- Distance:3 miles
- Walk grade:Easy-Moderate
- Start from:Week Green
- Recommended footwear:Walking boots
Highlights
- Remains of Bury Court
- Week St Mary Church
- Week St Mary Old College
- The Green Inn
Directions
- Head down main road from church
- Just past the car park turn right signposted to Penhallam
- At the bend take the footpath to the left signposted to Week Green
- Continue through the gate and along the lane
- Before the main road, turn right down a lane opposite the wooden fence. The lane has a public footpath sign pointing towards you.
- Bear right down the track next to the barn, following the footpath marker
- The track emerges at Ashbury farm
- Follow the track straight to the end of the yard and through a gate
- Take the left fork
- Follow the track through a kissing gate. Keep to the left of the fence and follow the path along the edge of the fence down into the woods
- Do not show any threatening behaviour towards calves (approaching them closely, making loud noises or walking between a calf and its mother) as you may provoke the mother to defend her young. Generally the best plan is to walk along the hedges.
- If cows approach you, do not run away as this will encourage them to chase you. Stand your ground and stretch out your arms to increase your size.
- Avoid taking dogs in fields with cows, particularly with calves. If you must, release the dog if cows charge as the dog will outrun the cows and the cows will generally chase the dog rather than you.
- Follow the path through the woods downhill crossing a spring
- Immediately after the spring, keep left at the footpath sign, following the path downhill
- Follow the path though a gate and stile crossing old stone bridge over a stream and eventually emerging over s stile on a track
- Turn right onto the track and follow it a short distance. A path leads to the right over a stile to the remains of Bury Court
- Follow the track anteclockwise around the moat of Bury Court
- Exit through a gate onto a track
- Take the track through Harris' Wood eventually emerging on a lane
- Turn right on the lane
- Where the lane meets another one take the footpath opposite signposted to Week St Mary and follow it along the right hedge of 2 fields then take the track to the church passing an earthwork on your right which is the remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle.
- At the top of the field, beyond the mound, take the stile into the churchyard
- Next to the church you emerge in the Lower Square next to the Old College
The Anglo-Saxon name for the village was Wyke meaning "dairy farm". "St Mary" was added to distinguish it from the more than one or two others in the area.
The farm takes its name from the Iron Age fort that stood at the top of the hill.
If you are crossing fields with cows in:
Bury Court was only rediscovered in 1967 when there area was being prepared for forestry planting. It is the remains of an 800 year old moated manor house owned by the Norman landholding families and included a Hall, bakehouse and chapel.
On the church tower there are some fine carvings - look high up on the west side of the tower for hounds chasing a hare. The tall tower has been struck by lightning several times - in 1935 the south west pinnacle was hit during a hailstorm and fell into the church. There are impressive photos on the village website here.
You'll notice that there is lichen growing on many of the headstones in the churchyard. Of the 2000 British species, over a third have been found in churchyards and more than 600 have been found growing on churchyard stone in lowland England. Almost half the species are rare and some seldom if ever occur in other habitats. Many churchyards are found to have well over 100 species.
Lichens are a partnership of two different organisms: a fungus providing the "accomodation" and an alga or cyanobacterium providing the "food" through photosynthesis. The fungal partner provides a cosy, sheltered environment for the alga and tends its with mineral nutrients. However the alga partner is more than simply an imprisoned food-slave: it is such a closely evolved alliance that the fungus is dependant on it for shape and structure. If the fungal partner is isolated and grown on an agar plate it forms a shapeless, infertile blob.
Behind a piece of castellated wall hides one of Weeks St Mary's most historic buildings - the Old College (now owned and restored by the Landmark Trust). The story began with the birth of the remarkable Thomasine Bonaventure in Week St Mary in 1450. She married three times, each marriage gaining her more money and status, until she was finally left the widow of Sir John Percival, the Lord Mayor of London. At this point Lady Percival returned to Week St Mary and began charity work. In 1506 she founded a school, with an endowment to pay for a schoolmaster to have graduated from Oxford or Cambridge, who would also pray for her soul in the parish church. 40 years later it was written about in glowing terms, but then suddenly something mysteriously caused the school's collapse and decay and the children were moved to a school in Launceston. To read the full story of the amazing Thomasine, see here.
Originally the house would have been set in a square courtyard, and approached from a courtyard door opposite the front door - where the mainly 19th century house called 'New College' now stands (look out for the odd bit of Old College masonry in New College's wall). The windows either side of the door would have been gothic. If you peek around the back of the Old College you can see examples of these. The far, west, side of the building would have been much longer, and would have joined to further buildings filling the west side of the courtyard where there is now just a farm gate.
