hair above the pit. Meanwhile Elizabeth has been laid to rest in the churchyard of St Nicholas, high up in the village of Ashmore, alongside her father. A Bronze Age barrow neighboured the pit with a medieval stone cross embedded in its slope. Local legend claims the barrow was haunted by Gabbygammies – ghostly creatures whose strange gibbering’s filled the air. In 1840, the old cart track was replaced with the lane, cutting through the barrow. Bones were discovered and reburied at St Nicholas Church. Since then the Gabbygammies have been heard gibbering at the church. The cross was neglected and disappeared back into the hillside.

Pass through a large junction and along a straight bit to where Stubhampton Bottom bends to the right. Turn sharply left, ignoring the ‘Private’ signs, and head through a farm gate to turn left in the field. Keep tight to the woodland border up the steep hill, through another gate and bend to the right around the gardens of West Lodge. West Lodge is possibly a 16th century old hunting lodge which was developed into a country manor in 1753 by John Pitt, who was also the architect of Encombe. During the 20th century it was in the ownership of the brewing Hall and Woodhouse family but was put up for sale in 2010 for £12 million. It now sits in the heart of its own estate, surrounded by formal and walled gardens, ancient parkland, farmland, and dramatic wooded valleys.

Turn right then left over a track, sticking to the boundary of West Lodge. Skim its smaller entrances along the bottom of the field to the line of trees ahead. On reaching the drive, flanked by a gatehouse, turn right through the avenue of trees up to the road, with Bronze Age barrows hiding in the fields to the left. Cross over the road and turn left in the field keeping to the top boundary as the slopes drop down on the right revealing the views over the Blackmore Vale. Bear to the right across the slopes to a gap in the trees opposite.

Enter the woodland then merge onto a track coming from the left. On leaving the woods, the views open up again to the west over the Blackmore Vale, the steeple of Sutton Waldron visible amongst the trees. Cut straight through Baredon Wood following the track down the hill back into Iwerne Minster.

As the path drops Hambledon Hill slowly appears on the left, marking the far south eastern corner of the vale. Head through the gate at the end onto a path running behind the houses. Join a little lane after a second gate and at the village road, turn right. Take the second left hand turn, curving around the 18^th century Heddle House, onto Church Road to return to your vehicle.