Packhorse Tracks, Drove Roads and Lost Lanes

[ Packhorse Tracks ] [ Drove Roads ] [ Lost Lanes ]

Packhorse Tracks

Packhorses were one of the principal means by which goods were transported until the mid C18th. Teams of 20, 30 or even 40 horses traveled in single file as illustrated here, although equally a packman might have had just one or two animals. The horse used were not large being a maximum of 15 hands, and each could carry up to 2 cwt. Typical mileage was between 15 to 25 per day depending on the terrain. As an example the journey from Exeter to London took a week.

This rather excitable description from a Devonshire parson gives us an idea of what an encounter with a packhorse team might have been like. Clearly, these were no ambling, gentle trains of animals.

“The rapidity with which a gang of packhorses proceeds when not loaded, and the utter impossibility of passing loaded ones, requires that the utmost caution should be used in keeping out of the way of the one, and exertion inkeeping ahead of the other !"

Goods were carried on bales or in panniers as shown here. Celia Fiennes travelling in the C17th noted their presence carrying coal from Creech to Taunton. They were also used to carry lime, corn, hay and straw, yarn and wool, salt, charcoal and iron ore. Packhorses were recorded as late as 1756 carrying limestone from Watchet over Exmoor to Barnstaple for use in the Eddystone lighthouse.

Packhorse bridges remain as testament to this form of travel. That pictured on the right is at Allerford, and there are also examples at Horner, Dunster and in Taunton. The parapets are a later addition as they would have impeded the horses loads

As the bridges suggest, particular routes were used by packhorses – these tended to stick to higher ground, by-passing settlements and other impediments to speedy progress

Packhorse tracks are characterised by their narrowness. Celia Fiennes observed that ‘I cannot see how two loaded horses can get passed each other and yet these are the only roads hereabouts’

This example is near Monksilver and features my small Jack Russell, Skipper, to show the width of the lane.

When the packhorses were going up or down hill and the ground was soft, they have worn deep holloways

This particular track joined another more major route which ran from the port of Watchet to join the now B3255 at Hartrow above Stogumber. The route is traceable today as a combination of narrow green lane, and tarmaced road.

Combe Cross Farm, pictured below, has all the characteristics of a packhorse inn although there is no written record of it having been one. It is located adjacent to the packhorse route which runs to the right in this photograph. Behind there is provision for overnight grazing for horses, and it is situated away from other habitation. Pub names such as the bayhorse, or packhorse reflect a similar usage.

Packhorse traffic declined and disappeared with the advent of turnpike roads in the C18th, which resulted in wheeled transport being a more economically attractive and faster option for the carriage of goods