Wednesday 27 March 2019

Ancient monuments

Most UK roads have been around in some form since at least the Middle Ages. Were these ancient monuments not so ubicquitous, they would be talen in hand by English Heritage, which to my mind should be called upon to protect some cherished stretches of road, as well as more recent ones under threat, such as the grid system of Milton Keynes.

Galley Lane crossroads on Watling Street, near what is now Milton Keynes. Looks like just before the tarmac age.
 'Many of our roads are hand-me-downs, reused routes and leftover bits of tarmac stuck together in ad hoc fashion.'* In this lies not only their cause of anguish, but also their enduring appeal. In England especially, the oligarchy defeated the repeated efforts of the kings to cetralise planning. The road system and the joy of pathways, tracks and lanes to be pursued by foot and awheel reflects the history.

'Between the first London-Brighton car race in 1836 and the semi-nationalisation of the Trunk Roads Act of 1936... the total British road network grew by only 4 per cent.'* The more recent additions, of course, have been the motorways. However, the motorways apart, we are driving and cycling over an endless, tangled ribbon of archaeology. And even the motorways are becoming a part of the historic fabric of the land.  
 *Jo Moran, On Roads.
 © John Dunn.

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