Bridleway 2 Hatley St George
Direction: roughly NW – SE;
Distance c1000m.
Bridleway 2 starts close to the boundary between the parishes of
Hatley St George, Little Gransden and Gamlingay at the bridge over Millbridge Brook
(270523) at 55 m. To the north you can see a long embankment stretching ENE.
Until the Beeching reforms of the railways in 1963 it was, the route of the
Cambridge to Oxford railway line. The flat field on the northern side of the
brook was known in early 17th century as Broade leae and was
used as a gallop by the racehorses on Major Astor’s stud farm in Hatley Park.
Thomas Langdon’s 1601 map drawn up for Merton College, Oxford marked the field
to the east Hatley Fielde.
In 1839 some Roman coins were found in the
field to the south. As the nearest Roman settlements were in Everton and Sandy,
they may have been dropped by travellers or hidden as a hoard. Bridleway 2
follows the north-eastern side of Millbridge Brook south-east up a gentle slope
for about a kilometre until it meets the junction of Bridleway 8 and Bridleway
7 (277517). Bridleway 7 continues southeast to meet the Hatley Road. Bridleway
8 takes you southwest to meet the Hatley Road opposite North Lodge.