Monument record MDR15097 - Packhorse road (site of), Sandham Lane, Ripley

Stones date back to at least the 18th century as slabs for a packhorse road, though it has been suggested that the may have originally marked the route of a Roman road running through the district. Len Wood of Nottingham Road, Ripley, stated that the stones were used to stop horses sinking into the road side as they carried material and equipment to and from the Morley Park furnaces, in about the 1770s. In April 1973, the slabs were lifted for work to be carried out, but after a period in storage, their whereabouts are unknown. (1) Based on viewing photographs and aerial photographs of the road, it appears that the surface has been completely levelled and resurfaced. Any evidence of the packhorse road is unlikely to be visible without excavation. (2)