Section 1. History
1.2: Development of highway use
Professor R.J. Moore-Colyer, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S., F.S.A., Professor of Agrarian
History, University of Wales
Drift roads developed from the local need to drive livestock to and from grazing in
contrast to drove roads which were strictly long-distance trading route. In some instances
drift roads were a link between open fields and common grazing, in others a route arising
from the practice of transhumance. These tracks came to provide a major form of access in
many parts of the country, but lost much of their significance due to the process of
parliamentary inclosure.
Professor R.J. Moore-Colyer, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S., F.S.A., Professor of Agrarian
History, University of Wales
Over many centuries, the long-distance network of drove roads made a vital
contribution to the economic and social development of both those areas in which livestock
was reared and those to which it was driven. Local records can yield evidence of the
activities of the drovers and help to identify the routes which they used.
Professor David Hey, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist. S., F.S.A., former Professor
of Local and Family History, University of Sheffield
Between the withdrawal of the Romans in the early fifth century and the creation of
turnpike roads in the eighteenth century the road system was unplanned but developed in
response to changing local demands, mostly commercial ones. From the mid sixteenth century
civil parishes were responsible for the maintenance of roads which passed through their
area. These roads were used by a variety of traffic, including teams of loaded packhorses.
These roads were used by a variety of traffic. Those used by loaded packhorses often came
to be known as packhorseroads and to develop characteristic features.
David Braham Q.C.
In the 1830s, around one fifth of all the roads in England were turnpike roads. Their
legal status, development, and significance are addressed in this article.
|
|