Walk 1: SADBOROW POUND TO SCHOOL HOUSE
Distance: 3.74km/2.33 miles
TVT Walk 1 Map
TVT Walk 1 pdf All
walk descriptions © Eve Higgs
This walk goes down Witteys Lane and through The Dungeon to Sadborow Pound. It crosses
the Sadborow Estate following the route of an old road to School House.
Part of the walk follows the Monarch’s Way. For more information go to:
http://www.monarchsway.50megs.com/index.html
1. With the church behind you turn left, walk down Chard Street, turn right into
High Street and walk up past Golden House to your left. It used to be a pub called
the Golden Lion and dates back to the 17th century. During the 19th century there
were three pubs in Thorncombe, the Royal Oak next to the churchyard and the Old
Crown at the bottom of Fore Street.
2. Turn left down Witteys Lane. Richard Witty was fined for fighting on the royalist
side by Parliament in 1646 following his capture at the Siege of Lyme. Note the
hedgebank on your left. Hedge dating suggests it is around 800 years old. Walk down
to the end of the lane and climb over the style directly ahead of you. Follow the
path across two fields. The plantation of trees on the left in the second field was
planted by Thorncombe Village Trust in 1987.
3. Climb over the stile at the entrance of ‘The Dungeon’. It is thought to be so
called because cattle due for slaughter were herded through here to one of the slaughterhouses
on High Street. Eight butchers and one cattle dealer are listed in the 1841 Thorncombe
census. Follow the path along the gorge through which Stonelake Brook runs into the
River Synderford . In wet weather the gorge is a rushing torrent and the foot path
becomes a stream but is still a useful short cut back to Thorncombe village if the
Sadborow Road becomes impassable as a result of heavy rain. Climb over the stile
at the end of the path. Turn right and follow the track until you reach a gate.
4. You have now reached Sadborow Pound where stray animals were coralled. Owners
were fined before they could claim their beasts. Keeping the triangular grass covered
island in the middle of the road to your left, turn right through the white gate
next to the post box. The drive next to it leads to Sadborow Hall; built between
1773 and 1775. Keeping the hedge to your left follow the path through two fields.
The path follows the route of an old road which was closed at the end of the 18th
century to save the parishioners money. Until 1835 the parish was responsible for
the maintenance of all the roads in Thorncombe. Go through the gate and head across
the middle of the field where there is another gate.
5. Pass through the gateway and head towards the white house at Shearings Cross.
You will see a stile in the fence to the garden. This is a right of way and all
that is left of the old road which was 'stopped off' by Sadborow owner John Bragge,
in 1798. Keep the white house to your left. The footpath goes through the garden
and comes out on the road. It looks overgrown but still passable. You are now standing
on Thorncombe’s one and only turnpike which dates back to 1777. Lyme Regis Turnpike
Trust handed it back to the parish in 1803. From Shearings Cross, the turnpike ran
down the hill past Easthay, leaving the parish at the ford on the River Blackwater
and the other way up through Thorncombe past the Toll House at Thorncombe Thorn up
High Street and all the way up to Venn.
6. Turn right and take the track on the left next to School House Farm. Thorncombe’s
schoolhouse, founded in 1613, was on the small plot opposite. It burnt down in 1734.
The new schoolhouse was incorporated into the parish workhouse, opposite the church
in the centre of the village. Follow the track until you reach a gate. Pass through
the gateway and keeping the hedge on your right follow the path into the second field.
(Thorncombe’s Parish Workhouses)
7. On the right is a stile and a wooden plank across a narrow stream. Cross the stile
into the field and strike out in a straight line towards the stile in the fence
ahead which marks the boundary of Thorncombe Sports and Social Club.
8. Keeping the club house to your right, cross the field to the gate. Cross Horseshoe
Road and go through the gate diagonally opposite which is marked with a footpath
sign. The grounds of Greenhill, a large Georgian house, can be glimpsed through the
trees,on your right. Cross the field and pass through the gateway.You are following
an old road which linked Hewood to Thorncombe.
9. Ahead is a new fence with several gates. Go through the middle gate marked
with the footpath disk and aim for the stile in the middle of the trees ahead.
Climb over, turn right and head for High Street, then retrace your footsteps to the
church.
