The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-10
A PREHISTORIC ROAD
THE OLDEST MEMORIAL OF EUMAN
ACTION IN ENGLAND.
Older by Far Than the Romans -
the Ancient Winchester-Canter
Highway, which Counts Its Age ~
Thousands Of Years.

the Ancient nterburv
Highway, which Counts Its Age by
Thousands Of Years.
There runs from Winchester to Can
terbury a prehistoric track which is
probably the oldest memorial Of mems
action in England. 1t is certainly old
er than the ROmans-that is, it is GER
tainly 1000 years old. and how much
older it may be than that we have no
way Of telling. but we do know that
Winchester and Canterbury must have
been the two great centers Of the ma
tional life in the old barbarian times
before the Romans came, and we may
therefore suppose without too much
temerity that this road is almost CO.
eval with the existence of organized
human life in Great Britain.
Two years ago l 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 l understood its
thorough exploration. about three-quar-
tiers. OF the remaining quarter some
part was doubtful and the rest W.
known, but this unknown part did not
make one continuous stretch. IL was
pieced in. as it were, along the length
of the way, bit here and a bit there.
Thus one would have ten or fifteen
miles along which the old British road
cOrrespOnded 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, coincid-
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 to know
what causes chiefly preserved this
road and what have tended to it's Oblit-
GRAFTON.
The causes which preserved it We're
three In the first place, it ran for the
oil @l,n ,hnl IL xxyhi
are known as the North downs, just
above the level of cultivation, and
chalk is an excellent preservative for
a road of this kind. 1t takes the i'm
preston of passing traffic, the weight
,of which makes Il sort of platform
cultivate, and people do not build upon
It's 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
If they We're drOvers. and they would
turn off 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 700 years ago,
powerfully helped the survival of the
road. Winchester was beginning to
fall into decay when this pilgrimage
arose, and Canterbury was no longer
very important town, but when thou
sands of men had occasion to go from
the west of England to Canterbury on
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 u II
and one way and another the memory
of it was saved for history and for
ourselves.
have said that there were MANI
places where the road was almost or
entirely lost. The main caase of this
was cultivation. AS the population
grew denSer it became necessary to
plow up the poorer land high up Or &.
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 II "a
rich man took fancy to bit Of
ground which used to he common and
through which the old road went he
would put a wall round it and turn it
into a park and divert the right Of
way by a special act of parliament
round his new property. There are
of this all along the old road
as, for instance, at Lord StanhOpes
park at Chevening, at the Leveson-
Covers place at Titsey. at Lord Ger
ards park at Eastwell and many other
places
The old road would also be lost over
ground, and now and then,
but very rarely, modern buildings