Pilgrims' Way

The Pilgrims' Way is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent [1]. This name, of comparatively recent coinage, is applied to a pre-existing ancient trackway dated by archaeological finds to 600–450 BC, but probably in existence since the Stone Age [1]. The prehistoric route followed the "natural causeway" east to west on the southern slopes of the North Downs [1]. The prehistoric trackway extended further than the present Way, providing a link from the narrowest part of the English Channel to the important religious complexes of Avebury and Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, where it is known as the Harroway [1]. The way then existed as "broad and ill-defined corridors of movement up to half a mile wide" and not as a single, well-defined track [1]. The route was still followed as an artery for through traffic in Roman times [1].