PACK TRAILS 123 



A little later the merchants of North- 

 western Europe in search of salt, landed at the 

 Cinque Ports of Kent. Their pack trails con- 

 verged to drop down Blackheath Hill. From 

 thence the one trail coasted the southern 

 edge of the saltings of Southwark by way of 

 Old Kent Road and Bedlam, striking the first 

 firm ground in the river bank at Lamb's 

 Hythe (landing), where the Bishop of Canter- 

 bury afterwards built his town house. From 

 Lambeth at low tide there was a ford to Horse- 

 ferry Road on the Isle of Thorns in mid-river. 

 From the island site of the City of Westmin- 

 ster, there was a broader but very shallow ford 

 across the north arm of the Thames. One 

 may see the north bank of the Island at Great 

 George Street, Westminster ; but the site of 

 the pack trail is lost. It took up the ridge 

 between the Tyburn and Bayswater brooks, 

 avoiding the mudholes of both, along Park 

 Lane. At Marble Arch it swung into the 

 Bronze trail, to leave it presently at Tyburn 

 Tree, and strike up Edgeware Road, and so via 

 Watling Street to the salt wells in Cheshire. 

 It was along the Bronze trail and the Salt trail 

 that civilization found its way into England. 



Were I a merchant I might see in wool the 

 single origin of my country's wealth ; were I a 



