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In Drake's Wake

The Drake Roads in England

Michael Turner

From around 2000 I have always thought about Drake's road journeys by horse when driving on the A38 and the A30. When the photography in England was coming to an end, I thought it feasible to photograph medieval buildings that Drake saw if his routes were definite. These were: Plymouth to London, Portsmouth to London, London to Dover and the two roads to Monksilver. Drake visited other settlements such as Southampton and possibly Bossiney. However the routes are not definite and sometimes there is no proof that Drake actually visited a place associated with him. From Ordnance Survey maps I tentatively reconstructed the known journeys. After this was well underway, Susan presented me with a book that I had long sought. We can faithfully finalise Drake's routes from the work of John Ogilby who, with his team of surveyors had mapped over 7,000 miles of roads by 1675. Ogilby's maps for the Drake-related routes are published in The South-West Highway Atlas by Paul White. I have usually only mentioned settlements with medieval buildings and alluded to outstanding and unspoiled scenic views of places ignored by time. Much of the routes survive as minor lanes, bridleways and footpaths.

The Portsmouth to London Road

Sir Francis Drake sailed home from his West Indies raid and uniquely did not dock at Plymouth but Portsmouth in July 1586. This was because he was in a hurry to report the voyage outcome to the government. I had outlined this journey for my third book by documenting the two major towns in which he probably slept on this seventy-five mile route - the towns were Petersfield and Guildford. After comprehensively photographically documenting the Plymouth to London Road, I decided to apply the same level of study to the other two definitely known routes along which Drake rode - the other being London to Dover.

Upon studying a modern road map, it is natural to assume that the present A3 follows Drake's route. However this road bypasses several old towns and villages. I discovered this principle when I drove from Exeter to Honiton. In places these fast modern roads run over the original 16th-century routes but take every opportunity, where possible, to divert traffic away from the towns. As always, the original road cuts through each town's High Street. Therefore on the road map I was looking for minor roads that ran virtually parallel to the trunk road.

Portsmouth, Hampshire

The A3 starts on the western side of Portsea Island. However a late 16th-century map depicts the "London Way" as running through the centre of the island. Therefore at the medieval village of Portsea, Drake would have seen the Church of St Mary on his right-hand-side. A church has stood here from the 11th-century and is the oldest religious site on the island. The present-day structure dates from the 19th-century. The road continued along what is now called Kingston Road, named after the medieval village of the same name. The road now passes through the Portsmouth suburbs of North End where it is called London Road. At Drayton, the road joins the A3. The twelve miles of urban scenery ends after Cowplain and Horndean. From here on the landscape becomes hilly and wooded. Here the road joins the dual carriageway of the A3, which is just north of the A3(M). I took the B2070 Weston turn off into Petersfield. From here, an original road is not touched by the A3 until north of Guildford.

Petersfield

This medieval market town lies twenty-two miles towards London. Drake may have spent the first night of the journey here. The focal point is the market square. On the left side stands the 13th-century Church of St Peter. Across the square on the main road is a house. The plaque states that it dates from 1534 and was a former farmhouse occupied in the 16th-century by Thomas Osborne.

Liphook

The road passed through the village of Rake and into Liphook. From here I perceived that there were two routes which Drake could have taken, since roads lead to Haslemere along the B2131 and via the A3 to Hindhead.

Haslemere, Surrey

About two miles before the town, the road pierces the dense woods. A photograph was worth taking because if the present all-weather road could be substituted for a mud road, then the scene would have barely changed since Drake's day. I was unsure of the age of some buildings; so the town's museum staff asked Hugh Turrall-Clark to contact me. Hugh was an expert on the Portsmouth to London road; especially between Haslemere and Guildford - which is the most concentrated section of Drake-era buildings on the entire route. Hugh wrote that the landscape would have appeared less full of trees. This was because the trees, though plentiful, were organised into more coherent clumps. As a result, the sight-lines would have been longer and the traveller would have seen buildings situated further from the road than is possible today. July 1586 was just after "the great rebuilding" and very few medieval buildings in the area were sufficiently commodious to withstand the Elizabethan modernisers. The new buildings were often built in more conspicuous positions as a result of using more protective building techniques, such as glazing and flooring, and a wish to be noticed. Hugh uses dendrochronological dating, which determines the age of the ancient wood.

Haslemere possessed nothing for the Drake scholar. The A286 heads out from the town for Mousehill and Milford.

Hindhead

Hugh continues that as Drake was in a hurry, needing speed on a reliable clay road being firm under foot, he would most likely have ridden over Hindhead. This route he adds is shown on a map published by John Norden in 1594. From Hindhead, Drake rode a slightly higher line over Gibbet Hill than the present A3.

Thursley

Since Hugh retraces the position of the road to the nearest metre, the routing for the next three miles from Gibbet Hill is uncertain. Norden's map shows the route curving through Thursley and bridging the Cosford Stream just to the north-east of the village. However we cannot be absolutely certain that the present direct route from Gibbet Hill to the crossing and by-passing Thursley did not exist then. The road from Gibbet Hill through Thursley is of interest but the village cannot be reached by car from the south. The route into the settlement went down Highfield Lane. This mud lane, darkened by a canopy of trees, begins as a bridle path only suitable for pedestrians and horses. Hitherto this was the most unchanged section of an original 16th-century Drake road that I have found apart from the Camino Real in Panamá.

Highfield Lane

Highfield Lane

The lane becomes usable by car outside Upper Highfield Farm. The picturesque house is dendro-dated to 1554. On his left, Drake would then have passed the medieval church and the adjacent Old Parsonage, which is dendro-dated to 1411. Drake then rode along The Street and up onto Dye House Road, which follows a natural ridge and across Witley Common to the stream crossing.

Mousehill and Milford

From the crossing, the road follows roughly the line of the A3 until it reaches Mousehill and Milford. The route follows the road named Portsmouth Road towards Godalming. On the south side of Mousehill, on the right, is Benacre Cottage, which is possibly late 16th-century but more likely early 17th-century. Then we find three pre-1586 buildings. The Old Hurst lies about 100 metres from the corner of the crossroads in Milford and would have been clearly visible on Drake's right-hand-side. Recent studies have proved its front beams are late 16th-century. Turning left at this roundabout to leave Milford, on the right is The Old House which is dendro-dated to 1553. A little further on, on the left, is Turnpike Cottage. The rear section is dendro-dated to 1558, with a later front range.

Godalming

The road climbs into the southern edge of the town along the Ockford Road. All the Drake period houses are on the left-hand-side. Numbers 120-122 are late 16th-century or early 17th-century; 96-100 are 16th-century but with an 18th-century facade; 90-92 is a hall house from around 1500 and 68-70 is 16th-century.

This town originates from Saxon times and possesses a wealth of Drake-era gems adjacent to and along the High Street. The Red Lion public house on the corner of Mill Lane is believed to have been a residence in 1574. The building now has an 18th-century frontage. Numbers 1 and 3 Church Street are dendro-dated 1571 and 1557 respectively. On the right side of the High Street at 109A, the building is dendro-dated to 1446 but has an 18th-century front. No part of the original building is visible from the outside. The date of the building at 105 with an apex-shaped shop front is unknown but was acquired by someone called Griggs in 1598. Next door is a longer shop that was built in 1570 and was mentioned as the Antelope in 1574. Further on at 57/59 High Street is a shop that was once a merchant's warehouse. The front is incorporated into 18th-century buildings but its rear is dendro-dated to 1471. The building is clearly visible once you pass under the arch that leads into Hart's Yard. Across the street is the 16th-century Crown Court with its houses and a multi-arched pedestrian walkway. Here was a visitors' map depicting the age of all the historic buildings. This was very convenient for the researcher but the map was drawn in 1977. Hence, several of the commercially used buildings had changed their names and made their identification a more protracted affair; since there were no copies of these maps to carry to compare the sketched outlines of the buildings. Hence to refresh my memory, I had to return to the map before each building could be verified. The High Street leads down into Bridge Street. On the left at number 47 the front and rear are 17th-century but the middle section is 16th-century. Numbers 37/39 are also town houses that are dendro-dated to 1496-1510. A plaque at the side of the latter house reinforces Hugh's information.

The A3100 then heads towards Guildford. Despite Godalming being smaller than Guildford it had more medieval buildings than Guildford. This was because Guildford was more prosperous and could afford more renovation and replacement.

Artington

This is the southern fringes of Guildford, where I was pleased to learn everything from Hugh's e-mail. On the right-hand-side is Artington Manor hidden behind an 18/19th-century front range. To the right of the house is a granary that has remained largely unaltered since the day Drake rode past. On the same side and tight against the road, is a 16th-century house now called Old Friars, which has undergone alterations. Still on the right, is a hill adorned by the ruined chapel of St Catherine that was built in 1317. The chapel has been disused since the 16th-century. About 100 metres beyond the other side of the road is Braboeuf Manor that dates from around 1590. The house now serves as the reception for the College of Law and is now barely visible from the road.

Guildford

This medieval fortified hilltop market town is twenty-five miles closer to London from Petersfield. Sir Francis could have slept here on his second night. The Portsmouth road descends into a valley that crosses the River Wey. The Saxons named the settlement Golden Ford, from which Guildford is derived. From 1200 the bridge was built of stone, which in modern times has been replaced by iron. The Portsmouth to London road climbs into and divides the town centre. On the right off the High Street, Drake could have noticed St Mary's Church, which is the oldest in the town. Its tower is pre-Norman. On the highest ground stands the 14th-century ruined castle tower. The Normans originally built this motte and bailey castle. Some of the curtain walls remain. Numbers 70 and 92 High Street are still buildings that serve as shops and are 16th-century. Further along on the right remains the Royal Guildford Grammar School completed in 1586.


There were no more Drake-related buildings in evidence, until I reached Lambeth Palace. From Guildford onwards, Drake's route is now the A3 dual carriageway into central London, except for the turn off for Ripley, where it rejoined a three mile stretch of the original single carriage road. Here I telephoned the church warden and decided the church was not worth photographing because the Victorian rebuild only retained scant medieval structures within the transepts. Once I was in line with Esher, prosperous urbanisation had ensured that even the churches were all modern rebuilds. The A3 passed through Wandsworth, Clapham and Lambeth; where Lambeth Palace provided a fitting end to my reconstruction. Drake would have frequently seen this principal building set in the then somewhat rural landscape on the south bank of the River Thames. As with all Drake journeys into London, we do not know his precise destination.

Photographing this route took me just two days to complete. However another day was required to assimilate Hugh's meticulous studies. His work was more detailed than I could have conducted for myself. I included buildings whose appearances had radically altered because they were standing when Drake rode past and I wanted to record Hugh's complete body of unique work.

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