Harrow Way

The Harrow Way (also spelled as Harroway) forms the western part of the Old Way, an ancient trackway in the south of England, dating from the Neolithic period, which is split into a western and eastern part.

The eastern part of the Old Way, most of which is misleadingly named the Pilgrims' Way, which today runs on or parallel to the North Downs Way, can be traced from Rochester and alternative Channel ports on the Straits of Dover, a principal track also starting in the valley of the Great Stour from Canterbury, to lead along the North Downs or its southern slopes, through Maidstone and Guildford to Farnham, Surrey. With its natural season-round well-drained soil, slightly more humus-rich than the crest itself, forming the most travelled of often several terraced routes.

The Pilgrims' Way continues from Farnham more south-west than west to Winchester. This route was later used in some pilgrimages and helped the growth of Winchester. Winchester, apart from being an ecclesiastical centre in its own right (the shrine of St Swithin), was an important regional focus and an aggregation point for travellers arriving through the seaports on the south coast.

see Early British Christianity

Significant earlier usage of this section of the Pilgrims' Way is likely noting it does pass several British Iron Age (Celtic) barrows on hills to north and south, for instance, villages around Alresford such as Tichborne, continuing to the Celtic and Roman settlement of Winchester (Venta Belgarum) on the River Itchen north of Southampton. The Diocese of Winchester (seat of the Bishop of Winchester) was founded in 660 CE.

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