Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Go through another kissing gate on the far side of the field, up a zigzag
path among bluebells through a belt of trees, then into a hilltop meadow.
Walk ahead along the right-hand edge of the meadow with yet more beau-
tiful views to enjoy to the west. Come to the earthworks of Horton Hill Fort
and cut diagonally through it to the far left corner. Out by way of a gate,
turn right and walk down the slope to pass a charming little stone tower,
a folly built as a millennium project to encourage nesting barn owls and
swallows. Along the bottom edge of the sloping meadow keep ahead to a
kissing gate, through which you bear left down to a second kissing gate,
where you come onto a road beside the village school a few paces from a
junction in the centre of Horton (accommodation).
HORTON COURT
This must be one of the oldest inhabited houses in England, for parts in use today were
built in 1140, less than 80 years after the Normans arrived. The Norman hall and a
detached ambulatory (Italian-style loggia) are open to the public by the National Trust
on set days between April and October. The manor was originally in the hands of a son
of King Harold. The hall is all that remains of the original construction, but the roof is
14th century. In 1521 the main part of the house was built for William Knight, chief
secretary to Henry VIII and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who was sent to Rome in an
attempt to persuade the Pope to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The
attempt was unsuccessful, but Knight had seen much to interest him in Italy, and his
