The Road to Kington Langley

12. 16 to 9 Turn right and follow the bridleway

This is a good old-fashioned road junction, and you need to turn right towards Kington Langley.

People from Kington Langley and Langley Burrell used to use this route to travel to and from Avon Mill, the closest mill to their villages. The attached copy of the 1773 map of Kington Langley shows the houses around Great House, at the road junction on the main Chippenham - Sutton Benger road, shortly after the 'new road' (the 'Draycot Straight') had been built. Note that 'from Avon Mill' is upside down because this map was drawn with West at the top.

Turn right to follow the track as it becomes a narrow lane between two hedgerows. It can be quite boggy here after rain. (OK. It can be very muddy - sometimes ankle deep after rain. The reason why Sutton Lane became a paved road and this 'green lane' remained as footpaths and bridleways.)

On the other hand it can also be quite pretty with woodland flowers. And there can be quite a lot of fruit on the hedges in the autumn.

The photos also show a sequence from here to the next point on the trail.

Avon Mill

Avon Mill; 1839

The 1840 map show Avon Mill on the eastern (Christian Malford) side of what is now the weir. The image also shows the 'crossroads' on Sutton Lane, where the bridleway goes west to today's Sutton Lane Meadows, and east to the weir and Christian Malford.

Not shown on this image, just to the east, the map shows the proposed line of the Great Western Railway, which was built a few years later.

The 1885 map shows Avon Mill still in operation, with a house to the east of the Mill, and south of the bridleway.

The mill was demolished sometime in the early 1900s, and the weir was rebuilt in about 1935.

The attached notes were provided by the Environment Agency in 2023.

Location