[38] The lane is continuous after Boxley, though not everywhere
equally important. North of Hollingbourne it is but a path. It soon
becomes a lane again, is enclosed in the private grounds of Stede Hill
(Kent, 1/2500 Ordnance map, XLIII. 12), and is but a track for
three-quarters of a mile from Lenham quarries. It is lost after Cobham
Farm, and reappears as a long hedge and division between fields, and
after the pits at Hart Hill becomes a lane again.
[39] It has enemies, like all good things. Its neighbours to the south
have sung for centuries:--
'Dirty Charing lies in a hole,
Has but one bell, and that she stole.'
[40] The 1/2500 Ordnance map of Kent (LV. 10) seems to me to commit a
slight error at this point. There is no need to take the Old Road
through the gas works. It obviously goes south of the lodge, curls
northwards on leaving the park, and is lost in the buildings near the
smithy. After this it forms the lane which bounds to the north the
fields marked 111 and 119.
[41] Here again the 25-inch Ordnance for Kent (LV. 10) draws a
conventional straight line which seemed to us erroneous. We took it to
go from near Brewhouse Farm along the raised footpath to Whitehill,
and then (LV. 6) under the pit, across fields 13 and 67 (not down by
Soakham Farm as the map gives it), and so on to the turf where is a
raised embankment and a characteristic line of yews.
[42] Professor Boyd-Dawkins in connection with his examination of the
iron implements found in Bigberry Camp has traced the Old Road for a
mile or two westward. The map may be seen in Owens College at
Manchester.
[43] I would trace it more or less as follows on the 25-inch Ordnance
map for Kent (XLIV. 16):--Through the orchards marked 378, 379a there
just south of Bowerland, down the valley beyond, and up to Knockholt.
But it is all cultivated land, and except for a footpath at the end
there is no trace left.