Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
buildings is St Laurence's church, founded in 705. This is the most complete Saxon church in
England, which was rediscovered in 1856 by a vicar on a hillside who noticed the cross in the
roof patterns. It was largely intact, despite being used as a school and a cottage and having
previously been used as a slaughterhouse. More conventional is the 12th century Holy Trin-
ity church with additions, wall paintings and fine 18th century monuments. The 13th century
Oratory Bridge over the river, rebuilt in the 17th century, has a pilgrim's chapel, which was
used as a lock-up for a while, John Wesley being an inmate for a night in 1757. It is topped
by a copper-coloured gudgeon weathervane. Other significant buildings include the Victorian
town hall and a Gothic revival factory.
The pedestrian route past Bradford-on-Avon Lock, one of the busiest in the country, is
long and difficult; it involves crossing the B3109 bridge with blind approaches for vehicles,
passing the Canal Tavern, which was used to stable horses, and relaunching past tables of cus-
tomers who sit outside in the summer taking morning or afternoon tea. From here to Claver-
ton the canal corridor is noticeably well used for recreation. The line from here to Bathamp-
ton offers some of the best English canal scenery.
On the right, beside the canal, is the Grade II Barton Tithe Barn of about 1341, which
formerly belonged to Shaftesbury Abbey. One of the largest in England, it is 51m long, has
two porches with massive doors and is beamed with a cruck stone-tiled roof, one of the
largest in Europe, covering 930m
2
.
Below Westwood, with its 15th century stone manor, noted for its late Gothic and Jacobean
windows, is Avoncliff, where there are 18th century weavers' cottages in a square, the Cross
Guns 15th century coaching inn, the chimney of a former flock mill and one of two mills,
retaining its enormous wheel.
The canal now switches to the other less steep side of the valley for a while by crossing the
Avoncliff Aqueduct. A neoclassical structure in Bath stone with balustrades at the ends, the
three-arched aqueduct is higher than its near neighbour and longer at 159m. With subsidence
in the centre, it has an irregular line to the eye from on top, especially as it kicks sideways
over the railway. Leakage meant that an icicle remover had to be employed in winter to clear
the section over the railway each morning where the icicles posed a danger to trains. A tram-
way from quarries in Becky Addy Wood ran across the aqueduct as a feeder for the canal.
