From Markyate to Flamstead

The long and narrow Markyate High Street is set out along Roman Watling Street. The town prospered in the 18th and early 19th centuries from the coach trade – it had several inns, being halfway between St Albans and Dunstable. On the High Street you will see a mixture of architectural styles. Some buildings are Georgian, Some are 19th-century brick-fronted houses, and, particularly at the north end, you will find several 16th- and 17th-century timber-framed ones. The houses on the east side of the High Street had long narrow closes. Sadly these were largely destroyed by the 1957 bypass which, admittedly, relieved the choked High Street.

Strange lady

In the Middle Ages Markyate was famed for 'the Lady Christina of the Woods', a recluse who lived in the woods nearby. She was the first prioress of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, founded in 1145. The Benedictine nunnery stood on the site of the oddly-named Markyate Cell, the mansion north of the town set in delightful parkland along the River Ver. It is seen from the churchyard of St John the Baptist, a part-1734, plum brick church. A plaque on the nave reads 'This Chapel Enlarged by Jos Howell ad 1811', the then owner of Markyate Cell. The priory was dissolved in 1537 and the site was granted to Humphrey Bourchier. He demolished much of it and converted it into a house.

Other alterations were made later, including those by the Ferrers family, but much of its present Elizabethan appearance is due to Robert Lugar's rebuildings and alterations in the 1820s for Daniel Goodson Adey of St Albans. Yet more rebuilding was undertaken after a fire in 1840.

Wicked lady

Another lady was renowned in Markyate, but she was decidedly less virtuous. She was Kathleen Ferrers, 'the Wicked Lady of Markyate Cell'. Born in 1634, she took to highway robbery along Watling Street. Eventually she was mortally wounded in a hold-up and crawled back to Markyate Cell to die. Her ghost, draped in a black cape, has supposedly been seen on Watling Street and was blamed for three fires that severely damaged Markyate Cell.

In memory of children

Flamstead village, at the other end of the walk, was once a small market town. Its church is worth visiting, for its medieval wall-paintings, and for the moving Saunders Children monument of 1690, which was carved by William Stanton. The church is only open on Sunday afternoons between July and September. The Saunders family owned Beechwood Park, a mansion built on the site of another Benedictine nunnery, St Giles-in-the-Wood, which was dissolved in 1537. Thomas Saunders built the almshouses to the north of the church, as well as commissioning this superb monument.

From the north end of Markyate High Street walk southwards. Turn left into Hicks Road, crossing the A5 on a footbridge. Pass Lotus Lodge and turn right. Where the lane turns left, go straight on along a green lane which shortly turns right to descend, initially shaded and sometimes muddy, then on a surfaced drive to the valley road.

Turn left on to the course of the Roman Watling Street, a stretch now bypassed. Follow this for over a mile (1.6km) until, at a petrol station, you turn right to cross the A5.

Once through a kissing gate head diagonally right following the waymarked path through the grounds of a tree nursery. Make for and go through a kissing gate to walk alongside them. At the end of the field go right to a kissing gate, then ahead through woods and over another stile into a copse that climbs the valley side. Emerging from this copse, go through a kissing gate to go left alongside a hedge. Go through another kissing gate and head to a lane, River Hill, which leads into the delightful village of Flamstead.

At the junction turn left along High Street, right into Church Road and then right again, into the parish churchyard via a kissing gate. Leave via a gate by the war memorial cross. Turn left along High Street and then left into Trowley Hill Road. Beyond No 30, Pound Farm, turn right on to a tarmac path, signposted 'The Chiltern Way'. At a footpath post turn left and descend along the edge of an arable field. At the bottom of the field go left between some gardens to a lane and turn right.

At Trowley Bottom go straight on, then immediately right on to a bridleway, at first behind cottages, then along the valley. At a lane turn right to climb out of the valley. When you reach the crest turn left. At a footpath sign, bear left into Friendless Wood. Once out of the wood go right. The path then follows the ridge along the edge of this and another wood before going through a kissing gate and across an arable field, then along its left edge to a hand gate. Go through the gate and cross horse paddocks via another hand gate to a kissing gate to rejoin the lane.

Go left to the junction, turn right, then left to a footpath sign, 'Buckwood Road'. At a footpath junction turn right and walk alongside an arable field and gardens to a road via a kissing gate. Across it the path climbs between gardens. Go along Cowper Road to the Cavendish Road junction. Here you turn right, descending to Markyate High Street. Turn left and, just before the former White Hart, go right to the subway under the A5. Turn left to visit the church (from its churchyard you can see Markyate Cell house). Retrace your steps to the High Street.