The Butchers Arms - Route 1

(S/E) With your back to the pub, turn left and walk along Blounts Court Road past Churchill Crescent and after Home Farm Cottage and Home Farm Barn on the right, turn right on to a footpath marked by a finger post to Rotherfield. Follow the footpath through a field and after entering some woodland follow the path downhill through the woods past Sedgehill Spring on your left. At the bottom of the hill the footpath splits. Take the right hand fork and walk straight up the hill. As you approach the edge of the field follow the path through the gap on the right and then continue to the top of the slope. Go through a metal kissing gate and follow the footpath between a horse paddock on the right and gardens on the left.

(1) At the end of the footpath enter a lane opposite All Saints Church which is well worth a visit. Turn right and walk about 100metres and take the next footpath off to the right. Follow the footpath around the edge of the field until you come to a waymark post. Follow the direction of the arrow on the waymark post along a farm track downhill around the edge of another field.

(2) At the bottom turn right and follow the track up the other side of the valley toward Blounts Court Farm. When you reach the farm buildings, bear left and follow the access drive until you reach Blounts Court Road.

(3) Turn right and walk along the road past Blounts Court on the right which is now the Johnson Matthey Research Centre, continue along the road until you arrive back at the Butchers Arms.(S/E)

Sedgehill Spring was built by the Knollys family who bought the Blount’s Court estate in 1841. It seems to have been fashionable in this area in the 19th century, for wealthy families to provide wells or water collection facilities for the locals, though this one seems a bit out of the way.

All Saints Church has been extended and altered over the years. It originates from the Norman period and the churchyard contains some very old yew trees. Significant restoration of the church took place between 1870 and 1908. One of the three bells in the bell tower dates from the 14th century. The interior of the church is worth a visit, with a 12 century font, memorial stained glass windows and some unique wooden marguetry including the pulpit and a reredos depicting the Last Supper.

Blounts Court dates from the 15th Century and was built by a member of the Blount family, probably John Blount. The estate was later acquired by the Stonor family and then sold by them c1705. The house and estate passed through the hands of a number of families including the Knollys, who acquired it in 1841. The estate was later sold off piecemeal culminating in the house sale in 1933. In 1960 the house was bought by American Machine Foundry Ltd and converted it into laboratories. Brook Bond Tea Ltd bought the site in 1964 and finally it was purchased by its current owners, Johnson Matthey, in 1975.