Papercourt Lock and the Wey Navigation

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About
Gallery
Parking
Poo bins?
Self-guided walks

About

Papercourt Lock is a lock on the River Wey Navigation, now owned and maintained by the National Trust. The original lock was opened in 1653 but no longer exists as the National Trust moved it to make for better water management here. It used to be closer to the cottage, which, in 1922, was also moved. Apparently, the lock keeper at the time had to relocate to a barge on the river while the work took place. The old cottage was torn down and the site pegged out by the builders to mark the boundaries of the new one. The story goes that in the middle of the night, the lock keeper snuck out of his boat and tiptoed around the place, moving the pegs about to make sure that when the cottage was built he would have a good view along the river in both directions to spot approaching vessels without having to leave his cottage. I have no idea if this is true and I don’t care if it isn’t as it’s a great story.

Anyway, the Wey was one of the first British rivers to be made navigable, and opened to barge traffic in 1653. It is a 15-mile waterway linking Guildford to the Thames at Weybridge. In its commercial heyday, boats sped along its length carrying cargoes of grain, timber, coal and gunpowder, with crews anxious not to miss the London tide. The Wey Navigation was a working waterway until the late 1960s, and despite the bucolic nature of old photographs of barges being drawn by horses with men walking alongside, every penny counted and time spent opening and closing locks and weirs was crucial. 

Gallery: What’s it like here?

Poo bins?

None, please take waste home with you.

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Self-guided walks

There are two self-guided walks on this page. You can see Woking Palace across the meadow from both of them. The first route is stile-free. Scroll down the page (or click here to jump down) to the second route, which goes a little nearer (really not much) but has one stile on it, although there is a pretty tall passing gap for dogs and most greyhounds should be able to duck to get through it.

Walk 1 – no stile
Here is a stile-free Footpath app route from Newark Lane car park. Also on AllTrails. It takes you along the Wey Navigation to Papercourt Lock, then over to Papercourt Meadow, where you walk alongside Broadmead Cut with Woking Palace in the distance. You then go through the meadow before crossing back over the Wey Navigation and heading back to the car park via Papercourt Lock.

Length: approximately 2.6 miles/4.2 km
Terrain: This is a flat walk on grass, apart from going over the lock. The meadow is the river’s floodplain and it tends to be soggy underfoot all year round, and can be extremely boggy in cooler months of the year. Wear wellies or boots that you don’t mind getting wet and muddy.
Stiles/kissing gates? Two kissing gates, no stiles.

Take the little path from the back of Newark Lane car park path past the traffic lights towards the bridge. This takes you onto the pavement by the road briefly but before you get to the bridge, turn left down the side of the Wey. Go through the gate and walk with the water on your right.

Exit the field through the next gate and cross the Wey via Papercourt lock. Once over the river, continue straight ahead rather than turning left onto the tow path. Pass the lock keeper’s cottage (on your left) and cross over a waterway called Broadmead Cut via the concrete bridge, then head through the kissing gate into Papercourt meadow.

Turn left and walk alongside the canal. This path is through the flood plain and it can be very wet and muddy. If you look over to your right beyond the power lines and pylons, you can see a crumbling stone building. This is Woking Palace. The tall buildings in the distance are in Woking town centre. It is possible to go and look around them but the route I know to get there involves narrow, scrubby paths and there’s one stile (with a dog passing gap that we fit two decent sized greyhounds through) so it’s doable but it’s an off-the-beaten-track kinda walk. All that remains are a barrel vault and some adjoining Tudor brick walls. The heathen in me thinks it just looks a bit like a barn, to be honest, but history buffs that know far, far more than I have critiqued it among royal sites of the pre-16th century as an “excellent survival” that is highly diverse with large archaeological potential. You can read all about it on the Friends of Woking Palace website and the Wey Valley website.

Pass through one kissing gate and then a gap in the next fence – both of these points often have water pooled around them in the wetter, colder months. After the second gate, take a path to the right which takes you diagonally back on yourself and heads toward the electricity pylon. Just after the pylon, it reaches another path, where you turn left. Follow this along until it meets with a wide grassy path and turn left to walk back through the meadow and down to the bridge.

Cross the bridge and follow the path towards another bridge ahead – Tanyard bridge – but don’t cross this second one. Instead, turn left just before it and walk along the towpath.

At Papercourt lock, cross back over the Wey Navigation and retrace your steps back to the car park – in short, go through the meadow with the water on your left and turn right when you reach the pavement at the road. 

Take the little path from the back of Newark Lane car park path past the traffic lights towards the bridge. This takes you onto the pavement by the road briefly but before you get to the bridge, turn left down the side of the Wey. Go through the gate and walk with the water on your right.

Exit the field through the next gate and cross the Wey via Papercourt lock. Once over the river, continue straight ahead rather than turning left onto the tow path. Pass the lock keeper’s cottage (on your left) and cross over a waterway called Broadmead Cut via the concrete bridge, then head through the kissing gate into Papercourt meadow.

Take the path that goes ahead and slightly left through the meadow rather than those that go left and right along the water’s edge. This path is through the flood plain and it can be very wet and muddy. If you look over to your right beyond the power lines and pylons, you can see a crumbling stone building. This is Woking Palace. It is possible to go and look around them but the route I know to get there involves narrow, scrubby paths and there’s one stile (with a dog passing gap that we fit two decent sized greyhounds through) so it’s doable but it’s an off-the-beaten-track kinda walk. All that remains are a barrel vault and some adjoining Tudor brick walls. The heathen in me thinks it just looks a bit like a barn, to be honest, but history buffs that know far, far more than I have critiqued it among royal sites of the pre-16th century as an “excellent survival” that is highly diverse with large archaeological potential. You can read all about it on the Friends of Woking Palace website and the Wey Valley website. The tall buildings in the distance are in Woking town centre.

At the stile, most dogs should be able to duck enough to fit through unless they are really big. Continue straight ahead at the remains of the next stile.

A few steps further, a path comes in from the right, ignore it and bear left to pass a big old scraggy tree on the right. You’ll come to a fork when you’re in line with the electricity pylon (which is over to the left). It doesn’t matter which fork you take. The one to the right makes for a slightly longer walk but not by much.

Cross the bridge and follow the path towards another bridge ahead – Tanyard bridge – but don’t cross this second one. Instead, turn left just before it and walk along the towpath.

At Papercourt lock, cross back over the Wey Navigation and retrace your steps back to the car park – in short, go through the meadow with the water on your left and turn right when you reach the pavement at the road.