Vale of Pewsey

The vale is an area of chalk downland with the village of Pewsey at its centre, with Salisbury Plain to the south and the Marlborough Downs to the north.

King Alfred was crowned King of Wessex in 870 CE and owned much of the land in the Pewsey Vale. Legend has it that he went off to war and left his wife in the care of the people of Pewsey. Upon his safe return, he granted the inhabitants of Pewsey the right to an annual feast. This feast accounts for the Feaste Ball now held every other year, and has been incorporated into the modern day Pewsey Carnival.


A statue of King Alfred, unveiled in June 1913 to commemorate the coronation of George V, still stands in the centre of Pewsey.

There are plenty of historical buildings, many of them thatched, to be seen on a wander round as we did this morning.

St John the Baptist Church

The Court House

Crossroads

Picked Hill

Wilcot Wide

Lady's Bridge

Wilcot wide and Lady's Bridge were created at the insistence of Lady Susannah Wroughton the landowner.  She was not keen on the canal being cut across her land and preferred it to look more like a lake, and the bridge to be more ornamental than the workaday usual bridges.

Decorative Lady's Bridge

Attractive Honey Street Moorings

Alton Barnes white horse

A stray boat drifting across the cut, three had been pulled loose and were fortunately still attached to the ropes. I jumped off to pull it back to the bank and bang the pegs back in. Hope it hadn't drifted too far from where the owner's left it!

More WWII pill boxes, some a bit further out in the fields.

No locks today and only one swing bridge to work ourselves, a lazier cruise than yesterday's. A much more sunny day too, though still pretty windy, but with no locks to negotiate, it was not too hard to cope with.

With the wind our hair and the sun in our eyeses

We meandered our way down the cut to Devizes.

Past old working wharves and many stone houses

Tacet floated her way to the heart of Devizes. 

Through bridges that swing and brick ones with arches

Bouyant and blissful we’re here in Devizes.

The sun is still shining, the air full of breezes

We’re tied up and safe at the wharf of Devizes.

Tomorrow we’ll see if there are any surprises

When we visit the old market town of Devizes.

Pewsey - Devizes

12 miles, 0 locks, 2 bridges