the embankment there and the embankment there this is the Harrow way this is a road
that is bronze-age that we know of so it's over 4,000 years old potentially
this route and this is here right here in the middle of an industrial estate....
good morning everybody and welcome to another video today
we will be journeying across part of the southern England using a book produced
in the 1960s and a map also produced in the 1960s we're gonna be asking the
question can you use such implements to traverse an ancient trackway. I typed
up some quick notes for the relevant section in the book so I don't need the
book, no sorry, if we reading from the book it's like
we're doing like a bradshaw's guide with old Portillo "and now the
Harrow Way must become one of these in the main road" no okay I'm not using the
book so we're tracing the Harrow Way from Basingstoke to Andover that's only a
small section of a bit still around about 18 miles and how 'we went from Kent
right down to Seaton in Devon and again is repeatedly up to
Stone Age hard to believe and probably a little bit far-fetched but let's assume
at the very worst case is Bronze Age which makes it well at least four
thousand three thousand five hundred four thousand years old so we're
starting our main part of this journey in a little village called Oakley which
we've just walked through apparently it goes through the centre of the village
you've got the railway in the background you pull here trains going past
okay South West Trains and we are also going to just knock off a couple of
abandon stations on the way as well which is what we do for other videos so
this is a combination of ancient trackway and every disused station
ergo Oakley right yep onwards.
okay so we're now adjacent to the Oakley
station which was just the other side of there just over the bridge so I think we
run parallel now for the railway pretty much for the course of the the trip
today so this section that we're on just now
immediately next to the railway was likely obliterated by the railway
according to this book but speaking of which is probably now a good time to
have a look at Rebecca's typed up bit okay so from the start we walk through
Oakley Center right yes we did continue perhaps by the road through the village
as far as the church which we did so we turn right the church across the fields
then by a path from the church to where both East Oak Road is crossed by the
railway yeah which we did there to field a little west of Oakley station which is
delighted where we are now yeah so they're 3 ticks so we've done way
exactly what it says in the book yes
after being lost for short distance by Oakley station and going along a byway
for about two miles it becomes a track mostly hedged and makes a northwesterly
swing to rise past Kingsdown wood right so we've got two miles on this byway
there. Is this part the harrow Way because I assumed it was I assume this is now
the Harrow Way about doesn't make that sound like it says I've being lost from
Oakley station the what does this have to be in lost motivation going along or by
away for about two miles from the track
right so we've done the two miles for locally stationed along the byway which
the book described and now we're on the first bit of the day a proper track
way of the Haraway the first proper bit now how close we are to the original
track I don't know but this is the first part where it's actually marked properly
as a track and I able to walk on it so we just walk cannot pass the section
which says it becomes a track mostly hedged and makes a northwesterly Swing
to rise pass Kingsdown Wood what case then would it just over this that's fine
so we are now rising up the hill past Kingsdown would what's interesting is I
was looking at this section here which we just walked up now thinking are
this looks like a good example of what we would assume is that isn't right
we're kind of slightly you've got embankment either side but you've also
got a nice gentle undulation which is often what we found with these but then
all of a sudden we just looked here in the hedge and there's another bit well
yeah it looks even yeah similar you come up here there's also another lovely
curved pathway run in parallel so I don't know maybe I'm maybe back in the
Stone Age or bronze days I had them up and down
yeah
right so we've just come off of the track way then we're just walking along
the side of the field which runs alongside the track way just so we can
take on board some of this lovely view and the Sun because you know we're in
October now so we're nearly in November to me right so we're gonna head on to get
well over this roadway and we're heading down to the top of Whitchurch
where it crosses a few bits and pieces Rebecca in particular now passing north
of Whitchurch the course of the harow away wavers in uncertainty before
crossing the parallels at the a34 and the railway line. Right so we know the
railway we know this was written obviously back in the 50s before
this guy even had to see his book published sadly and we know obviously
there was the railway, the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway so that's the
railway where he was referring to which is obviously no longer there.
It waivers after the railway there and it's not sure where the
Harrow way is so we're gonna see if we can maybe find out where the haraway was
obviously a lot of the things like this are now lost to plow fields but who
knows.
So the old a34 we've just done and we're coming up to
the railway line right so the railway line is the Didcot, newbury and
southampton railway and we've told that story a few times so do check out all
the videos about the actual railway yep one of the two so one thing we haven't
discussed is the history of the Harrow Way which we obviously trying to find
tracks, so lets have a look at the History. So obviously we're not historians
and we do make that point at the time we do a little bit research and we try and
piece bits together but obviously we asked you guys to comment below and help
us out because we are always at the time to spend days researching but so the
Harrow Way confirmed to be at least 600 bcwhich doesn't sound very old in the
context of an ancient pathway but obviously reputed to go back much
further in terms of some of the artifacts found along its route but
obviously nothing to be confirmed a little bit of carbon dating I think has
confirmed to be a little bit older it does pick up on it some eastern part the
pilgrims way now the pilgrims what I think is a lot more recent and I think
again interweb please correct me it has everything to do with Thomas Becket
Canterbury and his pilgrimage routes and he all of it up until Farnham then goes
down to Winchester which is why Winchester apparently became as prominent
as it did because of Thomas Becket I think they're after a lot of these
records were destroyed by either Henry the seventh or eighth of six or
something again very good news Henry yeah and
that's where we are today but we're not on the pilgrims way because that veered
off there and which is other side a basis though and go down to Winchester
maybe one day we'll do that route but I'm not massively interested in
pilgramage and such anyway there is sketchy history of the harrow Way so the
route we're on now which is the let's say the upper section.
and now it carries on in east Andover but you
can trace a lot of it back down to Seton in Devon by all counts.
okay so we've just walked the best part of God knows how many miles
back there was Home Farm where we last talked Home Farm.
No hang on not Home farm....
It was Down farm ok and the road under the railway bridge where
it said on your sheet there was a fold yes there's a fault represented both old
Road may be represented by a fold in the ground which is lost as it comes to the
track because it was obviously obliterated when the railway track was made
yeah Oh
right so that tells you we were right next to the railway so we went under the
bridge we didn't film there because there was very little there that
we could see especially the fold in the road what he was talking about I've no
clue anyway we're now on the south side of the railway and only think we're a bit
off of I think the road that goes down this valley over there that is this the
route of the old Harrow Way because if you think about it they had a river to
get through now and he mentions this here so you take the lowest point down
to that River and the subsequent Ford we're now going up a pathway alongside
the railway because we want to see if we can see any remnants of an old
Hurstbourne station so any more bits from the Book?
The south side of the railway as a metal road bridging the Hurstbourne stream
over firm gravel at Chapman's Ford farm which implies there may have been an
ancient Ford here used by peddlers from the old route
right join us on the west side of Andover on Port way industrial Estate
Portway industrial state is quite a significant size and work back on her
away we've walked all the way from goodness me
Hurstbourne Station. So on the east side of Andover
there's nothing over the road it's completely obliterated when it comes
into the east side around over there is now Woolworth industrial state pilgrims way
River way housing estates completely obliterated it but it didn't used to be
like that obviously before they were built it was watery lane and there's a
bit on hills describes watery name as it comes across the North South Roman Road
and heads west on the harrow way which becomes a lane between high ragged
hedges this is not a green land and the foot but it has a covering of cinders it
has been much used by gypsies as a camping place so they describe in watery lane
said watered and so went through pilgrims were in River way
through the Industrial Estate and came out well there's like a Kwik Fit now...
so basically admitting that northerns center of and over and across what would
have been the beds of the river Anton where there was a Bronze Age hoard found 1912 so that
shows you that it was used in Bronze Age this trackway, Some
claims as old as the Stone Age obviously a bit of poetic license and so
after that point there there's not a lot to show you because it's just a town
center which has been completely obliterated any evidence of it
whatsoever you can then get back on what is Harrow Way road and therefore the
school Harrow Way goes in a straight line and basically comes out on this ...
This is where we are now and this is this is what fascinates me about
old routes with us a railway embankment or old road right here is the embankment
there and they're barren there this is the Harrow Way this is a road that is
Bronze Age that we know of so it's over 4,000 years old potentially this route
and this is here right here in the middle of an industrial state who knows
this is here but yet you've got industrial unit industrial
I love fact that when they built this they did
preserve this way whether they knew about it or not I guess it did but they
preserve this because and it should be preserved, I dont think there's any kind
of historical order or whatsoever but this should be looked after because it's
it's beautiful it's older than a Roman Road it's older than so much in this area,
a lot hill forts around here but this predates them. Anyway
I've waffled a lot we're absolutely shattered we're not million miles from
home now so we're gonna head back it's been a long day the sun's just about to
go down Yeah right like subscribe subscribe I've got the right side
comment with questions and stuff we're not historians so ask questions or tell
us stuff because we don't mind that so we're not offended by people all the
time so yeah alright good bye.