Pound & Priory

A farmland walk with SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE explores the historic village of Stogursey. If you don’t live in the area, this is one to save until restrictions are lifted!

- BYRNE

For June issue, I had planned a longer walk, but after two failed attempts to get through impossible footpaths, I settled for a shorter, unblocked route that incorporates some fascinating old sites around the village of Stogursey.

The views are expansive – and the mud might also be if the weather has been wet, so be well-shod. By summer things should have dried up but, inevitably, farmland footpaths can be mucky. Hang on to your sense of humor!

Stogursey has its toes dipped deeply in history. At the Norman Conquest, he estate was known as Stoche. Courcy was added later, during the time of Richard l, when Alice de Courcy inherited the estate; she kept her maiden name throughout her life, very progressive for that era. From this combination, stogursey is derived.

WALK

1 In Stogursey, opposite the junction of Lime Street with High Street, a green and gold fingerpost near the war memorial gives guidance. Follow the direction for the castle, along High Street towards Castle Street, 20m away.

The walk heads down Castle Street, but before you get too dirty I suggest a brief diversion along High Street to the 11th-century Priory Church of St Andrew. Between the 12th and 14th centuries monks from Lonlay, Normandy, had a priory here, sharing the church with the villagers; modern-day Stogursey is twinned with Lonlay d’Abbaye, maintaining that link.

Back on the walk, you soon pass the old pound on Castle Street, now a sometimes-open place to sit. Animal pounds were a feature of Medieval villages, being enclosures where stray animals were contained until reunited with their owners.