# Herepath

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{{Short description|Military road}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
[[File:Herepath Avebury England.jpg|thumb|Herepath near [Avebury](/source/Avebury), Wiltshire]]A '''herepath''' or '''hereweg'''<ref>{{cite book|title=The archaeology of Wessex|last=Grinsell|first=Leslie|publisher=Methuen|location=London|date=1958|page=298|oclc=400319}}</ref> is a military road (literally, an army path) in [England](/source/England), typically dating  from the ninth century [AD](/source/AD).

This was a time of war between the [Anglo-Saxon](/source/Anglo-Saxons) kingdoms of southern England and [Viking](/source/Viking) invaders from [Denmark](/source/Denmark). The English military preparations, conducted under the leadership of [King Alfred](/source/King_Alfred) of [Wessex](/source/Wessex), included fortified [burh](/source/burh)s or places of refuge and connecting herepaths using existing routes or new works. As superior or safer roads, sometimes following [ridgeway](/source/ridgeway_(track)) routes, herepaths were intensely used by ordinary travellers and hauliers. Where these roads exist today, local legend often imputes them with magical, romantic or mystical origins in prehistoric time and the name is rather wantonly applied to any old trackway, especially in the region of Wessex.

In the [Old English language](/source/Old_English_language) the word ''here'' means "armed host".<ref name=oed>Oxford English Dictionary, 1989</ref> It is also found as a prefix in compound words such as harbour (a burh with a garrison) and heretoga (a militia leader).<ref name=oed/> The term herepath has cognates in other Germanic languages in forms such as ''Heerweg'' (German) and ''[Hærvejen](/source/H%C3%A6rvejen)'' (Danish). In all three languages, a herepath in later times simply denotes a road that was a ''via publica'', maintained at central government expense.<ref>Landau, Georg: Beiträge zur Geschichte der alten Heer- und Handelsstraßen in Deutschland, Kassel, Bärenreiter, 1958</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{England-hist-stub}}
Category:Conflict in Anglo-Saxon England
Category:Ancient trackways in England

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Herepath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herepath) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herepath?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.