Work in progress ................

It has long been suspected that the Roman road from Alfoldean on Stane Street, south of Cranleigh, to the site of the Celtic and Roman temples at Farley Heath extends NW to the junction, near Bagshot, of the Roman road to Silchester.  In which case it would pass very close to Chobham.

There is absolutely no evidence on the ground for this road; but there was very little, just some pebble strewn in ploughed fields, for the section from Alfoldean to Farley Heath until excavations found it in 1923¹.   Arable farming is uncommon around Chobham and hence little in general has been found as a result of ploughing.

Roman roads sometimes reveal themselves by a series of fields with names such as 'Stonefield'.   But search of the 1843 Tithe Apportionment reveals only three fields with 'stone' in their name: one with Hookstone, and two with Ragstone (both by Sparrow Row, numbers 358 & 373).

Marie Eedle in her book "A History of Bagshot and Windlesham" states that "excavations for the M3 motorway disclosed a possible section of a Roman road at a point south of Windlesham church (SU932631).   Both side ditches of the motorway showed a band of pebbles 12 inches below the surface, 18 inches thick and approximately 30 feet wide, aligning the the church and a continuation of the Farley Heath branch road from Stane Street.  A footpath runs more or less on the same line from near Broadway Bridge across the old common fields (Eastersh, Northersh and Woodcote) to Hatton Hill²."  However, a line from the map reference given to the church runs at 345^oT which passes to the west of Guildford and misses Farley Heath by 5 kms; and the Rapley Farm junction by 2 kms.   The alignment of the old path mentioned to the map reference is exactly true north; but the alignment to Farley Heath is even worse.

The road may have gone via St John's Well in Bisley since this is a possible Romano-Celtic religious site.

David Bird wrote "a fifth road is known running north-west from near Alfoldean towards Farley Heath and it is usually accepted that it must then have continued onwards in the same direction, presumably to Staines or the probable posting station at Wickham Bushes, near Bracknell , close to the London-Silchester road.^{3 p166}

The line from Farley Heath to the change of alignment of the Devil's Highway at Wickham bushes is 236 deg grid and to the change of alignment of the Silchester road at Dukes Hill by Bagshot is 235 deg grid.  Following the map on this later line can be found:

• the Roman finds at Harrishaws in Windlesham Arboretum and its approach road
• Lightwater High street
• the field alignments on the common at Sheets Heath
• the road forming the eastern edge of West Hill Golf Course
• the road forming the eastern edge of Whitmoor Common (Roman road found nearby on this line at SU983550⁴)
• the old crossing of the Wey at Burpham
• the NW/SE road through Merrow
• St Martha's church

References:-

1    The Rowhook - Farley Heath Branch of Stane Street.  S.E. Winbolt.  Surrey Archaeological Society, Collections Vol. 35 p49.

2    SAS Bulletin,  July 1972.

3    Archaeology in Surrey to 1541, Ed: J & D Bird. Pub: Surrey Archaeological Society 1987

4    Harris L, SyAS Bulletin 26