Time was flying by; this would be the last full day of our current travels. First up today was Breedon Hill Priory. It’s always a good sign when you are driving somewhere and Helen asks ‘what’s that place’ and the answer is ‘that’s where we’re going’.
Breedon Hill was another Iron Age hill fort, one that covered twice the area that there is now, the eastern half has been removed due to the volume of quarrying in the area. Atop of the hill is the Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, the priory church of the former Breedon Hill Priory. The road up to the hill top car park is steep, but at the edge of the hill fort it can be seen that the footpath up from the village to the south is even steeper.
It is a shame (as at Bottesford) that we aren’t allowed in the church, as there is one of the largest collections of Anglo-Saxon carvings anywhere in the country, and the impressive Shirley family monuments. All the time we are up there we can hear the sounds of the quarries below being worked. We head down the hill and into the village, where we take the wrong turn at the green.
Instead of following the road to Worthington, we end up winding past Staunton Harold Hall and through Lount before we get back on track and the road through Newbold and Peggs Green to the outskirts of Thringstone and the Bulls Head pub where we park up for the next priory of the day.
We are going to visit Grace Dieu Priory, and although there is a direction marker in the car park, once you pass under the bridge of the disused railway all bets are off. You are in Grace Dieu woods, and we ended up doing a two mile loop of the woods after deciding on the wrong way at a T-junction in the footpath. When we got back to that point and went the other way we did see a small sign up on the wall of one of the arches of the viaduct.
We got to the ruins of the priory a little later than planned after the detour and took a lot less time walking around the ruins than we had walking around the woods. We made it back to the car park and went into the pub to get a drink, before heading off towards our next goal. In doing so we passed the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory. If we had come in from that direction then we wouldn’t have spent ages wandering through the woods.
Speaking of woods we stopped in a little car park next to some random woods to have our lunch, items we’d picked up in Market Harborough the night before. Feeling refuelled we weaved through the countryside and pulled into the grounds of Mount St Bernard Abbey. Beautifully maintained grounds I might add.
It is a Roman Catholic, Trappist monastery and the first to be built in England after the Reformation. It’s the only Trappist monastery in the country, and you know what that means don’t you? Yep, the only Trappist beer in the country too. (And yes I did get a couple of bottles from the gift shop). The church is large and there are numerous shrines and monuments laid out in the grounds. It also offers some good views of the surrounding countryside. The grounds have walks through them as well, and some well laid out rose gardens.
As well as beer the gift shop is crammed full of religious icons as befits a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site. But on the plus side they have the standard fare of pens, fridge magnets and guide books, plus there were some good local history books there too; more items for the home library.
If you are going to do Leicestershire countryside then it really wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the daddy of them all – Bradgate Park. We had driven through the outskirts of Leicester the day before, but this was the closest we had been to the locked down city and out in the open air.
Now Bradgate are great and they have tried; there are regular signs out all through the park, keep to the left, keep socially distanced, two meters etc., but most of the morons in the park couldn’t even manage these simple instructions. I know I struggle with left and right, but we drive on the left FFS. And walking five abreast across the whole path isn’t helping. And if there is a line to wait behind whilst someone is getting served at the visitor centre kiosk then wait behind it, don’t stand in the only entrance / exit space blocking the way and then refuse to move you stupid bint. With behaviour like that it’s no wonder Leicester is still in lockdown, and if they carry on like this they deserve to stay in it. (Plus they shouldn’t be out at Bradgate anyway!)
The ruins of Bradgate House are all closed off, so you can only see part of them now, and the visitor centre is new since the last time I was here (yes that may have been twenty years ago). There are lots more deer than I remember too, including albino ones, and they are all through the park.
It’s a steep climb in places, but I don’t think there are any better views anywhere in the county than from Old John; it makes the walk and the hassle worth it. We cross through the little copse and over to the War Memorial. I don’t remember the signs advising it is holy ground being there before either. From there it is a long winding walk down to come out in Newtown Linford.
The village is one of the nicest in the county, full of lovely houses. Though I imagine being next to Bradgate is a double edged sword. Numerous great walks are on your doorstep (or over your back wall), but there is the constant stream of visitors. The main village shop appears to be closed, and not just due to Covid-19, but the ice cream stall is still open so refreshments can be bought (just, they close up as soon as we’ve been served).
We have a slow wander around the church of All Saints, before using the Bradgate facilities and heading for the car. We don’t drive the direct route back, instead meandering through Anstey, Cropston, Swithland, Woodhouse Eaves, Oaks in Charnwood and into Belton. Helen stops for a bottle of wine to go with our leftover curry, and I pop out to take some pictures of the village and the well-appointed church of St. John The Baptist before we carry on through Diseworth (again) and back to the hotel.
We talk a good game about going out for a walk after food, but after over 25,000 steps my legs are good thanks.
For this blog post with pictures go to the link below
https://medium.com/@onetruekev/priories-monasteries-and-ruins-f0849fecf0b2