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The Lavender Line Walk and the village that moved, Sussex

Difficulty Leisurely

Walking time 1 hour 53 minutes

Length 6.3km / 3.9mi

Route developer: Chris Smith

Route checker: John Alsop

Start location Isfield Station bus stop
Route Summary This walk offers a short and level rural ramble through the fields and woods of Isfield and also offers you the chance to visit the Lavender Line, one of the more intimate and uncrowded preserved heritage railways.
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Getting there

Bus 29 from Brighton to Tunbridge Wells serves the stops, but only on those services that run via Isfield.  Check this when you get on the bus (in 2012 alternate services ran via Isfield on Mondays to Saturdays,  all 29 buses on Sundays ran via Isfield)  Plan your journey on line at http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se/XSLT_SELTT_REQUEST?language=en

Cars can be parked in the road which passes to the south of Isfield Station.  If you are traveling on the train you can also use the station car park.

Description

[1] Start from Isfield bus-stop and walk north-east up the road.  Walk round the first bend. 2) At the second bend you will see a concrete track coming in from the left. Just to the right of this (sometimes obscured by the hedge) is a metal footpath gate. Go through this and walk east-north-east across the field, keeping the large tree on your left. Continue in roughly the same direction, with the hedge to your left.  At the gate with a metal stile beside, turn eastwards, ignore the path going off to your left, and follow the edge of the field to reach the main road. Turn left here along the pavement of the A26.  

[2] Soon you will come to a small paved lane on your left, in a wood, with a sign to Worth Farm. Turn down this lane (Worth Lane) and walk for about 400 metres. The woods then end and you come to a bend with a gap in the hedge.  Go past this, and after 20 metres or so more, come to another gap in the hedge on the left (opposite a broken footpath sign). You want to go left i.e. due west, walking at roughly 90 degrees from the lane.The path is not always clear across this field  If in doubt walk straight across the field aiming for the telegraph pole ahead. Then bear left and immediately right following the edge of the field. After about 100 yards bear right to the railway crossing point which will now be visible.

[3] Cross the railway carefully.  If you want to visit Worth Halt or ride on the train back to Isfield, then turn right on the path beside the track and fenced off from it.  Looking North you can see the Halt from the crossing.

(A) Worth Halt was built by  railway volunteers in just seven months in 2012.  You can just sit here and pretend that you are back in Victorian times sitting at a rural halt waiting for a train to London and taking in the sights and sounds of the countryside. 

When train services are running there are trains from here at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. So you can finish your walk here and take the train back to the start.  It is unusual for people to board the train at Worth Halt so you will probably have the place to yourselves while waiting.  You can see the train coming (slowly) from a long way off.  Children may be delighted at the fantasy that the the train is coming just for them.

Alternatively you could catch the train from Isfield and get off at Worth Halt to start your walk.  Trains leave Isfield on the hour and half hour when they are running. To return to, or start the walk from the Halt, walk down the path to the west of the railway, which runs alongside the track until you reach the point where the footpath crosses the railway. At the moment you cannot go anywhere north of the Halt as there is no path across the derelict river bridge.

 If you did not visit Worth halt keep straight ahead after crossing the line.  Walk through a small wood, and turn left over a stile into a field. You are now walking alongside the River Uck, although it is sometimes difficult to see it.  Walk along the edge of a field until you see a footpath junction sign and, to your right, a bridge over the river. (Easy to miss). Cross the bridge and turn immediately right and continue alongside the river. Anywhere along here might be a good place for a break and a snack.  When you reach the end of the field turn left (west, and away from the river) into a narrow field and then keep more or less straight ahead, over a metal stile to join a grassy  track.  About 300 metres along this track look for a stile on your left.  Go over this and then diagonally right across a field, aiming for the wood ahead. The path enters the wood at a stile and then passes north of a house to meet the road opposite the entrance to Isfield Place.  At the road turn left and walk for about 200 metres, passing Isfield Pound on your right. Shortly afterwards turn right into Church lane towards Isfield church.  Almost immediately you will pass a pillbox on your left.  Continue straight ahead towards the church.

(B) Isfield Pound was restored in 1990 and is a listed monument. Pounds were used to place stray livestock who were only released on payment of a fine.

(C) The pillbox (A234) in Church Lane was built in 1940 and was one of many in the area that were built between Barcombe Mills and Uckfield as a defence line along the Ouse and Uck rivers. This one provided firing cover for a road block at Clappers Bridge. It was shell proof and rumoured to have had a chimney.  There is also an erasure in the southern end wall of Isfield Pound.

Further down Church Lane glimpses of Isfield Place are possible to the right - this is a Grade II listed building which started life as a motte and bailey back in the 16th century. The land either side of you is a part of its 300+ acres.

(D) St Margaret's Church has a twelfth century tower and thirteenth century nave.  The South Chapel  and the Chancel are fourteenth century with fine, with a fine piscina, sedile and Easter sepulchre. The north aisle and upper part of the tower are nineteenth century

 

[4] Just before the church you will see a kissing gate on the left which leads to a path, which turns almost back the way you came, and heads for a bridge. Take this path, cross two bridges and emerge back on the road again.  Turn left on the road.  After about 50 metres you will see a footpath on your right, with a V-shaped stile.  Turn right down this path, which runs beside a stream. The final 50 metres of this path can become slightly overgrown with nettles and other vegetation in high summer, but there is no chance of getting lost.  You emerge from this path by turning right just before a house, squeezing by a metal gate. Walk south down the track leading to the house, but after about 10 metres turn left through a door in the fence.  Follow the path ahead, which is enclosed at first but then opens out to a rough track.  Keep straight ahead.

[5] You reach the outbuildings of Tile Barn Farm. Immediately before the buildings turn right, onto a concrete yard, and keep straight ahead towards a gate. Bear left  to where the footpath divides. Take the left fork and follow the path between the field and bank, heading roughly eastward.  The path  turns slightly right after 500 metres or so and runs diagonally across a field.  The way is  well trodden on the ground thus easy to follow and continues straight ahead through a thick wood.  At the far edge of the wood, next to the railway, the route turns right.  About 200 metres later it turns left to cross the railway at an over bridge and then continues straight ahead along the edge of a field. Continue to the end of this field, where the path becomes enclosed.   Turn sharp right to walk back down the metalled road to the start point.

 

POI information

The village of Isfield grew during Saxon and Norman times when a Norman castle motte was built on the river bank near the Church. Local legend has it that King Harold spent the night there prior to the Battle of Hastings. Isfield Place is a 17th century manor house incorporating part of the original mansion of the Shurley family.  John Shurley was an English noble during Henry VIII's reign.

The area was heavily involved in the Wealden iron industry from the 15th century onwards. Isfield again became a busy place in the 19th century. Much of its traffic was river-borne: coal and building materials, together with other produce, used the Ouse as its transport. A paper-mill and a large flour-mill both made use of the river. The village moved nearer the station when the railway arrived.

The Lavender Line is named after a local coal merchant who once had a business based at the station. It was part of the railway route that ran from Lewes to Tunbridge Wells. 

 

 

 

Notes

 

Toilets: Isfield Station

Ordnance Survey Explorer map 122 Landranger 198

Info Isfield Church http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/199/34/

Lavender Line:  Trains run most Sundays throughout the year and on a few other days at peak times.  Opening hours are 11-4.30 on running days.  Most Saturdays it is possible to look at Isfield station, although there are no public trains.  Even when trains are not running you can see quite a bit of the line on the walk.  This is one of the more intimate and informal heritage lines and you will not be swamped by the crowds as you may be on other lines.

 

Acknowledgements No details available.
  • The first walkers ever to board the train at Worth halt discuss railway matters with the train crew
    The first walkers ever to board the train at Worth halt discuss railway matters with the train crew
    By - Chris Smith
  • All the train crew have their photos taken at Worth Halt
    All the train crew have their photos taken at Worth Halt
    By - Chris Smith
  • Shortly after Worth Halt.  Turn right and cross the bridge behind the walker.
    Shortly after Worth Halt. Turn right and cross the bridge behind the walker.
    By - Chris Smith
  • Isfield Pound
    Isfield Pound
    By - Chris Smith
  • Graves at Isfield Church
    Graves at Isfield Church
    By - Chris Smith
  • Nearly at the end of the walk, in the woods before the railway bridge
    Nearly at the end of the walk, in the woods before the railway bridge
    By - Chris Smith
  • Isfield Station
    Isfield Station
    By - Chris Smith
  • Where the route crosses the Lavender Line
    Where the route crosses the Lavender Line
    By - John Alsop
  • Alongside the River Uck shortly after crossing the railway. In the background can be seen the bridge that the route takes.
    Alongside the River Uck shortly after crossing the railway. In the background can be seen the bridge that the route takes.
    By - John Alsop
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