Hedgerows and Tracks

HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS M. M. O'GRADY, B.A. In this study an ancient trackway is traced from Sandwich to Geddinge.1 Though no definite information exists about its origin, part of it was used as a boundary in medieval times, as revealed by the various rentals. 2 The section which forms a boundary hedge along Eastry manor is dated in accordance with Dr. Hooper's method3 and it coincjdes with the date of the rentals. FROM SANDWICH TO WOOTTON; TRACKWAY AND HEDGES The trackway starts at Sandwich at about 10 ft. O.D. and can be traced to the Downs to 450 ft. O.D.4 In Sandwich, the trackway passes over alluvium where thin buried peat may occur locally. 5 Next, it traverses Thanet Sands, Upper Chalk, Valley Gravels and Brickearth, but its chief foundation is Upper Chalk. The length of the trackway from Sandwich to Wootton Church, via Eastry, Golgotha, Shepherdswell and Geddinge is approximately 10 miles. For purpose of convenience the trackway has been divided, in Fig. 2, into five sections. The stretch from Golgotha to Wootton is not included in Fig. 2, but can be located on the Ordnance Survey Map. From St. Bart's road, Sandwich to the Woodnesborough road, the area is below 50 ft. 0.D. The first part of the trackway is fenced artificially, but afterwards it becomes an open cart-track till it meets the Woodnesborough road. Its width varies from 6 to 7 ft. The trackway finally becomes a causeway and is not an inconspicuous feature of the landscape. Near the Woodnesborough road, the trackway swings eastward in a straight line for a few yards and later resumes its former course. 1See Fig. 2. 2 Rental 1282, Adisham manor in Register C. Rentals 13 I O and 1511 of Eastry manor in Christ Church Archives Canterbury. (Henceforth abbreviated C.C.A.C.) 3M. D. Hooper, 'Hedges and History', New Scientist, 1970, 598. 4 Ordnance Survey, One Inch to One Mile, East Kent, Sheet 173. 5 O.S. Geological Map, Dover (Ramsgate), Sheet 290. 111 M. M. O'GRADY Next, the trackway coincides with the Woodnesborough road for a short distance and then bears south-west, down Gore Lane, where it acts as a boundary between Eastry manor to the east and Adisham manor to the west. Thornton Lane, a sunken lane, follows on. It is one mile in length from the Heronden crossroads to the Canterbury Way,6 which is the junction of the lane with the Upper Venson to Knowlton track. Thornton Lane, with its tarmacadam surface, varies in width throughout its course from 6 to 9 ft. Part of its east side has a steep cliff-like bank, varying in height from 6 to 13 ft. A continuous hedge runs parallel to the lane to the west, except for a small portion which has been grubbed up, on the north side. Moving southwards, Thorntonhill trackway, a continuation of Thornton Lane, is three-quarters of a mile in length. It lacks the steep cliff to the east and, instead of a hedge, it has a shaw of mixed tree species to the west. A feeder trackway joins Thorntonhill Lane from the east, south of Thornton Cottages; it extends eastward as far as the main Dover road. The Thornton Lane-Thorntonhill trackway extends to Elvington, a distance of one and a quarter miles, mainly as a grassy pathway. Halfway to Elvington another feeder trackway, called 'The Pilgrims' Way', on the 6-in. map, joins the main Elvington trackway, from the east; it also links up with the main Dover road and, further east, with the Roman road from Dover to W oodnesborough. The Elvington-Golgotha section, one and a half miles, resembles an overgrown cart-track, which finally traverses a plantation before reaching Golgotha. At Golgotha, the trackway, retaining the south-west direction, merges with the main road to Shepherdswell for about one and a half miles, where it reaches its widest limit. Before meeting the A2, the trackway narrows and meanders while climbing the Downs. The Geddinge section, sunken and meandering, is bordered in parts by banks and sporadic hedges. About one third of a mile north-east of Geddinge, the trackway suddenly changes its direction and bends westwards towards Wootton church. Before reaching the church the trackway, having lost its sunken character, approaches the church as a wide road. Golgotha is linked to Wootton Church by a tarmacadamed road. At present the track is partially in use as a footpath and it can be followed for the greater part of its length on foot. The purpose for which the track was used invites speculation. This could await further investigation. South of Sandwich the 1-in. O.S. map reveals that the causeway went through the least marshy terrain. Since the water-table is believed to 61511 Rental. C.C.A.C. op. cir. in note 2. 112 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS have been higher in the past, one can understand that the causeway may have become necessary at some particular time which may be revealed by future excavation. The length of the trackway south of Sandwich to the W oodnesborough Road is one and three quarters of a mile; the causeway is approximately one mile long. About half a mile south of Sandwich along the course of the track there are the remains of a deep drain, which is now dry. This could have been an obstacle to movement along the track in the past, and it seems likely that a bridge may have existed there for the drain would have been too deep to have been forded in any other way. This drain could be a possible site where pollen may be preserved and its analysis might help to date the age of the track. 7 Thornton Lane is one mile in length. It is a sunken track throughout most of its course, having a high bank on its east side, which is cut into the hillside. The little used grassy part of the track from Thornton Cottages southward to Golgotha presents a contrast to the road sections north and south of it. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Towards Eastry where the track crosses the Woodnesborough Roman road, the 6-in. O.S. map indicates 'Roman coins found here'. J. B. Gibben8 discovered a cemetery at Walton only a short distance from this trackway. Hasted9 alluded to three large Romano-British tumuli and found entrenchments near Golgotha. Faussett10 found in the area now called Golgotha some Dark Age inhumation burials, Roman coins, evidence of Roman cremations and samian pottery. Six Bronze Age tumuli11 have been found close to the trackway, two at Shingleton, one at Eythome, three at Shepherdswell and one at Tilmanstone. Soil samples from the ground surfaces beneath the tumuli may yield information about the date of the tumuli. 12 7 R. G. West, Studying the Past by Pollen Analysis, Oxford, 1971, 15. 8 J. B. Gibben, 'Roman Burial', Arch. Cant., xxv (1902), lxvi. 9E. Hasted, The History and topographical Survey of the County of Kent, x, Canterbury, 1778-1799. (Revised 1972), 375. 10 B. Faussett, Inventor/um Sepulclrrale, London, 1856, 101-43. 11 P. Ashbee and C. C. Dunning, 'The Round Barrows in East Kent', Arch. Cant., lxxiv (1960), 48. 12P. Brandon, The Sussex Landscape, London, 1974, 77. 113 M. M. O'GRADY THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE (a) Medieval Existing medieval documents suggest that a trackway ran from Sandwich to Wootton. Since a section of the trackway and the Thornton Lane hedgerow are believed to have been the boundary between ·two neighbouring manors, it seems advisable to review the origins of these two manors. Hasted recorded that Adisham manor was given by Eabald to the Benedictine monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, in A.D. 616.1 3 In his map of the Hundred ofEastry, Hasted stated that Heronden, etc., was reputed to be in the Hundred of Downhamford. 14 King Egbert was in possession of Eastry A.D. 670.15 In the year A.D. 979, King Ethelred gave Eastry to the same monks, at Christ Church. The earliest document for the northern section of the trackway, south of Sandwich, records how a part of the trackway coincided with the parish of Eastry in 1356. 16 The portion mentioned was called the 'Weines Wey' and described as being a 'broad wey'. The same part of the track is mentioned in the 1511 rental. Thus this northern section was clearly a conspicuous feature of the landscape at this early date. The documents show that Thornton Lane further southward was the boundary between the manors of Adisham and Eastry. Heronden Farm, which constitutes the land to the west of Thornton Lane, consists of four hundred acres. In the rental of 1282, Heronden and Woghope (two sulungs) appear. There seems to have been a settlement at W oghope, situated in the same valley as Heronden but about half a mile to the south. 1 7 All the land on the east side of Thornton Lane belonged to Eastry manor as shown by the numerous documents of that manor. The 1471 Eastry renta118 mentions a droveway at Craythorn; Hasted19 mentions that Craythorne was in the southern half of Tilmanstone parish: this droveway could be one of either. What is called 'The Pilgrims' Way' on the 6-in. map could have been a droveway in the Middle Ages, or the droveway ,mentioned may have been the trackway from Sandwich to Wootton. The same rental alludes to one croft next 'the common droveway', and there seems little doubt that this 'common droveway' was the Sandwich-Wootton trackway. 13 Hasted, op. cit., 181. 14 Ibid., 12 J-44. 15 Ibid., 102. 16 EJ88a. C.C.A.C. 17W. F. Shaw, Eastry Memorials, London, 1870, 66. 18 Eastry Manor. 1471 Rental. C.C.A.C. 19 Hasted, op. cit., 78. 114 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS A trackway, believed to be the same as that which started at Sandwich, although no longer directly aligned, cap be traced as far as Wootton church. The evidence which supports this conclusion comes from a grant of land, in 1295, to Roger atte Sole, at Geddinge. 'One and a half acres lie in the field which is called Hoke between the land of Maurice to the west and the road which is called Est Soles Drove to the east', and another record mentions 'Half an acre at Churchweye'. 20 This seems to suggest that the droveway must have extended as far, at least, as the church at Wootton, since the allusion to the 'Churchweye' may be interpreted as the road to the church. The documentary evidence does not extend beyond Wootton church and, there are no signs that the track continued further. (B) BOUNDARIES OF THE HEDGEROW AND TRACKWA Y Today, different parish boundaries follow the trackway for a considerable part of its length and in the past there was an even greater coincidence of parish boundary and trackway before the alteration of the parish boundaries took place. In a few sections, parish and manorial boundaries coincide with the trackway while elsewhere manorial, hundredal and even lathal sections are aligned with the trackway. The O.S. I-in. map (Fig. 2) indicates a coincidence of trackway, parish boundaries as follows: the parish boundary coincides with the trackway south of Sandwich, separating the parishes of Worth to the east from W oodnesborough to the west for almost half a mile. Before it meets the main Woodnesborough road, the trackway and parish boundaries are aligned again for one-eighth of a mile and separate the parish ofEastry to the east from the parish ofWoodnesborough to the west. The Tithe Map of 1840 21 shows how the trackway and the parish boundary coincided for about one-third of a mile along the Woodnesborough road. South of Thornton Cottages, another parish boundary runs along the trackway for over one mile, separating the parishes of Tilmanstone and Eythorne to the east from the parish of Nonington to the west. The Tithe Map for the parish of Eythome shows that the. trackway formed the parish boundary, in 1840, between Barfreston and Eythome, but since then the two parishes have been merged. The importance of the Tithe Map, as an historical document, is evident in recording that parish boundaries, in the early nineteenth ce;ntury, stretched from the Thqrnton Cottages' crossroads as far as Golgotha beyond whith the trackway continues as a straight road to 20 Register B. Eastry Manor., op. cit. 21 Eastry Sheet. 115 M. M. O'GRADY Shepherdswell. Then, it heads for Geddinge, an outlier of Eastry manor in the parish of Wootton, crossing the A2 road.,The O.S. 1-in. map shows that the parish boundary, between the parish of Wootton to the south and the parish of Shepherds well to the north runs parallel with the A2 at the crossroads. From Sandwich southward for half a mile, the trackway serves as the boundary between the former manor of Eastry2 2 to the east and the manor of Woodnesborough to the west. The trackway bounded the former manor of Eastry for a considerable length. Thus, from Poison Cross (junction of Gore Lane with the Eastry-Woodnesborough road) to Thornton Cottages, the trackway separates the manor of Eastry (Fig. 2) to the east from the manors of Adisham (an outlier) and Shingleton to the west. The Domesday Book assessed the manor of Adisham as being in the hundred of Downhamford and in the lathe of Borowart. 23 So this additional information makes the trackway at this stage not only a boundary between two manors, but also a boundary between two separate hundreds, Eastry to the east and Downhamford to the west, as well as a boundary between two distinct lathes, that of Eastry to the east and the lathe of Borowart to the west. From the Thornton Cottages' crossroads to Elvington (Fig. 2), the trackway divides the manor of Tilmanstone and the southern part of Eastry manor in Eythome to the east, from the manor ofNonington to the west. Between Elvington and Golgotha, the trackway is the boundary between a part of Eastry manor to the east and the manor. of Barfrestone to the west. The Tithe Map shows that the stretch of land to the we􀂪t, on the Adisharn side of Gore Lane and Thornton Lane, was fenced as 'fa·x: as the Canterbury Way but southward of that junction }lS far as 􀂫the Thornton Cottages, the west side of the lane was with,out 􀂬- fence. Today a similar contrast can be observed. While much of Gore-:Lane's former fence has been removed due to building, Thornton. Lane· still retains its boundary hedge, but the former fenceless rol,\d, :s{'.>μt1i of the Canterbury Way, has a well-developed shaw, coinciding'with.the fringe of the former manor of Shingleton (Fig. 1 ). Perhaps, _the· 'di(ference in the manorial management in the past may have been responsible for the different physical boundaries of the two manorf · .· .. -:'' . · A resume of the boundary information reveals thaf the trackway coincides with the parish and manorial boundaries south of Sandwich for over half a mile. For another half mile in the Sandwich lowland, although in two separate sections, the trackway maintains 'its character as a parish boundary. Only three quarters of a mile of the flat track 22 Hasted, op. cit., 98-121. 23 V.C.H. (Kent), iii, London, 1932, 218. 116 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS Crown Copyright reser,ed 0 1000 2000 scslel===========c==========lyards FP rill Main road Other roads Footpaths Parish boundaries Footpath Pylon Electricity transmission line Fig. l. Thornton Lane- Eastry District. lacks a boundary of any type. Between Poison Cross and the Thornton Cottages' crossroads, a distance of two miles, the trackway acts as a manorial, hundredal and lathal boundary. From the Thornton Cottages' crossroads to Golgotha - a distance of over two miles and a half, the trackway coincides with the parish and manorial boundaries. Thus, out of a length of six miles and a quarter, the trackway coincides with one or more boundaries for five miles and a half. This is an 117 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS Maln roads Otllcr roads Foolpatl1s Tracks Parish boundaries M. M. O'GRADY Fig. 2. Hedgerows and Tracks. Crown C,,pyright resened important aspect of the track and suggests that the age of the track may be near that of the oldest boundary, which is the lathe. On this subject, it is worthwhile bearing in mind what Furley thought of the lathe. 'But though Aylesford with its lathe can boast of its Saxon origin and valour, and was held by Saxon kings, the five lathes in East Kent can trace, if not their names, their antiquity, to the time of the Romans.24 24 R. F. Furley, The Weald of Kent, i, Ashford, 1871, 116. 118 trees shrubs akler ash blacktliorn Ch#Jrt-y crab app/lJ dog fOStl dog wood eldttr elm hawthorn hazel hornba􀁥m hOneysuckle hop•wlkl mapla-lieki pr/V(Jl spind/1 sycamore turkey-oak viburnum wayfering -wil/QW brllmblo ivy old man'5 beard THORNTON LANE HEDGEROW l..--...J f section• 30 yords ·-·--·-- ·-- --􀀫- -·-·--· ·-· .. 􀀬·- ---·---· -· · --- >--- ·---·--~ -· -· -·- · ·-·-r---• 1--- --1--- -- - , _ -·- 1--•- -·- -·- -·-·-·-·-· ·-· ·-· ·-· ·-·-·- -·- -·- -·-·-·-·-· ---- 􀀇􀀈􀀉'-J􀀊􀀋􀀌l 􀀍􀀎􀀏􀀐􀀑􀀒W􀀓[l􀀔n􀀕 ----- ---, - -l- --1- 1 ---- ·-·--·- j --M- --•-• -·--·-· ·-·-· - ·--1 ----􀀗-· - -·-·- ·-···+···-·· ........ ······· --- ·--· +--+-+-- --1--1--1-·-·- ---· 􀁩-r-- ·-·-·-·1--- ----􀀏 --􀀖- ---- --1-- ----- __ ,..._ -- ---- -- ...... ...... f .................. ······· ...... ...... ...... ...... ............. ····· . ...... .... . I ·-•f--•- -·- -·---·- ·-· ._.. ·-· ·-· ·-· ·-•1-•- •t--•-t-•-·-·- -·- -·- ·-·-· ·----•-•-· ----- --- 1-----•·•- ---- ......... •••••• ---• ·-·· .... - --- ...... --·--· -•----•i.,--.... -•-• •--••-•• -•-• -••- •-- •-•-•- _ ..,fo-••· •~-••I .. 0-o•• -- -- -- •--- __ .. 1--- --- I'---- --- --- ----f-- 4 6 10 II i--- --- 12 13 14 IS 16 17 --- __ .. --•1--•- 1----- 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2S 26 TI 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 JS 36 37 38 39 40 41 Fig. 3. Thornton Lane Hedgerow. HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS BOTANICAL EVIDENCE; THORNTON LANE There are different approaches to the study of hedgerows: a scrutiny of early documents is one way; a study of the species present is another, and both methods have been applied to Thornton Lane. In 'Hedges'25 Dr. Hooper discusses the various meanings of a hedge, in different parts of the country and this method has been applied to Thornton Lane. Thornton Lane hedge was seven-tenths of a mile in length. Fortyone sections of thirty yards of the hedge have been included, and Fig. 3 shows the distribution of species in the hedge. Twenty-two species have been considered in the analysis. The climbers bramble, ivy and old man's beard, although included in the count, are not considered in the final assessment. Figure 3 shows that some parts of the hedge have more species than other parts. Such a situation could raise the question of whether different parts of this hedge are not contemporary or that they are not necessarily of different ages but that the hedge may have developed from a variety of species. A close examination shows that the blackthorn is present in every section until it disappears in section 33. Hazel first appears in section 9 and continues without a break from section 12 to 33. Cherry is present in section 2 and re-occurs in section 33. Crab apple is present in only one section, 34. Willow comes in, in section 36, and continues as far as section 40. Sycamore is present in two isolated sections 23 and 32. It is to be noted that all these changes occur near a gap in the hedge. If one assumes that there is a change in the character of the hedge between sections 33 and 34 and a count of the species shows that there are more species in the north part of the hedge than the south. From section 34 onwards the average number of species present is 5·4 and this is considerably less than in the preceding section. Around section 23 some changes can be observed: viburnum, sycamore and hawthorn appear in isolation compared with the two sections on either side. The average, between sections 23 and 33, is higher, 7·4, than the average of the previous section. At section 11 hazel and hawthorn disappear, dogwood recommences and ash appears. This section has a gap which could be a reason for the changes. By averaging sections 12-22 the figure of 6·5 is lower than in the previous division. The remaining sections 1-11 have been much interfered with as shown by three gaps present. The average of this division works out at 5·0, and it is not surprising that this division has the lowest average for even the climbers are absent in some of the sections, although they were 25 E. Pollard, M. D. Hooper, N. W. Moore, Hedges, London, 1974, 21-24. 119 M. M. O'GRADY present throughout the rest of the hedge. The above four divisions of the hedge may be recognised as the basis of these observations. 1. Sections 1-11 have an average of . 5·0. 2. Sections 12-22 have an average of . 6·5. 3. Sections 23-33 have an average of . 7·4. 4. Sections 34-41 have an average of . 5·4. A probable explanation for the presence of such distinctive divisions in the hedge could be that it may have been planted as a single species or one could infer that its sections may have been of somewhat different ages. As a whole, however, it would belong to the period c. 1200-1450. If the assumption of single species planting is false, then no inference about age can be made with confidence. It is reasonable to suppose that small variations in the number of species per unit length, such as those instanced above, might result from the management of the hedge in different sections by those whose lands adjoined. The period of origin estimated would accord with the hedge being in existence at the time of the compilation of the 13 I 0 (Eastry) and 128 I (Adisham) rentals. Judging from the evidence that has emerged from the boundary study, it appears that the track was earlier and may have ante-dated the hedge. DISCUSSION (a) Heronden and Woghope in 1282, 'cccc acres in Hardindenne et Woghope omnibus de ii swolyengis'. Because the idea of severalty is so well expressed in this document, it is productive to consider the four hundred acres which were held in that tenure. Since over one mile of the four hundred acres bordered Thornton Lane, some idea may be had of the severalty of the land which lay to the west of Thornton Lane, where 80 land-holders held parcels of the 400 acres in 51 holdings. Of the 51 holdings, 31 were owned singly (28 by men and 3 by women). Twenty holdings ( 40 per cent of the land) were in the hands of groups. Such joint tenure may be regarded as a remnant of gavelkind which was the law of Kent. 'The tenement was partible among the male heirs. '26 No information is added, in the document, about the working of the shared holdings. The largest holding of all consisted of 25 acres and was shared by three men, with different names. Whether these three men were related is not indicated, nor is it mentioned how much 26N. Neilson, 'Custom and Common Law in Kent', Harvard Law Review xxxvili, 1924, 487. 120 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS each one of them owned of the whole holding, but it is thought that these lands which were held in partibility must have been worked in common for purposes of economy. 27 That each person owned and recognised his own portion is understood, but the details of the working out of the produce of the holdings are not clear, though it is thought that the profits of the land may have been shared equally in proportion to the land held by each person. The smallest partible holding consisted of l ½ acres and 4 ft. and it was held by five men and one woman. All these people had different names but this is no evidence that the holding was not worked and inherited according to the law of gavelkind. As the holding was partible itself, this indicates that, originally, it might have been owned by a single person. These six land-holders may be either inheritors or may have some sort of short-term interest in the land. The presence of only five women or one-sixteenth of the total number having an interest in the land is a direct result of gavelkind. 28 The land to the east. of Thornton Lane and its continuation northwards along Gore Lane was likewise tenant land. The names of the twelve tenants of Gore (the parcel of the 40 acres east of Gore Lane) are given in the 1310 rental. No joint holders are mentioned beyond one example of'heirs', which can be interpreted as having had at least two people. The important points which emerge from these documents are that the land, on both sides of Thornton Lane, was tenant land, belonging to two separate manors, that the tenants owed certain obligations to their lord, and that some of the holdings to the west which were worked by different people, must have abutted on the Thornton Lane boundary. (b) Some roads in Eastry Manor There seems to be no consistent terminology used to describe the roads which relate to Thornton Lane. Thornton Lane alone seems to be invariably called 'regia via' or 'regia strata'. The following example, from Eastry manor 1511 Rental, illustrates the point. The heirs of John Bone have three acres as follows, 'iacentes apud Horseacre inter communem viam East regiam stratam West'. The Common Way, which is here alluded to, seems to have been the tenants' common way, which ran parallel with Thornton Lane and can still be seen as a track, in the high ground between the demesne boundary, to the east and Thornton Lane (referred to as 'regia strata'), to the west. It seems to have been 27 J. E. A. Jolliffe. Pre-Feudal England: The Jutes, Oxford. 1933, 71. 28F. R.H. Du Boulay, Medieval Bexley, Bexley, 1961, 19. 121 M. M. O'GRADY the track, which the tenants used as they went to work in their plots and one reference in the same rental calls it 'via tenentum'. Southward of the 'regia via' or 'regia strata'(Thornton Lane) and the 'communis via' (tenants' way) and at right angles to them was another trackway called the Canterbury Way (Fig. 2). Julian Penny had a parcel of land close to it, 'Tenet apud Upperstone dimidium acrum capitandum ad terram Thomas Parker versus south, ad terram Roberti Sharpe versus West, ad terram heredum Johannis Ffrenne versus east, capitandum ad viam vocatum "Canterbury Way" versus north'. The Canterbury Way is often called the common way, in the document, and was a track crossing the fields to Canterbury. (c) Hedges and their management in Eastry manor The Bedels' rolls describe the demesne land. The descriptions of the tasks which had to be performed by the tenants are not always clearly outlined. The Bedels' rolls are divided into two sections: one describes the items for which money was received in the estate; the other deals with items which incurred expenses. In the light of this infonnation the hedges in the manor can be examined. Eastry was suffering from a shortage of timber at an early date. 29 'All the above named lands owed woodlode from Sandwich to Eastry where there was no timber.' At Domesday, Eastry is recorded as rendering 10 hogs, 30 while Adisham had no hog render. But it had 'wood for fencing'. The wood shortage which was recorded in Eastry at Domesday, continued to be a reality throughout the Middle Ages. In 1264-an entry records 'Item pro fagattis emptis ad clausturam circa cultonam xxid.'31 A faggot is believed to have been a customary measure of thin wood used for fuel in bread ovens. It may be argued that these faggots may have been purchased by the sergeant froin the tenants of Eastry manor, where the tenants may have had certain rights to take the faggots from their lord's hedge, if there had been a hedge, or they may have come from the trees or hedges from any part of the manor, if any existed elsewhere. But knowing that the manor was suffering from a shortage of timber, from an early period, it is possible that faggots may have come from Thornton Lane hedge, since a certain amount of evidence suggests that there was a hedge there, at that time. In the year 1314 there is an item in the Bedels' rolls which mentions the sale of faggots by the sergeant of the manor; 'Et de xxd. de di c.fagattis venditis'. The sergeant may have acquired these faggots from the 29 Eastry Manor. 1250 Rental. C.C.A.C. 30 L. B. Larking, The Domesday Book of Kent, London, 1869, 108. 31 Bedels' rolls. Eastry manor. C.C.A.C. 122 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS Thornton Lane himself or he may have received them from the tenants. It is important to remember that there seems to have been faggots available locally and most unlikely that faggots would have come from the Weald, though the 1250 document shows that heavy timber came from there. In discussing the denns of the archbishop, Du Boulay alludes to the rights of the tenants in the Weald, to fell and take away timber, as distinct from their rights to have possession of the underwood and the branches, blown down by the wind. 32 One can suggest that the tenants of Eastry manor may have enjoyed similar timber concessions on the manor, at home. In 1307, Eastry has an entry in the Bedels' rolls for money received, 'eel remaliis venditis, iiis. vid.' Loppings are regarded as the type of wood, thicker than faggots, taken from pollarded trees or side. branches of timber trees, which may have been too small for house construction but were of use as fuel and for stakes and posts. It may be assumed that the loppings sold in Eastry may have been cut from some of the larger trees along the Thornton Lane by the tenants. One entry of the demesne expenses for I 314 records, 'In xxi clays ad ovile iiis. ixd.' Perhaps, some of the loppings sold may have been converted into hurdles. That the thirteenth- and the fourteenth-century Bedels' rolls of Eastry record that peat was cut in the manor for firewood can be regarded as a confirmation of the shortage of timber. In the 1314 Bedels' rolls the demesne had to pay for part of the fence round Eastry court. 'In muro cristando circa curiam per loca iis. vid.' The 1250 custumal of Eastry manor mentions how 'each hundred acres had to fence round the court four perches'. Here one is confronted with a problem: was the fence alive or dead? The annual service of the tenants-fencing four perches-could be regarded as a fence of hurdles or a live fence. On examination of the other customary duties which accompany the statement about the fencing, it is found that each custom specifies the frequency of its performance which, in most cases, was an annual piece of work. From the documents that have been examined, it looks as if Eastry manor had both live and dead fences. (d) Names of Hedges in Eastry manor Only two hedges are mentioned in the manorial documents of Eastry. Danehegge is first mentioned in the 1481 rental of the manor. 'William Langle holds fifty acres at Danehegge and twelve and a half acres at Thornton land'. Dane Court is in the valley to the east of Thornton Farm. So, Danehegge may have been situated to the north of Dane 32 F. R.H. Du Boulay, 'Denns Droving and Danger', Arch. Cant., lxxvi (1961), 79. 123 M. M. O'GRADY Court Fann close to the line of the Canterbury Way, a little to the north of Venison Farm. An examination of the Tithe Map shows that there was no fenced boundary along the Canterbury Way till it•reached the present-day Thornton Lane hedge. From Thornton Lane westward, a definite black line traces out the presence of a fence along the Canterbury Way, at right angles to the present boundary hedge. Today the fence consists of a continuous hedge. If the hedge did exist in the past along the Canterbury Way, to the east of the present-day Thornton Lane, it was not in existence in 1840. There is a shaw bordering the eastern part of the Canterbury Way today but it was absent in 1840; but it is possible that a hedge may have extended to the east, which would account for the presence of Danehegge in the document. Hegisend is mentioned in the 1481 rental and later in the 1511 rental of the manor. The latter document records: 'Johannes Gillington alias Miller tenet apud hedgisend capitandum ad crucem ibidem et ad regiam stratam versus north east unde reddit per annum xiid.' The amount of land which John Gillington held there is not marked in the document. The 1511 second allusion records: 'Juliana Penny tenet apud hedgisend unum croftum terrae vocatum Newgate, contentum dimidium acrum dimidiam rodam olim Johannis Canteys capitandum acrum terrae Thomois Parker nuper Turners versus east laterando ad regiam stratam ducentem inter Eastry et molendinum versus north et ad terram Ricardi Parker versus south-west. Et reddit per annum iid.' This description suggests that Heggisend was on the opposite side of the road of these two holdings. If this is correct, then Heggisend could mean the end of the hedge ( of Thornton Lane), or that the named holding was situated at the hedge end of the village. CONCLUSION Important points about the trackway are that it begins and ends in pasture land; this may be of prior significance in any assessment of its purpose over a considerable period of its existence. In the Middle Ages the marshes around Sandwich were used early, by the neighbouring manors, of east Kent, for sheep-rearing and cattle-grazing. In 1289, 779 acres of land were in danger of being flooded, 3 3 'sub periculo maris', in the area of Worth, Ham, Hacklinge and Staten borough, obviously marsh land, which had been drained, in previous centuries. The southern end of the trackway, on the Downs, may have led to the denns, in the Weald, which were early used as swine pastures. 'The charters show them as sources of supply for wood for burning', for 33 Cleopatra, C. vii. British Museum. 42. 124 HEDGEROWS AND TRACKS building and salt making.34 It is evident that access to the Wealden denns and the coastal marshes was essential to the farming settlements of north-east Kent, in the Middle Ages. Because the trackway, is associated with the Downs, via the 'common droveway' one can speculate that some of the neighbouring manors may have used this track early in the Middle Ages. The question of the age of the trackway needs to be considered. The fact that the greater part of the trackway acts as a link between two former Roman roads, Dover-Woodnesborough and DoverCanterbury, makes it probable that the track was in use during the Romano-British period. The straightness of the track, in its linking stage, is a factor which suggests that it may even have been the period of its original construction. Its continuation as far as Geddinge suggests even earlier use, as Geddinge may be an ancient settlement. Wallenberg, 35 in discussing its origin, adds as an alternative to other interpretations, that it is of Celtic origin. The presence of the Bronze Age barrows close to the track may indicate use in the Bronze Age. According to Crawford's36 grouping of roads, the trackway would fall into the classification of 'Natural Tracks' as distinct from 'Made Roads'. The documentary material relating to the trackway and the hedgerow though valuable, is fragmentary. There are no early records concerning the nature of the boundary among the documents, of the two neighbouring manors. Although Thornton Lane hedge today acts as a boundary for about half of the estate of Heronden there is good reason to believe that the former boundary hedge may have been continued northward as far as Poison Cross. The document which records the information about 'Hedgisend' is rather ambiguous; it could refer to the hedge, which extended further northward than Eastry village. Historical evidence - although much later in date - the Tithe Map, confirms that there was a definite boundary to the Adisham estate (Heronden) from Poison Cross to the Canterbury Way. That boundary included the Thornton Lane hedge. If the former boundary hedge did continue further to the north, it seems likely that it may have been grubbed up to make room for the modern growth of Eastry village. The present information seems to indicate that the boundary track had been established in the Middle Ages. Any earlier evidence of its existence and use before that date is open to establishment. 34 N. Neilson, The Cartulary and Terrier of the Priory of Bilsington, Kent, London, 1928, 5. See Cartularium Saxonicum. Ed. E. de Gray Birch. London, 1885-93, Numbers 98, 160, 161, 190, 207, 341. 35 J. K. Wallenberg, Kentish Place Names, Uppsala, 1931, 14. 36 0. G. S. Crawford, Archaeology in the Field, London, 1953, 60. 125 M. M. O'GRADY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer is indebted to Miss E. C. Vollans, who read and commented on this paper; to Mr. J. Bones and Dr. M. D. Hooper for their help and advice; to Miss A. Oakley, of Canterbury Cathedral Archives, for permission to consult the document; to the geography staff and a small group of pupils of Holy Cross School, Broadstairs, who assisted in the hedge count. 126