Crowhurst to Battle
By Ben Parsons
Click here to view map
As a promised follow-up
to my recent walk
between the railway
stations at West St
Leonards and Crowhurst,
published on December 1
and available on the Argus
website, this is the first of a new
pair of linked walks which, this
week, will take you on from
Crowhurst to Battle.
It is an attractive walk, starting along
the quiet valley of the tiny Powdermill
Stream with the option of a detour into
the RSPB nature reserve at Fore Wood.
It then climbs to higher ground, passing
through Powdermill Wood and joining
part of the long-distance 1066 Country
Walk for the last mile or so.
It is a fairly short walk which should
leave time and energy for a visit to
Battle Abbey and a tour of the site of the
Battle of Hastings.
1.Return along the Crowhurst
station approach road to the
road junction, opposite the
parish church. Turn left and immediately
go right along a driveway, passing
to the right of the ruined fragment of
the hall of a 13th-Century manor house.
Where the drive ends, go ahead
through a gate and forward across a
field to another gate. Continue across
the next field, over a low rise, then aiming
for a solitary oak tree where you
should bear right for a few yards to join
a small stream on your left, following it
for a few more yards to a swing gate
and footbridge in the field corner.
2.Carry on beside the tiny
Powdermill Steam to another
swing gate and footbridge and
through the next field. At the far end,
where the field narrows to a point, go
over a stile.
The path to the right from here
offers a there-and-back detour into Fore
Wood, an RSPB nature reserve, worth
exploring if time permits. Our walk,
however, continues to the left, over
a footbridge.
Distance/time: Four-and-a-half miles/
two-and-a-quarter
hours.
By car: Start from
the village of
Crowhurst, most
easily accessible
from the A2100
Hastings-to-Battle
road at Telham.
Roadside parking is
possible in several
places along the
access road to
Crowhurst Station,
which starts
opposite the church
at GR 758123, or at
the station itself
where there is
plenty of room at
the weekend.
By public transport: Train to Crowhurst
and back from
Battle, both stations
on the Hastings-to-
Tunbridge Wells line.
What's underfoot: A
straightforward walk
along good paths
and tracks. Gently
undulating.
Thirsty work: Choice of pubs and
tea rooms at Battle.
So you don't get lost: OS Explorer map 124 and a
compass for general direction.
3.Once across this bridge, turn
right on a path which winds
through an area of regenerating
woodland. At the end of this area, turn
left along a left field edge. In the field
corner go through a gap and ahead
within an area of rough pasture
and patchy scrub, passing a pond on
your left.
A path continues through woodland,
passing to the right of another, larger,
pond before emerging to a follow
a left edge.
4.In the field corner, bear left, now
on a dirt track and, after a few
yards, at a T-junction, turn
right, soon passing to the right of yet
another pond. Emerging into the open,
turn right to climb across an area of
rough grass and scattered young trees
to enter woodland through a gap in the
trees where there is a useful sign.
Leave the wood over two stiles sandwiching
a plank bridge, turn left for a
few yards to cross a third stile and turn
right to head out across a large field,
where the path may, depending on the
season, be undefined due to ploughing
and planting.
Pass beneath power lines and aim for
a wide gap in the next hedge where
there is a farm gate. From this point
there is a good view across the valley to
Battle Abbey and the site of the Battle of
Hastings.
Drop down across the next field,
aiming for the bottom right corner
where you can go through a gate and
ahead along a rising fenced track
which heads for the buildings of Millers
Farm.
5.About 40 yards short of the
first farm building, turn right
over a stile to follow a signed
and stiled path which skirts tightly to
the right of the farm area. At the far end
of the buildings, ignoring a signed path
ahead, turn left through a gate to join
the access drive from the farm.
Turn right to follow it for the best
part of a mile out to Powdermill Lane.
6.Cross the road, go through the
gate almost opposite and follow
the main path through Powdermill
Wood, ignoring all side paths. At
the bottom of a slope, go ahead with
a high fence, enclosing Farthing Pond,
on your left.
A few yards beyond the point where
this aggressively fortified fence turns
away to the left, the path ahead divides.
Fork left here along the narrower uphill
route, once again ignoring side paths.
Leave the wood over a stile and head
squarely across a field to join a track
over a second stile. From here into
Battle you will be following part of the
1066 Country Walk with its distinctive
red signs.
7.Turn right along the track,
shaded by trees at first. Beyond
a bridle gate it runs within a
wide grassy strip before climbing
across more open ground to feed into a
more substantial track which takes you
on, unmistakably, out to Battle High
Street, passing in front of the entrance
gateway to Battle Abbey and the
Battlefield site.
Turn right beside the road, using a
raised path with the Abbey Wall on
your right, soon passing the substantial
sandstone parish church on your
left.
At a mini-roundabout, fork right. At
the bottom of the hill, a few yards short
of the Senlac Inn, turn left along the
station approach road to reach Battle
Station, where the walk ends.
If you would like an extended circular
walk, avoiding the need for train
travel, I shall, in two weeks time, be
describing a return route from Battle
to Crowhurst, offering a manageable
total circuit of just under ten miles
in all.
