Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ward road, Field Lane, to maintain direction, heading towards some barns
on the edge of
Dyrham Park
, but immediately before reaching these turn
right along a bridleway beside the sturdy grey wall that contains the un-
seen deer park.
DYRHAM PARK
Dyrham Park consists of 264 acres (107 hectares) of deer-grazed grassland, and the
herd of fallow deer is reckoned to be one of the oldest in the country. (Dyrham comes
from 'deor ham', meaning deer enclosure, and was thus mentioned in a document of
AD
577.) The grounds, which surround the imposing Dyrham House, were formerly ter-
raced and landscaped with magnificent water gardens featuring a great water spout
and a cascade pouring over a series of more than 200 steps. The house itself, built for
William Ill's secretary of war, William Blathwayt, is in fact two houses standing back
to back to replace an original Tudor mansion. The older of the houses was built at the
end of the 17th century, the other about six years later (finished around 1704). Now
in the care of the National Trust, the house is open on set days of the week between
April and November, while the park is open throughout the year.
The path skirts the drystone wall surrounding Dyrham Park
As you walk alongside the wall, note the clear evidence of an ancient ag-
riculture in the low banks of former terracing known as strip lynchets, and
the mounded remains of a hill fort above them to the right (north) marked
by a woodland: this is
Hinton Hill Fort
. Broad panoramic views produce
a tranquil scene all along this part of the walk.
HINTON HILL FORT
