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Butley

Butley Priory

In partnership with

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Butley walks pubTHE OYSTER INN Tel. 01394 450790Woodbridge Road, Butley, IP12 3NZLocation: Village Restaurant/dining room YesGarden/courtyard Yes Bar meals YesChildren welcome Yes Accommodation -Disabled access Yes Dogs welcome YesParking available Yes Credit cards welcome Yes

In partnership with

Felixstowe

Ipswich

oodbridge

Harwich

Aldeburgh

Southwold

Lowestoft

Beccles

NorthSea

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01 Pin Mill02 Levington03 Waldringfield04 Woodbridge 05 Butley06 Orford07 Snape

08 Aldeburgh09 Eastbridge10 Westleton11 Walberswick12 Southwold 13 Wrentham14 Blythburgh

In partnership with

This leaflet has been produced with the generoussupport of Adnams to celebrate the 40th anniversaryof the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.

“Adnams has been proud to work with Suffolk Coast andHeaths for many years on a variety of projects. We are basedin Southwold, just inside the AONB and it is with thisbeautiful location in mind, that we have great respect forthe built, social and natural environment around us. Overseveral years we have been working hard to make ourimpact on the environment a positive one, please visit ourwebsite to discover some of the things we’ve been up to.

We often talk about that “ah, that’s better” moment andwhat better way to celebrate that, than walking one ofthese routes and stopping off at an Adnams pub for somewell-earned refreshment.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the walks (and thepub!), please upload your comments and photos to ourwebsite adnams.co.uk”

Andy Wood, Adnams Chief Executive

You can follow us on twitter.com/adnams

More Suffolk Coast and HeathsAONB pub walks

ButleyLong walk – 6 miles/9.7 km

Take track (signed footpath) up behind rightof pub, leading between trees and shrubs to

fields. Carry straight on, passing two sets ofconcrete posts . Views of Staverton Thicks(right), Rendlesham Forest (ahead) and ButleyChurch (left) from here.

Keep straight on along raised grass path acrossfields, towards open line of pines. At end of path,

turn right following official Suffolk CountyCouncil diversion (signed,) keeping the line ofpines on your right.

At pine belt turn left, on grass path at fieldedge, to waymarker disc directing you right,through pines.

Beyond trees, turn left. Path joins a dirt track –continue straight along this to road.

The remnants of Butley Clumps stand either side of theroad. These were quincunxes, originally groups of fourbeech trees around a Scots pine, and are thought to havebeen planted in 1790 to enhance the approach to ButleyPriory. Carvings of sailing vessels in their bark preserve thearea’s maritime connections.

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BUTLEY

WantisdenCorner

NeutralFarm

StavertonPark

LowFarm

TheThicks

Carmen’sWoodSt John the

Baptist Church

Butley LowCorner

Butley HighCorner

Butley Priory

Further information

Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONBTel: 01394 384948 www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org

Public Transport www.suffolkonboard.com, 0845 606 6171

Long WalkShort Walk

Public House

Points ofinterest 1Place ofworship

Path, track orother roadFootpath/bridleway

A/B/C Roads

Woods

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THE OYSTER

INN

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Crown copyright. All rights reserved.© Suffolk County Council. License LA100023395

Butley The Butley Oyster pub is the start for both walks. The pub has a car park, but check before leaving your car there, especially if you plan to walk first and visit the pub later.

Both of these walks reach into The Sandlings, once an area ofsandy heathlands, of which little now is visible. The area was ahunting park even in Domesday times, and some of this ancientwoodland remains. Today’slandscape shows the hugechanges agriculture hasbrought, bringing the light fertile soils into highproductivity with the help of extensive irrigation.

Both walks follow somestretches of road, so takecare especially if there is no verge, as although the roads are mostly quiet, they are well-used by farmvehicles. On bridleways,unsurprisingly, you maymeet horse traffic.

The paths are generally well marked, and dry ingood weather.

The Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of OutstandingNatural Beauty (AONB) is one of Britain’s finestlandscapes. Located on the coast of East Anglia andcovering 403 square kilometres, the AONB extendsfrom the Stour estuary in the south to the easternfringe of Ipswich and to Kessingland in the north.

www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org

At Mill Lane , turn left to return to Butleyvillage, past crag pit opposite Neutral Farm.

Alternatively, divert right to Butley Mills (250mon), before coming back this way.

Accessible from the land and from Butley Creek, the millswere well placed to serve the area. Moving with the times,wind and water (including tidal) power have been usedhere, as well as steam, diesel and electricity. In World WarTwo, the Butley Mills pond was used for testingwaterproofing of tanks and other vehicles.

Trading as a mill ceased in 2001, and the 200-year-old brickmill building was converted into self-catering apartments.

At T- junction, turn left – this brings you backto the pub.

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Red Crag

Many old crag pits still exist in this area, often providinghomes for sand martins. At Neutral Farm at the end of thiswalk, the crag pit has been declared a SSSI – Site ofSpecial Scientific Interest – for its geological importance.

Stay with the road, and pass through mixedwoodland - beech, oak, pine and sweet

chestnut – good for birds at any time of year, anda profusion of daffodils and bluebells in spring.On the right is Butley Priory gatehouse.

All that remains of the Augustinian Priory, founded here in 1171, is the 14th century gatehouse, renowned for its flushwork facade with armorial decoration. French limestone for building the Priory, and Purbeckmarble, was transported from Butley Creek via a canal cut by the monks.

The Priory was a popular hunting resort for the nobility inthe 16th century, and in 1538, was surrendered to HenryVIII. The Gatehouse has been restored (an ongoing processsince 1737), and once again offers accommodation, and avenue for arts, business and entertainment events.

At crossroads (Five Cross Ways), , gostraight over, signed ‘Butley Low Corner

No Through Road’. Turn left just past PrioryCottage, following stony track, signed “SuffolkCoast Path”. (After about 350m, divert left to thechurch if you like – a further 350m - but return to this point).

Church of St John the Baptist: a thatched church, withTudor porch, then Norman doorway into the originalNorman church. The tower and chancel are 14th Century. A man’s name scratched on the inside of the door has beenidentified as one who was taught at the Priory in 1538. Partof the nave is built from coralline crag, an older layer thanthe red crag, dug from local pits and also used in churchesat Chillesford and Wantisden.

Follow signed route past Low Farm, .Butley Creek is visible to the right, and

beyond, Orford Castle Keep.

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Turn left at road, signed Butley Low andHigh Corner.

The sandy quarry you will see to your left is a ‘crag pit’.This area is underlain by the crumbly shelly sands known asthe ‘red crag’. Some is hard enough for building stone, butit was also used for fertiliser, thanks to its high phosphatecontent. In the 19th century, coprolites, fossil nodules highin phosphate, were extracted and shipped away to beprocessed to produce a concentrated fertiliser, providing animportant source of income for the area.

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Butley short walk Short walk – 3 miles/4.8 km

Leaving the Sandlings Walk, follow stonytrack to left signed ‘Shepherd’s Cottage’, pastpump house (left) and lakes (right) .

This is part of Wantisden Hall Farms’ irrigation system:several miles of underground pipework, supplying up to 1.5 million gallons a day from 50 acres of excavated spring-fed lakes, to support the potato cultivation for which this area is known.

These lakes are also a valuable wildlife habitat, home to numerous plants, birds, and insects – especiallydragonflies in summer - and you may be lucky enough to see a Kingfisher.

Continue straight along grass track (do notfollow sign for ‘Shepherd’s Cottage’ on the

right).

Now a venue for civil weddings and receptions,Shepherd’s Cottage, a picturesque 18th century thatchedlodge, is part of Wantisden Estate. Wantisden Hall itselfdates from 1550.

Staverton Park (to right of path) originally referred to alarger area, enclosed as a medieval deer park, and used byRoyalty. The woodland generated timber, and from the16th Century, the oaks were pollarded at 50-year intervalsto produce wattles for building construction, resulting inthe ‘crown oak’ shapes we see today. The park alsoprovided acorns and grazing, and is believed to be thelargest area of ancient pollarded oaks in Europe. Red Deerare occasionally seen here.

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Cross the junction with Mill Lane and headnorth along main road through village,

past a village sign and an exceptional old cherry tree .

Beyond a row of cottages on right, the meadows that rundown towards Butley Creek are a popular hunting groundfor Barn Owl and Kestrel .

Before sharp right-hand bend, cross road andtake left turn, signed ‘Snape’ and ‘Tunstall’.

Take next left, signed ‘Wantisden Valley’ and‘Staverton Caravan Park’.

Past cottage, follow bridleway, signed through gapin fence. A grass path through an old farmyard thenbecomes a stony track. Where path joins on right,continue straight ahead joining Sandlings Walk(bird logo) and signed ‘Shepherd’s Cottage’ .

The Scots pine belts here were planted as windbreaks – a classic feature of the Suffolk Sandlings. The pines attract the Crossbill, a bird evolved for life in pine woods. Its scissor-like bill is designed forcracking pine cone seeds.

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The smaller areaknown today asStaverton Parkcontains some of the oldest oaks inEast Anglia and over3,000 trees. Morethan a thousandspecies of flora andfauna have beenidentified here,notably epiphytic lichen. The woodland also supports manyfungi, including the rare oak polypore.

The deer – Fallow and Muntjac – are still here, and there isan elusive albino stag to look out for!

Where the grass track forks , keep left andstay with public footpath. At field corner,

continue along this path into the denseTolkienesque woodland of Staverton Thicks .The path is narrow, with exposed roots, fallentrees and encroaching vegetation - adding to theenchantment!

This is one of three noted ancient woodlands in Suffolk,renowned not only for its oak pollards, but also for hollies.The holly trees here are exceptionally old and tall, quitepossibly the tallest in Britain, their crowns forming a closedcanopy and dense shade below, where little else can grow.

Where the trees end, continue through gapin fence to the Woodbridge road, and turn

left , past field entrance, and back to Butley.

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Common Blue Damselfly