# Sunken lane > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sunken_lane > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sunken_lane.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunken_lane > Source revision: 1355401237 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Road or track that is lower than the land on either side}} {{redirect|Sunken road}} [[Image:La Meauffe - Chemin creux 1.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|A hollow way (''chemin creux'') at [La Meauffe](/source/La_Meauffe), [Manche](/source/Manche), [France](/source/France)]] A '''sunken lane''' (also '''hollow way''' or '''holloway''') is a [road](/source/road) or track that is significantly lower than the land on either side, not formed by the (recent) engineering of a road cutting but possibly of much greater age. Holloways may have been formed in various ways, including erosion by water or traffic; the digging of embankments to assist with the herding of livestock; and the digging of double banks to mark the boundaries of estates. ==Description== A holloway ([Middle English](/source/Middle_English): ''hol(g)h'' 'hollow' and ''weie'') is a path or trail that is considerably below the level of the surrounding land. They are not natural features, they are the remains of human foot paths or animal routes that have been slowly carved into sunken lanes by countless footsteps over thousands of years. They are found throughout the world. Some holloways have been paved and are now used as roads. The ecologist, Andy Jeffries estimates that in England alone, there are over 1,000 miles of these sunken lanes. Through erosion the earthen walls tend to become wider at the lower portion of the trail than at the top, creating a partially enclosed structure and habitat that can support biodiversity of fauna and flora. Some are ornamented with carved patterns, symbols and graffiti on the rock walls.{{cite news |last1=Stables |first1=Daniel |title=England's mysterious sunken roads |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230813-holloways-englands-mysterious-sunken-roads |access-date=22 December 2025 |agency=BBC |date=13 August 2023}} ==Means of formation== A variety of theories have been proposed for the origins of holloways. Different mechanisms may well apply in different cases. ===Erosion=== Some sunken lanes are created incrementally by erosion, by [water](/source/Erosion) and traffic. Some are ancient, with evidence of [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) or [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age) origins, but others such as the [Deep Hill Ruts](/source/Oregon_Trail_Ruts_(Guernsey%2C_Wyoming)) in the old [Oregon Trail](/source/Oregon_Trail) at [Guernsey, Wyoming](/source/Guernsey%2C_Wyoming), developed in the space of a decade or two.{{cite web |last=Kreutzer |first=Lee |title=National Historical Trails: Across Wyoming, US National Park System |year=2008 |url=http://www.nps.gov/oreg/planyourvisit/upload/WY_ATRIG_Web_OR.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217034042/http://www.nps.gov/oreg/planyourvisit/upload/WY_ATRIG_Web_OR.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 17, 2008 }} Where [ancient trackways](/source/ancient_trackways) have lapsed from use, the overgrown and shallow marks of hollow ways through forest may be the sole evidence of their former existence. On disused [ridgeways](/source/ridgeway_(track)) in central Germany, the hollow ways often mark inclines.Nicke, Herbert: ''Vergessene Wege'', Nümbrecht: Martina Galunder Verlag, 2001 The earth banks on either side, sometimes topped with hedges and trees, can give the impression of a tunnel enclosing the traveller. Because the roadway is restricted by the banks on either side, sunken lanes typically admit the passage of only one vehicle; that is, they are [single track road](/source/single_track_road)s. Occasional [passing place](/source/passing_place)s may be provided, but a meeting of vehicles in a sunken lane often requires one party to reverse to a suitable passing place. In Central Germany, "dual carriageways" have been observed with two trenches side by side where a trackway was in such heavy use that it had lanes dedicated for each direction. ===Embankments for cattle=== Up to the present day, some writers have assumed that low banks were deliberately created with shovels as a means to hem in cattle,Inglis, Harry RG: "The Roads Leading to Edinburgh", ''PSAS'', vol. 50, (1915-16), pp. 18-49 but there is no evidence for this, and in any case, banking only appears intermittently in certain types of soil{{cn|date=April 2021}}. When [metalled](/source/metalled), sunken lanes are unlikely to erode further. ===Double boundary banks=== In ''[The Making of the English Landscape](/source/The_Making_of_the_English_Landscape)'', [W. G. Hoskins](/source/W._G._Hoskins) explains the origin of some English holloways as a pair of matched earth banks marking the boundaries of two landowners' estates, as evidenced by the "two-fold ditch", ''twifealda dich'', in a charter of c. 1174 describing the boundary between the abbot of Tavistock's land at [Abbotsham](/source/Abbotsham), [Devon](/source/Devon) and Richard Coffin's land at [Alwington](/source/Alwington) and [Cockington](/source/Cockington). He gives another example, also from Devon, in a photograph of Armourwood Lane, [Thorverton](/source/Thorverton), which bounded the royal [Silverton](/source/Silverton%2C_Devon) estate and the estate of [Exeter abbey](/source/Exeter_monastery), most likely in the seventh century. Hoskins states that some such lanes are [Celtic](/source/Celts), some [Saxon](/source/Saxon), some [medieval](/source/medieval).{{cite book | title=The Making of the English Landscape (1st pub. 1955) | publisher=Penguin | author=Hoskins, W. G. | year=1970 | pages=31–32 and plate 13}} ==In different countries== ===Belgium=== A sunken lane extending across the battlefield played an important role in the [Battle of Waterloo](/source/Battle_of_Waterloo) in 1815, particularly in presenting an obstacle to the French cavalry.Barbero, Alessandro (2005), ''The Battle: A New History of Waterloo'' (p. 426, note 18) Atlantic Books, {{ISBN|1-84354-310-9}} [Victor Hugo](/source/Victor_Hugo) dramatized this episode in ''[Les Misérables](/source/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables)''.[Hugo, Victor](/source/Victor_Hugo) (1862), "Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 7: Napoleon in a Good Humor", ''[http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/77/ Les Misérables]'', The Literature Network, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012165710/http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/77/ archived] from the original on 12 October 2007, retrieved 14 September 2007 ===France=== Sunken lanes are common in the West of France, in the ''[bocage](/source/bocage)'' landscape, especially around [Lower Normandy](/source/Lower_Normandy), [Brittany](/source/Brittany) and [Anjou](/source/Duchy_of_Anjou). The ''bocage'' landscape is historically famous for having been a particular feature of some conflicts, including the [Chouannerie](/source/Chouannerie),Michel Moulin, Mémoires de Michelot Moulin sur la Chouannerie normande, A. Picard, 1893, pp.88–89 or more recently the [Battle of Normandy](/source/Battle_of_Normandy). The German army used sunken lanes to implement strong points and defenses to stop the American troops on the Cotentin peninsula and around the town of [Saint-Lô](/source/Saint-L%C3%B4).George Bernage, Objectif Saint-Lô : 7 juin-18 juillet 1944, Edition Heimdal, 2012, p.97 One such lane, the ''Sunken Lane'' at [Hawthorn Ridge](/source/Hawthorn_Ridge_Redoubt) west of [Beaumont Hamel](/source/Beaumont_Hamel) in northern [France](/source/France), is remembered as an assembly point for British troops, many of whom were filmed there on the [first day on the Somme](/source/first_day_on_the_Somme) (1 July 1916) by [Geoffrey Malins](/source/Geoffrey_Malins) for the film ''[The Battle of the Somme](/source/The_Battle_of_the_Somme_(film))''. ===Germany=== One of the largest networks of such routes in Germany is to be found in the municipalities of [Alsheim](/source/Alsheim) and [Mettenheim](/source/Mettenheim%2C_Rhineland-Palatinate) in [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate), where there they make up over 30 km of [hiking trails](/source/Trail). Some of these sunken lanes can be up to 5 metres deep.{{cite web | url=http://www.heimat-und-kulturverein-mettenheim.de/Hohlwege/ | title=Initiative Mettenheimer Hohlwege | publisher=Heimat und Kulturverein Mettenheim | access-date=27 May 2014 | archive-date=2 June 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602082232/http://www.heimat-und-kulturverein-mettenheim.de/Hohlwege/ | url-status=dead }} ===Spain=== [[File:Profunda congostra.jpg|thumb|upright|Congostra da Carballa, [Ribeira](/source/Santa_Ux%C3%ADa_de_Ribeira), Galicia, Spain]] In [Galicia](/source/Galicia_(Spain)) and western [Asturias](/source/Asturias) (both regions of northern [Spain](/source/Spain)) the sunken lanes are usually called ''congostras'' or ''corredoiras'', from Latin ''coangusta'' 'confined' and ''curro, currere'' 'run', being a common and characteristic feature of rural areas. Some lanes are now being recovered as hiking trails.{{cn|date=April 2021}} ===Syria=== In [Syria](/source/Syria), faint traces of hollow ways attest to a dense network of tracks or paths connecting [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) sites with each other and with their cultivation zones in the fourth and third millennia BC, and thousands of kilometres of such routes have been surveyed.{{cite journal |last=Raccidi |first=Mattia |title=Wagons on the Move. The Study of Wagons through Landscape Archaeology |journal=Quaternary International |volume=312 |pages=12–26 |url=http://journal.topoi.org/index.php/etopoi/article/view/146/167|bibcode=2013QuInt.312...12R |year=2013 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.08.018 |url-access=subscription }} ===United Kingdom=== Sunken lanes are a characteristic feature of the landscape of [southern England](/source/southern_England), especially in the [chalk](/source/chalk) areas of the [North](/source/North_Downs) and [South Downs](/source/South_Downs), and [greensand](/source/greensand) areas such as [the Weald](/source/the_Weald). The [Surrey Hills AONB](/source/Surrey_Hills_AONB) has many sunken lanes. Seal Hollow Road in [Sevenoaks](/source/Sevenoaks) is a fine example of a sunken lane in southern England.{{cn|date=April 2021}} They are a particular feature of the West Country, in counties such as [Dorset](/source/Dorset), and west Wales – areas unaffected by the land enclosures of mediaeval England.Pryor, Francis. ''The Making of the British Landscape: How We Have Transformed the Land, from Prehistory to Today''. Penguin, 2011. The English surname Holloway (hollow-way) derives from the Old English "hola weg", a sunken road.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667487/A-lost-wilderness.html | title=A Lost Wilderness | publisher=The Daily Telegraph | date=25 August 2007 | access-date=27 May 2014 | author=Macfarlane, Robert | archive-date=30 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030054115/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667487/A-lost-wilderness.html | url-status=live }} While many sunken lanes are now [metalled](/source/metalled), some are still unsurfaced [green lane](/source/Green_lane_(road))s, typically now designated as either [bridleway](/source/bridleway)s or [byway](/source/Byways_Open_to_All_Traffic)s. A sunken road is a [cross country equestrian obstacle](/source/Cross_country_obstacles). Image:CanterburyHollowLane4396.JPG|The aptly named Hollow Lane, Canterbury, UK, joins the city to the [Roman road](/source/Roman_road), [Stone Street](/source/Watling_Street) Image:newtonhollows.jpg|The old Roman road from [Deva Victrix](/source/Deva_Victrix) to [Wilderspool](/source/Wilderspool), Newton Hollows, Cheshire Image:A sunken way Witley, England..jpg|Church Lane, A sunken way in [Witley, Surrey](/source/Witley%2C_Surrey) Image:Exposed roots on the bank of a sunken lane.jpg| Exposed roots on the bank of Church Lane, a holloway, Witley, Surrey ===United States=== [[File:Tsankawi ancient foot path.jpg|thumb |right |150px |[Tsankawi](/source/Tsankawi) ancient sunken footpath]] [Tsankawi](/source/Tsankawi) is a sunken footpath located in [Bandelier National Monument](/source/Bandelier_National_Monument), New Mexico; carved and worn into to the rock by the [Ancestral Pueblo people](/source/Ancestral_Puebloans); 1.5 miles of the trail is considered an archaeological site. Because of the soft, volcanic tufa rock, and the climate of the region most of the path is barren and highly eroded.{{cite web |title=Tsankawi |url=https://www.nps.gov/band/planyourvisit/tsankawi.htm |website=National Park service |access-date=22 December 2025 |archive-date=22 November 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251122234436/https://www.nps.gov/band/planyourvisit/tsankawi.htm |url-status=live }} The sunken pathway in its current eroded state, has been worn into the tufa rock at a depth of several feet in some places.{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Ryan Alexander |title=The Forgotten Side of Bandelier - Archeology of the Tsankawi Ruins at Bandelier National Monument |date=2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Morrow |first1=Baker H. |title=Gardens in the Sand: New Mexico's Historic Landscapes, Part 1 |journal=New Mexico Historical Review |date=Spring 2021 |volume=96 |issue=2 |page=205 }} Sunken roads were also significant terrain features of the battlefields at [Shiloh](/source/Battle_of_Shiloh) and [Antietam](/source/Battle_of_Antietam) in the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War). ==See also== * [Gully](/source/Gully) * [Tree tunnel](/source/Tree_tunnel) * [Trench](/source/Trench) * [Via cava](/source/Via_cava) ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite book | title=Holloway | publisher=Faber and Faber | author=Macfarlane, Robert; Richards, Dan; Donwood, Stanley (illustrator) | year=2013}} ==External links== * {{commons category-inline|Narrow passes}} {{Road types}} Category:Ancient roads and tracks Category:Rural geography Category:Types of roads --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sunken lane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunken_lane) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunken_lane?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.