Exploring Scotland and Ireland: A Journey Through North Bradley
- Glyn Coy
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
North Bradley is a village I know well. My sons went to the primary school there. For some years we attended the Baptist Church as a family. But those years are well in the past, so a couple of months ago I decided to take a wander around the village for old times' sake and revisit a few old haunts.
I had a vague idea that there might be some old rights of way in the fields around the village that might make a good circular stroll, so early on a summer evening I parked up on the edge of the White Horse Business Park and set off.
North Bradley is a close neighbor of Trowbridge, Wiltshire's county town. As the urban development of Trowbridge has expanded over the years, many of the surrounding villages are in danger of encroachment and being absorbed into the town. While they remain separate, standalone parishes, the building continues. As I write this, another field separating Trowbridge from North Bradley is being built upon to provide much-needed new housing stock, but it is one field closer to providing a continuous urban link between town and village. This has happened with the other villages too. Half of the "Hilperton Gap," once wide open fields, is currently being converted to houses. Over towards West Ashton, the flood plains of the River Biss have been earmarked for a huge development of 2,500 houses. In the end, will Trowbridge be one conurbation with the historic villages relegated to suburbs? No need to answer the question - time will tell!
Passing a large car dealership, I crossed the road by a petrol station and followed an overgrown footpath next to a small lake, which ran adjacent to the elevated railway line. This took me underneath the road, where graffiti in the underpass reminded me that this was a liminal place, where the urban was about to give way to the open countryside.
This is where the navigation problems started. While there was a right of way clearly marked on the map, this was not a path that was used much as it was tremendously overgrown with no discernible route. But I was able to forge a path following the brook to my left. After a short while, I was able to find the path and confirm I was on track. A glance to my left showed the Westbury white horse.
As I navigated through the fields following the tracks, I was trying to traverse around North Bradley to come out at the west end of the village. But it was a frustrating route. At points, the right of way was blocked or overgrown, so I had to traverse a field edge to keep moving in the right direction. Then I hit some fields of barley. Now the Ordnance Survey map showed the right of way going straight through the middle of the crop. My understanding is that the farmer is supposed to leave a channel for the right of way. But this farmer had planted the crop right over the path. As a compromise, I followed the field edge - technically a trespass, but I would be happy to explain that I didn't want to trample his crop to stick to the legal route.
Exiting the field by some houses, I was now in the hamlet of Ireland. A short walk would take me to the adjoining hamlet of Scotland. If you have driven along the main road from Southwick to North Bradley, you might have seen the signpost for these hamlets on the road. I've never been able to find the origin of these place names. An anecdote from a local once told me it dated back to when the railway was being built. The railwaymen set up camp in these locations, with the Irish in one spot and the Scots in the other. Others simply say that the hamlets were considered so remote by the locals, that they might as well be in Scotland or Ireland.
Eventually, I ended up on the main road and made my way back to North Bradley. Traversing Church Lane, I wandered past St Nicholas Church and the primary school. I must have driven along this lane dozens of times doing school runs. The school is now 143 years old, and the original school building can be seen from the road.
At the end of Church Lane, I glanced over at North Bradley Baptist Church. This relatively modern building was built in 1961, but the church itself dates back to 1775. These non-conformists would do adult baptisms in the River Biss back then, by what is still known as The Baptising Bridge.
The old chapel dating back to the early origins of the church was demolished in 1961, but you can still see the foundations in the cemetery - if you can find the cemetery, that is. If you look to the right of the current church on the main road, there is a grassy footpath. Walk down there, and you will eventually come across it. It is now a peaceful oasis of calm.
From here, I followed a path out to a road called Little Common. At the end of here, I turned right, and a tree-lined path ejected me out, back into the urban sprawl of the White Horse Business Park. A pleasant evening indeed, with many trips down memory lane.
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