Ghost road

Roads cut through landscapes. They fragment wildlife habitats. They take us places. They connect neighbourhoods. Some seem like permanent fixtures but over time they've been re-aligned or blocked off or closed completely. Sometimes a hint of a road's former existence can still be found in the landscape.


Click to see the map
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. Click on the image to go through to the wonderful side-by-side viewer on their website

The road name 'Lane End' in Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxfordshire today reminds us that it once served as the junction of Broom's Lane (now Clack's Lane) with the Wallingford-Henley Road. It was removed when the A4074 road was built, with Clack's Lane finishing at the Port Way roundabout instead.

From aerial views a faint trace of its former route can be glimpsed, a ghost road if you like. A whisper even remains on the ground.

Hedgerow, Lane End, Crowmarsh Gifford



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