'The North Wessex Way' by David Mitchell

The North Wessex Way was rediscovered by David Robertson Mitchell, a local historian living near Malmesbury. ‘My wife and I were in Hay on Wye for our wedding anniversary in 2014. I have always loved old maps and I came across the Ogilby map in an old map shop. I saw that the route must run past where I lived, on roads that I knew were just country lanes. I mentioned this to Jackie and then thought nothing more of it until September that year, when she gave me the map as my 50th birthday present. I started investigating the route and gradually uncovered the fascinating history that has taken place along it, all the way back to the Iron Age. I also discovered the reason why the middle section of the route become forgotten after the arrival of the Turnpike roads and the actions of two dodgy Members of Parliament. I decided the road needed a name, and after looking at various options, I settled on calling it The North Wessex Way’. The North Wessex Way was the main route from Oxford to Bristol for three thousand years until it became The Forgotten Road. Today, the route consists mainly of A roads and B roads. But the 22 mile long section between Blunsdon and Luckington, in the middle of the route, has been forgotten. Bypassed at some point in time, the route is now made up of non-descript and narrow country lanes with nothing to show the immense history that took place along its path over the centuries.