ROADS IN TUDOR TIMES 281 



produce of their estates, had travelled from manor to manor with 

 their retinues, household furniture, and utensils, they had been 

 interested in the means of transit. Their visits ceased when their 

 lands were let on lease. At the same time the decay of the manorial 

 organisation facilitated the evasion by the tenants of duties which 

 had ceased to be personally valuable to their lords. Roads, made at 

 will, were repaired, or not, at pleasure ; everybody's business was 

 nobody's business ; the parochial liability, like the manorial obliga- 

 tion, was rarely and unsystematically enforced. Highways fell 

 deeper into decay, and their neglect was increased by the cessa- 

 tion of voluntary efforts, when services which mediaeval piety 

 recognised as religious duties came to be regarded only as civil 

 burdens. 



The condition of the roads across the Weald of Kent, at the open- 

 ing of the Tudor period, was probably no worse than that of highways 

 in other districts. Yet they are described as " right deep and 

 noyous," only to be used at " great pains, peril and jeopardy." 1 

 The isolation of rural districts can hardly be pictured by the present 

 generation. It restricted the agricultural use of the land, because 

 the interchange of its products was difficult, and each district was 

 compelled to grow its own corn. At the same time, it was recognised 

 that, in the interests of expanding trade, the provision of better 

 means of transit was necessary. The first general Act of Parliament 

 applied to bridges and their approaches. 2 Passed in 1530, the statute 

 placed the county on the same footing with regard to bridges as 

 that in which the parish already stood to highways. It directed 

 justices of the peace to enquire into the conditions of bridges in 

 their districts, to ascertain what persons were liable for their main- 

 tenance, or to levy a rate on the inhabitants for their repair and that 

 of their approaches for 300 feet on either side. In 1555 3 another 

 general Act was passed, dealing with the roads from market town 

 to market town, which it describes as " verie noysome and tedious 

 to travel! in and dangerous to all Passengers and Carriages." It 

 applied to the discharge of parochial liabilities the same methods by 

 which manorial tenants had met their local obligations. Each 

 parish was to elect two " honest persons " of the parish as " survey- 

 ors and orderers," for the repair of the roads within its boundaries 



1 14 and 15 Hon. VIII. c. 6, Sections 1, 3. 



2 22 Hen. VIII. c. 5. 



8 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, c. 8. 



