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Chalbury Hill and Horton

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Walk directions

Walk through the village to a junction by the Old School House and go left towards Chalbury Common and Wimborne. Just past St Wolfrida’s churchyard, leave over a stile on the right between two house drives. At the end, go left and right over a stile and head across pasture past an old chalk pit. Go through a gap in the hedge, stepping over a low metal stile. Continue by the right-hand hedge of the next field. Over two more stiles, immediately strike out left across the field towards Duke’s Copse. Crossing another stile, bear right to a gate at the corner of the wood and walk up beside the trees. Through a metal field gate to your right, angle across a final field towards the most right-hand of a clutch of houses and follow a track out to a lane.

Go left but almost immediately bear off on a footpath to Chalbury’s church. Pass through the churchyard to leave by a kissing gate and stile opposite the south porch. Head diagonally right down the field to a stile, swinging left before it onto a fenced path beside a fringe of trees. Go through a gate on your right and over a stile to emerge in another field. Walk down by the right-hand hedge, swinging left at the bottom towards stables. Go over a stile to pass behind them along a contained path to a track and go right and left to a lane.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Field paths and tracks, some lanes

Landscape - Gently rolling farmland

Dog friendliness - Dogs on leads near grazing livestock

Parking - Lay-by with postbox, near village hall, on eastern edge of Horton

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Dorset Dog-friendly walks in Dorset

About the walk

This walk wanders through a landscape of rolling pastures and fields broken by copses and woodland, and links quiet villages that each have something of interest. Horton is where James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was captured in 1685 after his army’s bloody defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor.... Although the eldest son of Charles II, he had been denied the succession because of his illegitimacy. But his ill-fated rebellion to wrest the throne from his uncle, James II, ended with his beheading on Tower Hill. The village’s unusual L-shaped 18th-century church stands on the site of a 10th-century Benedictine abbey dedicated to St Wolfrida, a Saxon noblewoman who became abbess of the nunnery at Wilton Abbey. The tiny whitewashed church at nearby Chalbury is one of the oldest in Dorset, and the simple beauty of its exterior is repeated inside. Box pews for gentry farmers face a fine threedecker pulpit, while elevated behind a balustrade in the chancel is a bench for the Earl of Pembroke. All is overlooked by a musician’s gallery. Nearby on the high point of the hill stood a telegraph semaphore, part of a chain employed by the admiralty to transmit signals between Plymouth and Whitehall during the Napoleonic Wars. Hinton Martell was originally Hinetone, the village of the monks, and the present church was rebuilt following a fire during the 19th century, with the architect-turned-novelist Thomas Hardy working on the plans. Incorporating the old stones, it retains the Early English style and includes a sundial on the tower. At the other end of the village is a striking fountain, more in keeping with the formal gardens of a grand house. Originally installed around 1875 by William Burt, owner of a paper mill at Witchampton, it served as a pressure relief for the village’s newly installed water supply. The present centrepiece is the third replacement, a replica of the original cast-iron cupid. The walk finishes past Horton Tower, otherwise known as Sturt’s Folly, which, when built in 1750, was the country’s tallest secular building. Humphrey Sturt, lord of the manor, was both an architect and the county’s MP as well as a keen huntsman, and it is said that he constructed the tower to watch the hunt when too old to ride. That he was then only 25 shows commendable retirement planning, but it might merely have been an observatory for viewing the night sky. Although derelict inside, it now serves as a mobile phone mast.

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About the area

Dorset is made up of rugged coastlines, high chalk downlands and a chain of picturesque villages and seaside towns that make up Britain’s Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, noted for its layers of shale and numerous fossils embedded in the rock. Hidden gems of Dorset can be found down winding, country lanes that lead to snug villages hidden from view.

Route details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Moderate

Distance:

4.5 miles (7.2kms)

Ascent:

400ft (122m)

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Chalbury Hill and Horton

Recommended by

Walk details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Moderate

Distance:

4.5 miles (7.2kms)

Ascent:

400ft (122m)

Walk directions

1 of 6

2 of 6

Walk downhill into Hinton Martell, passing the church to a junction with a fountain in a pond. Go left towards Rooks Hill, skirting a high fence to reach the corner of a wood. Turn in on a narrow path winding up into the trees. Keep right at a fork near the top. Continue forward along the left-hand hedge of successive fields, crossing several stiles and eventually leaving along a short track onto a lane at Rooks Hill.

3 of 6

Turn left and immediately right on a gravel track, passing through a gap at its end into Holt Wood. Fork left, crossing a footbridge over a stream, and keep left at the next junction to reach a crossing green track. Go left again, shortly exiting past a barrier onto a gravel drive. Follow it out to meet another lane.

4 of 6

Cross to Batchelor’s Lane opposite, following the track to Linen Hill Farm. As it swings sharply left behind the buildings, keep ahead over a stile into a field. Bear left uphill to a stile in the top boundary by an electricity post. Follow the track left to have closer look at Horton Tower.

5 of 6

Return to the electricity post and go over the stile on the left. Drop diagonally across the slope towards the houses at Horton, passing the end of a concrete track to a stile at the far side. Keep going, crossing four further stiles in quick succession and a final field. Emerge over a stile beside a gate next to the canopied village pump. The lay-by is then just to the right.

6 of 6

Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Field paths and tracks, some lanes

Landscape - Gently rolling farmland

Dog friendliness - Dogs on leads near grazing livestock

Parking - Lay-by with postbox, near village hall, on eastern edge of Horton

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Dorset Dog-friendly walks in Dorset

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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Get an AA guide

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Been on this walk?

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About the area

Dorset

Chalbury Hill and Horton

Been on this walk?

Walking in Safety

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Chalbury Hill and Horton

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