Portway
Portway, Thecounty:
Hampshire
county:
coords:
Hampshire
SU5456
county:
Hampshire
county:
coords:
Hampshire
SU6160
otherwise: Portweye, 1298
PORT WAY
The Roman road (Margary 4b) from Old Sarum to Silchester is Middle English 'town way' presumably to be understood as the 'way to Salisbury', given the contrasting fortunes of the two Roman towns. In Anglo Saxon charters it is just called 'straet'='paved road' or 'ealdan straet'='(the) old paved road'.
... another [military Roman way] that goes Westward [from Silchester] thro' Pamber, a thick and woody Forest, and so by some Places that are now uninhabited, till it runs near Litchfield ... from whence it passes to the Forest of Chute, delightful for its shady Walks, pleasant Hunting, and plenty of Game, where the Huntsmen and Foresters admire its paved rising ridge, which is very visible, tho' it be in some Places interupted.
Period - 1600s
... another [highway or street] ran west-ward [from Silchester] through Pamber forrest, very full of trees, and other by-places now standing out of the way, hard by Litchfield, that is, the field of dead bodies, to the Forrest of Chute pleasant for coole shade of trees, & plentifull game: in which the Hunters and Forresters themselves do wonder at the bank or ridge thereof, so evident to be seene, paved with stone, but broken here and there.
