A number of past entries in the Visitors Book have suggested

Long before the town of Whitstable developed, several routes connected the "Seasalter to Swalecliffe section of the North Kent coast" to the inland City of Canterbury. Each was virtually the ‘Highway to Canterbury’ of the times. Each played its own part in conveying salt, marine produce, general goods and travelers to Canterbury and, not the least, shaping the future. We explore each of those and the subsequent development of the Highway we know today.

Within this article, unless accompanied by ‘town’, the name ‘Whitstable’ is used in a generic sense to identify the area between and including Seasalter and Swalecliffe. In distant times past, before even a hint of a town developing, the scene was quite different from that of today when we have one main artery supported by one subsidiary road and a few country lanes which appear to have little reason for their existence. Readers may be surprised to learn that those insignificant country lanes were the highways of yesteryear. Today’s main artery, the Whitstable-Canterbury road (A290), was non-existent. It wasn’t needed!

Before we answer that question and start this initial investigation into local highways, roads and lanes, have you ever wondered why some seemingly wander along a tortuous path yet others are so straight? The simple tale at figure 1 offers a lighthearted but pertinent explanation as to perhaps why so many of our roads and lanes follow the tortuous path they do.

Figure 1: The Calf Path
1	One day, through the primeval wood, A calf walked home, as good calves should; But made a trail all bent askew, A crooked trail as all calves do. Since then six hundred years have fled, And, I infer, the calf is dead. But, still he left behind his trail, And thereby hangs my moral tale.
2	The trail was taken up next day By a lone dog that passed that way; And then a wise bell-wether sheep Pursued the trail o'vale and steep, And drew the flock behind him too, As good bell-wethers always do.
3	And from that day o'er hill and glade, Through those old woods a path was made; And many men wound in and out, And dodged and turned and bent about, And uttered words of righteous wrath Because 'twas such a crooked path. But still they followed - do not laugh - The first migrations of that calf, And through this winding wood-way stalked, Because he wandered when he walked.
4	This forest path became a lane, That bent and turned and turned again; This crooked lane became a road, Where many a poor horse with his load Toiled on beneath the burning sun, And traveled three score miles in one. And thus a century and a half They trod the footsteps of that calf.
5	The years passed on in swiftness fleet, The road became a village street; And this, before men were aware, A city's crowded thoroughfare. And soon the crowded street was this Of a renowned metropolis; And men two centuries and a half Trod in the footsteps of that calf.
6	Each day a hundred thousand rout Follow this zig-zag calf about; The traffic of a continent. A hundred thousand men were led By one calf near four centuries dead. They followed still his crooked way, And lost a hundred years a day; For thus such reverence is lent To well-established precedent.
7	A moral lesson this might teach, Were I ordained and called to preach; For men are prone to go it blind Along the calf paths of the mind, And work away from sun to sun To do what other men have done.
8	They follow in the beaten track, And in and out and forth and back, And still their devious course pursue, To keep the path that others do, They keep the path a sacred groove, Along which all their lives they move.
9	But how the wise old wood-gods laugh, Who saw that first primeval calf! Ah! many things this tale might teach - But I am not ordained to preach. - Sam Walter Foss, 1890's

By contrast, the Romans are well known for their straight roads, unlike the rest of the world, ignoring the meandering track of our calf. Why? Did they merely think in straight lines? The Roman armies were well known for their ability to take an enemy by surprise by traversing great distance very quickly. They learnt the advantage of a direct route, of straight roads which the rest of the developed World would not appreciate until the Industrial Revolution introduced steam power and the railway about two millennium later.

There is a reason, perhaps many, why a road or lane is so convoluted, or straight or a mixture of each and why it starts and ends where it does. Each feature tells us a tale and informs us of what was where yesteryear.

There is no one simple sentence answer to explain why the main road of today, the main Whitstable/Canterbury road (A290), developed to obscure its predecessors. Indeed, there is no clear cut answer at all as we build the vague history of the Middle Ages and the more certain years of the Industrial Revolution upon an insecure base of the first Millenium to arrive at what we see today.

Maybe our zig zagging calf of Figure 1 did need to dodge a tree or two, a stream or ditch, hill or dale, no matter which, the moral of the tale to us is to look deeper into what we see today

In our earlier article, ‘Origins of Whitstable - Name & Place’ a number of settlements were shown to have existed encircling the area eventually defined as ‘Whitstable’. Some of those settlements were minor and transient as the shoreline changed. Some further inland became more structured with a church although such an edifice was no guarantee of permanency. Little is known of the area until the Romans came and left some record of their presence and what was where.

Some of those settlements fed inland Canterbury and the surrounding countryside with fish or salt or landed sea freight. All necessitating a transport route to that City.

The following Map 1 forms a base for our ‘Highways’ exploration and illustrates those settlements against a shoreline as it would have appeared after the 1287 inundation, conveniently midway between Roman times and the present. For ease of reference, modern names are used here to identify those settlements. Several present day features, churches etc, are included to orientate the reader.

In early days of purely pedestrian or horse drawn traffic the more stable settlements served Canterbury by their own individual route. On the one hand it would have been impractical and time wasting to travel from one towards another simply to use a common thoroughfare. On the other hand the sea, with its changing coastline along with the eventual Gorrell Delta, prevented any such link being conveniently direct.

The Swale Estuary has had a profound effect on development of the area as we saw in ‘The History of Whitstable’s Shoreline from 1287’. Not until 14th century sea defences established a coastal link from Seasalter to today’s Tower Hill area could one walk directly along the coast from the western settlement, Seasalter, to the eastern settlement, Swalecliffe. But even then, it was not as direct as is possible today although there is still no modern thoroughfare direct from Seasalter following along the shore to Whitstable let alone on to Swalecliffe.

To travel from one to the other meant a diversion inland of the Lower and Upper Islands to journey via Church Street hamlet, another settlement on high ground further inland. Two of those three above named settlements developed their own link to Canterbury which, combined with a third ancient link, formed our early ‘Highways to Canterbury’. ‘Highways’ is used in a relative sense as transport development has changed over the years especially since the Industrial Revolution. In the times of Roman, Saxon and Danish occupation of Britain, the two major settlements of those early clusters were Seasalter and the Church Street area.

Where Were Those Old "Highways"?

The Salt Way from the shore between Seasalter and Swalecliffe to Canterbury

(Note: A pedestrian track or pathway remains in a few places)

Swalecliffe to Canterbury

(Note: Partly exists today)

Seasalter to Canterbury.

(Note: Mostly exists today. As we will see, route 3 will lead us into discussing the route which ultimately replaced our three old highways as the main route to Canterbury, ie "route 4" below)
The Turnpike Road.

(Note: This exists as today’s A290 - the "Whitstable - Canterbury" road via Blean).

To start our journey of exploring Whitstable's old 'Highways', we look again at our map showing the various clusters of dwellings and settlements, but this time as Map 2 including the general line of those three routes where their track is known just inland of today's shoreline. Each route is shown on land in red, the projected line of each route offshore in black. Several present day features are named in black text to orientate the reader.

If we project the general line of the coastal section of each of those routes (black line) it is easy to accept that they link up with the 'offshore' clusters of dwellings or sites of habitation discussed in 'Origins of Whitstable - Name & Place". We must remember those routes were established by pedestrian traffic, human or pack animal, which naturally followed the easiest path around hills, across dale, over streams, around trees and other obstacles and therefore meander towards their destination just as our primeval calf did. However the pre inundation terrain of the tidal flats of today's shallows was obviously quite easy on the pedestrians who could tramp a relatively straight route to their destination over this area and therefore point us along a reasonably true path.

While history shows Seasalter to have been the most established of the three settlements with early pre-eminence over Church Street and Swalecliffe, there is evidence of pre historic habitation about the higher level of today's Swalecliffe coastal fringe.

While it is accepted that the Romans landed goods at Seasalter and transported those goods with locally collected salt inland to Canterbury, there does not appear to be the same weight of evidence supporting such a route from Swalecliffe to Canterbury in pre Roman or pre-historic times. There is evidence of a later route which we will explore.

The southern bank of the river Swale and its estuary, today's deep water mark, is considered to have been the shoreline until at least Roman times. We know that the Romans enjoyed the fruits of both the local salt and oyster industries. Indications are that both were being harvested when the Romans arrived. Exactly when and where those industries started as such is not precisely known.

First, we discuss The Salt Way which is generally considered the most ancient route from this part of the coast to Canterbury. As with so many features of this area, written references to the route, or even part of the route, The Salt Way takes differ so we follow the more historically recorded path. We ignore the isolated examples which tend to refer to The Salt Way as part of their particular feature.

Long ago, I found one reference to the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway following the Salt Way which had trains running alongside Blean Church, surely rather disastrous to Sunday services!

Another modern publication shows the route coincides with that part of the Seasalter Parish boundary starting about the Horsebridge along today's Oxford and High Streets. Those features were established centuries after the present shoreline was established, a shoreline established over a millennium after early descriptions of the Salt Way's existence. While such references, often from local lore, may frustrate seekers of the genuine, they do add some sense of mystery to our history and may well excite an interest and research which eventually uncovers more interesting historical fact.

As the North Kent coastline receded, many features changed, settlements and landing sites relocating with the changing shoreline. With one to two miles in depth of coastal fringe lost to the sea, we are denied any easily identifiable evidence of the actual route of The Salt Way seaward from today's shores. The earliest evidence as to where the Salt Way terminated is in references to a location named Herewic where salt was collected. Herewic, is said to be Saxon but translates in Old Danish to an army encampment or outpost. Herewic devolves through Harewick to the modern name Harwich.

For quite some time, the Danes occupied the Isle of Sheppey. Neighbouring Faversham was the principal Thames port from mid Roman times until surpassed by London around 1600AD. We must remember vessels of the day were small and of shallow draft - well able to cope with navigating the sheltered Swale River and approaches to Faversham. The Swale estuary and river would have been relatively busy with traffic to and from continental Europe.

With the Danes occupying Sheppey, the presence of a military camp or outpost on the opposite shore of the Swale is quite understandable. One would expect such a post to be about the closest point to Sheppey with a corresponding post there, both being conveniently placed to oversee entrance to the River Swale. A map covering the North Kent coast and Sheppey will show The Spit to be the closest of our offshore clusters, the closest potential hard ground to Sheppey in the days of Roman and Danish occupation. Shell Ness on the island of Sheppey and The Spit on the opposite shore provide two ideal sites for military posts across the entrance to the River Swale. Map 3 below illustrates those features. At the bottom right hand corner, we can see the black line representing our extension of the Salt Way from 'Whitstable'. The green line represents the long established but more modern boundary of the combined parishes of 'Whitstable' as it extends along The Swale.

The Danish occupation of Sheppey, the translation of Herewic as a Danish post known to have been on the 'opposite shore', the convenient location of that being The Spit, known to have once been the shoreline and the coincidence of our extension of The Salt Way to The Spit all add up to that feature being an early location of Herewic. We should not overlook that there must have been reason for that early parish boundary encompassing The Spit. Deduction yes, but with no viable alternative yet having the same support.

Human habitation requires a supply of fresh water. Just off scene to the West, or left, of Shell Ness, there is a brook or stream to supply that area. Because the opposite shoreline has receded so far, without appropriate archaeological survey we cannot determine with certainty that fresh water was available to The Spit. However there are several streams draining the higher land behind the Seasalter foreshore. At least one of those would surely have existed to possibly service that Danish outpost wherever it was on the former shore. In fact, one stream now outpouring to the West of the Pollard appears to head towards The Spit area (see earlier Map 2).

Records of Herewic over the centuries have associated it with salt harvesting. Therefore, as the shoreline receded, Herewic must have followed to the general area where we know it was with some certainty. That area is the well known areas of Lower Island and The Salts - the latter occupied today mainly by Seasalter Golf Course and Cornwallis Circle. (Note: The Salts was and is in the Parish of Seasalter. Early references to salt harvesting 'at Seasalter' could refer to the shore off the eventual Salts area, The Salts itself, further west in Seasalter or all of them including eastwards to the Harbour area perhaps including the now lost Gorrell Delta).

Apart from the general move of the shoreline to the South, we must look further to see if the topography or any change to it can indicate how Herewic could have arrived in the area of The Salts from a supposed location about The Spit. Considering that development of sea defences from the early 14th century has provided an unnatural shoreline, we must first look to where the 1287 inundation established a new shore.

On the following Map 4 the deep water mark, the shoreline of Roman times, is highlighted by the green line passing through points A1, B1 and around the Spit. Superimposing that line over the 'new' 1287 shoreline we can see the new shoreline is not greatly dissimilar to the old A1-B1-The Spit contour.

In Roman and Danish times, it seems likely that there was a slight ridge of higher ground, perhaps over a ridge of hard London clay like The Street, from points A1 to A2 & B1 to Blue Anchor corner. Those ridges would have left a shallow basin between them lending itself to salt harvesting. A shallow basin which, no doubt with the aid of man's coastal defences, would naturally become the tidal flats known today.

While there may have been a Danish army post on the point of The Spit, it is more likely the base for salt harvesting was somewhere about point B1 but still considered as Herewic. As the land sank, and the comparative sea level rose, Herewic would have naturally retreated along the line of the existing 'road', The Salt Way, to position B2 on or about Lower Island. Position B2 marks the last known point where an actively used Salt Way is perceived to have met the shoreline.

Herewic has been described as an Administrative Borough and also as a Manor with a number of salt pans. However there does not appear to be any building remains to mark its presence in the popular concept of a Manor. Generally, it would appear from old small scale maps that Lower Island was eventually home to this salt harvesting base, the sole preserve of The Salts in this immediate area, outlined in purple on our map. As embryo Whitstable developed, Herewic gradually declined into obscurity.

(Note: There is historical reference to 'Harewick having a church' and 'must therefore be Church Street hamlet'. Church Street was in the Manor of Northwood, earlier known as Nortone. Harewick has been described also as a Manor as well as an administrative Borough. Church Street is inland on high ground and therefore the much written of salt production of Herewic/Harewick would not have occurred there).

Administrative Boroughs extended across manorial territory so it is possible that, at some time, Herewic/Harewick encompassed Northwood Manor and therefore Church Street. Some Manors also had detached areas within another territory and, so, it is possible that reference to 'Harewick' having a church came from that location being within the Manor of Northwood at some stage. Of course none of that directly reflects upon the route of The Salt Way.

We now follow the Salt Way inland from where early maps etc show the route crosses The Salts to where it meets the Sarre-Penne Brook at today's Blean Bottom. The route continues on to meet the River Stour to the east of Canterbury but our interest is more in the Whitstable related 'half'. The following two part Map 5 shows the Salt Way in red and, to orientate readers, features recognisable today in black text with roads or lanes in grey and 'modern' Canterbury road in purple.

Sadly, there doesn't appear to be any tangible present day evidence of the Salt Way about the shoreline or on Lower Island. The 'Salts' area would have been low lying for centuries and no doubt required a well established 'roadway' to cross it from Herewic's earlier presence closer to Sheppey. Following the inundation of 1287, the 'Salts' area became flooded and tidal cutting off The Salt Way. Herewic and its salt production would have had to re establish along the new shoreline.

The redevelopment of salt production in the area we know as 'The Salts' would necessitate many changes. Old maps tell us that salt harvesting and storage focused on Lower Island and so a new 'roadway' to the now 'mainland' became a necessity. Until Upper and Lower Islands were joined, banking separating the salt pans would have provided a convenient causeway to join Lower Island. The alignment of the Salt Way shows this would most likely have been the middle 'separator' although a substantial causeway, which remains today, developed further west. Map 6 below.

Thus, we have no permanent reminder of that early 'highway' which joined 14th century sea wall defences, the yellow line, along Westcliff at a point to become known as 'The Cross'. The name 'The Cross' appears to have fallen into disuse as the salt industry declined and is largely unknown today. Perhaps the better known 'The Cross' at the junction of High and Harbour Streets has with the nearby landing place 'The Horsebridge' misled some to accept that as the 'Cross' associated with The Salt Way and thus misplaced that early highway.

'The Cross' of The Salt Way is broadly marked today by 'Portway' from where our 'highway' travels inland over a present day pathway to pass alongside the site of an ancient church and 'The Two Brewers' pub emerging to cross Canterbury Road into Saddleton Road.

Later, several manors would be built within reasonably close proximity to that first part of The Salt Way. Our earlier Map 5 shows three of those manors. The site of one, close to the eventual railway line is simply known as The Manor. Mystery, myth and confusion surrounds the true location of almost all of Whitstable's old manors. The second manor, along Joy Lane, is considered by some to have been the Manor of Borgsteall (Bostall then Borstal). However, that honour is also assigned to the third manor in the north east corner of Canterbury Road and Gordon Road close by The Salt Way when built. Further confusion is added by both sometimes being identified as Grymgill Manor or even Cundieshall (later Condies Hall) which probably has the widest range of perceived locations in the area.

Nevertheless, there is more certainty that The Salt Way continued along the route of Saddleton Road to a site below Donkin Down, the present Duncan Down. This is perceived as the site of Grymgill Manor (Grymgill aka Greenshields, Crymgil, Grimbarrow and Grimshill). Placed somewhere near the junction of Grimshill Road, one would think the Manor House would perhaps have been a little further on to take advantage of the fresh water from the Gorrell Stream. Nevertheless, it is known that Grymgill Manor fell into decay and, like The Salt Way, disuse, becoming a poorhouse by 1800AD. As such, one would think a record of its precise location would exist. Perhaps it does as an Ordnance Survey map of 1872 shows Grimgill Farm at or about the perceived site of the Manor. There are some historical references to the Manor house or Poorhouse 'becoming a farm'.

Considering the path the present main route to Canterbury takes, readers may wonder at the direction The Salt Way is heading. In the days of slow pedestrian traffic with man or beast carrying some burden, the easiest route with access to fresh water would be taken, not necessarily the shortest. The Salt Way avoids climbing the steep hills at the beginning of the journey to Canterbury when travelers would have been heavily burdened with goods, quite different perhaps to their return journey. The Salt Way enjoys the relatively level plateau through Clowes Wood and Blean. Fresh water was available from the Gorwell River, in Bogshole and several locations through Clowes and Blean Woods to the Sarre-Penne Brook.

From Saddleton Road, The Salt Way curves around the north eastern base of Duncan Down. About this point, some old maps show a substantial unidentified building on the south or opposite side of our route to where Grimshill manor is most commonly thought to be. Perhaps that is the old manor house. Crossing the Gorrel Stream, where there was once a bridge, our route today takes us around the most north easterly point of Benacre Wood to turn south alongside the Wood for a short distance. Benacre Wood has changed very little in the past 180 years but was a little bigger 200 years ago when our route would have taken us through the northern tip of the wood and through part of the eastern side as our Map 7 below shows.

Today Benacre Wood barely extends across the old Thanet Way (A2990) but, two centuries ago, the Wood covered a more extensive area down to and slightly over the Bogshole Brook and eastwards almost across to Golden Hill. Being part of the ancient North Woods, Benacre would have had even greater coverage in the early days of The Salt Way but the precise origins of its name and how far it really extended under that name have been lost in the mists of time.

Some maps around 1700 to 1800 show The Salt Way crosses a track or roadway shortly after first exiting the Wood. A track which extends from the top of Millstrood Hill along a ridge into the Wood itself is shown on the foregoing Map. 7. On one old map, there appears to be an unidentified building, perhaps farmhouse in the partially cleared wood. No textual reference has been found describing that apparent building nor can I recall any evidence being there during my youthful wanderings. Maps of the late 1800s show a smaller Benacre Wood with the track from Millstrood Hill diverging southwest to join The Salt Way route.

The Salt Way was then marked by stiles (as for a 'Bridle Path') at each fence in the area covered by those maps but I cannot imagine the new A299 with that facility! Some stiles still exist, some have been replaced by a wider modern steel 'farm gate'.

From our map, the Salt Way passes by ancient Seeshill and Burgess farms to enter Clowes Wood near Clowes Farm. A short distance to the east is the site of one of the first steam winding engines of the now defunct Canterbury & Whitstable Railway used to haul trains up from Bogshole valley.

To this stage we have not traveled along any hard evidence of the Salt Way such as presently paved, signed or used trackway since leaving Saddleton road. From here on the rest of our route to the Sarre-Penne stream is along local lanes or signed pathway.

Both Clowes Farm and the next farm The Salt Way passes close by, Amery Court, are very ancient. Both of those farms were established prior to 1400AD; established during the times when the Salt Way was the main route from the coast to Canterbury.

The present timber framed building of Clowes or 'Cluse' Farm replaced the original pre 1400s 'The Hall in The Blean'. The name Amery Court derives via various corruptions from The Almonary Court, the farm having once been given to St Sepulchre's Nunnery, Canterbury, no doubt as a source of income. Situated on the ancient Salt Way, both Clowes Farm and Amery Court would have been very prominent houses and reputedly hosted mediaeval Kings and their hunting parties although local woods are not considered to have been 'Royal' woods.

The Salt Way passes close alongside Blean Church, the ancient 6th century church of St. Cosmus & St. Damian in the Blean. The Church is said to have been built partly on the site of a Roman villa or fortified settlement conveniently alongside The Salt Way.

In the later years of The Salt Way's regular use, Blean village centered about the Church which today stands in isolation. In this 21st Century, The Salt Way is evidenced alongside the Church by a pathway and is commemorated by a memorial seat nearby.

Blean Church is the final edifice of note before we leave the Salt Way as it crosses the Sarre-Penne stream well before entering the environs of Canterbury.

(One would think The Salt Way to be about the only maritime connection inland Blean Church has. However a plaque inside the church commemorates the lost souls aboard HMS Blean, a Hunt Class Destroyer sunk in the western Mediterranean 60 miles west of Oran, Algeria on 11th December 1942 less than 5 months after commissioning.)

The Salt Way is generally accepted as continuing on from the Sarre-Penne Brook to meet the River Stour to the east of Canterbury about Sturry the location of the ancient port linking Canterbury with the Continent.

From the River Stour The Salt Way is perceived by some to have continued further to the one time Roman port of Durovernum (Dover). As the northern end or beginning of The Salt Way is generally accepted to pre date the Roman occupation of Britain, it is likely they extended and modified the route to suit their own preferences for shipping the highly valued salt to Rome.

Very little has been recorded about this route which is believed started about Long Rock where the ancient Burnan, the Swale Brook presently known as Swalecliffe Brook, flows out to sea. In those far off days of early history, the coastline would have been further out to sea but what could have been there to initiate a 'highway' to Canterbury? There is salt of course, known to have been harvested there although not given as much support in the annals of history as the salt works of Seasalter. There are references to 'goods' being landed about there and transported to Canterbury. But, why there?

There is some thought that Canterbury's River Stour once made its way to this area, which of course would have made it a likely place for an early port with a roadway to that city.

The answer, although truly lost to time, may partly lie in the nature of the land structure, the sea bed of old before sea encroachment and inundation set the modern shoreline. The hard clay and rock of the Long Rock area sea bed would have resisted erosion, some parts remaining at a higher level, perhaps above the tide line and therefore avoid inundation. The erosion against the hard clay/rock base may have presented a suitably deep water berth for the small shallow draft vessels of the day in comparison with the shallow tidal flats to the west. The hard bed would most likely have restricted the estuary of the Burnan, later The Swale Brook now the Swalecliffe Brook, to a fairly narrow but reasonably deep waterway. If the Burnan outflow was towards the west side, then its estuary with the exposed Long Rock providing shelter from onshore winds and tides would have provided a protected 'port'.

Regardless, it is known that a 'roadway' to Canterbury existed in the 10th Century being written of as 'the High road to Canterbury.' We do not know to what extent subsequent sea encroachment effected either the extent of local habitation or the use of that 'high road'.

While the sea encroachment closer to Sheppey has been referred to as 'up to two miles' or '2½ miles', that off Swaleciffe's Long Rock, illustrated in the following sectioned Map 8, was reportedly less, perhaps as little as 3/4 of a mile.

The red line on the following Map 8 represents the perceived Swalecliffe to Canterbury 'Highway'. The first panel illustrates the 'Highway' from the coast southwards to just beyond Shrub Hill. The second panel continues the Highway' to Tyler Hill just south of the Sarre-Penne Brook. As before, some present day features are noted in black text. More major roads or lanes in dark grey including the Salt Way, Canterbury Road on the second panel in purple and minor lanes or tracks in light grey.

Once again, any evidence of the seaward end of a roadway from the shoreline has been lost to the sea and the passage of time. Said to have been the site of habitation since prehistoric times, the Domesday survey recorded only eight cottagers in Swalecliffe in a scattered settlement. There is some small evidence of Stone Age habitation in Swalecliffe and a 1922 cliff fall exposing a hoard of bronze objects with a 1975 Bronze Age pottery 'beaker' find on the foreshore tend to confirm continuing habitation through the Bronze Age.

References to goods being landed about today's Swaleciffe, Saxon Soanclive in the Domesday Book, indicate there could have been a named settlement on the early foreshore, probably about our 'Roman' shoreline.

There is some thought that the landing place, the mysterious Le Craston, may have been off Long Rock although such a name is indicative of Norman rather than the Roman era or pre Roman times. Goods were recorded as having been landed at Le Craston for Canterbury. Other sites have also been identified as the possible location of Le Craston which it is said devolved to 'Greystone' reputedly perpetuated in the name of a local family and Greystone Road. Like Grimshill Manor, it is amazing that the site of Le Craston is not known as references to its actual use occur as late as the early 1800s.

It is logical to accept that any ancient landing place would have been in or about the mouth of the Burnan, today's Swalecliffe Brook, wherever it was at the time. In the absence of hard evidence to the contrary, we can only consider any track or 'roadway' carrying those goods to Canterbury would have crossed the line of today's shore close by Swalecliffe Brook.

The mouth of the Swalecliffe Brook and the general Long Rock location achieved some notoriety and permanency in the more recent history of the Napoleonic Wars. Many French Prisoners of War were incarcerated in old hulks in the lower reaches of the River Thames. Some simply escaped, some were wealthy enough to bribe guards and buy local help to return to France. We won't concern ourselves here with the mechanics of the bribery. Suffice to say that many of those prisoners of war were smuggled via the inland countryside of Seasalter, Whitstable and Swalecliffe back to France at some profit to Whitstable men.

We briefly revisit the subject when we examine our third 'Highway' (Seasalter to Canterbury) and, finally, 'The Turnpike Road.'

Our 'Swalecliffe to Canterbury 'Highway' does not have the known colourful history of the other routes to Canterbury but it appears to have passed through an area of some note in feudal times. Chestfield Manor, within the Parish of Swalecliffe, was in the possession of King William's half brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux during the Domesday Survey. The other end of this 'Highway' passes through Tyler Hill which was also granted to Odo so it is possible the length of this 'Highway' from shore to Canterbury primarily served Odo's estates.

Some idea of the standing of Chestfield Manor can be understood when in the next century, the 13th, the Manor's James de Chestevill paid the feudal aid to Knight the Black Prince. The Manor and the area appears to have gradually slipped into rural obscurity until the 20th century.

Chestfield derives from Caet (forest) through Caetville and was a settlement in the 7th century. Our 'Highway' served a very small Swaleciffe population, as noted Domesday recording a mere 8 cottagers including 4 in Chestfield. Although the population was small, it left us with some of the most ancient premises in the district. Those of Chestfield's 4 cottagers remained as Bodkin Farm, Balsar Street Farm, Highgate Farm and, lastly, the former Chestfield Manor. Perhaps Chestfield Manor is unique in British history for over the years following its manorial decline it served as a Dower House, a row of cottages eventually becoming a Golf Clubhouse in 1924!

There is some contention that the 'Highway' ran westwards from Swalecliffe towards Church Street hamlet, before turning south west to join The Salt Way about Bogshole. As there is evidence of earlier settlement around Swalecliffe than Church Street, the establishment of a more direct route to Canterbury, also serving Odo's estates, would be more likely. A route eventually linking those ancient farms and the extensive lands of 'Chestfield Manor'. The name of Highgate Farm, which our 'Highway' passes close by is indicative of being on a 'high road'. A late 1700s map supports our 'red line highway' of the above maps. In addition there is literary evidence of a 'road' from the north terminating at the River Stour where the present St.Stephans Road from Tyler Hill thence Swalecliffe joins the river. That part of the River Stour was a well established port for Canterbury before silting eventually closed the river to freight traffic.

Back to Chestfield from where the 'Highway' runs through undulating pasture land to Clowes Wood with little of any historical note until about the entry into Clowes Wood. Here we find The Radfall, originally a double row of earthworks flanking a clear belt of what was common or 'free' land. The earthworks are believed to be of Saxon origin, the name Radfall deriving from the earthworks being 1 Rod (about 16½ feet, 5 metres) apart and 'Fall' where people had free access to fallen timber thus keeping the area clear. Typically a 'radfall' marked the boundary between adjacent properties at the same time providing a cleared access, a clear thoroughfare.

Perhaps the singular 'ownership' of Chestfield and Tyler Hill in Norman and mediaeval times is why there are no old farms along the route between Chestfield Farm and Brittancourt Farm in Blean and that farm to the Sarre-Penne Brook where we leave this 'Highway'.

More has been written about this old 'Highway' than either of the other two we have examined. Studying what has been written plus available maps it is easy for one to accept that our Seasalter to Canterbury 'Highway' ran by a devious route from Blue Anchor Corner to join today's Canterbury Road at Pean Hill and from there to Canterbury. This popular concept of the route as far as Pean Hill is shown in red on Map 9 below.

Looking at the map our first query would be 'Why the devious section to Foxes Cross?" Why not a straight run to the shore as shown by a light green line on the map?

The Seasalter dykes shown did not exist until 14th century sea wall and eventual drainage schemes were implemented so they would not have caused any ancient deviation. We can see on Map 4 a hard ridge joining the shore to The Pollard which was known to have been a landing place for goods so why not a straight run to or from there? Interestingly maps around 1800 show what appears to be the outline of a roadway along that ridge.

Historians have pointed out that, given the Roman reputation for building straight roads, the line of the well known Watling Street from Dover through Canterbury, could continue on from St Dunstans in Canterbury along the general line of Whitstable/Canterbury Road to join our green line at Pean Hill.

So, why does the seaward section of the highway now meander between Foxes Cross and the shore?

First we should look back to the inundation by the sea which destroyed the original Seasalter Church in 1099. The above Map 9 shows the approximate long lost site of the Church of St. Peter. We do not know where the new 1099 shoreline was established. It may have been somewhat transient but we do know the remains of the old church were lost to the sea until a brief exposure of what were believed to be the Church and cemetery remains during storms in 1779.

The important point is that a new church re-dedicated to St Elpheis (Alphege) was established inland on safer higher ground, the active remains, the chapel we know of today off Church Lane. Quite naturally regular routes passed by established churches so it is easy to accept that in the very religious ages about the 12th century our highway may have been diverted to do just that.

History tells us that from 1287 the land bounded by Faversham Road inland from Blue Anchor Corner to Seasalter Cross then westwards from there by Seasalter Lane was open to the sea until a sea wall closed the area off in the 14th century. Even when closed off the land we know as Seasalter Levels or Marshes remained low lying and subject to flooding. (Seasalter Cross is some 6 feet or more below mean high tide sea level.)

From 1287 a straight section of 'highway' from wherever the shore was to Seasalter Lane would have become impractical. But as the sea so easily claimed that area in 1287 one can see the area was most likely unsuitable for a roadway at any time. Even a 'modern' railway embankment succumbed to the flooding in 1953.

We have read that historians considered the Seasalter to Canterbury route a natural 'straight line' extension of the Roman built Watling Street from Dover to Canterbury. It is recorded that the Romans transported salt and goods from Seasalter to Canterbury but, is it correct to assume that our 'red line highway' actually continued from Pean Hill into Canterbury?

Did not John Roper of Canterbury in 1523 bequest monies for the 'making of an horse way for the fisshe wyves ....' between the shoreside settlement becoming known as 'Whystapel Street' and Canterbury? The route generally perceived to be today's Canterbury to Whitstable road perhaps trod by the said fishwives since the Canterbury fish market was established in 1312. That action infers that at best the route was a pedestrian pathway, perhaps used by pack horses (and eventually ox carts) little more than perhaps a well trod track to be properly upgraded to a horseway by John Roper's bequest. A track hardly representative of Roman roads!

But wait! Have not Historians accepted that it is the route of 'today's Canterbury-Whitstable road' (A290) which Whitstable 'fisshe wyves' trod "since the Canterbury fish market was established in 1312"?

Let us examine the name used as the locale from which those fisshe wyves trod - 'Whitstable' in its various forms. The shoreline known to those fisshe wyves had been established barely 25 years before 1312 as explained in 'The History of Whitstable's Shoreline from 1287'. There is no evidence that a settlement, known as Whitstable, in its various spellings, existed along the 1287 established foreshore in 1312. Could it be that early recordists were in fact referring to the general shoreline of Witenstaple Hundred not a specific location such as a residential settlement?

Quite logically fisherfolk, displaced by the 1287 inundation would have settled wherever it was most convenient along the foreshore. One would expect, as humans have done before, they would do their best to maintain their living until their situation became settled. Eventually as communication routes to Canterbury re-established to carry their goods they would congregate into an embryo settlement convenient to that route.

Let us now look at later evidence, the 18th century Turnpike, to hopefully solve our conundrum although we discuss the Turnpike Road in our final chapter.

We know via an Act of Parliament (approving the Turnpike road) that John Roper's road was in use by carriages in 1735 and we know from that it led from Saint Dunstan's Cross near the City of Canterbury leading through the Parishes of Saint Dunstan's, Harbledown, Blean, Hearn-hill, Sea Salter, and 'Whitstable'.

Harbledown? Hearn Hill? Sea Salter ? A Canterbury to Whitstable road passing through those Parishes? One with a basic knowledge of the location of those Parishes may ask 'Since when?'.

We could accept that the reference to 'Sea Salter' Parish referred to that part of the parish the boundary of which we know today tracks along Whitstable's High Street and around the St. Alphege Church - War Memorial sites. Therefore a Turnpike "...to the Water-side at Whitstable....." as we will later see the Act proclaimed, would seemingly pass through Seasalter Parish.

However the Turnpike would, by definition, naturally terminate at a tollgate. One at St. Dunstans Cross in Canterbury and one in Whitstable which we know was on the southern side of and close by the eventual site of the North Kent railway bridge over Oxford Street, outside Seasalter Parish! We needs look elsewhere for the Turnpike to pass through Sea Salter Parish. Perhaps we may find an answer if we explore this roadway from the other end.

Maybe St.Dunstan's Cross or the early part of the road to St. Thomas' Hill was in the Parish of Harbledown? But Hearn Hill? Surely that would be a route into Seasalter not "...to the Water-side at Whitstable....."

The Parish of Hearn Hill (today's Herne Hill,) skirted the southern boundary of the Seasalter Levels, its boundary crossing southwards over Seasalter Lane to encompass today's Yorkletts Farm. The boundary extended close to Foxes Cross and Ellenden Farm almost to our 'red line' Highway, but not to the perceived route of John Roper's road!

It is difficult to believe that an Act of Parliament would be in error but it certainly looks as though there was some confusion between John Roper's earlier developing route and that of our old Seasalter to Canterbury 'highway'. Unless we put aside our knowledge of the roads as they are today and look deeper for a solution.

Most of the written history of the area has been recorded since that Act of Parliament. Have historians merely assumed John Roper's request referred to the complete route from Canterbury into Whitstable? Was there a plan of the route in 1523? Without one, have historians applied John Roper's 'road' as meaning the complete route as known since the Turnpike was formed over 200 years later?

Did we not read above that 'historians considered the Seasalter to Canterbury route a natural extension of the line of Roman built Watling Street from Canterbury'? Does that not align with the Act referring to the roadway passing 'through the Parishes of Saint Dunstan's, Harbledown, Blean, Hearn-Hill, Sea Salter'?

We read above that the Parish of Hearn Hill 'extends close to Foxes Cross and Ellenden Farm'. Map 10 (left) shows us the Parish boundaries relevant to that area. Suitable available data for Map 10 unfortunately dates from about 100 years after the Act of Parliament.

Map 10 shows a 'red line' as part of our Seasalter to Canterbury highway, the line of the Turnpike in purple, the modern Whitstable boundary in bright green. The black dotted lines indicate parish boundaries.

We can see that we have the boundaries of four parishes in the Foxes Cross - Pean Hill area ie: Hearn Hill, Seasalter, Whitstable and another not yet mentioned, Dunkirk. Perhaps, at the time of the Act Dunkirk was part of Hearn Hill Parish. As we can see the purple line of the modern Whitstable - Canterbury Road, the accepted route of the eventual Turnpike Road, does not pass through the parishes of Hearn Hill and Seasalter (or Dunkirk) according to those early 1800s boundaries.

Although closer our Red Line Highway does not pass through the parishes of Hearn Hill/Dunkirk either!

We must however remember the whole route that Act of Parliament covered. Although the Act did not mention the Parish of Dunkirk, if we follow the Parish boundary along the eastern side where it first shares with Whitstable Parish then Blean Parish, we will see that it does extend to the Turnpike Road shown on Map 11 (right) by the purple line.

As noted above perhaps, at the time of the Act, Dunkirk was part of Hearn Hill Parish. Was it?

So, the Question Remains..........

To look further into that likely 18th century confusion we should question why Seasalter Church was built exactly where it remains instead of on what appears to be the older more direct route to Canterbury via Pean Hill.

There is another possible route which could answer that but I stress this is my own hypothesis not promoted by any historian to my knowledge although Flavia Taylor in 'The North Woods' does align The Salt Way with it to some degree.

We have read that The Salt Way passed close by Seeshill Farm in Bogshole Valley. Seeshill Farm fronts on to Seeshill Road which ran uphill from there to pass nearby Benacre Wood. From the north side of the farm the road was, until the new A299 and slip road obliterated it, marked solely by a single fence until when nearby Benacre Wood the road was marked both sides by fencing in front of the only other dwelling on Seeshill Road (coincidentally briefly my home and parents' poultry farm.)

From there the road was unfenced but actually formed and continued westwards for 100 or 200 yards but any further vestige of Seeshill Road was lost under Thanet Way (A2990), the old 1930s built former A299. The line of Seeshill Road here projected generally towards Seasalter Church.

Perhaps there was a time when Church Lane, our 'Highway', passed the Church to continue on more or less directly to join the well established Salt Way near Seeshill Farm. That would have been an easier route for those early pedestrian travelers. Conversely, a route that may have existed before the Church was built on its present site!

The blue line on Map 12 shows this possible route, the red line our Seasalter to Canterbury Highway, the purple line the route of the Turnpike road and the yellow line representing The Salt Way.

A bright green line, partly over the blue line, shows that part of the Seasalter to Salt Way link covered by the old Thanet Way. Benacre Wood is shown in darker green how it would have been about the time of the Act of Parliament, the light green section as the Wood is today.

Note: some maps, including modern street atlas' erroneously show South View Road (sometimes called Sea View) as continuing across Thanet Way to pass alongside Benacre Wood as though it is Seeshill Road.

We return to our 'red line' highway to continue our journey along narrow Church Lane on towards Canterbury. Today, after crossing the old Thanet Way, Church Lane becomes Pilgrims Lane to Foxes Cross then Foxes Cross Road as they are known today then on to today's Canterbury Road at Pean Hill.

We may wonder at that seemingly circuitous route. We should be aware the road passes close by Ellenden Farm, a Manor in post Norman times which may have attracted the road in that direction. In those days the name was Elyndenne owned by a family of that name until given to the abbot and convent of Faversham. Henry VIII returned the manor to private hands, several Knights holding title until it was sold in 1791. Elyndenne, adjacent to Whitstable Parish boundary, had the distinction of standing across the boundary of both Seasalter and Dunkirk parishes as shown in Map 10 but by title was recorded as being in Whitstable Parish!

Arriving at Pean Hill we have traversed a well known route for 18th & 19th century smugglers!

In the 18th century illicit goods landed along the lonely reaches of Seasalter shore were smuggled along our 'highway' to be hidden in the woods and 'residences' around the area marked by Ellenden Farm, Pean Farm and Court Lees across the road from Pean Farm on the foregoing Map 10 and Map 13 below. Smuggled goods were transported to Canterbury or locations west towards and including London. The smuggling gangs developed into a substantial fraternity becoming highly organised in the form of companies with directors and managers. Managers and other members of the smugglers hierarchy were housed in a number of dwellings along the routes contraband was transported. Parsonage Farm in Seasalter was one of the best known local 'Manager's' residences. Of course little was really recorded in any formal manner about their activities which is quite understandable but frustrating for us today.

Smuggling of illicit goods had died off considerably by the mid 19th century as excise laws changed but we have seen how a new form of smuggling had given local smugglers a diversion for the years of the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1814. We know that many of those prisoners of war were smuggled via the inland countryside of Seasalter. Our 'Red Line Highway' or parts of it and some accompanying farms played a major part in that illicit activity.

In both forms of smuggling the 'contraband' made its way by devious minor routes to our 'Red Line Highway' in the higher rougher ground of Church and Cut Throat Lanes (now Pilgrims Lane) and Foxes Cross Road. Illicit goods were either diverted westwards or continued a little further on to be temporarily hidden in the Ellenden - Tong Wood - Pean Hill area. The French P.O.Ws typically turned east through the Bogshole Valley.

We will look a little closer at a few minor parts of the smuggling story when we address our final highway The Turnpike Road. We will not delve too far into the smuggling activity as that is a complete story outside the scope of this article.

We temporarily left our 'Red Line Highway' where it met the route of today's Canterbury Road at Pean Hill. The name Pean Hill can be a little confusing as it does in fact cover about two hills over almost a mile of roadway shown on Map 13 (left). Stretching from about the Court Lees manor house to The Brook, the Whitstable/Blean Parish border, the general Pean Hill area seemingly saw the greater part of local contraband temporary storage and distribution.

From that part of Pean Hill where the Seasalter to Canterbury 'highway' joins the line of the later Turnpike road and thus the present Whitstable to Canterbury Road (A290), the route of these old roads into Canterbury appears to coincide.

We have followed our ancient Seasalter to Canterbury Highway along two possible routes. One well written of but, the route taken is in some doubt thanks to John Roper, an Act of Parliament and the effects of the 1287 inundation seemingly being overlooked. The other route, at this time hypothetical, completed its journey towards Canterbury over the long established Salt Way from the Bogshole Valley.

There are many references throughout history to salt being carried from Seasalter to Canterbury, of salt being transported along The Salt Way, of salt being carried 'from Seasalter' along The Salt Way. In the centuries before 'Whitstable' developed as the named settlement Witstapel Street, the majority of the salt producing area from the western extremities of Seasalter to today's Whitstable foreshore came under Seasalter Parish or Seasalter Borough (modern names/spelling used.) Could it be that references 'from Seasalter' and 'along The Salt Way' referred to either the accepted Salt Way or combined with the hypothetical route joining it from the location we identify as Seasalter today?

References to the route those ancient 'fisshe wyves' took to Canterbury market leave the actual route taken open to conjecture and invite further investigation.

"An Act for repairing and widening the Road leading from Saint Dunstan's Cross, near the City of Canterbury, to the Water-side at Whitstable....."

That Act of Parliament would see the generally accepted John Roper's 'horse way for fisshe wyves' change forever. In 1736, that horseway would become one of the new Turnpike roads of Britain, the second in Kent. A Turnpike which, within a century, it is recorded, would see annually 20,000 tons of goods and 4000 people traverse the route from Whitstable to Canterbury. This at a time when the Whitstable population was less than 2000. The Turnpike road had a profound effect on Whitstable and saw our earlier 'Highway's stagnate to country lane status or in part disappear.

Before we get too excited about this fabulous new Turnpike road, we can ask "When and where did this route start?" We know that our 'fisshe wyves' followed some route to the fish market at Canterbury in 1320, early in the 14th century. We do not really know precisely what route they followed. As we saw in Route 3: Seasalter to Canterbury, there is some discrepancy between Parliament's understanding of the route and the common perception that it has always followed the Whitstable - Canterbury road as we know it today.

Possibly the dramatic changing of the shoreline in the 1099 to 1287 period provided a more convenient, perhaps more protected landing place than previously existed. The Street as we know it today does provide some measure of protection which was not there before 1287. The appearance of the Street alone would have caused a drift of fishing and commercial craft from Seasalter towards landing their loads in these slightly more protected and deeper waters.

The 1340 and 1532 built sea wall along the line of today's Middle Wall and Westcliffe gave a measure of protection eventually allowing early dwellings, thence a crude roadway to develop along the narrow spit eventually occupied by today's High and Oxford Streets. More importantly to our tale, in the 14th to 15th centuries that early track would have been as a finger post pointing from the shore to Canterbury for our 'fisshe wyves' to pioneer a new route.

Historic evidence tells us the new route grew along the line of today's Canterbury Road to Joy Lane, to the 'Tollgate' of today. But there is little information recorded of the route from that point and the period following the 14th century until that Act of Parliament.

Initially perhaps our 'fisshe wyves' turned off along the eventually named Main Road (now Joy Lane) to join the old Seasalter to Canterbury 'Highway'. But, where did they join it? Perhaps there was a different route. If we project the line of Canterbury Road from about today's St James Street through the Tollgate area we would see it meets with our earlier Seasalter to Canterbury Highway at about the present intersection of Church Lane and the old Thanet Way (Refer to Green line Map 14 on the left). We can see the green line, our projected line, generally coincides with the continuation of Church Lane now known as Pilgrims Lane, through the Wraik Hill area.

There is literary evidence of an old pathway or track along our projected line uphill from the Tollgate area junction towards the Church Lane -Thanet Way intersection of today. That would have presented a less daunting, less demanding climb uphill than that of the Borstal Hill of the 18th & 19th centuries.

Seasalter Parish records show that in the late 1600s there was a bridge at 'the bottom of Borstall'. Although that has been accepted as meaning 'the bottom of Borstal Hill' as we know it today one wonders about that as there does not appear to be any mention of such a bridge in any reference to the Turnpike Road.

There was a watercourse running down the east side of the road we now know as Canterbury Road. The watercourse continued on alongside Oxford and High Streets before discharging into Whitstable Bay about the Harbour site and later perhaps into the Harbour once built. (sometimes mistaken for the Gorrell Stream discharging into the Harbour?) The lay of the land also suits a watercourse flowing from the hill behind Borstal Hill Farm, on the west side of today's Borstal Hill (road,) to either cross the site of that road before flowing down the east side or, to flow across the path of Main Road (Joy Lane) hence the need for a bridge. The lay of the land also supports westerly drainage flowing from the east side, opposite Borstal Hill Farm and below the windmill into the first mentioned, eastern, watercourse.

The bridge, maintained by the Parish of Seasalter, would then be servicing a path or track up Bostall hill. Logically one would think the track angling uphill towards Church/Pilgrims Lane would branch off the track up Bostall hill on the high side of any water course.

Perhaps the bridge was built specifically to service that shorter link with the old Seasalter to Canterbury 'Highway' angling uphill to Church Road instead of traversing Main Road (Joy Lane) to Church Lane.

A small settlement known as Bostall Green is known to have existed about the eventual Tollgate area. There appears to be little to show us when even a simple horse or cartway was first made over the Borstall Hill route we know today. However Bostal was earlier known as Borgsteall a name derived from Old English - a track or path winding uphill thus supporting a less direct route than that of today.

There appears to be little if any evidence to tell us when the 'fisshe wyves' took the more direct route over 'Bostall' and Clapham hills to met the Seasalter Canterbury Highway. Do we have any evidence telling us? Was there any other use to bring about development of that section? Was the landing of goods becoming more focused on one specific part of the coast sufficient to help develop one singular route to Canterbury?

The Salt Way had probably fallen into complete disuse long before Daniel Defoe noted in his 1712 'Tour' that 'Whitstable' shore was becoming the main landing point for Canterbury merchandise. We know that was most likely because the River Stour was no longer open close to Canterbury. It wasn't until about 1730 that the settlement developing along the lower High/Harbour Streets area was named and recognised as 'Witstapel Street' with Church Street at that time noted as 'Witstapel', later Whitstable. Therefore we cannot be sure if Daniel Defoe was referring to 'Witstapel Street' as the landing place or generally along the foreshore from Seasalter to Swalecliffe. (If any reader has easy access to Defoe's 'Tour' it would be nice to read the actual passage to verify detail, especially his spelling of Whitstable.)

Logically Defoe's 'development of trade' probably did focus attention on John Roper's horseway necessitating some attention to it over the years to improve it for wheeled carts. We know from the above Act of Parliament that the road was in use by 'carriages' in 1735 but, which road?

We saw how the Act of Parliament added some confusion about the route the Turnpike road would follow and in some minds over where the Turnpike terminated. We have said that logically Turnpike roads existed between tollgates otherwise they would not have been Turnpike roads. Therefore the thought expressed by some that our Turnpike Road ran from Canterbury's Westgate Towers to Tankerton Tower (Whitstable Castle) would be incorrect. However the main street, including Oxford and High streets, were at least colloquially referred to by some locals as 'the turnpike road'.

Parliament's reference to 'the waterside at Whitstable' adds further confusion as the original Whitstable Tollgate, was far from the waterside as we know it today. (Map15A below.) But, what of the location in 1735? The waterside was actually about the Oxford Street/Nelson Road intersection, a mere 250 yards (200metres) from the Tollgate, so perhaps we will allow Parliament that one. We must be conscious too that it was impractical for Parliament to readily visit the sites their Acts refer to. Parliament must rely upon information presented to it by those proposing or requesting an Act. Information presented according to the understanding of the locale etc by the proposer.

Regardless of all that it is well established that the eventual route of the Turnpike Road is that of today's Whitstable/Canterbury road, the A290.

No matter where it started, ran or finished we will see that within its length the Turnpike saw enough interesting activity to mark its presence.

We start our journey along The Turnpike Road from the Whitstable Tollgate, the original Tollgate that is. The Whitstable Tollgate was built well over 120 years before the bridge for the North Kent railway was erected across Oxford Street/Canterbury Road. The Tollgate was built on the Canterbury side of the then Mill Road now Belmont Road intersection. That intersection was then quite different to that known in living memory.

Map15 A, B & C shows three development stages of that intersection. The maps have been developed using contemporary maps as a guide to present a reasonable idea of how things were.

Map15A shows the general area before the Turnpike was promoted. The Gorrell Delta was still low lying sometimes swampy land restricting development along the east side of a developing roadway - High & Oxford Streets of today. Mill Road can be seen to loop around 'Swan Field' a swampy leftover from the drying Gorrell Delta. The proximity of the seashore, ie the edge of the salt pans, to the intersection and thus the Parliamentary statement "....to the Waterside at Whitstable." is evident. Several modern road/street names are used to orientate the reader.

Map15B shows the intersection as it apparently was shortly before reconstruction of the intersection to accommodate the railway, railway bridge and station. The railway necessitated a considerable embankment be built to pass over the roadway, in some ways considerable foresight for the pre-automobile period of the mid 1800s.

Note: The intersection at this time is a pronounced inverted 'T' shape. The embankment would have a profound effect on the intersection, Mill Road and neighbouring premises. Not shown are the toll gates and a gate across the end of Mill Road. One of the first gas lamps to be installed in Whitstable was on this corner of Mill Road.

The blue lines in Map15C illustrate the scene about the intersection after completion of the railway with several neighbouring roads included. The 'T' intersection has gone. In its place Oxford Street curves to blend with Canterbury Road and Mill Road has been reconfigured to better serve a flow of traffic into Oxford Street. The latter an indication of the growing business district of High Street. The Tollgate has been removed from the site.

Map15B includes the 1848 built Hertsfield Terrace on the North side of the intersection and extending towards Cromwell Road. Map15C shows the railway as though passing through Hertsfield Terrace. Three houses of the Terrace were pulled down to make way for the railway, bridge and station. A building along the southern side of Canterbury Road would be enlarged towards the railway and become The Railway Inn.

The Tollgate was relocated to the site we are familiar with today, the triangular island at the junction of Borstal Hill, Joy Lane and Gordon Road.

We continue our journey from the original Tollgate southwards 300 yards (100metres) or so along the Turnpike route to what was once open space called Grince Green. Here on the Day of the Patron Saint of Oystermen, St.James, August 4th the annual Dredgerman's Fair was held. Reports indicate a fair was still being held there mid 19th century with other events taking place into late that same century. No doubt the advent of the motor vehicle along what had been the Turnpike Road ruined some local fun.

The question has often been raised - 'Why is the annual Dredgerman's Fair held so far from the shore, so far from the base of their daily toil.'

As we saw earlier the route of the ancient Salt Way ran alongside the eventual site of The Two Brewers inn to continue along the route of modern Saddleton Road (so thus ran across Grince Green.) The Inn was established sometime after mention of a cottage on that site in 1692 and its known existence by 1723 - before the Turnpike road was built. A roadway of some form existed along this part of the eventual Turnpike route linking Seasalter and the Church Street area with nearby settlements. The Grince Green site was reasonably central to most of the local settlement. In addition, we should not forget that the old shoreline of Westcliffe was barely 200 yards distant.

We should be aware that nearby, along the Salt Way and behind the present site of 'The Two Brewers' P.H. stood a church. Could this church have been dedicated to the Patron Saint of Oystermen ie St James thus lending further reason for the Fair being located here?

Most likely the Dredgerman's Fair developed when the Lower Island and The Salts were the focus of the oyster industry. Not only that but considering the narrow spit like land formation upon which 'Wytstapel Street' eventually developed along there was no more convenient suitable open space near the shore and what was developing as the main thoroughfare.

An amusing side issue relative to the cottage which is considered to have became 'The Two Brewers' highlights terminology of the 17th century against today's usage. In 1692 an almost appropriately named Thomas Pott bequeathed his 'House, Backside and Barn'.

That particular 'Backside' evidently contained more than one would suspect. As we saw above behind The Two Brewers site stood a now long forgotten church. There was also a cemetery. Reputedly the corpses of three French Prisoners of War lie in the Two Brewers garden, ghostly shapes reportedly being seen there some nights. How the corpses got there, if indeed true, is unknown. Nevertheless despite 'backsides' and corpses this was an important location, the pub fronting on to what was to become the backbone or main artery of Whitstable.

Above we saw that Saint James was the Patron Saint of Oystermen. Grince Green was close by the church behind the Two Brewers pub. If that were the Church of St.James then in conjunction with the adjacent Salt Way we can see how Grince Green became the location for an annual oystermen or dredgermens Fair.

In chapter 1 The Salt Way we read of that route crossing the old sea wall along Westcliff at a location known as 'Portway'. Why is Portway so named? Where does that name come from? There are vague references to marine craft and early oyster dredgers being moored inside Lower Island that is over 'The Salts' or as we know the area today the Seasalter Golf Course. Was Portway so named because that well established section of the Salt Way was the route or 'way' from the port to the main thoroughfare. Being so close to the Two Brewers site and the church, Portway would add to making Grince Green an appropriate location for the Annual Fair.

Progress of the growing Town saw Grince Green disappear under buildings and eventually tarmac. An old forge, across the road from The Two Brewers, may have been there on the edge of Grince Green long before the pub. In the 1920s, long after turnpikes were abolished, the forge would be the scene of a murder suicide adding yet another event to contrast with the happier events of Grince Green fairs.

Stepping out of The Two Brewers and turning right along the Turnpike across the line of the old Salt Way we pass Saddleton road built along part of the route of the Salt Way. The Turnpike would still be existant to see the large vicarage on the southern corner of Saddleton Road become home to the Rev. Somerset Maugham whose orphaned nephew came to live with him in 1884 as a 10 year old lad born and brought up in France. That nephew would become the well known and much celebrated novelist William Somerset Maugham.

A hundred yards or so further south we come to the area discussed earlier once known as Borgsteall thence Bostall Green. Here we find the junction of Main Road mentioned earlier and in 1860 in the middle of the junction, the newly built Tollgate displaced from the earlier Mill Road junction site. Facing along Main Road, later known as Joy Lane, well down the road on the right we would see an old Mansion house, like most of Whitstable's mansions, of confused origin. Behind us yet another old mansion. Both have been identified, among other titles, as Bostall Manor however it is more likely that belongs to the second mentioned of those two Manors the one near the north east corner of Gordon Road.

Still facing along Main Road/Joy Lane, the Turnpike Road continues to our left across Bostall Green towards Bostall hill (Borstal Hill.) The line of the road down from the Hill actually passed behind the eventual Tollgate in the form of a narrow lane into Main Road/Joy Lane. On the left in 1830 the 'line' entered the lane past 'Waypost House' one of the earliest 'postal depots' established around 1830 in the early days of the present National postal system. Rather uniquely a small red letter box stood (perhaps still does?) within the southern wall and near the roadway corner of the house.

As the Turnpike climbed the easy lower reaches of Bostall hill to turn slightly right up the main part it passed an early post windmill off to the left. This was the forerunner of the large smock mill further uphill which became such a local landmark from the year it was built, 1792, until the present day. In the days of the Turnpike Road this was a white windmill but in the latter part of the 19th century it was painted black becoming known as the 'Black Mill'.

After The Two Brewers, Turnpike travelers heading towards Canterbury up the once notoriously steep Bostall hill had to wait until 1823 for The Horse Shoes public house for relief from their arduous climb. Situated adjacent to an old forge about half way up the hill, The Horse Shoes later became The Four Horse Shoes popular with early 20th century cyclists. (The hill gradually became less arduous following removal of some of the crown and flattening the hump part way up several times over the years from the late 19th and 20th centuries.) Further uphill from the Four Horse Shoes and still on the western side we would find the Gaol House, long a private residence. Little is known of this building except that there was a gibbet in an adjacent field reputedly used for its grisly purpose.

In 1858 Stephan Saddleton closed his forge on the western side of the Turnpike just past the crown of Bostall hill to take over the forge opposite The Two Brewers Inn. His house alongside his old forge became a beerhouse named The Long Reach. The Turnpike, as named, would just miss the inquest on the imposter Fanny Wood held in The Long Reach in 1884. Fanny Wood, illegitimate daughter reputedly of a Mr Jordan, fooled the local benefactors for many years by faking great illness and reaping the benefits of their generosity.

By the late 19th century The Long Reach had built a reputation as dirty and patronised by the roughest class of local people. Apart from poachers being mentioned, how would such an establishment, well out of town gain such a reputation? Waterside beerhouses often had a reputation for being the rough haunts of smugglers but did they patronise The Long Reach in the late 1800s?

By the 1850s there would have been little if any smuggling, certainly none on the grand scale of the previous century. In 1935, The Long Reach name was transferred to new 'roadhouse' premises on the 'new' Thanet Way (now the A2990), the old premises becoming a grocery store for about 30 years.

Further south the Turnpike breasts Clapham Hill, site of natural spring waters. The Turnpike Road, itself a forewarning of modern times, saw in June 1793 Whitstable's first 'modern' reticulated fresh water supply. Established with water piped from 'Spring Farm' (now Springfield) on Clapham Hill, the wooden pipes taking water alongside the former Turnpike to a dipping well in Oxford Street is hardly in keeping with modern practice.

The Oxford Street dipping well supplied Whitstable for some years until bores were sunk within the Town area in the 1800s.

On the crest of Clapham Hill to the left is Clapham Hill Farm formerly Balles Hall. Could this have been the origin of the nearby name Bogshole, thought to have derived from an ancient manor named Boshall?

Part way down Clapham Hill is the now twice rebuilt Glen Cottage once the home of the infamous Fanny Wood and her mother.

At the foot of Clapham Hill stands Pye Alley Farm its history inevitably entwined with that of the local smuggling fraternity. A little after the middle of the 20th century the farm would host an avant garde energy creating process which would have stood tall in this energy conservation and greenhouse gas conscious 21st century.

The Turnpike continued from the farm across the junction of Pye Alley Lane with the Bogshole Brook running alongside. We cross the Brook with no obvious sign of a traditional bridge yet less than 100 yards along the Turnpike road maps show 'Shepherds Bridge' in the field to the left just off the road. A bridge? But, there is no bridge! Did the road once run there and across a bridge? But there is no watercourse!

Shepherds Bridge marks the site of an old weir. Even that may surprise visitors to the area. The western end of the Bogshole valley on through Ellenden to the west was once home to a number of water meadows. Once timber had been cleared for agriculture or grassland pasture, suitable fields would be developed as water meadows. Winter rainwater would be stored by dams or weirs for release over the meadows during the drier months.

From here on we continue our journey along the Turnpike once again in the territory of its most infamous activity.

The Whitstable area, especially the town itself, has long been well known for its number of Public Houses. Mention of 18th century Whitstable pubs usually opens the subject of smuggling as several 'Locals' have been associated with smugglers in their early years.

Some of the pubs in the countryside along the Turnpike may well have been frequented by smugglers. It would be nice to think they added a little excitement, even a touch of notoriety to enhance the history of the Turnpike road. Some of those hostelries were in known smuggling territory but unlike some of their town counterparts we have no evidence that smugglers even patronised them to quench their thirst.

Little of any notoriety has been recorded about the three remaining hostelries along the Turnpike before we reach the Sarre-Penne brook. 'The Red Lion' just over the Whitstable/Blean Parish border appears to have born a cloak of respectability. Perhaps its location at the bottom of Honey Hill rendered it as unattractive to the smugglers for their signaling system. Likewise little if any record of notoriety has been recorded about Blean's Royal Oak at the top of Honey Hill or the Hare and Hounds just before the Sarre-Penne Brook.

Smuggling being an illicit activity reliant upon secrecy and stealth, dark nights, and the smugglers reputedly favouring dark country lanes we do not know with any certainty that the smugglers of contraband actually carted their illicit cargo along the Turnpike to any extent. We do know the smugglers had an advanced signaling system in operation along its length from the Westgate of Canterbury into Whitstable town to warn when the Preventative Officers or Dragoons left the comforts of their Canterbury base. Therefore it is reasonable to accept that the better surface of the Turnpike did at times find favour over the tortuous cart tracks of the more remote lanes when considered safe to do so.

Prominent members of one smuggling company built several houses along the Turnpike, some of them occupied by company 'managers'. Interestingly those houses, most of which still exist, are strategically spaced along the road and typically on the prominence of a bend. Ideal for a clear view down the road or for signaling purposes. It appears that almost every house or farm on the prominence of a bend ('pointy side' if you like) played some part in housing the smugglers' instruments of the signaling system.

We left the Turnpike Road's notorious Bostall hill without mention of either the Martindown windmill or Farm. Both were situated on the west or opposite side of the Turnpike to the previous 'white' windmill almost on the crest of the escarpment. We saved mention of them until now as both have been reported as playing a role in the smugglers' signaling system.

We won't get too involved in detailing that system but it serves our purpose to look at the location of those houses and farms which played a part in it. They literally plot our course towards the end of our exploration of the Turnpike Road. The following Map 16a takes us from the Tollgate at the bottom of Bostall hill along the Turnpike, the purple line, to Map 16b where the line continues to the end of our journey at the Sarre-Penne Brook.

Like so much of the smuggling activity, precisely where the smuggler's signals originated is obscured among a cloud of conjecture and myth. Preventative Officers and Dragoons were generally based in Canterbury as well as various Revenue 'officials' being based along the coast. When they set out from Canterbury to do their duty the smugglers' signaling system came into play.

Hidden by the conjecture and myth we can only say the signals originated from a suitable point of observation overlooking the exit point from Canterbury - the Westgate Towers. As most of the smuggling activity took place under the cover of darkness signals were by lantern. Daytime signaling devices did exist. The best known a broom protruding from a chimney, or at closer quarters within the Town a pre-arranged gesture, were typical of those used.

Suffice to say when the Preventative Officers or Dragoons exited the Westgate Towers in Canterbury signals were sent to the top of St.Thomas' Hill the Turnpike's Canterbury equivalent to Bostall hill. We can only say the signals were received via unknown means at Moat Farm beyond the crest of St.Thomas Hill. Then passed across the route of the Turnpike to the original Hothe Court Farm on to Frogs Hall Farm well off scene to the right of the new Hothe Court Farm shown in Map 16b. Note: The new Hothe Court Farm is a mile or so distant, North across the Sarre-Penne Brook from the original farm. The original Hothe Court Farm is considered to be part of the once larger Blean Manor House.

Frogs Hall signals could reputedly be seen by Glovers Cottages or Honey Hill Farm. More likely the signals were normally passed on to Amery Court Farm from Frogs Hall then via Glovers Cottages on to Honey Hill Farm.

Glovers Cottages was built by a smuggler, Mr Glover being one of their leading lights. William Baldock another leader in the smuggling fraternity built two other cottages, used by smugglers along the Turnpike which can be seen near the top of Map 16b. Signals from Baldock's were reputedly either received at low lying Pye Alley Farm then passed on to high set Clapham Hill Farm or directly to Clapham Hill Farm. Either Martindown Farm or Windmill received the signals and passed them on into Whitstable town to eventual smuggler owned Oxford House situated beyond the first Tollgate very conveniently across the road from the once closest part of the waterside which we saw in Map 15B where Oxford St. joined Westcliffe.

We saw in chapter 3 Seasalter to Canterbury how that old 'highway' played a part in local smuggling history. We have now seen where that old highway and the Turnpike Road became one - about the northern end of Pean Hill. That area held some significance to the smugglers most commonly known to have used that route. From Foxes Cross to Pean Hill the road crossed the more open space of the Bogshole valley passing by Ellenden Farm.

The nearby woods: Ellenden, Tong and Clowes Wood all provided good cover to hide contraband. Carts and horses could be housed at nearby 'friendly' farms and houses. It was also a convenient area from which to disperse contraband to the various destinations - on to Canterbury, to Ashford or Maidstone and more importantly to London.

We have seen how 'convenient' houses were established along the Turnpike for some of the smuggling Company's hierarchy. One 'house' not yet mentioned is the so called Manor House shown on Map 16a as Court Lees.

Set some 100 or more yards back from the Turnpike on the railway side, the Manor House is conveniently opposite a once unnamed lane, now Pean Court Road, which led through to Foxes Cross Lane - a well known smugglers' 'thoroughfare'.

In 1795 a William Hyder purchased the Court Leese property now known as Court Lees. He built the surviving house around the original ancient Courts Leete manor house. William Hyder was a member and later controller of the smuggling gang known as the Seasalter Company as well as being a Churchwarden at Seasalter Church.

Typically no evidence directly connects Court Leese with smuggling activities apart from William although he had included a vast cellar extending under the whole mansion. The cellar at Court Leese was suspected of being a conveniently placed 'warehouse' for goods transported via Church Lane, Cut Throat Lane (now Pilgrims) and Foxes Cross Lane from the Seasalter coast.

The smuggling activity certainly added some romance and interest along the old Turnpike. Of course we have really only seen a little of the activities of but one group of smugglers, just one Company who frequented the area where two of our 'Highways' met.

Of course traditional smuggling was not all romance with the smugglers 'smiting the eye' of officialdom. The traumas of being caught did not all happen on the beaches or in the dark twisting country lanes. The Turnpike itself experienced The Battle of Bostall hill on 26th February 1780.

The Battle of Bostall hill has been described as a pitched battle between smugglers and a troop of Dragoons who had seized a consignment of gin. The smugglers attempted to repossess their gin. The battle resulted in two soldiers being killed.

On the 12th March a young man 18 year old John Knight, considered as a scapegoat, was hanged for murder. One would have thought he would be punished at Whitstable as a lesson to the smugglers there but he wasn't. Instead he was tried at Maidstone and hung on Penenden Heath, his body then being transported to Whitstable and hung in chains on Bostall hill - reputedly from the gibbet in the field near the Gaol House. There is more to this tale but it is not for this story.

Thomas Knight was not hung in the field known locally as The Hanging Field. That was further south. Little is known of this field perceived by some to have been on the eastern side of the Turnpike at Long Reach or possibly on the other side near or at Wraik Hill.

We can only wonder at what stories that field could tell us wherever it is. Still further along the Turnpike, a little east of Court Lees, there is Hanging Wood, the origin of the name seemingly long lost. The location is significantly close to the Court Lees, Ellenden and Tong woods area so one wonders if there was a connection to our Turnpike smugglers.

Still further along the Turnpike a later incident involving smugglers almost gave us The Battle Of Honey Hill to complement the above Battle of Bostall hill.

As we saw in the previous chapter smuggling of illicit goods died off considerably about the mid 19th century. We saw how the Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1814 presented a diversion to our smugglers, a new form of smuggling, that of human contraband.

Some of the many French P.O.Ws, imprisoned in old ship hulks on the Thames, Medway or in the Estuary, escaped to hopefully return to their homeland. Many of those escaping P.O.W.s found their way to our Whitstable smugglers to be transported at first along the same route as some of the regular contraband. From Foxes Cross the typical route was along Bye Alley Lane (later Pye Alley Lane.) across the Turnpike eventually to a rendezvous where our 'highway' in Chapter 2 started - the mouth of the Swalecliffe Brook.

The smugglers and the French P.O.Ws they were escorting may have merely crossed the Turnpike's path at Bye Alley or hurriedly tramped the length of Pean Hill to hide in Clowes Wood. Some would travel a little further south to about the area of the former Red Lion public house by The Brook, before turning east to use the cover of Clowes Wood on their way to the Swalecliffe shore. The Turnpike, wider and more open than the narrow lanes, would have presented significant danger to them as it gave relatively quick access to the militia of the day.

Now to our almost Battle Of Honey Hill. Smugglers guiding two escaping French P.O.Ws along the Turnpike were about The Brook, by the former Red Lion pub, where they typically turned off the road into Clowes Wood. They were nearly caught by a troop of Dragoons descending Honey Hill. We do not know if the Dragoons spotted the smuggling group and gave chase. Although we do not have The Battle Of Honey Hill for history to record, like that of Bostall hill, there were two resultant deaths. For fear of being held back and being caught or leaving two talkative Frenchman behind the smugglers murdered both P.O.Ws and made their escape.

What if that road, the Turnpike, had been a dead straight Roman road? Would it have worn the same romance of Smugglers and Preventative officers moving stealthily about on the darkest of nights, signal lanterns winking their warnings or posting an 'all clear' message?

Today there is little of note to indicate the history of this area. Evidence of the type of farming the Turnpike passed through is almost non existent. Shortly after passing the former mansion Court Lees we would see today a former oasthouse. Set back to our right well off the road it is a solitary reminder of the hopfields which once accompanied orchards throughout this area and along the road into Canterbury.

After climbing Honey Hill past the ancient Honey Hill farmhouse from here on the history of the Turnpike is somewhat bland. Traversing the flat plateau of Blean the Turnpike itself altered local history.

The village of Blean was clustered around the ancient Church of St. Cosmus & Saint Damian in the Blean for a thousand years or more. Then along came a turnpike road to popularise what was probably a developing route into Canterbury. Constructed half a mile to the west of the Church, the Turnpike Road slowly drew the village away from the Church to leave it in isolation.

The northern Blean plateau terminates in the south above the valley of the Sarre-Penne Brook. The Turnpike road crests Blean Hill on the north face of the valley, dropping down into Blean Bottom to cross the Brook, sometimes known as The Fishbourne Stream. We leave the Turnpike here to continue its journey up Tile Kiln Hill, across another short plateau before it drops down St. Thomas' Hill to its southern terminus - a tollgate at St. Dunstans.

As one old Whitstable resident said "Oh I'd say about from 'ere to a bit short of Canterbury." The 6 mile post sat in Canterbury Road about where the original Whitstable tollgate was. The St. Dunstans Tollgate was a good three quarter mile from Canterbury Post Office so there you are - "...a bit short of Canterbury."

In 1871, tolls were abolished, the former Turnpike Road was now Whitstable's sole 'Highway to Canterbury'. No longer a Turnpike Road after 125 years it had seen the local population grow from less than 1000 to 6000. By this time a daily coach service to and from Canterbury had become well established.

1871 was probably the least momentous year for the former Turnpike Road. But the Turnpike's earlier arrival did have a profound effect on the local district. As it grew in popularity, as it became the preferred route to Canterbury the former Turnpike saw the decline of outlying areas. Just as it attracted a new population in towards the developing Whitstable town we know today, away from the outlying areas of Swalecliffe and Seasalter, so we have seen, it drew villagers away from Blean Church now left in isolation. Blean now presents not as a village but as three clusters of dwellings. The section towards Honey Hill some call Blean Common, Blean Bottom in the valley about the Sarre-Penne Brook and finally just Blean at the Canterbury end.

(Note: some maps show those three areas of Blean in the reverse order to that shown above but in reality none are officially designated as anything other than Blean.)

The Turnpike Road as such, would not see the advent of the motor vehicle. The Turnpike would not see the leisurely pedestrian and horse drawn vehicles of its day replaced by a myriad metal boxes dashing along its length like frenzied ants to the corpse of a bug or the leviathans carrying human and commercial freight struggling up Borstal or St.Thomas Hills. But, unlike its 3 forebears, it would not be allowed to rest in peace. It would become the now sole remaining Highway to Canterbury

The tollgates, the symbol of a Turnpike Road would be removed although the Whitstable Tollgate Cottage would remain at the bottom of Borstal Hill as the last remnant, the last symbol, the sole 'Memorial Headstone' of the Turnpike's existence but without a single inscribed word to mark that fact.

Let us now look back to the travels of those early 'fisshe wyves' to Canterbury. The wording of John Roper's bequest, coupled with more modern knowledge, infers that those fishwives were already traveling the route to Canterbury we know today as the main road between that city and Whitstable.

Were they? Or was John Roper offering an apparently shorter more direct route than the one they were traveling, perhaps The Salt Way? The direct and seemingly shorter Borstal/St.Thomas Hills route has been accepted and written of as the one referred to for so long that, superficially there does not appear to be any evidence to the contrary.

A route with the steepest climb at each end, and between those an undulating landscape with several steep hills for the pedestrian be they human or beast of burden.
The established Salt Way with certainly an easier shore end climb than Borstal Hill and across the relatively flat plateau of Blean and relatively easy entrance into Canterbury. A route which passed a number of ancient establishments to qualify its accreditation.

Why would pedestrian traffic choose route 1 over route 2? Route 2 which looks longer but quite surprisingly on a map, by division, measures little different. Once again we should remind ourselves that pedestrian traffic typically carried some burden. Surely most people would seek the easiest less tiring route especially if the alternatives were of similar length?

We should not ignore either end of those two routes. Perhaps, where and how they entered or left the central business districts of either Whitstable or Canterbury had a more profound effect than our modern thinking allows for.

Looking back with the established Whitstable/Canterbury Road before us and at best a mental picture of the countryside traversed by the little known and barely marked 'Salt Way' it is difficult to even consider the question.

To answer it would probably result in, to borrow from 'Whitstable Name & Origins',