It's funny how walks sometimes seem to warn you off certain paths, and encourage you down others, and as a walker you have that dilemma, often made when really tired, of accepting the easy option that appears to be being presented, sold, to you or challenging it by slogging on, straight ahead, regardless. Thanks again John for another, very enjoyable, magical film.
hi John, Great video. You always have a knack of capturing the right atmosphere of a place regardless of time of day or season. I come from Essex and studied its 'storied landscape' both growing up with a father obsessed by history, and,latterly,through academia. As far as the druids are concerned,no serious evidence has been recorded, so it's unlikely Stukely was barking up the right tree with that interpretation. I mean he was apt to see druids everywhere in the same way others see fairies! His theories on Stonehenge were likewise tarnished by that awenic association for centuries. Plenty of Iron Age settlements, barrows,cairns,livestock stockades and cursus though within your usual walking ambit. You might or might not be aware of the two 'hillforts' (Ambresbury & Loughton Camp)within Epping Forest which marked the boundaries of the Trinovantes and the Catevellauni tribes? Some nice abstract views to be had searching them out! There's also some interesting stuff around Loughton itself. Plus there's the famous Boxted Cross:a buried late neolithic henge,which is visible in places as cropmarks.More of which should be in evidence now after this long hot summer. I echo also what others have said about Weald Park. I did a survey up there many years ago. The coordinates,if it'll help,are: Brentwood (2km E)OS Ref (GB): TQ578946 / Sheets: 167, 177Latitude:51° 37' 39.12" NLongitude: 0° 16' 48.3". Essex is definitely a place of untapped morphic resonances and four thousand years of lost mystical psychogeography.The ghosts walk at your elbow-if you believe that type of thing! The film brought back many happy memories!
Thanks for that wonderful comment Patricia. I went out to the hillfort at Weald Park at the weekend - what an amazing site. Loughton Camp and Ambresbury Banks are on my usual forest walks - magical places (there are a couple of videos on here). I’ll have to go searching for Boxted Cross now and I’m intrigued by the other sites around Loughton you mention
Thank you John, We love watching your videos and it feels like we know you personally. It is always nice when Lyn says to me that she has just received a notification on her Mobile phone to say that you have done another Episode. Your commentary is always interesting. Kind regards Dave and Lyn.....from Australia.
Was so pleased to see you had posted another walk, and boy you didn't disappoint! This was a glorious walk and your commentary inspiring. By the way, "commons" can often be heavily wooded places- West Wickham Common in south London is an example of this.
Brilliant little find , thank you. 😌 I live next to Central Park , it is a beautiful place here. I like how many don’t realise the beauty round here or they will all wanna move here 😂 , I love how your video has captured the area in its true light. I’m very intrigued now on this Druid history now.. 🙌❤️ much gratitude sending your way
The other side of The Manor to where you were is quite amazing! There's a huge plot of land, covered in gorse bushes. The deer usually gather on there. Watching the Rut around there is a sight to behold!
I lived in 323 Dagenham PK Drive Harold Hill from 1955 to 61 age 6 to 12. The countryside was dense , wild and heaven for us kids to explore. I remember forest floors blanketed in blue bells , ponds with stickle backs and newts. some large ancient oak trees and of course there is was a myth about a "lady and the lake" , One day playing "follow the leader" through the forest alongside Dycorts primary school we came across a man who had hanged himself, To us those forests with ancient mounds etc were so magical. I live in Melbourne Australia now , but it was a blessing to have a childhood in such beautiful countryside. Thank you for your great video, I am sure I could still recognise some places you went through.
@@Elephantsss Yeah, we always called that park 'the Manor.' None of us even knew it was called Dagnam Park. Part of the Manor was called the Duckwood and I used to walk through it every day on the way to school. Yes, what a match and what a goal by Lanzini!
@@CIMAmotor There was a pub called The Duckwood inn . I went to school at Dycourts juniors and then Quales secondary modern. . My Dad supported Spurs and the 5 sons all West Ham that's another reason why that match was special for me. yes what a goal. !
@@Elephantsss The Duckwood was the first pub I ever had a pint in (I lived quite close in Dorking Road). I went to Brookside Junior and Neave school (Neave used to be Harrowfields when my Mum and Uncle went there).
Fantastic walk as ever John, and a pleasure to join you for part of it on the live stream too! I ended up not far from here last weekend, but in very different weather conditions....!
Very interesting and scenic as always John. I do appreciate your walks and narration that always keep my full attention. Thank you for sharing, Take care.
Lovely walk - thank you, John! Perhaps in a couple of thousand years' time someone will be wandering across the landscape trying to find golf earthworks, denoting those sites where the ancient aristocracy of the 20th and 21st centuries worshipped by hitting small white balls until they disappeared into little holes in the ground...
Thank you John for another excellent video .I have been over to that ares but never visited the parks,woods or common land which is do beautiful.Thanks for exposing these idylic areas which I will now have to explore
love all your videos! Your enthusiasm and passion towards the mother nature and your neighbourhood is infectious. Just pure gold especially in this lockdown I believe we all need just a bit of appreciation towards our surroundings to find peace and joy in life.
Another great one. No worries you didn't find the enclosure, You can come to our village in Somerset, and see our stone circle. Nothing mysterious however as it was put there in 1991 by Michael Eavis. Good old Glasto!
I moved out to Australia in 2008. Seeing signs with Romford and Brentwood brought a lump to my throat. I came into this world at Harold Wood hospital. Great videos. Keep them coming.
I had no idea that all this beauty and potential adventure was on my doorstep. I really want to go on walks like this but I’m so scared of getting lost. I love these videos. Thank you.
Really fascinating to see this side of the river, having looked out on it as a child, living as I did at that time in a block of flats in Grays overlooking the Estuary on the Essex side.
Another enjoyable adventure John....those stone pillars you found were interesting and the woodland with that pond were majestical. Shame about the druids enclosure and the state of that blocked path. Looking forward to your net video.
The stone pillers John found Were from wansted manor And never used at Dagnam park I surprized he found them as quite hidden The friends of dagnam park have a great Website lots of history their in...
Mythago Wood changed the way I look at woods! I was investigating some iron age square barrows on Beverley Westwood up here in East Yorkshire the other day, they're in the middle of a golf course funnily enough! It's amazing what survives hidden in obscure corners of fields. Sad, too, what has been erased. Some barrows near my home in Cottingham were shown on maps into the early 1900s but they've been completely ploughed out now.
That’s true Matt it does change the way you look at landscapes. Peter Ackroyd poses the question of how much was destroyed in the building and expansion of luck, those hills about the Thames would have been prime sites for enclosures and barrows
TRY WALING FROM HIGHBURY VIA HOLLOWAY AND ARCHWAY TO HIGHGATE VILLAGE AND PERHAPS ON TO GOLERS HILL PARK. I HAVE LOST BOTH MY LOWER LEGS, SO WALKING IS OUT NOW.
Loved this As i live Harold Hill now Fly tipping is sadly a massive Passtime here. But it is a very beauiful area.. My gateway away from maddess Of urban living. Thanks John
Was it flytipping, or a deliberate attempt to thwart incursions? Possibly the latter masquerading as the former. From my own attempts at finding prehistoric landmarks from old maps, it takes a keen eye and a heap of imagination to pick them out from the rest of the topography. It doesn't matter, ours is not a reductionist pursuit of bald facts but a proliferating one of the interior landscape. Nice walk, as ever John.
Thanks Borderlands. I think that was a deliberate blockage to the footage, although can't see why, somebody later told me you're supposed to walk along the side of the fairway on the other side of the mounds but that should be indicated
@@borderlands6606 Well i cycle the byeways here .last week was riding to Muthering lane A transit van came bombing down byeway with tailgate flapping Low and behold a massive pile of tyres blocking my route home It was like silbury hill in rubber ... Lots of traveller sites here
In this case the rubble and tyres are quite deliberating placed squarely over the path not just strewn anywhere as you might expect from fly tippers who don't seem to give a hoot how they leave something, the emphasis being on getting rid of whatever it is and quickly. It could of course have been two completely separate examples of fly tipping, the second getting only as far as the first. The traveller line is also a realistic possibility. It looks to me more like a landowner sick of seeing hippy/pagan types making pilgrimage across his property to said Stukeley's site particularly if they are the night time variety. Experience tells me that you made the right decision to turn back, particularly being on your own. Whatever the explanation it might be worth seeking out a local footpaths officer whose attention may not have yet been drawn to this obstacle. Local walking clubs usually know this person and some of the members might actually know the full story. There are teams of volunteers in some parts of the country who will come along and help to remove this sort of thing, even some councils act upon it.
South Weald country park is where my mates and I used to cycle as kids, plus my father and I used to fish. It is another location of WWII remains as well...
Hi John. I can't say I had heard of Druid enclosure on Navestock Common and will now try to find out more, but there are the remains of an iron age hill fort in South Weald Park a mile up the road. Those of us living to the east of London are very lucky to have so much green space on the door step.
I agree we are lucky here I know the hill fort over South Weald Marked on the horizion by a large Wellingtonia Flanked by a road and paddock. Stunning...
Hi John when you were talking about homes for heroes you was about 10 meters from my house. The brook as you walked into Central Park it is the Paines Brook, which runs into the Ingrebourne. By the fishing pond is near the site of the Manor House. When you walked though Central Park and the Manor you were on section 21 of the London Loop.
Steve Gee i thought it was Paine's brook too. I also remember pissing off the fishermen at the pond in manor park by throwing stones in the pind when i was a kid🤣. The manor house is long gone but i imagine it was quite the place back in the day. We once found the remains of the ornamental pond hidden in the woods there. Magical place.
So lovely to see you do this walk. I agree the Manor is a magical woodland. I grew up all around there so it for me it was a beautiful video to watch. I enjoy all your walks and use them as inspiration and guidance really our home educating adventures.
Thanks for making this video mate. I live in canada now but grew up runnng amok in manor park, harold hill! The stones you found i think are the old stables for the manor house. I went on many a walk and bike ride with my family from settle road up to navestock along the same route route as you took
BM on the trig point is 'bench mark' I think it's an individual reference to that trig point and they sometimes also state height ASL if not always. Rick
Hi John, appears to be an ITC spirit manifestation in the tree directly in front at 26:00 - a person with hat and a walking stick, it seems. I also see ITC in the tree by the red and white fencing. Instrumental Trans-dimensional Communication, a well-described paranormal phenomenon, faces, figures appearing in abstract material. Thank you The Völve, Asatru shaman
Great video, as always John! I had a look at the satellite view of the area on google and there's plenty of field marks to suggest buried archaeology. Unfortunately, I'd say the mound was lost to the golf course - which is a shame because these days people would pay a premium to sink a ball in a druid enclosure. The woodland looked perfect too! Thanks or taking us on your journey again!
John Rogers it’s just a habit I have. I was fascinated with archeology as a kid and I always think of what might be buried, thanks mainly to Tony Robinson!! Google is excellent if you’re looking for enclosure marks or clues to topographic oddities. Nothing beats an old map still though.
At 15:00 i think you were on the common. That white building ysed to be a little pub in the middle of nowhere. Used to play cricket and footy with my dad, uncle and cousins there 30 years ago. They used to cut the grass back then🤣
Such a fantastic walk John! I'm fascinated by magical signs of our ancient past and felt thrilled to be hunting them out alongside you. Have you considered travelling a little further out from London, such as Kent? So many glorious hikes littered with remaina from the neolithic, Roman and abandoned villages due to the Black Death. Also, thank you so much for reminding of the track Freshly Fallen Snow. Utterly beautiful.
Thanks John for a great video, been a sub for the past 6mths, and getting to watch some of your back catalogue. This one brought back many childhood memories, of time spent in and around the Manor in the 60's. I would spend many a happy hour fishing in the ponds there, but always made sure I left before dark, as that was when the "White Lady of the Manor" would be about. Years ago I did a little research on the old Manor House and discovered that servants hated staying on the premises as it was said to be haunted by a white lady. Great video John, thanks for the memories.
I no this area well ,worked at brook farm for a long period which is in murthering lane navestock if you continue up that lane over the m25 heading east towards kelvedon hatch you will come across a common clearly seen only a mile or so from we’re you was with the golf course 🤙
The Manor (Dagnam Park) does have legends attached to it including the 'white lady. If you run around the green lake 3 times she pushes you in! I grew up on Harold Hill and went to the Manor often (it was on my walk to school) but never saw anyone risking the run around the lake.
fantastic thanks john my wife comes from harold hill well where she was living when i met her used to go to noak hill a fair bit any chance you could put in how many miles your walks are thanks it is the 10 of october today it was so beautiful out there this afternoon as i had a afternoon of work thanks as usual so look forward to these oh well the clocks go back at the end of the month so it will be less walking time for you keep up the great work steve
My Auntie grew up in Navestock in the 1930's. Their house had an Ancient front Door, but I'm unsure of the History. She told me a neighbouring Small Holding caused a panic when they discovered it was harbouring Anthrax!!! Imagine that!
5:57 That's an overflow pond from the Green pond in the manor. There are two right by the Green pond and then there are a couple more further down the hill
I adore these videos John. They’ve had me up on Saturday mornings for short walks. Turnpike Lane to Ally Pally, through Crouch End, down Stroud Green Road to Highbury. Any tips for nice 7-8 mike walks starting from Highbury?
Thanks so much James. You could try walking from Highbury to Epping Forest at Walthamstow/Woodford - go down through Clisshold Park and Springfield Park then over the Lea and Coppermill Lane- walk up the Lea to Ponders End. Heading West you could try something like this route (which starts at Gospel Oak) and head towards Perivale ua-cam.com/video/BT0kOCqiyKE/v-deo.html
4 years after the recording date here so apologies if previously answered...The benchmarks on trig points are heights above sea level, taken from the mean tide height taken in Newlyn Cornwall. In urban areas keep an eye out for them on railway arches, town hall walls and other ''immoveable'' type buildings and structures.
A bit late in the day watching this particular video John - 5 years late! Had to comment though as I grew up in Navestock/Coxtie Green on Wheelers Lane. Moores Wood was just up the lane from us and we sometimes used to walk through there to get to school (Bentley St Pauls) The druid connection with the wood does sounds familiar. It was a bit of a 'wild wood' when I was a kid. A bit spooky and not somewhere you'd want to walk on your own!
22:23 - FlyTippers. A blight on the very earth upon which they tread: Cursed is the ground that they stand on, and defiled is the air that they breath.
How you call that part of a fence which leads over to the horse,it's like a gate but firstly you'd step on it to find yourself on the other site?(In Moldova we call it "Pirleaz")
Those stone things are pillars that were meant for the Dagnam Mansion but were never put up. They apparently came from an old mansion that was in leytonestone or somewhere near there.
I live about 15 minutes walk from the 'pond[s]' in the Manor and was always told that they, for there is more than one, were created by the Luftwaffe having jettisoned their unused cargo following a London bombing run.
Beautiful walk John. I really like your video style :-) Today i went up the grand union canal, lovely day, 20 deg in London on the 9th of October! Tomorrow is forecast for 23 deg! So, i was thinking while on the canal, is it a nice day, or is it global warming?
so, the horse was trying to tell you the way, and you didn't listen to him, john! 😊 haha that's alright - sometimes hearing the call of the wild isn't easy 😉 i hope that public way has been cleared since you were there - sometimes i despair at humanity's folly! looking forward to part 2, cheers!🙂
Goatswood lane is Brentwood, very dodgy around that bit, it’s full of traveller sites, I got ambushed on my motorbike going down there last year they tried to rob my bike, but very nice when you get further away from there , there’s a lovely pub called the alma arms near by
BUS ROUTE 174 '< FROM DAGENHAM > RAN ON FROM NOAK HILL TEES DRIVE TO PENTOWAN FROM 20 AUG 1958 TILL 17 MAY 1980. ROUTE 238 HAD RUN 20 NOV 1940 TO 19 AUG 1958 ALONG THE SAME SECTION NOAK HILL TESS DRIVE TO PENTOWAN, COMING FROM EMERSON PARK. NO BUSES NOW EAST OR NORTH BEYOND NOAK HILL TEES DRIVE.
This is neck of the woods, literally... woods. It was great seeing street on your OS map. It's a shame you didn't go over the border into Essex and see the Pudding Stone. Havering atte Bower is a nice small village nearby too, with a pub, church etc. I may be wrong, but many farmers attempt to stop travellers from using their land as an encampment, perhaps that was the case with the blocked footpath (shame).. or fly tippers ... there's far too much fly tipping in the area. I have never heard of the druid temple, that's a new one on me. I will have to look it up. I do wonder if the London Borough of Havering is committed to keeping our existing countryside. Unfortunately, they are profit focused.
the auld charlatan William Stukeley was one of the first to associate Neolithic stone circles with the latter Druids, it's lazy science, m8, the easy option isn't always the most beneficial..nice vid all the same, well done as usual_
Yeah he did seem prone to flights of fancy (the Navestock ‘temple’ is a good example) but I think we’d have lost even more to the plough if it hadn’t been for his work
unlike your namesake, the first Protestant martyr to be executed during the reign of Mary Tudor, you won't find your's truly going up in smoke at Smithfield, any time soon, LOL_
Hi John, thanks for the reference to yours truly in the highlighted comment drop at the beginning of the video, Stukeley's 'Druid Temple' is located 'by the road from Ditchleys to Princesgate, according to the British History 'ac.uk' website. Follow the link below for the full page: www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol4/pp139-143 To save your eyes, which are probably tired after your edit, here is the relevant section extracted below: ''¶Fortification Wood, on the south side of the road about ½ mile west of Bois Hall, covers an entrenchment some 350 ft. long by 240 ft. wide. (fn. 6) It occupies a good defensive position and has been thought to be a fortification at some unknown date. It is probably identical with a wood called 'the defence' which existed in 1222. (fn. 7) Another ancient earthwork, of which hardly any traces remain, was situated on Navestock Common, by the road from Ditchleys (in South Weald) to Princesgate, near the parish and hundred boundary. It was visited on several occasions in the 18th century by William Stukeley (1687-1765) who described it as an 'alate temple'. (fn. 8)' I'll make an effort to scan and send you a copy of my own map in a day or two when I have cleared my own backlog of work which has been building up! In the meantime, check your Instagram account as I've tagged you in a post relating to one of my diaries which may shed further light on another group of Londonists' perambulations! More on that in a future thread!
John, I had a nightmare last night about being surrounded by druids with miniature silver axes, then this came up on my feed! Do you think something's trying to send me a message!? Lol💀👻
It's funny how walks sometimes seem to warn you off certain paths, and encourage you down others, and as a walker you have that dilemma, often made when really tired, of accepting the easy option that appears to be being presented, sold, to you or challenging it by slogging on, straight ahead, regardless. Thanks again John for another, very enjoyable, magical film.
that's very true Arthur, and it's interesting to walk the same routes over and over to get different experiences from the same places
hi John, Great video. You always have a knack of capturing the right atmosphere of a place regardless of time of day or season. I come from Essex and studied its 'storied landscape' both growing up with a father obsessed by history, and,latterly,through academia. As far as the druids are concerned,no serious evidence has been recorded, so it's unlikely Stukely was barking up the right tree with that interpretation. I mean he was apt to see druids everywhere in the same way others see fairies! His theories on Stonehenge were likewise tarnished by that awenic association for centuries. Plenty of Iron Age settlements, barrows,cairns,livestock stockades and cursus though within your usual walking ambit. You might or might not be aware of the two 'hillforts' (Ambresbury & Loughton Camp)within Epping Forest which marked the boundaries of the Trinovantes and the Catevellauni tribes? Some nice abstract views to be had searching them out! There's also some interesting stuff around Loughton itself. Plus there's the famous Boxted Cross:a buried late neolithic henge,which is visible in places as cropmarks.More of which should be in evidence now after this long hot summer. I echo also what others have said about Weald Park. I did a survey up there many years ago. The coordinates,if it'll help,are: Brentwood (2km E)OS Ref (GB): TQ578946 / Sheets: 167, 177Latitude:51° 37' 39.12" NLongitude: 0° 16' 48.3". Essex is definitely a place of untapped morphic resonances and four thousand years of lost mystical psychogeography.The ghosts walk at your elbow-if you believe that type of thing! The film brought back many happy memories!
Thanks for that wonderful comment Patricia. I went out to the hillfort at Weald Park at the weekend - what an amazing site. Loughton Camp and Ambresbury Banks are on my usual forest walks - magical places (there are a couple of videos on here). I’ll have to go searching for Boxted Cross now and I’m intrigued by the other sites around Loughton you mention
Thank you John,
We love watching your videos and it feels like we know you personally.
It is always nice when Lyn says to me that she has just received a notification on her Mobile phone to say that you have done another Episode.
Your commentary is always interesting.
Kind regards
Dave and Lyn.....from Australia.
Thanks so much Dave and Lyn - that's a great image I shall savour (particularly as I had some very happy years in Sydney)
Your films are so beautifully made, John. A real treat, thanks so much.
Was so pleased to see you had posted another walk, and boy you didn't disappoint! This was a glorious walk and your commentary inspiring. By the way, "commons" can often be heavily wooded places- West Wickham Common in south London is an example of this.
Thanks so much Voxley - and the info on Commons is really useful
Brilliant little find , thank you. 😌 I live next to Central Park , it is a beautiful place here. I like how many don’t realise the beauty round here or they will all wanna move here 😂 , I love how your video has captured the area in its true light.
I’m very intrigued now on this Druid history now.. 🙌❤️ much gratitude sending your way
The other side of The Manor to where you were is quite amazing! There's a huge plot of land, covered in gorse bushes. The deer usually gather on there. Watching the Rut around there is a sight to behold!
I lived in 323 Dagenham PK Drive Harold Hill from 1955 to 61 age 6 to 12. The countryside was dense , wild and heaven for us kids to explore. I remember forest floors blanketed in blue bells , ponds with stickle backs and newts. some large ancient oak trees and of course there is was a myth about a "lady and the lake" , One day playing
"follow the leader" through the forest alongside Dycorts primary school we came across a man who had hanged himself, To us those forests with ancient mounds etc were
so magical. I live in Melbourne Australia now , but it was a blessing to have a childhood in such beautiful countryside. Thank you for your great video, I am sure I could still
recognise some places you went through.
I lived in Harold Hill as a kid and remember the 'White Lady' of the Manor. Also, the bluebells.
@@CIMAmotor Yes I also remember as the "White lady " . and the Manor rings a bell. You would have enjoyed the Hammers and Spurs match 3 all. amazing.
@@Elephantsss Yeah, we always called that park 'the Manor.' None of us even knew it was called Dagnam Park. Part of the Manor was called the Duckwood and I used to walk through it every day on the way to school. Yes, what a match and what a goal by Lanzini!
@@CIMAmotor There was a pub called The Duckwood inn . I went to school at Dycourts juniors and then Quales secondary modern. . My Dad supported Spurs and the 5 sons all West Ham that's another reason why that match was special for me. yes what a goal. !
@@Elephantsss The Duckwood was the first pub I ever had a pint in (I lived quite close in Dorking Road). I went to Brookside Junior and Neave school (Neave used to be Harrowfields when my Mum and Uncle went there).
Bloody brilliant John, thank you.
Your videos are getting better all the time, the time you must spend editing is so worth it.
Thanks Little Acorns - really enjoyed editing this one, I like to take more time when I have it
Fantastic walk as ever John, and a pleasure to join you for part of it on the live stream too! I ended up not far from here last weekend, but in very different weather conditions....!
Thanks Mike and great to see you on the livestream. I went back out there last weekend to Weald Park - astonishing landscape there too
As always John many thanks for an enjoyable and informative walk !
Thanks Den
Very interesting and scenic as always John. I do appreciate your walks and narration that always keep my full attention. Thank you for sharing, Take care.
thanks for watching Darrell
Lovely walk - thank you, John! Perhaps in a couple of thousand years' time someone will be wandering across the landscape trying to find golf earthworks, denoting those sites where the ancient aristocracy of the 20th and 21st centuries worshipped by hitting small white balls until they disappeared into little holes in the ground...
Ha, yes they'll be scratching their heads trying to work out what that was all about
😂👌
three years on this is still making people laugh!!
I love the wide green vistas, very beguiling....
Thanks Carole
Thank you John for another excellent video .I have been over to that ares but never visited the parks,woods or common land which is do beautiful.Thanks for exposing these idylic areas which I will now have to explore
Thanks Humble - it’s great territory out there
hi, I live in Adelaide, South Australia and grew up in Cheshunt. So I enjoy your walks. Reminds me of home and another time Thanks.
Thanks for watching Jack
love all your videos! Your enthusiasm and passion towards the mother nature and your neighbourhood is infectious. Just pure gold especially in this lockdown
I believe we all need just a bit of appreciation towards our surroundings to find peace and joy in life.
Thanks for that Nic - much appreciated
So love these walks, your enthusiasm is infectious!
Thanks so much Lee - that's great to hear
Loved the look the horse was giving you!
He/she was certainly a character
Another great one. No worries you didn't find the enclosure, You can come to our village in Somerset, and see our stone circle. Nothing mysterious however as it was put there in 1991 by Michael Eavis. Good old Glasto!
Ha, wonderful- I was thinking of a trip to Glastonbury just the other day on a bus through the Quantocks
Well if you're about pop over and il point out a few items of interest..
I moved out to Australia in 2008. Seeing signs with Romford and Brentwood brought a lump to my throat. I came into this world at Harold Wood hospital.
Great videos. Keep them coming.
I had no idea that all this beauty and potential adventure was on my doorstep. I really want to go on walks like this but I’m so scared of getting lost. I love these videos. Thank you.
Really fascinating to see this side of the river, having looked out on it as a child, living as I did at that time in a block of flats in Grays overlooking the Estuary on the Essex side.
Thanks, John, for this beautiful trip!
thanks Victor
Great stuff John ,thanks for the posting.
Great walk -enjoyed the Dagnam Park wood-looked very ancient expected Saxon warriors to burst forth from among the trees.
Another enjoyable adventure John....those stone pillars you found were interesting and the woodland with that pond were majestical. Shame about the druids enclosure and the state of that blocked path. Looking forward to your net video.
Thanks Jag, there were so many great features on this walk. I went back out that way to pick up the thread a little to the East
The stone pillers John found
Were from wansted manor
And never used at Dagnam park
I surprized he found them as quite hidden
The friends of dagnam park have a great
Website lots of history their in...
Thanks John that was a great walk
Thanks 4thEye
Mythago Wood changed the way I look at woods! I was investigating some iron age square barrows on Beverley Westwood up here in East Yorkshire the other day, they're in the middle of a golf course funnily enough! It's amazing what survives hidden in obscure corners of fields. Sad, too, what has been erased. Some barrows near my home in Cottingham were shown on maps into the early 1900s but they've been completely ploughed out now.
That’s true Matt it does change the way you look at landscapes. Peter Ackroyd poses the question of how much was destroyed in the building and expansion of luck, those hills about the Thames would have been prime sites for enclosures and barrows
TRY WALING FROM HIGHBURY VIA HOLLOWAY AND ARCHWAY TO HIGHGATE VILLAGE AND PERHAPS ON TO GOLERS HILL PARK. I HAVE LOST BOTH MY LOWER LEGS, SO WALKING IS OUT NOW.
BM on the trig point means Benchmark. With the height in figures.
There is also one on the Leyton stone.
Loved this
As i live Harold Hill now
Fly tipping is sadly a massive
Passtime here.
But it is a very beauiful area..
My gateway away from maddess
Of urban living. Thanks John
Was it flytipping, or a deliberate attempt to thwart incursions? Possibly the latter masquerading as the former.
From my own attempts at finding prehistoric landmarks from old maps, it takes a keen eye and a heap of imagination to pick them out from the rest of the topography. It doesn't matter, ours is not a reductionist pursuit of bald facts but a proliferating one of the interior landscape. Nice walk, as ever John.
Thanks Borderlands.
I think that was a deliberate blockage to the footage, although can't see why, somebody later told me you're supposed to walk along the side of the fairway on the other side of the mounds but that should be indicated
@@borderlands6606
Well i cycle the byeways here .last week was riding to Muthering lane
A transit van came bombing down byeway with tailgate flapping
Low and behold a massive pile of tyres blocking my route home
It was like silbury hill in rubber ...
Lots of traveller sites here
In this case the rubble and tyres are quite deliberating placed squarely over the path not just strewn anywhere as you might expect from fly tippers who don't seem to give a hoot how they leave something, the emphasis being on getting rid of whatever it is and quickly. It could of course have been two completely separate examples of fly tipping, the second getting only as far as the first. The traveller line is also a realistic possibility. It looks to me more like a landowner sick of seeing hippy/pagan types making pilgrimage across his property to said Stukeley's site particularly if they are the night time variety. Experience tells me that you made the right decision to turn back, particularly being on your own. Whatever the explanation it might be worth seeking out a local footpaths officer whose attention may not have yet been drawn to this obstacle. Local walking clubs usually know this person and some of the members might actually know the full story. There are teams of volunteers in some parts of the country who will come along and help to remove this sort of thing, even some councils act upon it.
South Weald country park is where my mates and I used to cycle as kids, plus my father and I used to fish. It is another location of WWII remains as well...
Could it be a new series of videos in the making, 'Lost to the Plough' ha ha!
Thanks john, for another great adventure!
That's a great title Leon
Hi John. I can't say I had heard of Druid enclosure on Navestock Common and will now try to find out more, but there are the remains of an iron age hill fort in South Weald Park a mile up the road. Those of us living to the east of London are very lucky to have so much green space on the door step.
I agree we are lucky here
I know the hill fort over South Weald
Marked on the horizion by a large Wellingtonia
Flanked by a road and paddock.
Stunning...
Hi Richard - I’ve just been out there - what a magical place, I had to have another look for the Stukeley temple as well
Did you find it?
Ha, I found something and it may be the remains of what Stukeley saw perhaps. But the Iron Age camp in Weald Country Park was magnificent
What did you find, John?
the letters OS B M on the post / trig point stand for Ordnance Survey Bench Mark love your videos John
Hi John when you were talking about homes for heroes you was about 10 meters from my house. The brook as you walked into Central Park it is the Paines Brook, which runs into the Ingrebourne. By the fishing pond is near the site of the Manor House. When you walked though Central Park and the Manor you were on section 21 of the London Loop.
What a coincidence Steve - it's a great area, I sometimes take my son to the trampoline place. Thanks for those notes
my uncle has spoke about this manor house, is it still there?
Steve Gee i thought it was Paine's brook too. I also remember pissing off the fishermen at the pond in manor park by throwing stones in the pind when i was a kid🤣.
The manor house is long gone but i imagine it was quite the place back in the day. We once found the remains of the ornamental pond hidden in the woods there. Magical place.
Very depressing seeing blocked paths, as usual excellent video.
thanks Paul - yes blocking footpaths should be a crime
So lovely to see you do this walk. I agree the Manor is a magical woodland. I grew up all around there so it for me it was a beautiful video to watch. I enjoy all your walks and use them as inspiration and guidance really our home educating adventures.
Thanks for making this video mate. I live in canada now but grew up runnng amok in manor park, harold hill!
The stones you found i think are the old stables for the manor house. I went on many a walk and bike ride with my family from settle road up to navestock along the same route route as you took
BM on the trig point is 'bench mark' I think it's an individual reference to that trig point and they sometimes also state height ASL if not always. Rick
Hi John, appears to be an ITC spirit manifestation in the tree directly in front at 26:00 - a person with hat and a walking stick, it seems. I also see ITC in the tree by the red and white fencing. Instrumental Trans-dimensional Communication, a well-described paranormal phenomenon, faces, figures appearing in abstract material. Thank you
The Völve, Asatru shaman
My neck of the woods Harold hill nice to see you walk through the manor the old Manor House burnt down in the 50s but still see the ruins nice video
Great video, as always John! I had a look at the satellite view of the area on google and there's plenty of field marks to suggest buried archaeology. Unfortunately, I'd say the mound was lost to the golf course - which is a shame because these days people would pay a premium to sink a ball in a druid enclosure. The woodland looked perfect too! Thanks or taking us on your journey again!
Thanks Jonny - I’m going to have to start looking at satellite images
John Rogers it’s just a habit I have. I was fascinated with archeology as a kid and I always think of what might be buried, thanks mainly to Tony Robinson!! Google is excellent if you’re looking for enclosure marks or clues to topographic oddities. Nothing beats an old map still though.
At 15:00 i think you were on the common. That white building ysed to be a little pub in the middle of nowhere. Used to play cricket and footy with my dad, uncle and cousins there 30 years ago. They used to cut the grass back then🤣
Great little video thanks for sharing
Thanks John. What a perfect antidote to Brexit and other world peculiarities. I feel refreshed.
That’s great to hear Kate - sometimes the only solution is to take to the hills
Thanks for the tour of Druid country. Very memorable walk.
Great Video John! New sub, your channel was recommended by David of Cruising The Cut. I have a lot of catching up to do, looking forward to doing so.
brilliant thanks David - welcome to the channel, hope you enjoy the videos
Such a fantastic walk John! I'm fascinated by magical signs of our ancient past and felt thrilled to be hunting them out alongside you. Have you considered travelling a little further out from London, such as Kent? So many glorious hikes littered with remaina from the neolithic, Roman and abandoned villages due to the Black Death.
Also, thank you so much for reminding of the track Freshly Fallen Snow. Utterly beautiful.
Thanks very much Mark. Yes I should get out into Kent, great suggestion
Thanks John for a great video, been a sub for the past 6mths, and getting to watch some of your back catalogue. This one brought back many childhood memories, of time spent in and around the Manor in the 60's. I would spend many a happy hour fishing in the ponds there, but always made sure I left before dark, as that was when the "White Lady of the Manor" would be about. Years ago I did a little research on the old Manor House and discovered that servants hated staying on the premises as it was said to be haunted by a white lady.
Great video John, thanks for the memories.
thanks for sharing that Mike
The key to walking around London is overlooking the negatives and focusing on the positives.
that brand new train is a Class 345 aventra, the old one was a British Rail Class 315
Notice Black Fallow Deer which are rare..
My friend lives Noak Hill very rural....
I no this area well ,worked at brook farm for a long period which is in murthering lane navestock if you continue up that lane over the m25 heading east towards kelvedon hatch you will come across a common clearly seen only a mile or so from we’re you was with the golf course 🤙
Did get confused thinking you were saying Dagenham park. Happens to be a central park at both places. I was conceived, as it goes, in Navestock
The Manor (Dagnam Park) does have legends attached to it including the 'white lady. If you run around the green lake 3 times she pushes you in! I grew up on Harold Hill and went to the Manor often (it was on my walk to school) but never saw anyone risking the run around the lake.
love stories like that David - thanks
fantastic thanks john my wife comes from harold hill well where she was living when i met her used to go to noak hill a fair bit any chance you could put in how many miles your walks are thanks it is the 10 of october today it was so beautiful out there this afternoon as i had a afternoon of work thanks as usual so look forward to these oh well the clocks go back at the end of the month so it will be less walking time for you keep up the great work steve
that's a good idea Steven - this one was around 9 miles in the end I think. Yes clocks going back will mean I'll have to head out earlier
My Auntie grew up in Navestock in the 1930's. Their house had an Ancient front Door, but I'm unsure of the History. She told me a neighbouring Small Holding caused a panic when they discovered it was harbouring Anthrax!!! Imagine that!
What a beautiful film, thanks so much..
Thanks Pat
5:57 That's an overflow pond from the Green pond in the manor. There are two right by the Green pond and then there are a couple more further down the hill
There's your 200th like. Great idea for a route this - especially love the music.
Cheers Alex
I adore these videos John. They’ve had me up on Saturday mornings for short walks. Turnpike Lane to Ally Pally, through Crouch End, down Stroud Green Road to Highbury. Any tips for nice 7-8 mike walks starting from Highbury?
Thanks so much James. You could try walking from Highbury to Epping Forest at Walthamstow/Woodford - go down through Clisshold Park and Springfield Park then over the Lea and Coppermill Lane- walk up the Lea to Ponders End. Heading West you could try something like this route (which starts at Gospel Oak) and head towards Perivale ua-cam.com/video/BT0kOCqiyKE/v-deo.html
4 years after the recording date here so apologies if previously answered...The benchmarks on trig points are heights above sea level, taken from the mean tide height taken in Newlyn Cornwall. In urban areas keep an eye out for them on railway arches, town hall walls and other ''immoveable'' type buildings and structures.
A bit late in the day watching this particular video John - 5 years late! Had to comment though as I grew up in Navestock/Coxtie Green on Wheelers Lane. Moores Wood was just up the lane from us and we sometimes used to walk through there to get to school (Bentley St Pauls) The druid connection with the wood does sounds familiar. It was a bit of a 'wild wood' when I was a kid. A bit spooky and not somewhere you'd want to walk on your own!
Thanks for that great bit of local knowledge
22:23 - FlyTippers. A blight on the very earth upon which they tread: Cursed is the ground that they stand on, and defiled is the air that they breath.
How you call that part of a fence which leads over to the horse,it's like a gate but firstly you'd step on it to find yourself on the other site?(In Moldova we call it "Pirleaz")
A stile
Just come across this. Unlike local so I'll try and do this soon.
Those stone things are pillars that were meant for the Dagnam Mansion but were never put up. They apparently came from an old mansion that was in leytonestone or somewhere near there.
Thanks Basil - I wonder if they came from Wanstead House
I reckon that horse, neighing at you earlier, knew you needed to go that way before you did. 🤓
I live about 15 minutes walk from the 'pond[s]' in the Manor and was always told that they, for there is more than one, were created by the Luftwaffe having jettisoned their unused cargo following a London bombing run.
Beautiful walk John. I really like your video style :-)
Today i went up the grand union canal, lovely day, 20 deg in London on the 9th of October! Tomorrow is forecast for 23 deg!
So, i was thinking while on the canal, is it a nice day, or is it global warming?
Thanks very much Simon. Yes the weather has been glorious, I went for a stroll round Wanstead Park that day
@@JohnRogersWalks 21 deg Friday, 24 deg Saturday forecast, happy hiking!
so, the horse was trying to tell you the way, and you didn't listen to him, john! 😊 haha that's alright - sometimes hearing the call of the wild isn't easy 😉 i hope that public way has been cleared since you were there - sometimes i despair at humanity's folly! looking forward to part 2, cheers!🙂
Goatswood lane is Brentwood, very dodgy around that bit, it’s full of traveller sites, I got ambushed on my motorbike going down there last year they tried to rob my bike, but very nice when you get further away from there , there’s a lovely pub called the alma arms near by
what is a druid temple? those deers are very tame, i feed them all the time
BUS ROUTE 174 '< FROM DAGENHAM > RAN ON FROM NOAK HILL TEES DRIVE TO PENTOWAN FROM 20 AUG 1958 TILL 17 MAY 1980. ROUTE 238 HAD RUN 20 NOV 1940 TO 19 AUG 1958 ALONG THE SAME SECTION NOAK HILL TESS DRIVE TO PENTOWAN, COMING FROM EMERSON PARK. NO BUSES NOW EAST OR NORTH BEYOND NOAK HILL TEES DRIVE.
I enjoyed the walk. Memphis
TN, USA
Many thanks- wonderful to think of the video being watched in Memphis
This is neck of the woods, literally... woods. It was great seeing street on your OS map. It's a shame you didn't go over the border into Essex and see the Pudding Stone. Havering atte Bower is a nice small village nearby too, with a pub, church etc.
I may be wrong, but many farmers attempt to stop travellers from using their land as an encampment, perhaps that was the case with the blocked footpath (shame).. or fly tippers ... there's far too much fly tipping in the area.
I have never heard of the druid temple, that's a new one on me. I will have to look it up.
I do wonder if the London Borough of Havering is committed to keeping our existing countryside. Unfortunately, they are profit focused.
GREAT VLOG
another nice Video John , howeverthe "haunting music" gets a bit much after a while though :)
Thanks Ur - I’ll take a note of the music, it’s getting hard to find new music but it’s important that it doesn’t distract
the auld charlatan William Stukeley was one of the first to associate Neolithic stone circles with the latter Druids, it's lazy science, m8, the easy option isn't always the most beneficial..nice vid all the same, well done as usual_
Yeah he did seem prone to flights of fancy (the Navestock ‘temple’ is a good example) but I think we’d have lost even more to the plough if it hadn’t been for his work
unlike your namesake, the first Protestant martyr to be executed during the reign of Mary Tudor, you won't find your's truly going up in smoke at Smithfield, any time soon, LOL_
Hi John, thanks for the reference to yours truly in the highlighted comment drop at the beginning of the video, Stukeley's 'Druid Temple' is located 'by the road from Ditchleys to Princesgate, according to the British History 'ac.uk' website. Follow the link below for the full page:
www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol4/pp139-143
To save your eyes, which are probably tired after your edit, here is the relevant section extracted below:
''¶Fortification Wood, on the south side of the road about ½ mile west of Bois Hall, covers an entrenchment some 350 ft. long by 240 ft. wide. (fn. 6) It occupies a good defensive position and has been thought to be a fortification at some unknown date. It is probably identical with a wood called 'the defence' which existed in 1222. (fn. 7) Another ancient earthwork, of which hardly any traces remain, was situated on Navestock Common, by the road from Ditchleys (in South Weald) to Princesgate, near the parish and hundred boundary. It was visited on several occasions in the 18th century by William Stukeley (1687-1765) who described it as an 'alate temple'. (fn. 8)'
I'll make an effort to scan and send you a copy of my own map in a day or two when I have cleared my own backlog of work which has been building up! In the meantime, check your Instagram account as I've tagged you in a post relating to one of my diaries which may shed further light on another group of Londonists' perambulations! More on that in a future thread!
Thanks Rupert. I had this on my phone but hadn’t read it. However I went out there today - great walk. Video next weekend
John, I had a nightmare last night about being surrounded by druids with miniature silver axes, then this came up on my feed! Do you think something's trying to send me a message!? Lol💀👻
Wow Danny I wish I had dreams like that - yes definitely a message!
@@JohnRogersWalks oh blow! If I'm still alive I'll let you know!
When I was researching my ancestry I found out there was palace called pigo palace to the north of Bedfords park home of the grey family long gone.
realy enjoyed this. so much unpopulated land to see. shame about the mobile vandels...fly tippers.
perhaps it's this, or is related: OS Grid Ref: TQ 54943 98365
Density forest,it's luck that you were that place,horse-cart ,British identity 🙂💖✍👩💻
Dagnam Park or 'The Manor' has the myth of the White Lady ghost.
Fly tipping on foot path ,