Harrington 5 mile walk

This short but extremely picturesque walk starts and end in the Northamptonshire village of Harrington.

We start opposite the Village Hall, taking the bridleway the leads all the way to the village of Arthingworth. Already you can see stunning countryside  and rolling fields. The fields are full of ridges, terraces and furrows, the site of the old Manor House pulled down in 1745 .There were also fish ponds here supplying the likes of Eels, Pike , Bream and Perch to the Manor. You can't  get much fresher than that now.

Path to Arthingworth

 The weather forecast spoke about thee possibility of showers. The darkening skies emphasised  that the  they were probably going to be right. There is a small hill clinb that takes us past Warren Hill Farm on our left. From the top of the hill Arthinworth comes into view.
Just as we cross the least sheltered part of the walk the heavens open. We find some cover crouched under a bush until the downpour passes.

The Old Bridge

It's still drizzling lightly as we go over a lovely old bridge over a stream in a field. The stream is actually the 'River Ise'. It's actually a tributary of the River Nene and is entirely in Northamptonshire. The river rises in the very field that hosted theBattle of Naseby at the north-western tip of Northamptonshire. Flowing east pastDesborough, Geddington, turning south past Kettering, Burton Latimer and finedon before joining the Nene south of Wellingborough.

We take a slight detour from the planned route turning left and walking up into the village of Arthingworth. We pass theAnglican church of St Andrew. The main structure of the present building was erected in the 12th and 14th centuries.
Our destination was however the Bulls Head which quite coincidentally happened to be hosting a beer festival.

We did only stay for one and then it was back on to the walk again . Tracking back through the village to the point we veered off. The footpath is flanked by a number of telegraph poles so it is hard to go off track.

The views are stunning all around and there is complete silence.
We are actually at the other end now looking back towards Harrington. It is very easy to see all the hills and hollows of the previous constructions.

Eventually we come out onto a road leading down to Newbottle Bridge. The road leads back to Harrington if you go straight on. We extended the walk by turning left and going up a hill to Thorpe Underwood Under the bridge we noticed lots of  newly formed tadpoles baskingon rocks.

 Just after youpass the sign for Thorpe Underwood there is a footpath sign directing you through wooden gates. There were some yapping dogs in one of the houses yards which is never good I find. Undaunted we carried on through a paddock passed some rayhjer impressive properties. As always younever seen to see any human existence. In the distance is Harringto Church which is exactly what we have to aim for. Crossing a small but perfectly formed bridge we follow the footpath all the way uphill to the Church of St Peter & St Paul Harrington.

Church of St Peter & St Paul Harrington.

The main structure of the present building was erected in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its tower was built in 1809. The church consists of a nave, north and south aisles, north transept, chancel, south porch and south tower.

The church is famous for its tuba stentoro-phonica, or a speaking trumpet, one of only eight in the country. Said to have been invented by Samuel Morland, the horns were designed for speaking between ships.
The device is also known as the 'Harrington Vamping Horn' which sound much cooler in my opinion.And something out of a B rated horror movie. Unfortunately as is the norm these days the church was all locked up so I'm left to imagine what the fabled horn may look like?

We exit via the other side of the churchyard following the path back into the village .