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From Boxley up onto the North Downs

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Walk directions

Start your walk at the church, cross Boxley Road in front of The Kings Arms and take the public footpath to the right of the pub. Pass between the cottages into open fields. After the first field, cross an arable field to a gap in the far hedge. Go through and turn left down the slope, with the strip of woodland to your left. At the foot of the field you come to the boundary fence of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

Turn right and ahead of you is a flight of timber steps, which take you to a road bridge over the railway line. Cross the bridge and turn left through a gate. Go through the gate ahead and drop down some steps. Ahead of you is the ivy-covered wall of Boxley Abbey.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks, lanes and field paths, can be muddy, several stiles

Landscape - Steep scarp of North Downs, and glorious views over Kent

Dog friendliness - Older dogs won't like steep climb, can be very muddy

Parking - Limited on street in Boxley, opposite Kings Arms

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Kent Dog-friendly walks in Kent

About the walk

Boxley sits at the foot of the North Downs, squeezed in between a mesh of modern roads north of Maidstone. It must always have been a busy place as it is just off the ancient Pilgrims’ Way, the historic route that pilgrims took from Winchester, in Hampshire, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at... Canterbury, in Kent, a distance of 119 miles (192km). The ancient trackway followed the dry, well-drained southern slopes of the North Downs chalk ridge, avoiding the often wet and impassable clay lands further to the south. Founded in 1146 by William Ypres, Earl of Kent, Boxley Abbey was Cistercian, colonised by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in France, and was once one of the most wealthy, and infamous, abbeys in the country. The monks here devised an elaborate hoax by which to extract money from innocent pilgrims. A figure of Christ on the cross, called the Rood of Grace, was made of wood, paste, wire and paper. The monks would hide in a corner of the church and, using a system of pulleys, manipulate the figure so that it moved its head, shook its feet and even changed its facial expressions. It was a sort of sophisticated puppet and must have both amazed and terrified those who saw it. Pilgrims would imagine that they had seen a miracle and leave the monks a hefty donation. Another hoax involved a statue of the child saint St Rumwold. The monks said it could only be lifted from the ground by those who had led a pure life. In fact they had it fixed to the ground by a pin, and if they didn’t think you’d given them enough money, they got their revenge by leaving the pin in place. If a pilgrim couldn’t lift the statue they were regarded with suspicion by onlookers, and this caused particular stress to female pilgrims, who did not want to gain a reputation for being too free with their affections. The Rood was publicly burned after the abbey was dissolved in 1538, after which part of the surviving abbey complex was transformed into a house. Parts still survive within the present mainly 19th-century house, including fragments of the church and Boxley Abbey Barn, a large 13th-century stone building which served as the abbey's Hospitium, and is now a Grade I listed building. The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) lived at Park House near the village, to be close to his sister. He wrote his poem The Brook here, inspired by the local landscape. The poem ends with the famous lines: ‘For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever’.

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About the area

Kent is home to the White Cliffs of Dover, an English icon that marks the point where the Kent Downs AONB stretches from the Surrey Hills down to the sea. Visitors can explore historic parklands, including Knole Park and Sir Winston Churchill’s former home at Chartwell, or beautiful nature reserves, such as the coppiced woodlands of Denge Wood and Earley Wood and the ancient fine chalk woodland of Yockletts Bank.

Route details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

4 miles (6.4kms)

Ascent:

508ft (155m)

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From Boxley up onto the North Downs

Recommended by

Walk details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

4 miles (6.4kms)

Ascent:

508ft (155m)

Walk directions

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2 of 5

Turn right at the wall, soon to pass a house to reach the tarmac drive. Just past a row of cottages on your left you can see the arch of the abbey grounds. You can’t go in as it is privately owned, but you can see a beautiful 13th-century barn that once belonged to the estate. Turn right along the drive, then right again at the road junction. Follow the quiet metalled road uphill, passing Boarley Oast, then re-cross the railway bridge and keep to the road, which soon swings right towards the Downs, passing Boarley Farm on the left.

3 of 5

The path now rises steadily through trees to a muddy track. Turn left here along the Pilgrims’ Way for 300yds (274m). Go through a gate on the right, cross a plank bridge and head steeply up into the woods and pick your way through the trees up to the summit. When you reach the North Downs Way turn right and follow it through the top of the woods. In 0.5 miles (800m) exit the wood and follow the path ahead, soon to bear right along a tree-lined path to Harp Farm.

4 of 5

Cross the road at the farm entrance and follow the North Downs Way to the left of a wood. After 400yds (366m), cross the road ahead into Boxley Wood. Continue on the North Downs Way to a waymarked post, where you turn right and steeply descend through the woods to the Pilgrims’ Way again. Climb the stile opposite and continue going downhill, over another stile, then bear diagonally right across fields towards Boxley church, crossing two more stiles on the way. This brings you back into the village.

5 of 5

Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks, lanes and field paths, can be muddy, several stiles

Landscape - Steep scarp of North Downs, and glorious views over Kent

Dog friendliness - Older dogs won't like steep climb, can be very muddy

Parking - Limited on street in Boxley, opposite Kings Arms

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Kent Dog-friendly walks in Kent

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Kent

From Boxley up onto the North Downs

Been on this walk?

Walking in Safety

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From Boxley up onto the North Downs

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