Drove road

A broad route way used by herders to take their livestock, such as cattle or geese, to and from market. Some drove roads may have very early origins. The roads can vary in form, a few being wholly or partly metalled. Drove roads are often ‘sunken’ due to the erosive action of the livestock movement and may have side ditches to aid their drainage and keep them usable in bad weather. Drove roads declined in use with the invention of the railways and may exist today as earthworks or cropmarks. One Roman example in Buckinghamshire is south east of Hambleden Rise.