London to Lewes Way (Roman road)

The London to Lewes Way is a 71 kilometres (44 mi) long Roman road between Watling Street at Peckham and Lewes in Sussex. The road passes through Beckenham and West Wickham, then crosses the North Downs above Titsey, on the county boundary between Surrey and Kent, and is overlain by Edenbridge High Street. The road continues on this alignment onto the high ground of Ashdown Forest, where the more grassy vegetation on the silted up outer ditches contrasts very clearly with surrounding heather in aerial photographs, then descends through Piltdown to Lewes, linking with the Sussex Greensand Way at Barcombe Mills and with a network of roads at Lewes.

First and early second pottery fragments were found over the edge of the road near Barcombe Mills,which, together with the heavy construction and planned alignments, indicate a late 1st or early 2nd century date.

Five main alignments were used for the road, with local diversions from them to ease gradients and avoid wet ground. Flint and gravel were used over the North Downs and towards the South Downs, with slag from the Wealden iron industry used extensively for the middle sections, sometimes mixed with sandstone from Ashdown Forest and sometimes as a solid mass. At Holtye near East Grinstead a length of road excavated in 1939 revealed iron slag metalling showing cart ruts. Part of this has been left exposed and fenced off by the Sussex Archaeological Trust for viewing.

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