Hanslope Hike - Thursday 10th December 2015


Map of route word (368KB) pdf (275KB).

18 -3 + 2 on the walk. My gps clocked 15.2 miles, but I started from rec not pub.  We were all prepared for 2 dots rain, but it didn't really start until we finished, phew.  The fields weren't as muddy as Gill expected, another phew.  The rec man opened up the pavilion and turned the heaters on, many thanks to him from BBN, I think that's a yippee.  Excellent, interesting beers in the Watts Arms, another yippee.  Does anyone know why it's called the Watts Arms? Thanks to Brian for finding out...

The manor house (Hanslope Park)  was built for Basil Brent in 1692. It was acquired by Edward Watts (son of William Watts who had been a senior official in the East India Company) in Autumn 1764. Having passed down the Watts family, it was the scene of a murder on 21 July 1912 when William Farrow, Edward Hanslope Watts's gamekeeper, shot his master and then committed suicide. Robin Watts owned the house until 1939, when it was bought by Lord Hesketh who handed it over to the War Office when it was requisitioned in 1941.


(DFH)


(M)