Back Pilgrims’ Way German דרך הצליינים HE Pilgrims’ Way NB

Pilgrims' Way

For other uses, see Pilgrims' Way (disambiguation).
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way as it passes the White Horse Stone, Kent
Length192 km (119 mi)
LocationSouth Eastern England, United Kingdom
TrailheadsWinchester, Hampshire
Shrine of Thomas Becket, Canterbury, Kent
UseHiking, cycling and byway; former pilgrim way
SeasonAll year

The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way)[a] is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of comparatively recent coinage, is applied to a pre-existing ancient trackway dated by archaeological finds to 600–450 BC, but probably in existence since the Stone Age.[1][2] The prehistoric route followed the "natural causeway" east to west on the southern slopes of the North Downs.[3]

The course was dictated by the natural geography: it took advantage of the contours, avoided the sticky clay of the land below but also the thinner, overlying "clay with flints" of the summits.[4] In places a coexisting ridgeway and terrace way can be identified; the route followed would have varied with the season, but it would not drop below the upper line of cultivation.[5][6] The trackway ran the entire length of the North Downs, leading to and from Folkestone: the pilgrims would have had to turn away from it, north along the valley of the Great Stour near Chilham, to reach Canterbury.


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  1. ^ Brayley, Edward (1850). A topographical history of Surrey. Vol. 4. London: G Willis. p. 218. OCLC 4601837.
  2. ^ Margary, Ivan D (1948). Roman Ways in the Weald. London: J M Dent. pp. 260–263. ISBN 0-460-07742-2.
  3. ^ Fagg, C. C.; Hutchings, G. E. (1928). "Prehistory". In Ogilvie, Alan Grant (ed.). Great Britain: essays in regional geography. Tansley, A. G. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 29. OCLC 59447377.
  4. ^ Wright, Christopher John (1971). A Guide to the Pilgrims' Way. Constable and Co, London. ISBN 0-09-456240-7
  5. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (1998) Pilgrims' Way.
  6. ^ Wooldridge, Sidney; Hutchings, Geoffrey (1957). London's Countryside : Geographical field work for students and teachers of geography. London: Methuen. p. 121. OCLC 788928682.

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