Laxton Walk
 Map of Laxton Walk - click to enlarge |
 Download the walk guide as a PDF document |
1. Leave Laxton Visitor Centre and walk north west, uphill towards the fingerpost (take care crossing the road on the junction).
2. Crosshill Farm, on your right, is a good example of a farm ‘steading’. The farms were built clustered together in the village. Notice how the barns and stables are built around a central stockyard, which may once have been covered.
3. Walk past the 12th century church of St Michael the Archangel. Notice the millstone – a reminder of the windmill that used to stand in Mill Field.
4. Continue west up along Main Street noting the other buildings that give clues to the village’s history. For example: the Old School House, School Farm (the village hall was built as a school in the 1860s), the Miller’s House and Smithy Farm. Many of the farmsteads have the dates of their rebuilding picked out in brick (e.g. Lilac Farm: 1748 and its barn: 1760). The original farmhouses would have been timber framed with thatched roofs.
5. Bear right at the road fork (continue west) and where the tarmac road ends at Town End Farm, continue west along the green lane ahead of you for about 100 metres.
6. Turn left (south) along a path between high banks. Paths such as this were created to reduce the gradient of the path so horses could pull carts more easily, or to allow people and animals to shelter while moving from field to field during bad weather. This path is known as ‘Raddle Turn’ and was a good place to pen sheep, or to put raddles on the rams. West Field is on your right and you may be able to see crops being grown or harvested on the strips allocated to each farmer.
7. Cross the road, with great care, into Mill Field. On the left you will see one of the ‘sykes’ (areas in the large open fields used for roadways and drainage) which are cut for hay each summer. If the field is in wheat when you visit, look for the wooden pegs which mark the roadways and boundaries of strips. These are removed at harvest time to allow machinery into the field. As you walk along the track you may be able to see the clear dividing lines between different strips.
8. At the top of the field you will see a small copse of trees. This is the spot where the old wooden post windmill used to stand. It was blown down in a gale in 1916.
9. After about 450 metres, you will come to a path (Langsyke) crossing the road. There is an excellent view here to the east and Lincoln Cathedral can often be seen. Follow this path (east) between strips, down hill.
10. Continue down through the copse to arrive at a gate. Go through it and continue down to the Kneesall Road at the bottom. You will see alder trees to the left. These are a good indicator of the damp conditions in this ‘long syke’.
11. Turn left and walk north east along the road (taking great care to cross at a safe point) back into the village. Notice the names of the farms en route and the interesting gates at Bottom Farm and Dovecote Cottages.
12. The Pinfold is on the right hand side of the road, just before the Dovecote Inn. This is where the pinder (appointed by the Court Leet) used to round up stray animals until the farmers claimed them. It now contains a map of the open field system at Laxton.
13. Return to the car park by the Dovecote Inn. A dovecote provided a useful and important source of fresh meat (pigeons), eggs and manure. The Court Leet sits in the Dovecote Inn in November each year to continue the management of the open field system and its traditions.
