A Guided Walk in Pictures

If you are unable to take a walk around the Heath using the excellent short or long guides produced by Peter Burley, you might like to follow the walk in pictures, mostly taken on a balmy autumn day in 2015. The walk took about 1½ hours.

We suggest you read at least the short guide before taking a look at the pictures. They deviate from the guide slightly to take in Townsend Drive, formerly Luton Lane.

The start and end point described in the guides is the Ancient Briton junction.

Move through the gallery by clicking right or left keys on your keyboard or on the pictures with mouse/trackpad.

: Map of route with short extension (arrowed line)

: The Harvester, formerly the Ancient Briton public house

: Old Luton Lane with cast iron milepost (inset)

: Return to Beech Road at the Ancient Briton to find ...

: ... Beech Bottom Dyke ...

: ... accessible by this easy to miss path

: The Dyke is up to 33 feet deep in places

: This barrier was once used for shooting practice

: The path leads across Valley Road

: A shallower area towards the eastern end

: The path meets the railway embankment

: Climb uphill and parallel to the embankment

: The King William IV public house

: The top of the embankment is on the left, built around 1868

: Turn right into Sandridge Road with grassed areas on both sides - The Wastes

: ... where parking is officially restricted

: Bernards Heath Primary School

: The Upper Field with a children's play area on the right

: Boundary Road to the south of the Heath

: Prestwood Gate, formerly the site of the town gallows

: The Limes off Spencer Gate near the entrance to what was Heath Farm

: Stonecross at the junction with Sandpit Lane

: The Jolly Sailor public house

: The Old Pump House, for town water works. Now electric pumps with two boreholes adjacent

: The area behind the pump house is still used by Affinity Water

: Devdas Indian Restaurant, formerly the Cricketers public house

: Calverton House, one of many buildings built with bricks made nearby on the Heath

: Townsend Drive on the left. Harpenden Road on the right

: Townsend Drive, formerly the main road to Luton

: Off Townsend Drive, the lane (arrowed) was Luton Lane

: Edmund Beaufort Drive - the older building once had military uses

: St Albans Green Ring emerges from the Heath by Heath Farm Lane

: Heathlands Drive, leading to Heathlands School and the Pioneer and Judo Clubs

: The Pioneer Club, which stands alongside a former Fire Station

: One of the few artefacts remaining from the Ariston Tallow Works - a well cover

: The gateposts of the Ariston site with a disused circular water tank beyond.

: Crossing Harpenden Road from Heathlands Drive towards Spinney Cottage

: This area has several pits where clay digging took place

: The former Luton Lane emerging onto Harpenden Road close to the Ancient Briton