Today I walked to Pig Hill. I started off from the station yard and tucked between the Lux building and Conygre Mead is the old Lovers Lane hidden amongst the overgrowth. After mentally hacking my way into the bottom of the lane I walked up to the top in day light. This is unusual as ever since I can remember it has been the Witches Tunnel to me because it was like travelling through a tube of green where the trees and bushes either side of the path completely sealed you into their overhanging branches. At the top you turn right and enter Conygre Mead through an arch of wooded cover and into the waist high grasses of the meadow. Looking to your right is a view across the valley towards Abbey House Gardens and below runs a line of hawthorn where behind it a little way hidden from view is the Ingleburn stream. Over the waters and deep in the rock of the bank that is Holloway Hill you will find the old branch line railway tunnel.
As you slowly decent across the mead towards the Duke of York public house you again enter a canopy of small trees surrounding a pond with nesting swans and just beyond much larger trees. At the exit of Conygre Mead the Ingleburn or Tetbury branch of the Avon splits into two and passes under the widened Holloway Bridge and into Long Meadow. Taking great care to cross the road with its speeding traffic suddenly appearing from your left around a blind bend you will find some steps to the right of the bridge leading down to the river side. Long meadow runs for quarter of a mile between the split mill runs that was the Ingleburn stream now winding their way either side down towards Wynyard Mill and Baskerville. Which ever side you follow a stream you will soon see in front of you a fifteen foot embankment topped with trees and shrubs overgrowing what was once the Malmesbury Branch Line cutting the meadow in two as it passes from Holloway Tunnel first over one stream then the meadow itself followed by the other stream and then on into the Baskerville Cutting.
On passing the brickwork supports of the missing iron spans that carried the railway across the meadow you enter the second half. To the right you can see rising very steeply a thirty foot grass bank across the other side of the stream. The bank is topped with fifteen foot walls which stand where the old town walls were situated but have long since disappeared as building material into many of the towns old stone houses.
At the end of the meadow between Goose Bridge and Wynyard Mill is an island on which stands the towns bowling green. The waters running across the Baskerville end of this island have built over them the Wynyard Corn Mill and its here that the waters having done their job of turning the mill wheels meet their second half having run a route around the Goose Bridge end of the bowling green. Just a few yards down stream the Tetbury branch meets the Sherston branch and together become the Wiltshire Avon as it flows on out of the town south towards Chippenham.
With the river now to our right we follow it on along side the old cottages that line the lane leading towards Lea village and this is known as Baskerville. To the left up a rising bank stands a terrace of three story houses and behind these hidden in the hill side is the Baskerville Cutting. The tunnel and the cutting along with its unusually many earth works of this branch line go together to make up a unique piece of Victorian railway unfortunately overlooked by foolish people who have done their best to destroy what is left of this valuable piece of our heritage.
Several hundreds yards further on towards the end of Baskerville there is to the left almost hidden in the walls a very steep set of steps leading up to the Baskerville Cutting railway bridge number 67 and 92 miles from Paddington. The other side of this fine old stone bridge you will find a wooden style entering into Neal's Field. It is over to your left very slightly you will find Pig Hill right in front of you. The footpath now travels on through Neal's Field towards the village of Milbourne along Alpaca Walk. Just to your right you will see why I've given it this name for here Phil and Debbie breed Alpacas and if you are lucky you will see their newly born Cria or baby alpacas. Phil Neal whose field we are now in also keeps a rare breed pig and more animals are planned.
