Walking in the Thames Valley. Steve Davison

junction, and later bear left to St Giles Church.

      The magnificent Great Barn in Great Coxwell

      In 1204 King John granted the Manor of Faringdon to the Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, and by the mid-13th century the monks had built the Great Barn. This 150ft-(46m-) long tithe barn (a tithe was a form of income tax equating to one tenth of all agricultural produce) was described by William Morris (see Walk 1) as ‘the finest piece of architecture in England, unapproachable in its dignity, as beautiful as a cathedral, yet with no ostentation of the builder’s art’. The barn (now owned by the National Trust) remained under the control of Beaulieu until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.

      The Church of St Giles in Great Coxwell, built around 1200, is dedicated to a hermit from the Dark Ages who is the patron saint of the disabled and homeless, and lies at the opposite end of the village. Each year the villagers celebrate the Feast of St Giles, gathering at the Great Barn to bless the spring from which the village probably takes its name – Cogges Well – before proceeding to the church for a service in honour of the saint.

      3 SU270934 Turn left in front of the church through the churchyard and a gap in the stone wall. Turn left and follow the edge of the field, before going right following a metalled path across the field and later passing the golf course to reach a road (A420). Cross over and take the disused road opposite; later bear left through Little Coxwell. Ignore the road to the left, but keep ahead to pass the Eagle Tavern on the left, later passing a path that leads to St Mary’s Church (short detour).