Wistow ~ Medium Walk

Distance Covered: 7 miles Time to Complete Walk 3 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes

A great walk for getting those steps in or taking your dog for a long walk. Starting from the village of Wistow make your way through fields to the village of Cawood and then a long walk on the embankment of the River Ouse. Due to the long distance this is classed as a Medium Walk but the route is easy to follow and navigational skills are not really required.

Virus Awareness: No issues

General Safety Tips: Check for any increase in the level of the River Ouse before you start the walk. Part of the route is on a fairly quiet road - walk facing the traffic and on the grass verge where possible. A long of part of the walk is on the river embankment which is exposed to the elements. Take sunscreen or wrap up depending on the weather.

The Wistow Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough, head onto the A19 to reach the M1 southbound to junction 42. Join the A63 and then turn left onto the A162. Drive through South Milford and then turn right onto the B1222 which leads to the village of Wistow. Parking can be found on where the road widens just on the outskirts of Wistow on Marsh Lane and is free of charge. If full there is another car park further on, shortly after on your right. 

Maps of the Wistow Walk

The Walk

From the car park head to the right back into Wistow.

Turn into a road with double no entry signs.

Walk past the church on your right.

Pass the Black Swan pub on your left.

Turn left onto Station Road

At the next junction head right

Head down the road keeping to the verge when possible.

After a while when the road bends to the left keep ahead onto a track.

Follow the track ahead

Look for a signpost shortly and head to the right.

In this field head half left to the end of the hedge crossing a ditch

Go straight ahead with another ditch on your right. Look for a footbridge and cross over it to the other side.

On the other side turn left and head down until you come to another footbridge. Turn left and cross over the footbridge.

Go straight ahead in the field with the hedge on your right.

In the next field keep ahead towards the gate in the hedge on your left.

Go through the gate and keep straight ahead in the next field towards the brick house.

Turn right when you come to the road.

Shortly after you pass the house, turn left onto a path.

Cross over a footbridge.

Turn right and head down the field edge with the hedge to your right

Follow the path until you come to a road

Turn right and keep to the grass verge facing the traffic and follow the road into the village of Cawood.

Arriving in the village keep straight ahead at the roundabout

When you come to a fenced area on the road, cross over to the other side and follow the side lane ahead.

Follow the road as it passed the beautiful church in Cawood.

Pass the church and keep ahead on the road. Look for a stile to your left and head towards the river.

Reaching the river turn right and follow the grassy embankment for just over three miles.

Follow the river embankment as it twists and turns with the river. Look for a building on your right and then turn right on to the path just beyond it.

Turn left and keep on the path when you come to a car park.

Follow the track back to your car.

Wistow

Wistow is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Wistow lies approximately 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Huntingdon, near Warboys. Wistow is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England.

Wistow has also been known as:

• Wystowe (10th century, 12th century),
• Kingestune (id est Wistow 10th century),
• Kingestune (11th century).

Wistow is a small, rural village located in a small secluded valley off the Ramsey to St. Ives road, through which runs Bury Brook. Wistow is a farming community that has grown up around the central features of its church and manor house.

In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.

Wistow was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Wistou in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Wistow; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £9 and the rent had fallen to £8 in 1086.

The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there were 33 households at Wistow. There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3.5 to 5.0 people per household. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Wistow in 1086 is that it was within the range of 115 and 165 people.

The Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. In different parts of the country, these were terms for the area of land that a team of eight oxen could plough in a single season and are equivalent to 120 acres (49 hectares); this was the amount of land that was considered to be sufficient to support a single family. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than an actual land area; a hide was the amount of land that could be assessed as £1 for tax purposes. The survey records that there were thirteen ploughlands at Wistow in 1086 and that there was the capacity for a further three ploughlands. In addition to the arable land, there was 24 acres (10 hectares) of meadows, 1,892 acres (766 hectares) of woodland and a water mill at Wistow.

The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland. It was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars; by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a manor's land and other assets, a tax of so many shillings and pence per pound of value would be levied on the land holder. While this was typically two shillings in the pound the amount did vary; for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manor at Wistow the total tax assessed was nine geld.

By 1086 there was already a church and a priest at Wistow.