Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.

 

Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.

 

Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!

 

Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.

 

Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/

It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.

 

Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.

rudloescene
rudloescene

The abandoned Weavern Farm. Some years ago, I met a man walking in the adjacent Monks Wood with his grandchildren. He told me that he lived on the farm many years before and used to play barefoot in the wood. The children of the farm used to walk to school (of course) in Biddestone and Chippenham. See the gallery By Brook images at the foot of this page for more photos of Weavern Farm, Monks Wood etc

The abandoned Weavern farmhouse and other buildings in 1956 (photo courtesy of Richard Pinker)
Walking in the air above By Brook Valley

In the By Brook Valley - October 2015

 

This was a trip across to Thickwood for a rendezvous with a couple of troubadors then onto the pub for a soiree (some nosh and a couple of pints). Don't know how the Fox and Hounds does it ... the fish specials board is extensive and includes the traditional fish and chips but ... chilli-battered red mullet (three large fillets), chips and salad (the F&H salads are a joy, not simply limp lettuce and a tomato) and a pint for £7.50!

 

For the return trip across the valley in the dark I took my torch but I had forgotten about walking in the country at night ... I didn't need the torch at all. There was enough ambient light (on a cloudy night) to see the road ahead quite clearly. It was only when I got to the A4 with the bright lights of the traffic that the paths and verges appeared dark in contrast but still didn't need the torch.
 
On the lane down to Drewett's Mill there was quite a party going on in a remote shed ... orgies in the By Brook Valley!
 
Interesting (!) that there was a traffic jam at Drewett's Mill! The road is so steep on the A4 side of Drewett's Mill that a delivery van could not gain any adhesion on the muddy surface. Neither could it let the handbrake off and go back as, once the brakes were applied again, the wheels would have started to slide. Another van was waiting to get by at the bottom of the hill (or maybe they were in convoy). I guess that the only solution would be to have a tractor pull the van off the steep, muddy bit.

In the By Brook Valley - May 2015

 

Actually, 8th May, the day after the general election - walking off my sorrows. Let's start with a quiz. The following picture shows the clock of St John the Baptist at Colerne - do you notice it only has an hour hand. You can still tell the time, approximately, but why would the clock not have a minute hand? Would it be that:

  • The parish could not afford the additional hand?
  • The parish did not wish to discriminate too much against the people living to the north, south and east - the clock face can only be seen from the west.
  • It was considered that the visual aspect of the clock was less important than the chimes which could be heard all across the parish (except by the deaf). The clock's principal purpose was to inform parishioners of the time through its chimes.

In the By Brook Valley - May 2014

By Brook images. Not just the sight of the wild garlic, just about as far as the eye can see, but the aroma is a delight (for those that appreciate the onion family!). Click on images to enlarge and view captions. (Note that 'By Brook' covers its environs also: Widdenham, Euridge, Colerne, Thickwood and Biddestone). See also the 'Walks in the Time of Covid' series for more images of the By Brook Valley.

The track from No Notion to Collett's Bottom in July 2002
In Weavern Lane - May 1998
Sheep in field off Weavern Lane - Feb 1998
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© Paul Turner