Napton and Shuckburgh. Warwickshire.

By car: From the A425 Southam to Daventry road turn off at the cross roads adjacent to the KIng's Head pub. This is signposted Napton. Follow the main street though the village. Just past the Crown Inn there is usually space to park alongside the village green in HIgh Street.

By public transport: There is a bus at two hourly intervals on service 65 between Leamington and Daventry. The bus stops on High Street near the Crown. There is no Sunday service.

It would also be possible to start the walk at Lower Shuckburgh. There is roadside parking space near waypoint 3 and the 65 bus stops near the church.

[1] From the starting point in High Street walk north along the path on the left that runs uphill in front of the Crown Inn, then along the edge of one of the greens. Just north of the Crown you pass the Old Bakery, possibly the oldest house in Napton, with a 16th century origin. Continue across Chapel Lane, passing a war memorial on your left. Cross School Lane and continue on the path straight ahead to reach the churchyard. Napton Church (A) has Norman origins with aisles added in the 13th century. A restoration in 1861 saw the building re-roofed and a clerestory added.

Go past the west end of the church to find a gate at the north-west corner of the churchyard. Go through the gate and turn left onto a track passing Church Leyes Farm, a pioneering organic farm. When you reach a junction with a tarmac road continue straight ahead towards Napton Windmill (B). The windmill is not open to the public and preserves its privacy behind a high hedge. Just in front of the gates turn right onto a footpath. Go through a metal gate at the end of the hedge and continue straight ahead. To your left the hillside has been cut away by quarry workings where clay was extracted for the former Napton Brickworks.

Cross a stile and continue straight ahead downhill. From this point you have wide views over the countryside to north and west. Follow the path as it turns left and levels out, running between different sections of the disused quarry. You pass several blocks of sandstone, known as doggers, which were excavated from the quarry. Join a rough track leading to Brickyard Road, by a red brick house. Turn right and walk along the road to the canal bridge, passing the former brickworks site (C), now an industrial estate.

[2] Go over the bridge and take a path on the right leading down to the towpath. Turn left and follow the towpath in an easterly direction. You have joined the canal at bridge 112 and will follow it to bridge 104. There should be plenty of interest along the canal, with wildlife along the banks as well as passing canal boats. As you start along the towpath you have a view of Napton Hill to the right. You pass the Bridge Inn where the canal passes under the A425 road. Two bridges further on you see Napton Marina on the right, the base for a fleet of narrow boats. In the distance you gain your first view of the Shuckburgh Hills.

Napton Junction (D) is a central point on the canal network. Here the Warwick and Napton Canal, now part of the Grand Union, joins the Oxford Canal. Cross the bridge over the Warwick and Napton and continue on the Oxford Canal towpath in the direction of Braunston. Such is the demand for narrow boat moorings in this area that a new marina has recently been created here with space for 220 boats.

As you walk towards Lower Shuckburgh you pass twice under the A425 and then under a footbridge in the outskirts of the village.

[3] At bridge 104 go under the bridge and then immediately left up a flight of steps to reach the road. Cross the bridge and walk up the road into the village. The church in Lower Shuckburgh (E) was built in 1864 after a fire damaged the previous building. Its style has been described as Moorish Gothic. You pass the village stocks which have been put back on their original site.

Go straight over the A425. Take care as this is a busy road. Go through a kissing gate on the far side. Head diagonally left across a grassy field. At the far side go through a pedestrian gate, turn right and go through a second pedestrian gate. Continue to the right of a pair of cottages and then diagonally across the field towards a large oak tree in a hedgerow. Go through a gate behind the oak tree and start up a slope, keeping to the left of the ridge. On this section of the route you can look back to check that you are walking directly away from the church in Lower Shuckburgh.

Ahead you should see a fire beacon on a pole. Pass through a tall metal kissing gate to the left of the beacon and continue uphill along a track to reach a wooden kissing gate through deer proof fencing. Carry on along a grassy track through the parkland of Shuckburgh Hall. The Shuckburgh family have been landowners here for at least 800 years. The Hall itself is out of sight to your left.

If you wish to visit the church at Upper Shuckburgh (F) continue along the grassy track until you reach the far corner of the woodland on your left. You can reach the church by going through a gate. The estate has erected notices indicating the points beyond which public access is not permitted. The church dates back to the 13th century but was comprehensively restored by the Victorians. It contains many memorials to members of the Shuckburgh family.

You will have noticed a lake on your right, lying in small valley. Take a faint track that swings around the head of the valley and runs up to a gate in the deer proof fence, just to the left of an area of woodland. The area of parkland at the head of the valley and north west of Home Farm is thought to be the site of the medieval village of Upper Shuckburgh (G). 

[4] Go over the stile beside the gate and continue along a clear path alongside three fields with woodland on your right. Parts of this woodland are in occasional use as a motor cycle cross country course. You are walking uphill along the ridge of the Shuckburgh Hills and there are views of the Northamptonshire Heights to your left. Crossing one more stile takes you onto rough grassland that covers the summit. The right of way runs between the ridge and the woodland edge although there is no clear track to follow.

Aim for the far corner of the woodland where the path continues over a stile beside a gate. At this point you have a fine view over the countryside to the south and west. Once over the stile you turn right at the woodland corner and walk downhill with a fence on your right. Continue to the far right corner of the field where a footbridge takes you over a ditch. Turn left and walk over the next field with a fence on your left.

[5] Go over a stile onto a minor road and turn left. Go through a gate and immediately turn onto a footpath on the right, going gently downhill through grassy fields. Head diagonally across a fenced off section of the first field and then aim for a metal gate in the far hedge. Continue in the same general direction over four more fields, always aiming towards the left hand end of Napton Hill and looking for metal gates in the hedgerows.

You emerge onto a minor road. Turn right and almost immediately go through a gate in the left hand hedge into a caravan and camping site. Join a gravel track, roughly parallel to the road, which leads past the site reception and carry on into a second camping field. Cross this field diagonally to reach a gate through the hedge in the far corner. Turn left onto Dog Lane and follow this lane into Napton village, passing the primary school on your right and the Victory Club on your left. Look out for traffic, especially where there is no pavement. At the junction with High Street turn right and arrive back at waypoint [1].

The Napton and Shuckburgh Hills are outliers of the Northamptonshire Heights. In the disused brickworks quarry on Napton Hill layers of clay, marl and shale have been dug out to a depth of some 40 metres. Although our route lies entirely within Warwickshire it comes within a kilometre of the county boundary at its closest point. 

The Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction, north of Coventry, to Napton opened in 1774. It runs along contours as far as possible, saving on cost but producing a circuitous route. Even so the company had difficulty in raising enough finance and the section through to the Thames at Oxford was not completed until 1790. The Warwick and Napton Canal opened in 1800, providing a route to Birmingham, and in 1805 the Grand Junction Canal met the Oxford at Braunston, giving faster access to London. The whole route from Birmingham to London was later brought together as the Grand Union Canal.

We do not usually think of Napton as a centre of industry but the Brick and Tile Works was a substantial operation from the Victorian period up to its closure in the 1970s. More information and some old photographs can be seen on the Warwickshire Timetrail http://timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk/detail.aspx?monuid=WA3779

The canal was once used by the brickworks to bring in coal to fire its machinery and to send out its finished products. In addition Napton had two other wharves on the canal where goods could be loaded and unloaded. One was opposite the Bridge Inn, where the only evidence remaining to be seen is a winding hole where canal boats can turn. The other, not on our route, was further south, at Folly Lane.

Napton's windmill is a prominent local landmark. It is a brick built tower mill. The cap, now covered in aluminium, was designed to rotate to bring the sails into the wind. The mill ceased operating around 1900 and became almost derelict but has since been restored as a private house.

Refreshments: Available in Napton.  There are three public houses in the village.