The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1906-12-01
4 PREHISTORIC ROAD
The OLDEST MEMORIAL or HUMAN
ACTON ~ ENGLAND.

AAOaA1n48 "a
There runs from Winchester 10 Can
I Tertiary a prehistoric track which is
probably the Oldest memorial Of mems
action in England. 1t Is certainly cd
+ er than the ROmans-that is. it is GER
tainly 1000 years old. and how much
older it may be than that we have 10
way of telling. but we 10 know that
/ Winchester and Canterbury must have
( been the two great centers Of the ma
/ tional life in the old barbarian tines
/ before the Romans came. and we may
therefore suppose without too much
temerity that this road is almost CO
T eval with the existence Of organized
( human life in Great Britain.
Two years ago I explored this road
thoroughly. The whole distance is
about 100 miles. and of that one may
say that antiquarians had discovered,
! before my friends and understood its
thorough exploration. about three-quar-
tiers. OF the remaining quarter some
part was doubtful and the rest IN
known, but this unknown part did not
make one continuous stretch. 1t was
pieced in, as it were, along the length
of the way, a bit here and bit there.
Thus one would have ten or fifteen
miles along which the old British road
correspondent with the modern high
way; then would come perhaps two
miles Of doubtful lane, the history of
which had TO be read and the direction
noted before one could be certain that
it was really part Of the old road; then
after that would come, say, half mile
Of pure waste heath or marsh or for
est, in which nothing but most care
full examination, the records of old
maps, the evidence of place names, and
so forth, helped one to identify the
track of the British way; then the
highway would appear again, eoincid-
ing with the old trail, and SO forth,
long known or obvious bits coming In
between short doubtful or unknown
bits. until after infinite pains we built
up the whole of the original track with
the doubtful exception Of a few hun
dred yards.
1t may interest my readers 70 know
what causes chiefly preserved this
road and what have tended to It's Oblit-
GRAFTON.
The causes which preserved it were
three. In the first place, it ran for the
main part along the chalk hills which
are known as the North downs, just
above the level of cultivation, and
chalk Is an excellent preservative for
a road of this kind. It takes the inn
preston Of passing traffic. the weight
Of which makes a sort of platform
along the hillside. It is not easy TO
cultivate. and people do not build upon
its heights. Moreover, chalk does not
wash away, SO that such a road, once
formed. would remain for centuries.
The second cause which preserved
the road was the system of turnpike
which was introduced, think, about
200 years ago and lasted until our own
time. Men naturally tried to avoid the
turnpike II they were on horseback or
II they were drovers. and they would
turn of the good turnpike roads of the
valley, where they had to pay at every
gate, and go along the old free road
above the hills.
And, thirdly, the pilgrimage TO the
tomb Of ST. Thomas at Canterbury,
which sprang up about 100 years ago,
powerfully helped the survival Of the
read. Winchester was beginning to
fall into decay when this pilgrimage
arose, and Canterbury was no longer
a very important town, but when thou
sands OF men had occasion to go from
the west Of England to Canterbury on
q pilgrimage Winchester became the
natural meeting place, and the road
from Winchester to Canterbury once
again grew in Importance Churches
and villages sprang up along it, tradi-
tons and legends began to cling to il,
and one way and another the memory
of it was saved for history and for
ourselves.
/ have said that there were many
places where the road was almost or
entirely lost. The main cause Of this
was cultivation. AS the population
grew denser it became necessary TO
pillow up the poorer land high up on
the hillside, and as these old roads
were not metaled in any way the
moment their surface was plowed up
no trace of the road could possibly re-
main. Another cause was the forma-
ton of the great parks which rich men
began to inclOse and to wall around
about $50 years ago and later If a
rich man took a fancy to a bit of
ground which used to be common and
through which the old road went he
would put a wall round it and turn il
into park and divert the right of
way by a special act of parliament
round his new property. There are
examples Of this all along the old road
-as, for instance, at Lord Stanhope's
park at Cheyening. at the LevesOn-
Covers place at Titsey. ar Lord Ger
ards park at Eastwell and many other
places.