5000 years of the Ridgeway and the old stone roads
How old is the Ridgeway? The fact that many barrows from the early Neolithic period are scattered along this and other high routes suggests that settlements were established next to them at this time, as the Neolithic culture spread out along the chalk escarpments – and more, that these routes already existed when they arrived. Pockets of fertile land beside theses routes would have been farmed for the first time as the new culture took root. Once settled, there would have been an immediate need for trade between communities, to exchange agricultural products, raw materials and specialist artisan products such as tools, building materials and agricultural products.
Footpaths of the modern Ridgeway National trail west of Wendover run alongside a much older deeply incised hollow way formed near the chalk scarp.
Southern Britain’s geology includes a series of high ridges, mostly chalk, that rose above a prehistoric landscape of bog and woodland. We know that, following the last recessions of the Ice age at the start of the Holocene 9700 years ago, humans moved in to Britain over land bridges from Europe in several waves and it has been in continuous occupation ever since.
The land initially was sparsely wooded – mostly birch, and good for a hunter-gatherer culture, following herds of reindeer and wild horse. But the lowlands became rapidly filled with denser forests of pine and alder and there is evidence that the diet changed to woodland wildlife such as boar and cattle (aurochs), elks and deer. By 4500 BC the climate had warmed and broadleaf forest species – with a similar mix to that found today – were taking over. Communication routes across the country became restricted to the high ridges and rivers.
Hilaire Belloc’s book The Old Road shows the six high stone roads, which all converge on Salisbury Plain, the location of Stonehenge. They closely reflect the underlying geology as can be seen by overlaying them on the Geological Survey.
One of these, The Ridgeway, follows the chalk ridge of the Chilterns and Berkshire Downs and remained an important route well into the post Roman era. The North and South Downs and the Dorset Downs follow essentially the same geology – escarpments left by the folding of the late Cretaceous chalk (pale green). The South Downs became a major pilgrimage route in medieval times, from Winchester to Canterbury.
Neolithic transition
Around 4300 BC or possibly later, there was a sudden adoption of a new culture and new techniques: sometimes called the Neolithic revolution. Whether this was due to the replacement of the existing population, or adoption by them, is still unresolved. Agriculture, domesticated animals and pottery are markers of this new way of life. It had spread over the course of 2500 years right across much of western Europe and North Africa from the Middle east. As this culture fanned out across Britain, it brought a new more settled way of life and a more complex society: not just bands of hunters and gatherers, but farmers and artisans and a more hierarchical leadership. For the first time, monuments to the dead were created, evidence that there were new ways of thinking about life, ancestry and community. Long barrows were built for the first time, for communal burial. They would have required the co-operation of a number of different individuals and would have represented an important investment in time and resources. They were used not just for burials but also ritual activity.
For example, this barrow on Whiteleaf Hill, Buckinghamshire, on the Ridgeway, has been dated to 3500BC. It contained one burial, and over 50 pottery vessels. Its entrance faced west with a wide view over the valley to the western Chilterns beyond.
So for more than 5,000 years travellers have used the Ridgeway. The Ridgeway provided a reliable trading route between west and east. The high dry ground made travel easy and provided a measure of protection by giving traders a commanding view, warning against potential attacks. Products traded would have included flints from Norfolk, iron from the Forest of Dean, tin from Cornwall, agricultural products and livestock, and timber. Stone axes from the Lake District have been found along the Ridgeway, and pottery from Cornwall at Windmill Hill, Avebury.
Bronze age and Romans
By the start of the Bronze Age (from around 2300BC) the track was already ancient, and monuments such as the Uffington White Horse and the stone circle at Avebury, built alongside, reflected its continuing importance. During the Iron Age, inhabitants took advantage of the high ground by building hillforts along the Ridgeway to help defend the trading route.
The Romans quickly developed their own road network to suit military as well as commercial needs, but some of their routes were rationalisations of the pre existing ancient routes – for example, much of the route north from London, where a lowest ford of the Thames existed at Westminster, and the cross country link Akeman Street. The old high stone roads were of no use to the Roman military, but would have continued to be used by drovers and local traders.
Medieval and modern
Following the collapse of Roman authority in Western Europe, invading Saxon and Viking armies used the Ridgeway. In the 900s charters were issued defining routes under royal protection. In medieval times and later, the Ridgeway continued to be used by drovers, moving their livestock from the West Country and Wales to markets in the Home Counties and London.
Before farmland was enclosed from around 1750, the Ridgeway would have existed as an informal series of tracks across the chalk downs, chosen by travellers based on path conditions and the amount of traffic. Once enclosures started, the current path became more closely defined through the building of earth banks and the planting of hedges. These were often defined by statute, with minimum widths.
Icknield Way is a name that has a long history and appears on maps in parallel to or on the same line as the Ridgeway. The earliest mentions are in Anglo-Saxon charters from the year 903 onwards. The charters refer to locations through over forty miles from Uffington to (Princes) Risborough (covering days 3 to 7 of the Ridgeway path). The need to preserve this route shows its continuing importance.
The Icknield Way was one of the ‘four great highways’ that were declared by Edward the Confessor to be under royal protection for travellers, according to later sources. The other three are Ermine Street, Fosse Way, and Watling Street: these three were largely based on the Roman trunk road network, which was in many areas a rationalisation of earlier routes (as were others such as Akeman Street) and the continuing importance of the ancient ridgeway route is emphasised by its inclusion in this group.
A 14th century source gives a different route for an Icknield Way, from the Fosse Way in the Cotswolds to Rotherham in Yorkshire, which is the line of another Roman road. Scholars think this is a different route altogether and call it Icknield (or Hikenild) Street.
The relationship between the Ridgeway and Icknield Way is confusing. Perhaps it’s best to think of them as a skein of routes following the same general direction, some at high level on the dry chalk uplands, and some along the ‘spring line’, where villages were established below the escarpment where the chalk meets underlying rock and water seeps out. Different routes would have been used at different times of the year and for different purposes: traders, drovers – and pilgrims.
Focusing on the high routes, before farmland was enclosed from around 1750, the Ridgeway would have existed as an informal series of tracks across the chalk downs, chosen by travellers based on path conditions and the amount of traffic. Once enclosures started, the current path became more closely defined through the building of earth banks and the planting of hedges. The routes were enshrined in statute, with minimum widths.
The modern routes are therefore best guesses of where the ancient tracks were, following those clues which exist, and in many cases compromised by property rights and later developments.
It seems to me likely that Grim’s Ditch, sections of which parallel the modern route, is in fact the actual remains of the ancient route. See the post below for more details: