The Pilgrims' Way ─ Fact and Fiction of an Ancient Trackway

Winding its way from Winchester to Canterbury, through the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent, can still be found one of England’s most ancient trackways. Well trodden and beloved of walkers throughout southern England, the Pilgrims’ Way serves as a hidden by-way linking those that travel along it with some of the countries oldest cathedrals, castles and abbeys, yet it remains an enigma to many of those who regularly follow its tracks. From the Neolithic through to the Victorian pilgrimists, Derek Bright brings together a mass of evidence and re-evaluates how we should view this ancient trackway that Ivan D. Margary described as one of the most important in Britain. Using evidence of roadside crime, prohibitive legislation, and the everyday hazards facing wayfarers, he makes decisive arguments for how the road has served travelers over time.

Derek Bright is the Director of Walk Awhile, a walking holiday company, est. 2002. He holds a 2.1 Hons Degree from the University of Kent and was awarded the John Owen History Prize for his dissertation on the hop gardens of rural Kent. He has written articles for walking magazines on the subject of the Pilgrims' Way and last year (2009) was commissioned to write research articles for the Kent Downs AONB. His enthusiasm for history and making it come alive through walking, combined with Walk Awhile's research, audio and written background briefs, sells walking holidays to customers from all over the world who come to walk the Pilgrims' Way.