This Road just VANISHED! Why? 

Thanks, I'd heard this about chalk too!

Thats a great point! What a chore than would be if one had to visit them all!

@@pwhitewick I certainly like a pint after a hard day travelling. I also wonder whether there any local renowned Highwaymen at the some of the time frames you were looking at.

@@lingerslongest A little further north, on the London to Bath Road, at Cherhill - the gang there had an unusual claim to fame. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherhill#The_Cherhill_Gang

I really wasn't aware of the masses of history here. Just became obsessed with the milestones!

Wiki says ?

Denis, what are you referencing? I guessed National Library of Scotland, which was used in this video, but I couldn't find a wiki there.

@@j_taylor Wiki : 'Battle of Edington'

@@denisripley8699 Wikipedia? Found it, thanks. Wiki is a type of software, not a site, which is why I asked.

I've also just remembered something that might interest you (everybody) that I found in "Before the Bypass", by Arthur Houghton (1989) which is about roads local to Warminster. Houghton mentions on Chappteron Down a "most remarkable route of the Roman period", a "stretch for 600m along a holloway", which passes a Romano-British settlement and is, Houghton claims, "obviously the villlage street" but also a "through road". Now, a "British Village" is marked on Chapperton and Chitterne Downs, and the Old Slow Coach Road does pass this. If this is all true, this would push the age of this road -- at least, this stretch of it -- a long way back. Unfortunately, it is not easily assessible, as it is the stretch from Breach Hill to New Zealand farm, which goes through the Imber Range danger zone.

I've always heard them call "rotten boroughs" instead. Pocket borough makes sense too though, in the sense that the borough is 'in someone's pocket.'

@@R.J._Lewis "I grew so rich that I was sent by a pocket borough into Parliament, I always voted at my party's call and never thought of thinking for myself at all." ("He never thought of thinking for himself at all!")

@@R.J._Lewis A pocket borough was not quite the same thing as a rotten borough. With a pocket borough, the voters were 'obliged' to vote as they were told by the man who had them 'in his pocket'. Typically, he might be their landlord, and so they would be dependent on his good will for their homes and livelihoods. A rotten borough was one with no (or virtually no) population, and so the landowner had the controlling vote. This was the case at Old Sarum, which had the right to send two MPs to parliament, despite having only a handful of people living there.

Come on... you are doing yourselves an injustice. Your research is exemplary

I am sure you are right. The name itself does give us perhaps the biggest clue.

I had a good couple of days!

Thank you, very kind.

Thanks Pauline. The archaeologist serving the MOD does a great job.

Yup. Agreed entirely. So the thinking is this was a route, long established and long in use through a variety of ancient or otherwise, reasons. But the question remains, why does it act like a turnpike in so many ways, yet wasn't listed.

@@pwhitewick That sure is interesting, yes. Bath is also an important place in Saxon times since it was on the border of the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia so one possibility is that the road is originally a Saxon military road. It was pretty common to use old hillforts which are on the road as cavalry bases... Another older option would be the Dobunni tribe before the Roman invasion. While Bath wasn't really a city at that time, it was an important religious place with it's 5 holy springs. In any ways, it is possible it wasn't listed because the road had been long out of use before they renovated it in the early 1700s and just had become a poorly maintained foot path until then. I am trying to think if it was built for military purposes, when it would have been important for unit movements, it could also be a civil trade route. I don't see much military use for it after Alfred the Great besides maybe just after the Roman invasion so it might also be worth to check old records to see if the cities were having major trade during any specific period. It doesn't really look like a Roman road so I think that option is out. But since it is highly placed it would give a cavalry unit a good view of the surrounding landscape which is why I suspect it is military. It is very hard to ambush a unit on a road like that and that might be worth not taking the closest possible path. That is my thinking anyways, I am leaning towards it being Saxon built originally with the information currently available but it is just speculations.

Looks like most of it was still used, just lost its Turnpike status and was never upgraded from dirt.

Ooooh I know the one. Love that.

Yeh, always wondered why the Ridgeway was so called.

@@gbcb8853 The point is in times past the Old roads were on the hill tops and ridges, which is where this old route was. Hence, being a SLOW coach route. As coaches came into general use, the old high routes fell out of use. There are a LOT of once primary routes that are now no more than bridleways or footpaths. Which is all most of them ever were. It was only when carriage traffic increased in the 1800s that the low, faster, routes became the main routes.

I also suspect more advanced drainage technology played a part too.

@@CJLloyd It was more to do with the roads for carriages. drainage technology like that didn't start coming in until the late 1800s and early 1900s

Thanks for that idea Anne. I think you may mean this one...ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GmOhltFV5pc.html His link to the phrase The Kings Highway in relation to pre-17th Century routes is interesting. 'High' to avoid the water sodden lower routes caused by poor drainage. Perhaps this route 'disappeared' because the lower routes became better drained and so they were more practical and speedy.

Oh wow. Thank you, didn't see this one!

Watch this space! Won't be long before another.

I used to live in Kennebunkport.

That's a great point. Some are over 10 metres away.

Thanks, hadn't considered one... was tempted to bring some crayons and paper though!

The Dury one? Its a mess of roads there.

There is a spectacular walk long the ridge between old Sarum and Stonehenge. Go up the hill opposite the heale house entrance ( the trees are marked on the map and are still there) . Then turn north to Stonehenge. I’m not sure there is a public right of way along the whole route.

The path from Stonehenge south little bit west is dead straight for about five fields then peters out - it then is dead straight along the top of hooklands plantation until there is a view of Salisbury cathedral - it peters out there too.

Ah yes, thats Sarum to Amesbury. (Gun end of base on the old maps).

Thank you.

Thanks Andy.

Thank you

I think there were more Roman/Pre Roman routes around than we know about and with changes in agriculture and mining say have changed over the years

@highpath4776 This is very true. There is technically a Ford over/through the River Wharfe between Otley and Pool in Wharfedale, but it fell out of use a century ago. There was another downstream of Pool in Wharfedale at Castley, also long disused. They had probably been used from at least Roman times, if not before.

Thanks Chris. Yup remains a mystery. Perhaps it's just the relative height!?

That's a shame. Wish we could keep these historic buildings!

Thanks Barbara. Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes they are

Absolutely yes. I am really surprised so many on this route remain.

Have fun!

Thank you. I think the point of the route really wasn't speed. Safety and potentially easier on the wheel. As time went on faster routes became more practical and this became redundant.

Pleasure to help!

I'm not sure hiding the toilet from the boss is a long term solution...

@@wessexdruid7598 haha that is a typo worth leaving 🤣

I'm not so sure though. I did note the key, but many basic footpaths have the same markings as that "road".

@pwhitewick Paths are a single chain line, unfenced roads are a pair of parallel chain lines. And on the 1913 map shows parallel chain lines heading roughly north-west from Serrington past Yarnbury Castle.

Almost correct.... almost!.... Coffee.

I think towards the start of the 19th C it was less of a problem, which would almost coincide with the end of this route.

@@pwhitewick Thank you. My thinking this way is why I'm. here. There's no wisdom with age, but outliving half my birth cohort I've come to understand if I do thus- they will probably do this, that, or the other. Life experience counts, it's often a puzzle. Your methods of unravelling puzzles inspires me!

Haha... I had worried myself that I needed a comma there!

Thank you. Very kind. Largely scripted at the moment. But the script tends to be built around my actual research journey for videos like this.

@@pwhitewick my plans including speeches don’t survive contact with reality for very long. I do a lot of research like you but just being out in the cold and wet I tend to forget about talking about a lot of it even though its synced with my phone. Or I’ll walk a different way or something else prevents me. It never goes to plan. I try and remedy with a voiceover or two but its not immediate for me.

@@AllotmentFox you do A LOT of walking and travelling. Script or no script hitting 2 or 3 videos a week with the research you do as well!... you are building a great legacy. I really don't think scripting is something you need to consider. The more relaxed tone works for me

@@pwhitewick thanks. I like videos that suggest mystery, throw in a surprise, get lost down a dead end and then finallyresolve with a round of the hallelujah chorus. I'm trying to refresh my palette but it is all a mystery how fo do it.

Completely agree. Read it about 25 years ago now!

I may , or may not still have, a copy of "The Rolling Road" by L A G Strong , a good general overview of Turnpikes in the British Isles, I am sure the idea of The Old Slow Coach was mentioned . Dont forget the Mail Coaches, went faster, with changes of horses every few miles and this route does not seem to have the coaching inns etc for such services, looking more like a trackway bullock cart loaded with goods route.

Thank you. Much better a week or two on. Ouch!

@@pwhitewick you need a close friend to rub it with care.

Its not a well connected route I guess.

@@pwhitewick they actually wanted to go from Swansea to Bournemouth but Bath- Salisbury was one of the required legs of all three journeys.