Out of Wantage to East Challow
We leave the Market Place down Mill Street, passing the Baptist church and the Wharf, where the Letcombe Brook runs beside the green. Up the hill, we cross Denchworth Road carefully and follow the pavement of the A417 west, past the wall of St Mary’s Convent and out of town with the downs in view on our left. As the road dips towards East Challow we turn left into Letcombe Hill and, almost at once, right onto a track that becomes a wooded path. It is rough and can be slippery. At the top we come out by Windmill Place and walk on past the primary school.
By bridleway to Childrey
A bridleway signed for Childrey heads west past Cornhill Farm, narrowing as it goes, with the tower of Childrey church ahead. We cross a lane and, a little further on, take the footpath marked ‘Childrey ½’ diagonally across two fields. A grassy path between fences ends at a stile, and the path skirts a property, dips past a pond and climbs to a lane. We turn left down to the green and the main street of Childrey, a spring-line village at the foot of the downs.
St Mary’s, Childrey
Church Row leads up to St Mary’s, a cruciform church from around 1200 with a later battlemented tower. Inside are a lead font with twelve figures of abbots or bishops, a carved Easter sepulchre, the effigy of a knight and a fine set of brasses, including some to the Fettiplace family. The Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust describes it as a church to spend time in. The Hatchet is in the village if you want a break.
Down to West Challow and the canal
We walk back along Chapel Way to the footpath sign for West Challow and follow the bridleway downhill between a hedge and fenced fields. At the bottom it crosses the line of the old Wilts & Berks Canal. Across a field we reach the lane into West Challow and its small medieval church of St Laurence. It has a double bellcote and a 15th-century porch with carved bargeboards, and it belongs to the Small Pilgrim Places network.
Along the canal to Wantage
From the church we return to the canal and go through the gate marked for public access. The path runs east beside the canal bed, broad at first, then narrower and muddier after the lane from West Challow. A signpost points to East Challow, one mile. We come out on the A417 opposite Canal Farm Lane, cross carefully and pick up the canal path again behind East Challow. Much of this stretch has been re-watered by the canal trust. It leads us to Denchworth Road, and from the Mably Way roundabout we follow the old Wantage Arm through the Belmont estate back to the Wharf and the Market Place.
What to look out for
The canal and its hedges are good for birds: moorhens and mallards on the water, and in summer warblers singing from the reeds and scrub. Look for dragonflies over the restored water in July and August. Red kites and buzzards are often over the fields between the villages. The three churches, at Childrey, West Challow and East Challow, each repay a few minutes inside if they are open.
Before you go
OS Explorer 170 shows the canal line clearly. The OHCT route guide is a helpful companion if you are interested in the churches. After heavy rain the canal path west of East Challow can be very muddy. The OHCT suggests following the lane uphill from West Challow to the higher field path back to East Challow instead.
Make it longer or shorter
To add Sparsholt, take the road signed ‘Sparsholt ¾’ from Childrey and walk out to Holy Rood church, with its 14th-century oak effigies, and back (about 2½ miles extra). The Sparsholt pub is in the village. To shorten the walk, catch the 67 bus between East Challow and Wantage, or start and finish in Childrey and walk just the loop through West Challow.
