Ridgeways are a type of ancient road that exploits the hard surface of hilltop ridges for use as unpaved, zero-maintenance roads, though they often have the disadvantage of steeper gradients along their courses, and sometimes quite narrow widths. Before the advent of turnpikes or toll roads , ridgeway trails continued to provide the firmest and safest cart tracks. They are generally an opposite to level, valley-bottom, paved roads, which require engineering work to shore up and maintain. Unmaintained valley routes may require greater travelling distances than ridgeways.
30-489: A ridgeway (road) is a road or path that follows a ridge, or the highest part of the landscape. Roads and pathways [ edit ] The Ridgeway , an ancient track in southern England, which now forms part of the Ridgeway Path or National Trail Ridgeway (London) , a 19th-century path running along central and southeast London Wessex Ridgeway , an extension of
60-474: A hospital radio station in Dorchester, Dorset See also [ edit ] Ridgway (disambiguation) Ridgeway House (disambiguation) Ridgeway School (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ridgeway . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
90-407: A target on the skyline. The discomfort of following ridgeways arises from their exposure to harsh weather and the fact that they are rarely level. The ridge line rises and falls. Moreover, at some point the ridge ends, so that the route must descend to ford a stream before rising again to follow the next ridge. Loads on two-wheeled carts had to be constantly shifted to the back during descents and to
120-432: A track into the hillside and shored it up against washouts and slips. However, deviations around high peaks were common, usually taking the south side of the peak, presumably because the warmer side was usually drier. On flatter British hills, the line of the tracks often runs a little below the actual crest of the ridge, possibly to afford some shelter from the wind or to avoid travellers presenting themselves to marauders as
150-428: A trial period allowing a "more affordable way for smaller stations to broadcast on DAB digital radio": Temporary Restricted Service Licence stations are licensed by Ofcom and broadcast for up to 28 days. RSLs are used for a number of purposes including coverage of events and festivals, trial broadcasts by groups aiming to launch a full-time service, student radio and training projects and religious festivals including
180-685: Is now called Rudgeway Ridgeway, Staffordshire Ridgeway View , Wiltshire Ridgeway (Enfield ward) , London Ridgeway (Harrow ward) , London Ridgeway (Swindon ward) , Wiltshire Wales [ edit ] Ridgeway, Newport South Africa [ edit ] Ridgeway, Gauteng United States [ edit ] Ridgeway, Alaska Ridgeway, Georgia Ridgeway, Iowa Ridgeway, Kentucky Ridgeway, Ohio Ridgeway, Minnesota Ridgeway, Missouri Ridgeway, New Jersey Ridgeway, New York Ridgeway, North Carolina Ridgeway, South Carolina Ridgeway Historic District , Ridgeway, South Carolina, listed on
210-436: Is often exposed and dry because of wind and natural drainage, and vegetation tends to be thinner. Where a beaten track evolves into a busier "road", constant passage by animals, sleds and wheeled vehicles suppresses regrowth of vegetation. With the help of rain (and soil creep ), a shallow trail can be worn down into the topsoil and smoothed without any purposeful road-making work. The thin soil and rocky subsoil , combined with
240-804: The BBC in England and the Channel Islands : BBC radio stations from Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland , broadcast in their respective areas via analogue and digital radio, Freeview and across the UK on satellite and cable television and BBC Sounds : Over 90 hours a week of programming in Scots Gaelic with programming from BBC Radio Scotland relayed at other times Opt-out service from BBC Radio Cymru with up to 60 hours per week of music-based programming England 's radio stations adhere to
270-628: The Digital One and Sound Digital multiplexes broadcasting in the newer DAB+ Digital Radio standard DAB frequencies: NOTE: Heart Xmas available as an additional, temporary station on Digital One DAB+ from 25 September until 26 December (2024). Also on local DAB+ in the Channel Islands Stations which are available nationally on Freeview and satellite and / or broadcast on more than one local DAB multiplex: See Wales list for local MW Local radio stations from
300-724: The UK 's national radio stations. Additionally services in the Channel Islands are licensed by the UK 's regulator, Ofcom . Services in the Isle of Man are not licensed by a UK regulator but rather by the Broadcasting Act 1990 of Tynwald . 98.6 FM ( Portsmouth and Havant ) DAB 11C ( South Hampshire ) Also on small-scale DAB / DAB+ The followed stations have closed down and returned their licences to Ofcom : Permanent small-scale multiplexes licensed by Ofcom : Small-scale multiplexes licensed by Ofcom for
330-767: The 1980s by the Ramblers Association , following ridges between the Atlantic coast and Avebury , with a preference for firm paths, good scenery and free access. List of radio stations in the United Kingdom#Hospital radio stations This is a list of radio stations in the United Kingdom . This list does not include stations which broadcast on numerous local digital multiplexes or MW licences to achieve near-national coverage. DAB frequencies: List of stations on
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#1732765787971360-513: The 19th century brought the concept back into common use. Although the Great Ridgeway northwest of London was the best known of such routes, 19th-century British antiquarians rediscovered numerous other local ridgeways and speculated that names such as Ryknild Street (a valley route) contained the word ridge in modified form. Scholars such as Georg Landau (1807–1865) began mapping and walking ancient ridgeway roads across Germany in
390-412: The 19th century. Recording prehistoric ridgeways today can be difficult. Trails only lightly worn into soil along ridge lines are generally no longer visible, but their courses are sometimes marked by modern roads and footpaths that have perpetuated the ridgeway routes. A ridgeway previously used by carts often remains physically evident in the form of a hollow way : a trench or fosse eroded deep into
420-690: The National Register of Historic Places Ridgeway, Virginia Ridgeway, Pittsylvania County, Virginia Ridgeway, West Virginia Ridgeway, Wisconsin Ridgeway (town), Wisconsin Ridgeway Township, Michigan Zambia [ edit ] Ridgeway, Lusaka Other uses [ edit ] Ridgeway (surname) Ridgeway Clocks , a clock manufacturer in the United States Ridgeway Radio,
450-469: The Ridgeway Path to the south west Places [ edit ] Australia [ edit ] Ridgeway, Tasmania Canada [ edit ] Ridgeway, Ontario Battle of Ridgeway in 1866 England [ edit ] Ridgeway, Bristol Ridgeway, Derbyshire , village in Eckington parish Ridgeway, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, hamlet near Ambergate Ridgeway, Gloucestershire
480-709: The Sikh festival Vaisakhi , the Muslim month of Ramadan , Jehovah's Witness conventions and Christian events such as Easter and Christmas . The following list is a small selection of regular RSL stations which have been set up to cover various festivals and events across the UK : Most universities plus a number of colleges operate student radio stations with the vast majority only available online. The Student Radio Association represents around 65 student stations. The following stations are available via an FM community licence or via LPFM transmitters: Typically available within
510-617: The channel, slowly flushing it out and leaving banks on either side where hedgerows may develop and collect more material. Hollow ways can of course occur in any firm-ground trackway, not just in ridgeway sections. On level sections of a ridgeway, banks are less common, perhaps because travellers avoided large puddles and constantly changed the courses, or because any banks eroded. From the 19th century onwards, old ridgeways which had not been converted into highways were often revived by hiking clubs or tourism authorities, marked out as scenic trails for walking, horse-riding or mountain biking far from
540-561: The disturbances of motor traffic. An 1890 Baedeker guide recommended walks on The Ridgeway, and efforts to give that ridgeway legislative recognition began in 1947. Some completely new recreational ridgeways have been devised where there was no tradition of the route being used for trade in previous centuries. Examples include the Kammweg established in 1904 in eastern Germany and the 197-kilometre Wessex Ridgeway in England, devised in
570-604: The existence of such parallel routes, antiquarians in Britain came to associate ridgeways culturally with ancient Britons . However the evidence for the great antiquity of ridgeway routes is ambiguous. In the modern era, new cart tracks have generally avoided inhospitable high ground: the 1840s and 1850s Wagon Trails from the Missouri River to Oregon and California – rutted trails in bare earth – generally followed low courses. In Britain,
600-402: The front during ascents so that the animals could draw efficiently. In medieval and later times, ridgeways in England were used as drovers roads . Since ridgeways were informal routes, and the rounded tops of many British and German ridges might be hundreds of metres wide, the track might change seasonally, or spontaneously, if any land alongside the trail appeared drier and firmer. But where
630-608: The grounds of a single hospital, these stations broadcast to bedside units and occasionally public areas of the hospital. Hospital radio is free of charge on bedside entertainment systems operated by Hospedia and Premier Bedside and an increasing number of stations are available online. Around 200 stations are supported by the Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA). The following stations are available via LPAM or LPFM transmitters or as Ofcom licensed community stations: Stations which are broadcast to
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#1732765787971660-434: The hilltops, only descending when necessary to cross valleys. As such, they are an opposite to modern-style roads, which tend to run along the valleys and only ascend when necessary to cross the hilltops. In rugged parts of central Germany, ridgeways tend to strictly follow the watershed line proper, since traversing steep slopes was difficult for wheeled vehicles and uncomfortable for foot travellers unless someone had cut
690-509: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ridgeway&oldid=1253484897 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ridgeway (road) Prehistoric roads in Europe often variously comprised stretches of ridgeway above
720-430: The line of springs, sections of causeway through bog and marsh, and other trackways of neither sort which crossed flat country. A revival of interest in ancient roads and recreational walking in the 19th century brought the concept back into common use. Some ancient routes, in particular The Ridgeway National Trail of southern England, have been reprised as long-distance footpaths . Along ridge lines of hills, soil
750-452: The natural drainage provided by the slopes on each side, also tended to keep such roads dry. In western Europe, where prehistoric roads have been extensively documented with the help of itineraries, traces on old maps and extant marks on the landscape, ridgeways are a typical feature of long-distance ancient routes through rugged, high-rainfall parts of Germany and across the island of Great Britain. These ancient trackways generally ran along
780-782: The prevailing Roman road-construction practice was to build straight roads from point to point, rising and falling with the landscape. Some German ridgeways were deliberately closed to force traffic into towns. In one instance, the central purpose of the Rheingauer Gebück, a 38-kilometre fence erected in the 12th century, may have been to close down a German ridgeway and force traffic onto the Rhine river. Many ridgeways have continued in use with macadam or paved surfaces in modern times. Others fell into disuse when more level paved routes, either along valley bottoms or cut transversely along hillsides, were built parallel to them. Noting
810-432: The soil by constant passage of wheels and hooves. These are most common at inclines. Sleds, axles scraping the soil between wheel ruts, locked wheels skidding downhill and heavy weights dragged over the ground to brake the carts' descents would all continue eroding the surface down to the bedrock, if any, which then forms a natural pavement. When it rains, the mud and debris in an inclined hollow way tend to be washed down
840-469: The statistical regions of East Midlands , East , Greater London , Greater Manchester , North East , North West , South East , South West , West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber . This list details radio stations which have lost their licence to broadcast or have closed down due to financial reasons. Although the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK , they are served by
870-499: The term ridgeway has been in continuous use since Anglo-Saxon times as a generic term to distinguish any high travel route from a lower one. The earliest extant written form is spelled hrycweg , dating from 938. In German, a variety of terms of similar date match the concept of a ridgeway: Rennweg (since circa 860: Rennewec ), Rennstieg (1162: Rinnestich ), Bergstrasse (C9: Birgistrotun ) and hohe Strasse (circa 1000 Howestraze ). A revival of interest in ancient roads in
900-455: The tracks were seen as marking boundaries, the course could no longer change without causing a property dispute. English ridgeway routes became fixed in the course of enclosures beginning about 1750. Notable prehistoric ridgeways include: Some modern authors have suggested several advantages a ridgeway might possess: Some ridgeway routes were adopted and paved by the Romans , even though
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