Natural landmarks · South East England
The Ridgeway
Britain's oldest road — 5,000-year-old prehistoric track from Avebury to the Chilterns.
Sarah Charlesworth — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 1 h–2 h
About
The Ridgeway is described as 'Britain's oldest road' — a 5,000-year-old prehistoric trackway from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon, designated as a National Trail in 1973. 87 miles across the Wessex Downs and Chilterns; passes the Uffington White Horse and Wayland's Smithy.
Photo gallery
From the Wikipedia article
The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ridge of the Berkshire Downs to the River Thames at the Goring Gap, part of the Icknield Way which ran, not always on the ridge, from Salisbury Plain to East Anglia. The route was adapted and extended as a National Trail, created in 1972. The Ridgeway National Trail follows the ancient Ridgeway from Overton Hill, near Avebury, to Streatley, then follows footpaths and parts of the ancient Icknield Way through the Chiltern Hills to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. The National Trail is 87 miles (140 km) long.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
hillfort in distance on left)]] For at least 5,000 years travellers have used the Ridgeway. The Ridgeway provided a reliable trading route to the Dorset coast and to the Wash in Norfolk. The high dry ground made travel easy and provided a measure of protection by giving traders a commanding view, warning against potential attacks. The Bronze Age saw the development of the Uffington White Horse and the stone circle at Avebury. During the Iron Age, inhabitants took advantage of the high ground by building hillforts along the Ridgeway to help defend the trading route. Following the collapse of Roman authority in Western Europe, invading Saxon and Viking armies used it. In medieval times and…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 51.6500, -1.5000
- Address
- southern England
Sources
- manual: ridgeway (manual)
- wikipedia: The Ridgeway (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is The Ridgeway?
- The Ridgeway is in South East England, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 51.6500°, -1.5000°.
- When was The Ridgeway built?
- The Ridgeway dates to the Modern era. The exact year of origin is not recorded in our open-data sources.