Maudry's Barrow

A long green mound on the crest of the Sallow Hills, west of the Brisk, with a stone door at its eastern end facing the sunrise. The Founder was buried here in Lease Year 44, among the sheep-runs where she had grazed her father’s flocks as a girl. From the crest the whole middle of the vale lies open, down to the bell tower of Summerhythe. The hamlet of Holt End sits in the fold of the hill below it, and its haywards have kept the path for two and a half centuries.

Points of interest

• The door. A single slab of grey stone carved with a marigold, set between two standing jambs. In front of it, in a niche, stands the Barrow Chorister.
• The passage. Forty feet of dry-stone walls, painted with shepherds, sheep and one very large yellow shape that the Wardens took at first for the sun.
• The chamber. A round room with a stone bier. The Founder lay on it with her sword on her breast and a sealed case of amber wax under her hands. The case held the counterpart copy of the lease.
• Holt End. Six cottages and a sheepfold below the mound. Gammer Tansy Holt keeps the path.

Getting there

Pole a boat up the Brisk from Summerhythe for a day to the Holt End landing, climb for an hour to the hamlet, and walk up to the mound in the morning. The Wardens did it on days 5 and 6, and came back downstream in a single day on day 7.