Harrow Way

The Harrow Way (also spelled as Harroway, and sometimes known as Hoary Way^[1]) forms the western part of the Old Way, an ancient trackway in the south of England, dating from the Neolithic period, which can be traced from Rochester and the Channel ports in the Straits of Dover along the North Downs and through Guildford, Farnham, Andover and Basingstoke to Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge, and on to Seaton on the Devon coast.^[1][2] The name may derive from herewag, a military road; har, ancient (as in hoary) way or heargway, the road to the shrine (perhaps Stonehenge).^[3] It is sometimes described as the 'oldest road in Britain' and is possibly associated with ancient tin trading.^[1]

The eastern end of the Harrow Way, where it becomes the Pilgrims' Way, is at Farnham, an aggregation point for travellers joining from the south coast.^[4] The section here is believed to have run through (now) Farnham Park and continued its course along the chalk outcrop, crossing the Bagshot Road where the Six Bells pub now stands where it continued past Badshot Lea, where an important Neolithic Long Barrow burial mound was found. The Harrow Way then continues to the crest of the Hog's Back where the ancient trackway is known to have run.^[5]

In Dorset, the Harrow Way can be traced through the villages of Halstock and Corscombe, where it is known as Common Lane. At the Halstock end, near the golf course, a short length was realigned to form the access for a Roman Villa (which was built on the site of a late Iron Age farmstead).^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Daily Telegraph. 09 Oct 2008 Greywell and the Harroway. Christopher Somerville sets out on his 200th Walk of the Month
2. ^ Saxon Farnham by Elfrida Manning, Phillimore & Co, 1970
3. ^ Grinsell, Leslie (1958). The archaeology of Wessex. London: Methuen. p. 298. OCLC 400319. 
4. ^ Wright, Christopher John (1971). Pilgrims' Way. London: John Constable. p. 15. ISBN 0-09-456240-7. 
5. ^ J.H. Gibson MD, Surrey Archaeological Society, Prehistoric Finds
6. ^ P.R. Lemmey, A History of Halstock, ISBN 0 951 2063 0 3