New Forest Short Walks - Walks from Lyndhurst
This walk follows Pinkney Lane, passes through Brick Kiln Inclosure, crosses Butts Lawn, skirts Whitley Wood and returns through Park Ground Inclosure.
Overview
Pinkney Lane is a delightful, relatively traffic-free country lane bordered in places by high banks that form a hollow-way. It offers views of Foxlease, and passes beside the grounds of the now demolished Cuffnells mansion, and Wilverley House.
Brick Kiln Inclosure was first planted in 1810 and features a wide variety of broad-leaved trees, including many of the original oaks, beeches and sweet chestnuts as well as birch, hornbeam, and a relatively small block of conifers.
The name recalls an old brick kiln sited here from at least the late-18th century until well into the 19th century. The kiln was marked by Richard, King and Driver on their late-18th century map, which showed the area before the inclosure was created - the site of the kiln then was marked on the map as Butts Lawn Grounds. The kiln was later shown by Greenwood on an 1826 map but it had, however, disappeared by the time of the 1870s Ordnance Survey map.
Butts Lawn is a horseshoe-shaped piece of open land, the name of which possibly indicates the presence of Bronze Age barrows, which locally were known as Butts. None, though, are now visible.
The south-western arm is primarily heather and gorse-clad heath, whilst the base of the horseshoe supports heather and not much else. The north-eastern arm, through which this walk passes, is a mixture of heathland and rather wet grassland intersected by slow flowing water channels, the haunt of dragonflies and damselflies, sundews and Marsh St. John’s Wort, all of which provide summer splashes of interest and colour.
Philip’s Hill and Whitley Wood are ancient unenclosed woodlands. Look out there for the browse lines created by commoners’ stock, and deer; and also for the many mature trees left to live out their natural life, creating valuable living places for hole nesting birds, insects and autumnal fungi.
Park Ground Inclosure was first planted in 1810, and contains many of the original beech and oak trees from those days, and also two small, later conifer blocks. Here can be found woodland birds aplenty, and also good numbers of fallow deer and occasional roe deer.
5.5 kilometres (3½ miles).
Start:
Lyndhurst village centre.
Terrain:
Mainly on level ground, but with a small number of gentle gradients; and mostly firm, but as sections can at times be wet and muddy, strong boots are recommended.
Refreshments:
Two pubs away from Lyndhurst village centre can be visited during this walk - The Oak Inn and The Crown Stirrup.
Pubs in Lyndhurst include The Fox and Hounds, The Stag, The Mailmans Arms and The Waterloo Arms. The Crown Hotel, too, serves food and drinks, and there are also numerous tearooms, cafes and restaurants.
New Forest Tour bus route:
Yes - summer only.
Parking
There is a large 'Pay and Display' car park in the centre of Lyndhurst.
Walk route directions
1. Walk along the High Street towards the parish church. Pass the Crown Hotel on the right; and on the left, the Parish Church, the Verderers’ Hall and Queen’s House.
Follow the road as it bends round to the left, at a junction, beside the front entrance to Queen’s House, and continue on alongside the old brick boundary wall.
2. Take the first turn on the right - Sandy Lane; pass the Vernon Theatre and continue down the lane as it becomes a hollow-way between two quite high banks. Reach Chapel Lane at the bottom of a short hill and turn left.
3. After a short distance, turn right beside the 16th century Angels Farm House, and continue along Pinkney Lane.
(Almost immediately look left across the fields, and Foxlease will be seen in the distance. The land on the right was part of the Cuffnells estate, although the mansion house was demolished many years ago.
After just over 0.5 kilometres, pass on the left a small Victorian lodge behind large white gates – this is the original Wilverley Park lodge).
Follow the lane, eventually up a gentle hill, until a wide, inclosure gate is reached on the left, opposite a property called Deerhurst, and immediately before the lane bears sharply to the right.
4. For those seeking refreshment, The Oak Inn is just over 0.5 kilometres up ahead along the lane.
Otherwise, follow the walk route through the inclosure gate, and continue downhill along the gravel cycleway through Brick Kiln Inclosure. Pass a number of tracks to left and right until on the right is reached a fenced, relatively recently cleared, though in summer overgrown, area of woodland. Notice beside the fence an area of quite deep, at times water-logged, overgrown pits that betray the site of small-scale clay extraction in days long gone.
5. At the end of the fenced area - this is around 750 metres from the gate (at 4 above) that gives access to the inclosure - reach a cross-road of tracks and turn left. Continue for around 200 metres, pass a cross-road of grassy rides and immediately afterwards reach an open area of grass and heathland - this is Butts Lawn.
6. Go out onto the heath and after a few metres turn left along a quite broad, grassy track. Eventually follow the track round to the right beside the woodland edge, ignoring here another track leading straight ahead.
(Notice on the left an ash tree that once was pollarded, and a group of hollies grazed by commoners’ stock, and deer into the oddest conical shapes).
7. Reach a gate leading into the private land of Priory Coxlease School, but turn right immediately before to follow the woodland edge. Pass a pedestrian gate on the left, and then turn left at a ‘T’ junction of grassy rides at the end of the fence-line.
8. Follow this track uphill as it skirts the ancient, unenclosed woodlands of Whitley Wood. Reach a gravel track leading (to the left) into the school grounds, and turn right.
9. Turn left along the often busy A337 Lyndhurst to Brockenhurst road, and almost immediately cross the road and go through the gate beside Parkgrounds Cottage - the New Forest keeper’s cottage – into Park Ground Inclosure.
Follow the gravel track for a short distance before turning left alongside the cottage garden.
10. Continue along this track beside a number of other well-grown gardens, pass the rear of The Crown Stirrup inn, and follow the track as it bears to the right, eventually again skirting cottage gardens. Pass through a gate leading out of the wood, onto Beechen Lane.
11. Turn left, and on reaching the A337, turn right.
(The main entrance to Foxlease is directly opposite, whilst a short distance along the road to the right is Foxlease Bridge where once stood a turnpike toll gate).
12. At the next road junction, beside Goose Green, bear right for a short distance before crossing the road and following the path over the green.
13. After a short distance, cross another often busy road, turn right and follow this road back to the bottom end of the High Street.
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