Day 14. The Cow Lane

                                 The Cow Lane.

                                      The Cow Lane, c.1960.

This road, leading from Preston bridge to the crossroads, is named after the dairy cows of Lower Farm, which once walked along it from parlour to pasture each day.

The road is a relatively recent addition to the village landscape. This is evident with a look at the field on the east side. The ridges and furrows of the ancient open field system are still clearly visible; a series of very short ridges have been intersected by the road.

 

The ridges were once known as The Little Croft, today planted with fruit trees.
 

Documentary evidence states that the road was laid down c.1760 when Preston Lane was relocated.  The road into the village once ran closer to Alscot Park and crossed the river at the bottom of The Ham (see day 3). When James West, the recent purchaser of Alscot Park, decided to create a deer park in the 1750s, he removed the current road and reinstalled it further away from his house.

James built a new bridge over the Stour and laid this new section of road, linking to the Wimpstone and Admington roads and forming a crossroads.

 

The roads around Preston, c.1730. Courtesy of Robert Howe.