The Friends of the Ridgeway
Preserving the spirit of the Ridgeway
The Friends of the Ridgeway is a registered charity (No 1107926). We are a voluntary organisation set up in 1982 to preserve and maintain the special nature of the Ridgeway National Trail, mainly in response to its abuse west of the Thames by off-road vehicles. Although we have had a lot of success in this respect, vehicles on the Ridgeway are a recurring problem and remain a focus of our attention. We collaborate with other organisations, such as the Wiltshire and Oxfordshire Councils’ departments that deal with rights of way, the police and the British Horse Society to maintain safe places for us all to enjoy. We work with the Ridgeway Partnership and others to promote its value to the whole community as an essential part of everyone’s life and heritage. We represent any concerns about the Ridgeway to those responsible for its maintenance. We also raise funds for maintenance of the National Trail by the Ridgeway Partnership.
The Ridgeway is more than a walking trail – it is a historic monument, an artistic inspiration, a natural environment and more. We seek to engage people living near to and using the Ridgeway in activities that spread knowledge and appreciation of its wealth of historic, artistic and environmental features.
In 2009 the Friends of the Ridgeway’s constitution was changed to apply its principal objective to any extension of the ancient Ridgeway trackways along the chalk downs of southern England. As a result, the Friends of the Ridgeway determined to create a coast to coast trail from the Dorset coast to The Wash, which was named The Great Chalk Way (GCW). The GCW Website can be found here.
We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Ridgeway National Trail in 2023 by creating the Ridgeway Spotter Guide and running a fundraising campaign.
- Become a Trustee for the Friends of the Ridgeway (PDF)
- Friends of the Ridgeway information leaflet (PDF)
Join us
We are always looking for new members to help preserve the spirit of the Ridgeway.
Please help
Please donate to help maintain and improve the Ridgeway and Great Chalk Way.
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This great team from Grundon, the waste management company near Wallingford, really got stuck in to their task on Grim's Ditch. Thank you Sam, Sue, Jan, Jim and Jon for your hard work helping to create a 'mosaic habitat' of shrubs like elder and spindle, while removing overgrown brambles and tree branches. This vegetation is obscuring the Scheduled Monument, a historic structure between Nuffield and Mongewell in the Chilterns that carries the Ridgeway National Trail. The work was arranged in collaboration with the landowner who creates habitats for wildlife on their farm.
#ridgeway #grimsditch #volunteers
Ridgeway National Trail
Historic England
Have you seen the exquisite Alfred Jewel in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford? Discover Alfred the Great was a man of learning who encouraged people to read and write in English. Today, 26th October, is the anniversary of his death in 899.
Throughout his life King Alfred would have travelled through the landscape of the Ridgeway. He was born and grew up on a royal estate near Wantage, fought the Danes in the Battle of Ashdown, and used routes along the high ground through his large Kingdom of Wessex.
www.ashmolean.org/alfred-jewel
#anglosaxons #AlfredTheGreat #halfterm
Ashmolean Museum
Ridgeway National Trail
www.ashmolean.org
The Alfred Jewel is a masterpiece of goldsmith’s work formed around a tear-shaped slice of rock crystal. Its inscription: AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN – ‘Alfred ordered me to be made’ – connects th…
Artists, writers and photographers are invited to interpret the new theme of ‘Living Working Ridgeway’ in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize 2027.
For thousands of years people have shaped the landscapes of the Ridgeway along the chalk escarpments between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire.
They made hill-forts during the Iron Age, carved chalk figures such as Whiteleaf Cross near Princes Risborough and the White Horse at Uffington, farmed the downland slopes and vales and planted trees to make furniture.
The theme ‘Living Working Ridgeway’ can include farmers, racehorse trainers, artisans and crafts-people living and working here today, as well as anything that lives in the natural environment of the Ridgeway landscape.
There are four categories in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize: Wall Art includes painting, drawing, etching, textile pictures, wall hangings, and mosaics in any medium. Photography in black and white, and colour. Sculpture in ceramic, wire, wood and glass. Written work in poetry and prose.
All entries will be exhibited on 24 and 25 April 2027 in the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington, Oxfordshire. The Swire Ridgeway Arts Prizes will be awarded on Sunday 25 April.
The competition is open to all, including professional and amateur artists. Art work submitted must be produced in the 24 months before the closing date of Monday 22 March 2027.
Entry form and competition details are on this webpage: ridgewayfriends.org.uk/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize-2027/
The Ridgeway National Trail is much more than an 87-mile walking trail between Overton Hill at Avebury World Heritage Site and Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chilterns. It is an historic monument, an artistic inspiration, and a special natural environment passing through the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns National Landscapes.
The Friends of the Ridgeway is a charity seeking to engage people living near to and using the Ridgeway National Trail in activities that spread knowledge and appreciation of its wealth of historic, artistic and environmental features.
The first Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize exhibition was held by the Friends of the Ridgeway in 2017. Previous exhibits are online at the Friends of the Ridgeway website: ridgewayfriends.org.uk/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize/
#ridgeway #arts #competition
North Wessex Downs National Landscape
Chilterns National Landscape
Ridgeway National Trail
North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust
Buckinghamshire Art Society
The Marlborough Downs: A Space for Nature
Open Studios West Berkshire & North Hampshire
Oxfordshire Artweeks
“We can’t go back to where we were, but we can shape where we want to be in the future,” said Gill Haggarty, the chair of the North Wessex Downs’ Council of Partners at the Forum last week.
It was a great workshop identifying ways of adapting to the effects of climate change on the people, villages, towns and countryside of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, including the Ridgeway National Trail.
Watch Anna Dillon the Artist painting the beautiful Living Landscape Mural that is now displayed in the Vale & Downland Museum in Wantage 😍 This is an amazing work of art showing Anna's deep love and understanding of the landscape of the Berkshire Downs, and her creative skills combining geology, history, and nature into the Living Landscape.
#ridgeway #berkshire #oxfordshire
North Wessex Downs National Landscape
North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust
Ridgeway National Trail
Celebrating Oxfordshire Day on the Ridgeway National Trail with great views, wonderful chalk landscapes, and delicious cake and tea 😋😋 😍 👏 #oxfordshire
Oxford Clarion
Oxfordshire Ramblers
Unfolding maps to find out where we are and who came here before us…. 🙏 Ordnance Survey featuring the Ridgeway National Trail one of 'Britain's oldest roads'. There's so much more in the new book 'Mapping Britain' an ideal gift for walkers and ramblers.
Have you seen a Black Poplar tree alongside the Ridgeway National Trail? Black Poplar trees are distinctive in the Trail's landscape alongside the River Thames between Wallingford and Goring, mainly because there are so few of them!
A new project aims to restore Black Poplars in the Ridgeway's riverside parishes including South Stoke and Goring. DNA tests identify suitable trees for propagating and planting to create a network of new trees along the Thames.
Please donate 👇 to restore Black Poplar trees alongside the Ridgeway National Trail.
crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/qW8YXebn
#BlackPoplar #Oxfordshire #NatureRecovery
Mend the Gap
Wild Oxfordshire
Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment
Ridgeway National Trail
Chilterns National Landscape
Help save Oxfordshire's Black Poplar
crowdfunder.co.uk
Our iconic Black Poplar trees are on the bring of extinction. Donate to our campaign to restore these trees to our river and floodplains.
Great photos of Wayland's Smithy by Lynne Ford, shows the benefits of making the dead-hedge, to enable people to see the stones of Wayland's Smithy long barrow among the trees. Thank you Lynne 👏
The Ridgeway National Trail Historic Ridgeway Project continues here this winter when the dead-hedge will be extended, and more new hedge trees planted in front.
The Historic Ridgeway Project is funded by Historic England and North Wessex Downs National Landscape with additional funds from the Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment for the hedging at Wayland's Smithy.
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Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize Theme for the 2027 Competition
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