2022 Summer Excursion

We start in Radway, under the Edgehill escarpment, a settlement perhaps best known for its connection to the adjacent Civil War battlefield. We will be guided round the village. Medieval in origin, the settlement shifted away from the medieval church, which was demolished and relocated in the 19th century. A Civil War Exhibition has been established in this small church, which also houses the Kingsmill monument, commemorating a casualty of the conflict.

It is a short walk to the site of the Old Church and churchyard, which has been the focus of recent research, and contains several listed headstones, as well as the Miller family vault. From there it is a short walk to King John’s Lane, an historic territorial boundary, and then the excursion will ramble through the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust wild flower meadows to Westcote DMV, sited on the spring line under the escarpment. Lamented by Rous in the 15th century, it has well-preserved earthworks. And refreshments, courtesy of Westcote Manor Farm.

A walk along the ridge, much quarried, takes one back to overlook the historic designed landscape of Radway Grange, created in the mid 18th century by Sanderson Miller, a precursor of “Capability” Brown. The Castle Inn at this famous viewpoint was a Miller “folly”, but has been an inn for many years. The pub, the woods and the collection of Edgehill tea rooms were the focus for Sunday outings from the late19th century to the mid-20th. The visit ends with a trip down the escarpment, back to Radway village.

The second part of the visit will be through farmland with some steep slopes.