352 



ROADS. 



British 

 roads. 



Road.* and", which in construction they resemble. Along some of 

 H'ghwsy?. . the morasses and inland parts of the country roads of 

 "~~'~" ' some extent are actually made with logs of timber dis- 

 posed as railways. For bridges, particularly of timber 

 and catenarian arches with chains, the Americans have 

 a considerable name, and have lately executed works of 

 this kind of great extent. 



In thus briefly noticing the roads of various coun- 

 tries, the object has not been so much with the expec- 

 tation of instructing, as with the view of pressing a 

 subject, upon the notice of travellers, which more or 

 less concerns every one, that they may be induced to 

 take notes in the course of their journeys in foreign 

 countries upon a topic, regarding which conversation- 

 al remarks are so common, though few of them reach 

 the public in a precise and tangible form. 



In giving an account of the state of British roads 

 and highways, we may take some retrospect of their 

 advancement to a system. The sites of our ancient 

 towns and cities were, for obvious reasons, chosen upon 

 the wooded banks of rivers, where a supply of water 

 and of fuel were conveniently within the reach of the 

 inhabitant?, and no doubt, at the period of their 

 foundation, apparently in great abundance. Though 

 the lapse of time may have been sufficient to clear 

 away the forest, and the river or lake may now 

 fall short of the increased wants of their sur- 

 rounding population ; yet in every instance, the evi- 

 dence of- the- early existence of these may be traced in 

 the immediate vicinity of all towns and populous dis- 

 tricts. The change of circumstances produced by the 

 gradual removal of fuel and building materials from 

 the early settlers is very striking, and has of course 

 given rise to the extension and improvement of inte- 

 rior communication. At a remote period, when each 

 family formed a kind of community within itself for 

 providing the necessaries of life, it is obvious that there 

 could then be little communication with distant parts 

 of the country, and there was therefore no use for 

 roads, which long after the establishment of towns, 

 must have continued in the state of footpaths and horse- 

 tracks. The bulky articles of fuel and building mate- 

 rials are likely to have given the first idea of a sledge, 

 the precursor of the wheel-carriage, and to have led 

 ultimately to the construction of something like a road. 

 As before noticed, our first roads were the military 

 ways of the Romans ; and even after the experience 

 of ages, this department cannot by any means be said 

 to be complete in all its details. 



The early roads of all new countries are therefore 

 generally directed to the elevated grounds, with a 

 view to avoid the marshes of the valleys, answering 

 very well for bridle-tracks, but extremely inconveni- 

 ent as carriage-ways : hence, as the habits of a country 

 change, and the lower grounds are drained, the roads 

 progressively get upon lower levels, and as they ap. 

 proach large towns and capital cities, become more spa- 

 cious, and are made to diverge in all directions. As 

 wealth and establishments are necessarily the precursors 

 of improvements, we are naturally led to look to Eng- 

 land tor the earliest advancement in the road depart- 

 ment. In the year 1285, we find the first law respect- 

 ing roads and highways, by which it is exacted, that 

 the proprietors of the land shall enlarge and "breadthen 

 the ways where bushes, woods, and ditches be," to 

 prevent robberies, and a train of evils to which the 

 lieges in those days were thereby subject. In 1346 it 

 was enacted, that Edward III. should be enabled to 

 levy a toll on carts and carriages passing from St. 

 Giles' in the Fields to Temple Bar ; and also by the 



England. 



road which is now Gray's Inn Lane, both of which had Rca-hs anj 

 then become impassable. But the famous act of Henry Highway*, 

 VIII. was the first measure of a general nature upon '*~*v^~' 

 which all the after-improvements and extension of the 

 road system were founded. By this act, the respective 

 parishes were intrusted with the care of the roads, and 

 surveyors appointed to be annually elected to take 

 charge of them, It soon, however, appeared, that th 

 funds allotted for this purpose were insufficient, and as 

 the traffic of the country extended, the roads became 

 hardly passable, while the several trusts were in a state 

 of bankruptcy. The next measure was therefore to 

 make them all turnpike, and toll-bars were accordingly 

 set up, and those in future who used the roads, were 

 made to contribute directly towards their support, a 

 system which, under various modifications, has hither- 

 to been persevered in. Now the whole face of the 

 country is laid open with carriage ways, placed under 

 various trusts or commissions, and although they 

 have become very general, yet entirely new lines are 

 occasionally formed, besides a constant improvement in 

 the line of draught of the old lines, so that it may truly 

 be said of road-making that it has no end. In Eng- 

 land, the agriculture of the country got into a formed 

 and improved state long before wheel-carriages came 

 into general use ; and, in this way, the practice of go- 

 ing over the hill is still too often persevered in, when a 

 level, frequently as short, would be obtained by going 

 round its base. 



There are many of the great lines of road which, 

 to suit the facilities of modem travelling, still require 

 a general improvement. The union with Ireland gave 

 rise to the extension ancj improvement of the roads 

 leading to the great ferries at Portpatrick, Holyhead, 

 and Milford, which have severally undergone the latest 

 amendments, especially the Holyhead line of road, pass- 

 ing through North Wales, by Shrewsbury and also by 

 Chester, to London. Connected with these lines, a 

 great bridge of suspension is now (1824-) in progress 

 at the straits of Menai, consisting of a catenarian arch 

 of chains extending to 560 feet, between stupendous 

 abutments of masonry ; a work which is no less credit- 

 able to the British name than to the enterprise of the 

 eminent engineer, Mr. Telford, under whose direction 

 it is executing. 



In South Wales a similar policy on the part of th 

 government, will, no doubt, also fall in due time to be 

 acted upon. The ferry between Waterford and Milford- 

 haven, having now got steam-packets, may be made 

 equally efficient with those of Portpatrick and Don- 

 aghadee, as it wants only the improvement of the roads 

 through South Wales to complete that communication, 

 which is somewhat shorter than the others to London. 



In Ireland, the department of the roads is under the Inland, 

 same description of management, by numerous trusts 

 and commissions, as in England. In the beginning of 

 the nineteeth century, the roads of Ireland were, gene- 

 rally speaking, considered in a better condition than 

 those of any other part of the United Kingdom. Here 

 the cross roads are also numerous, and in a tolerable 

 good state of repair. The principal, roads are spacious, 

 varying in breadth from thirty to sixty feet, while the 

 ditches and side drains are in many instances kept with- 

 in the fences, and as the road-metal, consisting of lime- 

 stone, and a kind of lime-stone gravel, is of good qua- 

 lity, the surface of the Irish roads is in general smooth 

 and hard. 



The road-system in Scotland differs considerably in Scotland, 

 the management from those of England and Ireland. 

 The Scots local trusts are divided into districts, each of 



