Hooton Pagnell ~ Medium Walk

Distance Covered: 5 miles Time to Complete Walk: 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes

A great walk from the pretty village of Hooton Pagnell, just outside Doncaster. Excellent for a dog walk or short walk to get some nice fresh air. The village has a lovely peaceful aura. Great for a walk if your based in South Yorkshire or from further afar just straight down the M1.

General Safety Tips: Be careful on the road part of the walk. The path on the field after the disused railway line can get muddy. 

The Hooton Pagnell Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough follow the A19 onto the M1 southbound. Turn off before Donacaster which is the A638. Take a left turn onto Hampole Field Lane which leads you directly to the village of Hooton Pagnell. Parking is on the roadside near the Buttercross.

Maps of the Hooton Pagnell walk

The Walk

From the roadside near the Buttercross, follow the path directly opposite.

Head down the path and turn left before a house.

Turn right and follow the narrow enclosed path.

At the T junction turn left and follow the path.

Follow the path and when the path forks turn a sharp left and follow the path around to the right.

Follow this path to the side of a field and then follow the path straight through another field.

Cross over to another path ahead and follow this path.

As you come out onto the road, turn left and follow this into Moorhouse.

Follow the road through Moorhouse and beyond until you come to a footpath sign to the right. 

Go over a small footbridge into an orchard and keep to the right of the orchard straight ahead.

Turn left following the direction of a waypoint and straight ahead at the second waypoint marker.

When you come to the third waypoint follow the path diagonally right across the field.

Go through the gap in the hedge ahead to a disused railway line and turn left and follow the path.

Follow the railway line path for some time until you come to a road.

Turn left and go forwards past the road junctions and look for a gap onto a field on your right shortly after the junction. 

Turn right and walk around the edge of the field into the next field. Follow the edge again in the second field.

In the third field look for a gap on the right side and cross over this onto a grassy track.

Follow this path ahead as it keeps to the side of the woods.

Keep to the path as it bends to the right and keep to the edge of the woods until you come to a road.

Turn left and follow the road until you reach another road.

Turn left and keeping to the grass verge taking note of traffic follow this road back into Hooton Pagnell.

In the village take the first left walking past the statue of remembrance. At the top turn right and head back to the Buttercross and your car.

Hooton Pagnell

Hooton Pagnell is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with West Yorkshire. It lies on the B6422 road, between Brodsworth and South Elmsall and is at an elevation of around 78 metres (256 ft) above sea level.  It had a population of 211 at the 2001 Census, reducing slightly to 201 at the 2011 Census. The name of the village derives from Ralph de Paganel (sometimes spelled Paynell), a Norman who was a tenant-in-chief in Yorkshire named in the Domesday Book and an extensive landowner.

The first recorded mention of Hooton Pagnell is found in Domesday Book, where it is called "Hotone" ("The Town on the Hill" or "The High Dwelling Place"). "In Hotone and Bileham Earl Edwin had one manor of ten carucetes for geld, and ten ploughs may be there.. . . . . . . . . In the time of King Edward it was worth eight pounds, now one hundred shillings." The 200 acres (81 ha), that was in 1086 the extent of the cultivated land in Hooton, were given to Robert, Count of Mortain. He in turn sublet the land to Richard de Surdeval, a Norman knight

The village was variously called "Hoton", "Howton", "Hutton", the second part of the name being added during the time of the Paganals, a distinguished Norman family into whose hands the manor passed towards the end of the 11th Century. The second part of the name is variously spelt - "Paynel", “Painell", "Pannell", "Pagnell". Hence, "Hooton Pagnell" - "The High Dwelling Place of the Paynels'.

The village received a Royal Charter in 1254 entitling it to hold a market on Thursdays and an annual three-day fair. A butter cross was built, the base of which survives, but the market and fair soon ceased. However the fair has since been revived and is held very first Sunday in July. The ownership of Hooton remained in the hands of the Paganels and their heirs till the reign of Edward IV through the names of Paganel, and through marriage, Luterel and Hilton.