Monument record MDR2412 - Metalled road surface south of St Peter's Church, Hope

In 1955, what appeared to be a metalled road was revealed in a grass field to the south of Hope Church, when an oil pipeline trench was cut through it. The trench cut through it almost at a right angle. The road showed in the southern side of the trench to a width of 10 feet, but was more noticeable in the other side. Here, to a depth of three feet from the present surface, flat sandstone pieces, about 3ins by 2 ins, with rounded edges, probably taken from the nearby river bed, were laid closely to a width of 10 feet and rather less closely to a total width of some 15 feet. Slightly smaller stones formed the upper layers to an apparent camber just beneath the present surface. The spoil from the pipeline trench here had similar stones in profusion, whilst on either side of the metalling both the trench walls and the spoil consisted of clay or silt from which stones of any kind were almost entirely absent. It is suggested that the road from Navio may have initially kept on the high ground south of the Noe, then changing direction to the north to cross the stream at the one point where today there is a sloping southern bank, to cut across the pipeline trench where the metalled road was found. A continuation of this northerly line across the field, suggested by a slight swelling in the ground, would pass near the east end of Hope Church, along - or alongside - Edale Road, crossing the River Noe near Killhill Bridge, and so meeting the diagonal trackway up the flank of Win Hill. (1)