On this bike ride on 13/05/20 I followed the route of the old Roman road that linked Rochester & Hastings as it passes through Boughton, Chart Sutton & the southern approaches of Maidstone. This is a photo of Forge Lane on the Boughton/Chart Sutton borders. It lies almost exactly on the line of the Roman road.
At the northern end of Forge Lane the Roman road ascends the Greensand Ridge as no more than a present day bridleway. Remnants of a more substantial stone paved thoroughfare are visible in places.
As the route nears the crest of the ridge it cuts into the scarp face with outcrops of ragstone visible on either side.
Badgers have made their home in the banks of the sunken track.
Cow parsley borders the path as it reaches the crest of the ridge.
For the next couple of miles as the route approaches the southern outskirts of Maidstone the road is lost in farmland & the ever expanding Parkwood estate. It must run close to Brishing Road with its pretty bugle lined banks.
The route reappears as Pested Bars Road which skirts the western fringes of Parkwood. During the 19th century a Roman cemetery was discovered near here at Lockham Farm. From the end of Pested Bars Road the route is lost once again until it joins its present day counterpart , the A229 , just north of Maidstone Cemetery.
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