_Pilgrims' Road_ (Vol. ii., p. 237.).--Your correspondent S.H., in
noticing the old track "skirting the base of the chalk hills," and known
by the name of the "Pilgrims' Road," has omitted to state that its
commencement is at Oxford,--a fact of importance, inasmuch as that the
Archbishops of Canterbury had there a handsome palace (the ruins of
which still exist), which is said to have been the favourite residence
of Thomas ‡ Becket. The tradition in the county thereupon is, that his
memory was held in such sanctity in that neighbourhood as to cause a
vast influx of pilgrims annually from thence to his shrine at
Canterbury; and the line of road taken by them can still be traced,
though only portions of it are now used as a highway. The direction,
however, in which it runs makes it clear (as S.H., no doubt, is aware)
that it cannot be Chaucer's road.
While on the subject of old roads, I may add that a tradition here
exists that the direct road between London and Tunbridge did not pass
through Sevenoaks; and a narrow lane which crosses the Pilgrims' road
near Everham is pointed out as the former highway, and by which Evelyn
must have been journeying (passing close, indeed, to the seat of his
present descendant at St. Clere) when he met with that amusing
robber-adventure at Procession Oak.