Stuckton Iron Works

Stuckton Iron Works is a 3.75-mile loop through fields, village lanes and the Ditchend Brook valley. It starts at the public footpath gate on Stuckton Road opposite Fordingbridge Bowling Club. Allow two to three hours for this moderate countryside walk. After circling the brook valley, you return to the same junction and retrace the opening path to the gate. The climb is gentle, but the unsurfaced ground and several gates make it more than a paved stroll.

From the gate, the path heads south beside St John’s Farm, passes a copse and crosses fields toward Stuckton. A short stretch on Stuckton Hill Road leads to a footpath alongside Baskets & Blooms garden centre. It climbs through more fields and kissing gates to Broadhill Lane. The paths are unsurfaced and can be very muddy after rain, so footwear with a firm grip helps.

Broadhill Lane is an old track shown on maps as far back as 1759; local stories remember it as a smugglers’ route, though that part is folklore. Follow it toward Blissford Road, cross the watersplash by bridge, then take the footpath into the woods. Ignore a left turn, cross a small bridge and a larger wooden one, and reach meadows beside Ditchend Brook. Follow the stream before veering right across a field to the junction where the loop began. Higher sections open to views over the Avon Valley and across into Dorset. The streamside watercress beds appear on maps from 1897.

Thomas Sheppard established the works in 1790 to make agricultural machinery and added a foundry in 1807. Agricultural workers badly damaged it during the 1830 Swing Riots; the business closed in 1908, and its 50-foot chimney collapsed in the 1960s. The history gives this gentle valley route a purpose beyond its scenery. Use the public car park beside Fordingbridge Park on Ringwood Road, then walk east via Southampton Road to the start. The Three Lions is a nearby restaurant in Stuckton, separate from the footpath route. Dogs may use the public paths; keep them under effective control and on a lead beside roads and in car parks.