I have to say it only took me 98 nanoseconds to calculate that a footpath from Swinbrook to St Oswald's and beyond, through St Mary's Churchyard, existed long before any right of way through Pebble Court Cottage. (GCHQ you can now turn off and deal with more pressing matters).
In 1813 Fettiplace House (or Manor) stood where Pebble Court's lush grass lies, extending to the area now known as Pebble Court Cottage. My light brush with the English aristocracy leads me to believe that the only mortals with access to or through the premises were most likely knaves, varlets or harlots. Plebs were probably excluded unless sexually desirable.
Another 18 minutes in the company of Malcolm Hudson, who throws nothing away except his old Council Tax bills, produced the following 3 maps. The first is of 1813. The second is 1881 and the final one is circa 1920's.
All of them show clearly that the footpath begins at the Eastern steps to the Church and there is no path through Pebble Court. More fascinating is that originally the footpath made its way through what is now the Vicarage. It kind of meanders around the grounds and exits at the field gate. I presume that in those days people enjoyed seeing others as they rambled by. It's different now when Burberry clad women flail dog leashes at approaching inquisitive friendly dogs.
Mr Tompkins' proposition, at the Parish Council's AGM, that there was an half inch error in the local OS maps is, in the words of Mandy Rice Davies, a hard one to swallow.
I first came to this village about 27 years ago and I can remember one of the footpaths passing by the front door of Pebble Court Cottage.
It seems that the owners, the Peachey's, opened up the path to passers by and sat at their front door engaging them in conversation. And so the gated premises became a footpath and remain so, lawfully, to this day.
But - some hooligan (and it must be a local) has removed all the public footpath roundels that designate the Church path. Three in all.
You have to wonder at their motive. After all, apart from the spring water taps (which some local farmer has stopped) and the overgrown, unkempt Watercress beds which lie in disrepair, what else is there to see in the village but the Church with it's beautifully crafted effigies of the Fettiplace's. And there are the odd (and I mean odd) people who swoon at a glimpse of the Mitford sisters' tombstones. Though to be fair (and I always am) there are no plastic flowers adorning them.
You know how some friend of yours spent Zillions at a restaurant and told you what a wonderful meal they had? Or another who spent Millions seeing a West End play and had a 'wonderful time'? You did it on their recommendation and it turned out to be shit? That must be what keeps people coming here. No one ever admits to wasting their time or money.
