- Overall Rating: 3
- Location: Great Danegate, East Sussex.
- OS Explorer Map 135, 'Ashdown Forest'.
- Starting OS Grid Reference: TQ565318
- Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 06' 40" E000 23' 20"
- Finishing OS Grid Reference: TQ566329
- Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 07' 40" E000 23' 40"
- To see: Saxonbury, Spa Valley Railway, RSPB Broadwater Warren, Cuckoo Line.
- ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!
I have entitled this otherwise un-named byway as Hoth Lane after the wood and farm of the same name which it passes (plus I love
Star Wars), but if anybody knows of the 'real' name please comment below.
We started at the southern end, leaving Cowford Bridge Lane through the railway sleeper width restriction designed to stop evil scum fly tipping. The surface here is of leaf mould over a sandy loam. The byway heads staright down Entry Hill for a few yards before turning to the east where a public footpath diverges. Just after the bend, as throughout this green lane, the foliage is a little tight but by no means dramatically so and the odd scratch may or may not feature on the paintwork from the saplings that line the lane.
Slightly further down the descent the lane again turns abruptly to the west. It's quite a sharp bend but has room enough for a Defender 110' to get around in one go. The green lane shallows out and passes a recently cleared area of woodland to the west, and with the regrowth of silver birch it's pretty nice to look at! Soon the greenlaner encounters a slight incline out of the valley as the trail plunges briefly back into Entryhill Wood before following the field boundaries of Hoth Farm, which soon passes by to the west. On passing the farm the lane surface changes to compacted gravel and clay, and remains that way until the byway ends on a country lane called Danegate.
One final word: it's worth driving this lane from south to north. Most times I've passed the southern entry to this lane, unthinking fools have parked across the entrance to the lane, which really helps. Check it's clear before you drive the entire length of it!
For those looking for a whole day out, an neolithic hill fort called
Saxonbury, with it's much later folly, lies just to the east along Danegate. The
Spa Valley Steam Railway terminates at Eridge station, just to the west, and
RSPB Broadwater Warren nature reserve is well worth a walk up to the north-west. Finally, the former route of the
Cuckoo Line can be found just to the west of the lane: this is where it merged with the
Wealden Line at Redgate Mill Junction. Most of the trackbed is private land, however.
This is East Sussex County Council's Byway Rotherfield 45.
 |
| The southern entrance. Yeah, thanks for that. |
I have entitled this otherwise un-named byway as Hoth Lane after the wood and farm of the same name which it passes (plus I love Star Wars), but if anybody knows of the 'real' name please comment below.
This decent byway is a question of viability, to be honest, due to the provision of a wooden bridge over a ravine at around the halfway point and the fact that the land owner seems to not like 4x4 drivers. Starting out at its western end from a country road called Brickyard Lane, the lane drops downhill initially and this end is guarded by a railway sleeper cut in half and installed vertically on each side of the lane's entrance to restrict the width, put there because of persistent fly tipping by the filth of the human race. The surface consists of hard, compacted earth that becomes relatively slippery when wet (apparently a number of 4x4 drivers have had to be recovered when the going was wet!) and foliage either side of the lane is kept well maintained.
