A walk through the Cheshire village named after a tree.
There can’t be many English villages named after a tree. The original Appleton Thorn is said to have been brought to the village near Warrington by Adam de Dutton, a 12th-century landowner. After his safe return from the Crusades, he undertook a pilgrimage to Glastonbury Abbey to give thanks and brought back an offshoot from the famous Glastonbury Thorn in 1178. According to medieval legend, this twice-flowering hawthorn sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea during his visit to Britain with the Holy Grail.
On the nearest Saturday to Midsummer’s Day (which this year equates to June 17), local schoolchildren take centre stage in the unique ritual of ‘Bawming the Thorn’: the tree is garlanded with ribbons and decorated with flowers, and the costumed children dance around it, while a choir sing the Bawming Song to a traditional tune called Bonnie Dundee.
The custom, documented back to the early 19th century, was revived in 1973 by Bob Jones, the local headmaster. Following the winding-up of the Bawming Committee last year, the 2023 event is being co-ordinated by the school PTA and is accompanied by a parade and village fete, with funds raised going to local good causes. The current hawthorn tree was planted and presented to the village by the Appleton Thorn Women’s Institute in 1967.
After a short stroll down a no-through road that develops into a leafy track, this route follows the pretty wooded valley of the Lumb Brook for a couple of miles. The return, also well-wooded, is via Grappenhall Heys, a recent settlement built on the site of the country pile of Thomas Parr, a wealthy Warrington banker. The house was demolished in 1975 but the walled garden, just off this route, survives and a café (open Friday to Sunday only) is housed in one of the Victorian glasshouses. The route could also be extended to take in Grappenhall, a pretty village with a cobbled main street, a medieval parish church and two pubs.
If you arrive by car, another extension to your day out could be a side trip to Arley Hall – follow the road heading south-east opposite the Appleton Thorn, signposted to Arley, for a couple of miles.
1. From the Appleton Thorn, walk past the churchyard entrance and war memorial into Green Lane, a no-through road. Beyond a gate by the last house, the road becomes a track; continue until you reach a junction by a litter bin, where you turn right briefly (signposted Wright’s Green).
2. Before the road bends left, turn left into the Woodland Trust’s Lumb Brook Valley woodland. Follow the winding path along the wooded valley, always with the stream to your left.
3. When you reach a road, turn left over the bridge then go through an A-frame barrier on the right into the Dingle woodland. The path continues down the valley with the stream now on your right, apart from one point when the path crosses a footbridge then immediately returns to the left bank. After passing under a road bridge, continue beside the stream past a school and then to the right of some houses to meet a road (Dale Road). Follow the pavement ahead for a short distance, then cross the stream via a footbridge on your right into Lumb Millennium Green. Follow the footpath ahead of you, up to a road.
4. Cross over and turn left along the pavement, passing a low sandstone lodge and gateway on your right. After 150 metres, turn right through a kissing gate next to a gate with a Woodland Trust sign welcoming you to Grappenhall Heys (Parr Wood). Follow the narrow strip of woodland with views over Stockton Heath and Warrington to your left. Stay within the trees as the belt of woodland bends right and left, eventually running close to a housing development on your right. Beyond the houses, the path bends right and then runs past a series of ponds, with a couple of flights of wooden steps.
5. When you meet a crossing path at a kissing gate, turn left (towards Grappenhall village) then immediately right. Follow the path through more woodland until you reach a footbridge giving onto another perpendicular path with a fingerpost to Lumb Brook Road. Turn right and keep left of the hedge alongside a pond, then swing left at a public footpath fingerpost. The path continues through trees in similar fashion to before, then swings right and runs along a field edge. In the second field, the path switches to the other side of the hedge but continues in the same direction. Halfway along, leave the hedge at a waymark post to follow a perpendicular path across the field on your left. Before you reach the opposite hedge, swing right to pass the end of a copse. Ignoring a path on the left, continue along the hedge ahead out to Lumb Brook Road.
6. Cross and turn left, passing a 40mph sign and keep right at the junction with New Lane. The shortest route back to Appleton Thorn is straight ahead along the road, but a more peaceful return is to turn right along a fieldside path on the right, opposite a cottage. Then when you meet Green Lane (the track by which you left Appleton Thorn at the start of the walk), turn left and retrace your steps to the village centre.
The Thorn Inn
The Thorn Inn is a handsome late-19th-century building in the centre of the village, within sight of the eponymous hawthorn tree and bills itself as a dog-friendly village local. Although it’s a traditional pub with a growing band of regulars from the increasingly populous local area, it also houses a restaurant with table service offering well-regarded, sensibly priced food including a range of burgers, sandwiches, pies and other pub classics as well as chef’s specialities. Dogs are welcome everywhere except in the restaurant – they even have their own menu. There is a sizeable paved beer garden at the rear, so you should be able to find a seat at a picnic table even if the inside is busy, as it doubtless will be during the Bawming the Thorn celebrations. The pub plays its part: prisoners from the nearby Young Offender Institution help with preparations for the event, refuelled by sandwiches prepared by the pub as a gesture of thanks. For lovers of real ale, hand-pulled Greene King IPA is always available and the other four pumps carry guest beers that change weekly, including local offerings such as those from the Coach House Brewing Company in nearby Warrington.
Compass Points
Area of walk: Appleton Thorn
Start point: Village centre WA4 4QX
Distance: 6¼ miles/10 km
Time to allow: 2–3 hours
Map: OS Explorer 276: Bolton Central, Wigan & Warrington
Refreshments: Thorn Inn greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/cheshire/thorn-inn 01925 264362
Practicalities: Mostly level, on well-used paths; unsurfaced sections may be muddy after rain. Appleton Thorn is served by hourly buses from Warrington.
