2014

TQ1851 : The old road

taken 10 years ago, near to Westhumble, Surrey, England

This is 1 of 2 images, with title The old road in this square
The old road
The old road
A slight depression marks the course of the old road from Mickleham to Box Hill, just above its crossing of the private Zig Zag Road. Ahead is a huge old trunk which blocks the old road at its junction with a long established path on the Box Hill estate.
Boxhill Road

Boxhill Road is now known as the public road between Headley Common Road near Pebble Coombe and Box Hill Village, the continuation of which, via Zig Zag Road past Box Hill viewpoint and down to Mickleham near Burford Bridge, is a private road owned by the National Trust. However, Boxhill Road continues along two separate limbs, towards Mickleham and to Boxhill Bridge. Both limbs remain public roads, but neither is tarred, and one is currently impassable in part.

The northern limb lies to the north of Box Hill viewpoint, but is currently obstructed by vegetation over a short stretch, and by a large tree trunk. It crosses Zig Zag Road at the highest of the three hairpin bends (this one a little below the visitor centre), and (now freely passable) continues down the coombe to rejoin Zig Zag Road at the lowest of the three hairpin bends (the last part of Zig Zag Road, from the lowest hairpin bend to the junction with Old London Road, is therefore a public road). It seems likely that the old road went out of regular use by carriages in the late nineteenth century after Zig Zag Road had been thrown open to public use by the estate, for the private road offered a better surface and a gentler gradient for horse drawn traffic.

The other limb of Boxhill Road descended from the western end of the village, through what is now the car park of the Smith & Western restaurant, round the back of Boxhurst, to become established as a tarred road below Boxhurst down to Boxhill Bridge, and over the River Mole to join what is now the Old Coach Road across Betchworth Park to Buckland (the present junction with Reigate Road east to Reigate was constructed in the late 1920s).


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Hugh Craddock and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Paths Roads, Road transport Woodland, Forest Primary Subject: Road other tags: Unsealed Public Road Old Road Disused Road Woodland Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Zig Zag Road [10] · Old Road [5] Title Clusters: · The old road [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
TQ1851, 54 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Hugh Craddock   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 1 June, 2014   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 25 August, 2014
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 1812 5145 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:14.9998N 0:18.5351W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 1811 5145
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
Clickable map
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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