The Sunday volunteers worked on the bridleway which runs down from the Monument and Moneybury Hill, to the riding stables on Stocks Road. In the old days, this right of way now beloved by horse riders and mountain bikers was the main route up to Moneybury Hill cottages (originally seven) for horse drawn carts, and livestock from Pitstone heading for the common. Two hundred years ago the hillside was an open sheep-walk, without trees and scrub so it would have required little maintenance. Nowadays the track becomes quickly overgrown and requires regular attention, with the cutting back of the brambles and bushes and the overhanging tree branches. The adjacent holloway which runs parallel to the track going down to Duncombe Farm was created by the Welsh cattle drovers – their cattle wore metal shoes called cues. It has been unused and grown over for the last one hundred and fifty years!
The weather was ideal on Sunday for working out in the open, and the volunteers were protected from the keen east wind by the wildwood – it was happy volunteering according to Adele Gould.
Thanks for the posting and pictures Adele.
Ashridge Volunteers 