Bridleway No.54 – Headley Wood to Trottsford (junction of BW4 & BW46 to Picketts Hill Road)

Updated July 2020

There is a 3-way finger post at junction of BW4 & BW46, also indicating that this is part of the Shipwrights Way. [This Right of Way was reclassified as a Bridleway when incorporated as part of the Shipwrights Way. Formerly it had been a Footpath]

Records from the Minutes of Headley Parish Council meetings 1894-1920 indicate that the "Church Path to Trottsford" was several times in need of maintenance – so it seems to have been a route of some significance in those days.

... along a wide track which passes through woods.

Shortly, FP3 joins from the right (photo showing reverse direction).

BW54 continues in a straight line through sombre-looking pine woods on both sides.

We believe this to be the “Church Path” which features on old postcards of Headley

Soon after, on the left, is an enclosure which has been used by the Forestry Commission as a tree nursery, now (July 2020) overgrown.

Go through an unused gate and cross a gravel accommodation road.

Pass a Hampshire Countryside Service notice with a view on the left across a field to a ridge on top of which there are said to be prehistoric burial mounds.

Arrive at Picketts Hill Road, where the Shipwrights Way turns right. To the left is an unmarked Permissive Path which leads around the north and western edge of Broxhead Common to meet BW46. A finger post points back the way we have come
Straight ahead, on the opposite side of the road, a gap in the hedge leads to FP48 and Trottsford Farm.