Distance: 6.6 miles
Difficulty of the terrain: medium
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
Walk from Moreton-in-Marsh Railway Station on the northern edge of the Coteswold National Landscape (AONB), across the Vale of Red Horse, to Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire’s southernmost town.
The Story
The Walk
Getting Back
Warwickshire’s Southernmost Town
Situated just above Warwickshire’s pointed triangular base, Shipston-on-Stour is one of the Midland’s mostly southerly towns, being located near the boundary with Gloucestershire in the South West and Oxfordshire in the South East.
Nowadays the town has a population of just under 6,000 people, and lies just outside the northernmost reaches of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It comprises part of the Vale of Red Horse area, a delta shaped juncture of relatively low lying land criss crossed by waterways like the River Stour situated between the two northerly arms of the Cotswolds AONB, which are Edgehill escarpment to the east and the Cotswolds ridge itself to the west.
Like many Midlands market towns, Shipston-on-Stour is a medieval foundation. Typical of the sometimes porous, and to modern eyes quite bizarre, administrative divisions which pervaded feudal era England, especially near county boundaries, for much of its history Shipston-on-Stour was actually in Worcestershire. This was because Shipston-on-Stour formed part of the feudal patrimony of Worcester Cathedral, a situation which broadly pertained into the 1840s. Shipston-on-Stour was absorbed into Warwickshire in 1931 as part of an ongoing effort by national government to rationalise and regularise the sometimes bewilderingly complex boundaries of the western Midland counties.
During the 19th Century when Shipston-on-Stour was a small, wool trading and manufacturing centre, a tramway was built to link it to Stratford-upon-Avon, eight miles to the north, with its canal, river and later railway connections. The construction of this route led to the construction of the Tramway Bridge in central Stratford-upon-Avon, which today carries pedestrians across the Avon into the town centre, was once part of this system. Eventually in 1889 the Great Western Railway upgraded the tramway to being a full railway line worked by regular locomotives. However, it closed to passengers in 1929, and to freight in 1960, meaning Shipston-on-Stour is now isolated from the national railway network.
Today Shipston-on-Stour, while being quite remotely situated, is a thriving, expanding town, with a well preserved historic centre containing buildings from a wide range of periods. An unusual claim to fame is that it is mentioned in the Bee Gees’ song Cold Be My Days, recorded in 1970 but not released until 2015. The lyric in question being “Cold be my days in Shipston-on-Stour”.
The Walk
Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
This walk was created using Ordnance Survey Explorer. To subscribe and also get Ordnance Survey Maps on your phone, click the banner above.
This walk to Shipston-upon-Stour in the heart of Warwickshire’s Vale of Red Horse begins from Moreton-in-Marsh Railway Station near the edge of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Upon alighting the train at Moreton-in-Marsh make for the eastbound platform and look for a path running off the platform into a thicket adjacent to the platform on the right.
Soon the path curves to the right running through the thicket.
On the far side of the thicket you emerge onto a grassy stretch of ground like a park.
Continue a short distance until you reach the bottom of a cul-de-sac of recently built houses to your left.
Turn left up this cul-de-sac.
Presently you reach a junction, here turn left and continue walking towards the edge of the housing estate.
Soon you reach a main road here turn right.
Walk straight ahead along the side of the road
Presently approaching the edge of Moreton-in-Marsh the pavement finishes, so you need to take care of any traffic approaching you, though there are few bends, meaning visibility is good.
On the edge of Moreton-in-Marsh on the right stands the Fire Service College. It has several intriguing structures in its grounds, and an old railway carriage on the day I walked the route, presumably comprising part of a training exercise.
Keep on walking along the road. Handily for much of the way, heading slightly over three miles to the village of Todenham halfway between Moreton-in-Marsh and Shipston-on-Stour, there are wide grass verges which you can walk along or use as a refuge from oncoming traffic.
After a wooded section you enter more open countryside with impressive views, befitting the edge of the Coteswold uplands, off on either side of you.
Presently you approach a hill which steadily rises up towards Todenham.
Todenham is a village stretched out along the road between Moreton-in-Marsh and Shipston-on-Stour.
Walk through the village for some distance.
Look out on the left hand side of the road for a footpath waymark pointing through a metal gate into a field.
Head through the gate on the left into the field beyond. Walk uphill across the field for some distance.
Approaching the top of the field turn right and head for the corner of the field.
Here there is a metal gate with a bridleway style track on the far side. Head through the gate and up this track passing through a metal gate at the top.
On the far side of the metal gate turn right following a fairly well worn path around the edge of the field.
Presently on the far side of the field you reach a gate leading onto a very well worn path leading towards a driveway.
Out on the driveway turn left and follow the drive around as it curves to the left.
Soon after a short distance you come to a junction. Here take the arm of the track running off to the left, heading quite steeply downhill.
Head down the track walking straight ahead.
Initially the track is well maintained and quite distinct, however, it peters out near a metal gateway.
Head through this gate way into a field on the far side. Cross the field keeping close to the edge on your left.
You approach a thicket with a track running through it leading to an old, but somewhat grand, humpback bridge which you cross.
The small river you have just crossed is the Knee Brook. This marks the boundary between Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, meaning that upon crossing it you pass from the South West of England into the Midlands.
On the far side of the bridge carry on following a track up a bank out into a field.
Once in the field, turn right walking across the field. Here presently you pick up a bridleway style track once more, which you follow until you reach a gate out onto a quiet, narrow, public road.
Slightly to the right on the far side stands a waymarked gate leading into a field. Cross the road and head through this gate into the field.
Walk straight up the field heading for a cluster of trees in the top right hand corner.
Here there is a gate which you pass through making your way straight ahead across the field on the far side.
Here you come to another gate. Having passed through it, follow a faint, but fairly distinct, rut created by other walkers around the edge of the field passing near an old open sided barn to your left.
Presently in the left hand corner of the field you come to waymark pointing up a clear track into a thicket. Here you come to another gate.
Passing through this gate, heading back onto bridleway, walking along a green corridor, and then along a distinct track around the left hand side of a field.
Soon ahead of you there is a metal footgate set slightly to the right in a hedgerow in front of you. Approach the gate and head through it into the field on the far side.
Once through the gate follow a distinct path straight ahead down the right hand side of the field. Ahead of you the 116 metre tall Hanson Hill rises up. Shipston-on-Stour is situated on the other side at the bottom of the slope.
You reach another metal gate which leads out across a footbridge across the Pig Brook.
On the far side of the stream walk straight across the field in front of you.
Upon reaching the far side a well worn waymarked track runs up through a green way type hollow towards the top of Hanson Hill. Enter this culvert and begin walking uphill.
From near the top you get the first glimpse of Shipston-on-Stour, very close, beneath you.
Upon reaching the top of Hanson Hill begin your descent along the path approaching a modern housing estate on the edge of Shipston-on-Stour. It is worth taking care on this section as I found it very wet and quite slippery underfoot when I walked the route in November 2023.
Follow this path for a short distance until you reach a metal gate which you pass through.
Once through the gate, continue a short distance further all a tarmac path between two housing estates to the side of a residential street which filters onto one of the main roads leading into Shipston-on-Stour.
Upon reaching this road turn right, quickly approaching the main road.
Keep walking straight ahead along the pavement to reach the centre of the old town.
Here off on the left is the old square with mostly early 19th and 18th Century vintage buildings surrounding it, which lies near the heart of the town.
This is where the walk ends.
Getting Back
At the time of writing (in November 2023) Shipston-on-Stour was served by an array of buses. The primary destination with a railway station being served was Stratford-upon-Avon, being served by a plethora of buses throughout the day, meaning that the service was quite frequent. Other destinations with stations served were Moreton-in-Marsh and Banbury, but both with a less frequent service than Stratford. Other destinations served include Chipping Norton and various villages outlying Shipston-on-Stour. These destinations were also served at weekends, but often on a different service pattern to the week.