North Downs Way

The Greater London Plan, compiled by Patrick Abercrombie and published in 1944, proposed a framework of development for the city and its surroundings. To facilitate the enjoyment of the countryside, the plan envisaged a network of paths connecting green spaces that were to be protected from development. One of the appendices to the plan, Map 14, proposed a footpath system featuring long-distance routes including a "North Down Way" [sic], which it marks as running from the Hog's Back to Otford, from where it continues as the "Pilgrims' Way" to Canterbury and the Kent coast. Three years later, the "Report of the National Parks Committee", compiled by Arthur Hobhouse identified the traditional…