Holloways

Originally lanes or tracks, holloways are ancient, formed by centuries of wear by feet, animals & cart wheels. Data about holloways is now being collected & mapped, in a national project co-ordinated by Natural England. We have two superb examples close to the village—Smoky Hole Lane, and Skillgate Lane as it ascends out of our village. Words & pictures by Dee Edwards, this article was first published in the May 2024 edition of Merriott Messenger, who gave their permission for it to appear here.

Holloways, or sunken roads, are characteristic features in this area of South Somerset. The name ‘holloway’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘hola weg’ or sunken road and they exist in many counties in the south of England & also in other countries both in Europe & further afield. There aren’t any in Merriott (though the road at Egwood gets close), but we all know the steep-sided way out to Lopenhead, or the A30 through East Chinnock & West Coker. Here the sandy coloured layers of Jurassic Bridport Sands are alternating harder & soft rock, sometimes covered with curtains of ivy that make dramatic features entering & leaving the villages.

Many of these roads, originally lanes or tracks, are ancient, formed by centuries of wear by feet, animals & cart wheels, aided by erosion of rain water, and they join significant places like monasteries, such as the one aligned to the gatehouse of Montacute Priory (founded 1078-1102), & many have evidence of Roman or Iron Age origins. In England they are mostly found in southern counties, particularly Dorset, Surrey, Sussex but also West Wales, because of the softer rocks found there.

We have heard about the recent problems with rock falls at East Chinnock Holloway when heavy rain lubricated the rock layers resulting in trees, rocks & debris falling from the fields some 4-5 metres above & blocking the road (temporarily, until local people cleared the obstruction away). Unfortunately these incidents raise safety issues for local authorities that can be very expensive to solve.

One of the fascinating aspects of holloways is that they often have a unique ecology of plants & associated fauna, because of the damp, sheltered microclimate conditions, especially when they are tracks away from modern traffic & where trees meet overhead, creating a tunnel. They are particularly important as wildlife corridors for rare species, offering them sanctuary & some protection from predators. All these data, together with the archaeological aspects of holloways, are being collected & mapped, in a national project that began in Dorset & is being co-ordinated by Natural England.

There are also often local stories, folklore & myths associated with holloways which should also be collected, so if you know of any of these, please contact me, through the Merriott Messenger email (merriottmessenger@gmail.com) as I am mapping & photographing the South Somerset holloways & gathering information about their associated flora, fauna, history and archaeology.

—Dee Edwards