The footpath from Repps
Road to Cess Road i.e. TG437172 to TG444181 along what
is now named Common Road
Physical
Character
This path follows the Private Road
No. 17 laid out by the Enclosure Commissioners in 1812
when the Common was enclosed. There is now a
surfaced road from Repps Road to about TG437178 when it
becomes a dirt track. At the beginning the road is
about 18 feet wide, which is the width required by the
Enclosure Commissioners. When the road turns north
east it narrows to about 12 feet and continues at about
that width.
Leaving Repps Road the path follows
the road going north along the west side of Grange Farm
House and the farm buildings and cottages there.
On the west side of the road is a deep ditch – possibly
with a running stream and this runs into a pond opposite
the farm buildings. After the farm buildings have
been passed there is a hedge on the east side of the
road which is probably very ancient. On the west
side of the road is a hedge with a shallow ditch beyond
it. The hedge on the east side is particularly
rich in species of lime, hawthorn, ash, hazel, rose,
bramble, ivy, apple, pear and blackthorn which may have
survived from the days when the Common existed.
Before Enclosure this part of the track is the track
which followed the edge of the Common. On the east
side farther along, north of a pair of cottages on the
east side of this part of the track, is a shallow ditch
which was the land spring drain and the land beyond that
is about three feet higher than the track.
Round the next bend cherry, oak and
hazel were growing alongside the track. Round
another bend, the road continues eastwards with maple,
cherry, oak and elder growing alongside.
Historical
Ecology
The footpath along this track follows
the entire length of ‘Private Road No. 17’ shown on the
Enclosure map of 1812.
The road that leaves
Repps Road – B1152 - at TG437172 is an old road which is
shown on Faden’s Map of 1797. Beyond the farm
buildings it was originally the track along the edge of
the Common. Therefore at the Enclosure it was
already in existence but was extended across the
enclosed common.
At the point TG435175 where the road
takes a right angle turn northeast it actually goes over
land which was part of the common. This is why in
the 20th century the road was named ‘Common Road’.
On the north side of Common Road at
about TG438179 is a plot of land which was set aside as
a ‘Parish Smee’ at the Enclosure, for the use of the
poor who were permitted to take mud from the Smee to
daub their houses. As this was no longer required
the Parish Council recently decided that it would become
a nature reserve and erected an information board
detailing the flaura & fauna to be found there.
1.
The beginning of the footpath at Repps Road at
TG436172
2. The view along the track from
TG436173 looking north where footpath 5 crosses the
road
3. Looking back along the same
stretch of track
4. Looking back south from nearer
to Beverley Cottage
5. Looking back south along the
track by Beverley Cottage
6. The track where it turns
eastwards at TG434177
7. The track looking west at the
junction with Cess Road at TG444181