Hang Gliders catching the breeze on the North Downs Way, Kent Downs Area of Natural Beauty, Detling, Kent,
The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way)[a] is the historical route taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. 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][2] The prehistoric route followed the "natural causeway" east to west on the southern slopes of the North Downs.[3] The course was dictated by the natural geography: it took advantage of the contours, avoided the sticky clay of the land below but also the thinner, overlying "clay with flints" of the summits.[4] In places a coexisting ridgeway and terrace way can be identified; the route followed would have varied with the season, but it would not drop below the upper line of cultivation.[5][6] The trackway ran the entire length of the North Downs, leading to and from Folkestone: the pilgrims would have had to turn away from it, north along the valley of the Great Stour near Chilham, to reach Canterbury.
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Location: North Downs Way, Detling, Kent, England, Great Britain, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © ©Woodward/Woody / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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