On a misty, moisty morning on Remembrance Sunday, Howard led this well-researched, 8.2 mile walk starting at the School Lane car park just behind Kneesall Church before heading across fields to Laxton to visit the Castle and Visitor Centre.
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| Howard briefs the members and visitors |
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| St Bartholomew's Church, Laxton |
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| Setting off |
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| Remembrance Sunday - two minutes silence |
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| Coffee stop near Golden Hill reservoirs |
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| Heading towards West Field |
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| Laxton retains a significant part of the medieval open field system. Fields, divided into strips, were farmed in common among the landowners of the village. Today, there are three open fields remaining; the Mill Field, the South Field and the West Field. In 1655, about 346 acres of West Field were worked as open fields in 412 strips. |
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| A network of tracks was developed to take animals and farm machinery to and from the fields. In places, they have been worn down deep into the soft clays by heavy traffic over the centuries, producing a sunken track known as a hollow way |
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| Example of the many farms (unusually) close to the centre of the village |
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| Late 11th- or early 12th-century, medieval, motte-and-bailey castle |
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Heading towards the earthworks of Laxton Castle
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| The Readyfield Bloodhounds don't hunt foxes but follow a runner who is given a prepared route trailed by the horses and riders. When the hounds find his scent and follow it until they catch him, they lick him rather than attacking. Ugh! |
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| The three fields of strip farming, West Field, Mill Field and South Field |
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| Watching a video at lunch inside the Laxton Visitor Centre for some ... |
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| ... or in the nearby pinfold for others |
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| Passing behind St Michael the Archangel's Church, Laxton |
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| Just south of Laxton and along the valley of the local stream are nine fishponds made by digging out earth from the hillside and then banking it up on the streamside at each end |
