Grovely Wood from Great Wishford

Great Wishford is the most southerly of a series of villages in the valley of the River Wylye, which gives its name to Wilton and so to the county of Wiltshire. Our knowledge of the village pre-dates the Norman conquest (1066), the written name changing over the years from Wicheford or Witford to Willesford Magna in the mid-16th century and Wishford Magna by the early 17th century. Many of the village houses are constructed of Chilmark stone, quarried in the next valley. Some are interlaced with flint, others are thatched. Many are steeply roofed and date from 1628.

'Grovely and All Grovely'

Mention the village of Great Wishford and most Wiltshire people will immediately associate it with one date in the calendar – 29 May. This is Oak Apple Day, when the only ancient custom still taking place in the county is enacted by the villagers. On this day, they commemorate their victory over the local landowner, the Earl of Pembroke, who in creating Wilton Park closed the east–west road, south of the River Nadder, thus interfering with their ancient rights – from a charter granted in 1603 – to cut and gather timber in the nearby Grovely Wood. Celebrations begin at dawn when the young people of the village wake each household by banging tin pans and shouting 'Grovely, Grovely, Grovely and All Grovely'. Armed with billhooks and accompanied by traditional musicians they walk up Grovely Lane into the woods, where they cut green branches for their houses and an oak bough, which is decked with ribbons and hung from the church tower. Led by the parish rector, villagers dressed in period costume continue to Salisbury Cathedral where further celebrations, in the form of dancing on the cathedral green and a procession to the high altar, culminate in the villagers loudly proclaiming their rights and chanting 'Grovely! Grovely! and All Grovely! Unity is strength'.

These unusual village celebrations are not a merely modern revival of a long-lost tradition, but actually seem to date back to a pagan and primitive period when tree worship was connected with May Day celebrations. In understanding how these ancient rights, customs and traditions have survived in Great Wishford it is interesting to note that the village has been in the ownership of just three families over the last seven centuries.

Bread stones

An unusual feature in the village are the stone inscriptions that can be found in the east wall of the churchyard. These tablets record the price of bread in the village since the Napoleonic Wars. In 1801 it was 3s 10d a gallon, in 1904 only 10d and by 1920 it had risen to 2s 8d. The 'Gall' measures are a reminder of the days when bread was sold in semi-liquid form as dough for home-baking.

Head along South Street to the church and turn left at the T-junction. Walk past the Royal Oak. Go under the railway bridge and immediately turn right to walk along the waymarked bridle path beside a cemetery. Ascend the track to a bench and gate.

Go through, walk along the left-hand field-edge to a gate, continue beside trees and follow the bridleway ahead, bearing right around the top of the field and making for the opening that leads into woodland (blue waymarker). Turn almost immediately left along the woodland track, following it for some distance to a T-junction. Turn right up the metalled lane.

At the first major junction, by a patch of grass, turn left and then left again to follow a track running down a broad beech avenue (First Broad Drive) along the course of a Roman road, or Lead Road, which traversed Wessex from the lead mines of the Mendips in Somerset to join other ancient routes at Old Sarum, such as the Harrow Way to Kent. You are now walking through Grovely Wood, a fine stretch of woodland that was once a royal hunting forest and which, together with the New Forest and Cranborne Chase, formed a very significant preserve.

Ignore several forestry tracks, but after a mile (1.6km), at a crossing of public bridle paths (the sign is to the left, behind you), turn left and keep to the main track downhill through the woodland, ignoring all cross paths and forks. Emerge from Grovely Wood and follow the track downhill towards Great Wishford. Pass beneath the railway line to the lane. Turn left, then fork right along South Street.