Market Deeping to Maxey, Cambridgeshire

Start: Car park by Market Deeping Shopping Centre

(S/E) From the car park, walk south-southwest to exit the car park onto the B1525 High Street. Turn right after a short distance, cross over at the zebra crossing, and up to the roundabout.

(1) Turn left onto Lincoln Road, cross over the bridge and continue approximately 500 m.

(2) Cross over Lincoln Road into Mill Road for approximately 1.2 km, crossing A15 on the way.

(3) Take the footpath to the left, just before Castle Farm. Follow the footpath, cross the road and the playing field to reach West End Road. Turn right, follow the road past the village hall.

(4) Reach the entrance to Lake Lodge, then take the track in front of you (slightly to the left) past the lakes.

(5) After the lakes turn right just before private land.

(6) On reaching the road, turn right for 100 m, then take the footpath to the left, which follows the river Welland for approximately 3.5 km.

(7) Exit the footpath onto Lincoln Road, cross over and turn left. From here, return to the car park via the roundabout and B1525. (S/E)

Just normal walking boots etc.

The Village of Maxey has an interesting history, also the park area in Maxey has some interesting attractions. The lakes formed when gravel was extracted in 2nd World War for aggregate on runways for the RAF.

The River Welland has bird life and excellent views.

About Maxey

The village lies at the centre of an exceptional and very high-density complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual, funerary, and settlement sites – ‘henges’, ‘causewayed enclosures’, ‘barrows’, ‘pit alignments’, and a host of less easily classifiable prehistoric remains, have been recorded in the vicinity. Rescue archaeology before gravel workings began revealed details of a large henge in Maxey. The henge was 126 metres in diameter, one of the largest known.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the feudal system saw land within the parish being held by Roger de Torpel, Robert de Corvill and Eleanor, Queen of England and by the 15th century, Margaret, mother of Henry VII. Some of these names are reflected in today’s street and house names. The manor continued to be passed within the royal lineage until 1561, when Elizabeth granted it to William Cecil (Lord Burghley). In 1625, it was sold to Lord Fitzwilliam, and it has remained in the Fitzwilliam estate ever since.