Wolstonbury Hill

by Eddie Start

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The walk takes you high up on Wolstonbury Hill near Hurstpierpoint from where there is a steep descent (sliding optional) down to an Elizabethan mansion

The steep climb of a significant peak is the main feature of this walk. From the busy village of Hurstpierpoint the approach to Wolstonbury Hill crosses farmland, with the remnants of a Roman road, and climbs up gully paths and earthworks to the summit.

There is a steep descent and the magnificent frontage of an Elizabethan mansion to take-in on the return.

1. From the crossroads in the centre of Hurstpierpoint, with Holy Trinity church on the right, walk southward, beside the Brighton Road, for 150 yards. Cross the road with care to take the bridleway, right, which leads to two metal kissing gates in 200 yards. Take the gate on the right, onto a footpath. Continue for 200 yards, taking a half-left turn to cross a stile in the lower field corner. Turn leftward as signed, crossing a further stile and heading to a bridge at the end of the field.

Pass over the bridge, turn right to a three-way junction in 200 yards and go left towards Wanbarrow Farm. The path rises past the farm and in 200 yards turns to the left, at a three-way junction. Continue across three open fields to arrive beside the Brighton Road. Cross the road with care and enter the drive that leads to Randolph’s Farm.

2.Within a few yards a glance to the right will reveal a low ridge that runs parallel to the hedge. This ridge is a remnant of the Greensand Way, a Roman road that ran east to west across Sussex and connected with north-south roads at Hassocks and Lewes.

Walk towards the houses at the junction in the drive and turn right. The drive descends and then climbs towards the buildings of Randolph’s Farm. Pass to the right of the farm outbuildings and drop on the bridleway to pass the end of a fishing lake, then enter the woodland of Randolph’s Copse on a wide track. The onward track passes beside the wooded Foxhole Shaw and comes to Foxhole Cottages.

Stay on the track beside the cottages and, where the drive turns right, take the footpath ahead along a left hedgeline, climbing to the trees beneath Wolstonbury Hill. Climb up through the first part of the woods to a crossing path. Take a few paces to the right, passing through the bridle gate opposite to climb the hillside on a steepening path. Stay on the ascending path, indicated by marker posts. Do not take any side turnings.

In a few hundred yards, as the path levels off, one from the right joins it. With downland scrub on the right, continue on the broad path. Beside an obvious ridge on the left leading to the prominent earthworks above, turn left to climb beside a shallow gully. The path is soon enclosed by the earthwork embankments, finally passing a metal plaque set in the left bank.

At the top of the gully, turn sharply right along the fence line to cross a stile in 50 yards. Climb on the wide grassy track to the summit plateau, heading for the obvious Ordnance Survey trig point.

Wolstonbury is a prominent peak on the Downs. It juts out from the east-west line of the hills and is a great vantage point. In addition to having been an Iron Age encampment and agricultural grazing ground, it has also been dug out for its chalk in the quarry on its western side, and used to train troops in the Second World War, as the pock-marked summit indicates.

3. With your back to the north side of the trig point (looking towards London for the directionally challenged) turn quarter-left, and pass between the remains of the bordering earthworks. The wide grassy path begins a steep descent; keep to the obvious chalk step marks to the tree line at the bottom.

Care is required in the descent on wet grass. Some walkers have been known to adopt the sliding buttocks arrest technique for the descent. This can result in a dishevelled appearance and the need to explain grassy skid marks on one’s clothing.

Do not take the right hand path over a fallen tree at the tree line but continue down to a stile. Descend steps and turn right for 100 yards, then right again and in another 100 yards left, to climb through Ashen Plantation to a bridle gate in 250 yards. Continue across the meadow, passing through a bridle gate that is 50 yards from the far left corner.

Turn left down the footpath, taking the right branch in 150 yards beside the The Warrene, an isolated cottage, and descend on a drive to the minor road. Turn right up the road and in 350 yards go left towards Coldharbour Farm.

4. On arriving at the farm cottages, take the left footpath across two fields towards Hautboyes. Continue on a drive to a minor road beside Beard’s Folly. Go left for a few yards, then right on the footpath beneath trees to a plank bridge and stile.

Cross over two pastures, with the impressive frontage of the Elizabethan Danny house appearing on the left. Cross a stile onto the service road and continue along a fence-bordered drive, on the north side of the house, to cross a stile on the right in 100 yards.

5. Keep to the left fence line to a double stile and plank bridge, then turn half-right across two fields. Enter the next wooded section to a stile and plank bridge, take the next stile immediately right, then walk along the left fence for 100 yards to a further stile and take the right footpath branch across the meadows.

Cross an intermediate footbridge and then climb ahead beside hedgerow, adjacent to a cemetery, to the top-left corner and a stile.

Turn left along the enclosed twitten to a residential road. Turn right for 150 yards to the bustling High Street of Hurstpierpoint and then left for the short walk back to the start point.